Switching my journal from Day One to Everlog 📝

Thanks to a post from David H in the Hemispheric Views chat, I’ve been considering a switch from Day One to Everlog for my journaling. I started using Day One back in 2012 and have around 10,000 entries, plus there isn’t anything particularly wrong with Day One. Given that I’m still tempted, there’s something worth exploring. So I want to think through this change before making it.

The basic function of Everlog is very similar to Day One or any other journaling app: you create dated entries in a journal. Everlog supports multiple journals, attachments, tags, templates, and locations. All things you would expect and that I find useful. The app is very well designed, responsive, and easy to use. I can quickly get to a blank entry and start typing, easily add photos, and tags, and search works well.

One very obvious difference is the price. Everlog is $19.99/year and Day One is $31.99 (though there are several different plans for Day One). Although not a big difference, it is enough to be part of the considerations.

Another difference, which has pros and cons, is that Everlog is from a single developer while Day One has an extensive team. Most of my favourite apps are from solo developers (Albums, Reeder, Overcast, Finalist, HealthFit) and I find they have an attention to detail and passion for development that is worth supporting. A risk, of course, is that the developer might choose to stop development, leaving my journal stranded in an abandoned app. Day One has, presumably, dozens of people (though many working on other platforms) and is less likely to abandon iOS.

There are a few things missing from Everlog that will be more or less important, based on what you want.

• There is no web app. I do use the Day One web app for posting while at work. This is mostly just for convenience though, it isn’t an essential feature for me. In fact, I think it might be better if my personal journal was only accessible via my personal phone to better separate from work.
• There is no Apple Watch app. Although I like the idea of making a quick entry in Day One from my watch, I have never actually used it. So, in practice, also not an essential feature.
• You can’t post from email. I use this to integrate my micro.blog posts into Day One. However, I’m not convinced that I want to mix my blog in with my journal and have been considering disabling this anyway.
• Day One integrates with Strava. I was curious about this when it was announced. Having used it for a while now, it hasn’t replaced separate entries that I still make in my main journal about how my training is going. So, also not essential.
• Although Everlog does have support for locations, it isn’t as robust as in Day One. Day One keeps track of your location history, making it easier to start an entry from a location or changing the entry’s location based on the date and time. Day One also defaults to the location of a photo. Lastly, Day One has a nice map view of entries, relative to Everlog’s list-based, hierarchical approach.

A small thing that I’ve appreciated is Everlog’s much more appealing presentation of content from the built-in Journal Suggestions from iOS (screenshots below). Day One’s presentation is surprisingly plain.

Importing from Day One into Everlog was very easy. The text, images, and other metadata of close to 10,000 entries were all quickly and correctly transferred. However, I expect this is mostly a one-way transfer. Although Day One has some import functions, I expect it would be much more challenging to import back into Day One from Everlog.

So, what to do? I’m still quite interested in switching to Everlog. Honestly, I think this is mostly about favouring an indie developer focused on iOS over a large team focused on a journaling platform. I’m also not entirely keen on Day One’s (totally optional) push towards AI integration. My real concern is the lock-in of my journal in a specific app. This is true for both Everlog and Day One, though Everlog supports flexible exports (JSON, txt, PDF). If I do end up switching apps again, I suspect Everlog will be a better starting point. Eventually I anticipate that I’ll end up with an app-agnostic approach that uses plain text and this concern will be mitigated.

As usual, the decision rests on why I even journal in the first place. I have two reasons: one is as a record of what I’ve done, basically an annotated history that I can reference; two is a place I work through thoughts, ideas, and feelings. The first reason is where most of these features matter, especially the ability to search and the long-term viability of the app. The second reason is much more ephemeral and doesn’t require much structure. Everlog is quite capable of supporting both of these reasons. I’m going to make this switch, save a bit of money, and support an indie developer.