With a lot going on in your day-to-day lives, there can be many memories that you would like to remember in the long run. Given how pre-occupied our minds already are, most of us can’t always recall a memory in great detail. That’s when you might consider writing journals. But writing them in a notebook sounds like a thing of the past. With the world moving so fast technologically, why should you be left behind? You can log all your journals in the Android smartphone sitting in your pocket. So, to help you out, here is a list of 10 best journal apps for Android that you can use:
1. Journey
Journey is an easy-to-use app that lets you log your journal entries. It can detect your location and weather conditions so that you can choose to include them along with your entries. You’ll also find the options to include images and videos and your motion state like walking, running, biking, etc. These posts can further be tagged for sorting into different categories. With Journey, you won’t have to worry about losing your posts ever as they can be synced on Google Drive and be accessed on different platforms like Chrome OS, Mac, Windows, and the web.
If you ever want to share any of your journals with others, Journey offers to share them on social media, publish to blogs, and print as a PDF file. On the contrary, if your entries are personal and you want no one else to be able to read them, you can secure the app with a passcode – the option for which you can find within the app settings. If, sometime, you want to revisit your entries, you can choose to view them all as calendar entries, view only the ones with images or videos, or view them according to the location they are marked under. In addition to all the features that I’ve already mentioned, Journey also offers support for input using a Bluetooth or a physical keyboard.
The app also has a premium version that can be bought as an in-app purchase. This version offers some additional features like removing PDF watermark, exporting in DOCX format, night mode, and integration with Google Fit. You can consider upgrading if you feel the need for these added features.
Install: (Free, with in-app purchases)
2. Dream Journal Ultimate
As the name suggests, Dream Journal Ultimate is developed specifically to let you log your dreams. The app has a feature called “Dream Wall” where you can read dream journals from other people using the app. And, if you want, even you can make your posts to appear on this page simply by ticking the checkbox that says “Share Dreams on Dream Wall” when you write a new entry. To help you remember to log an entry every morning, there is an option called “Dream Journal Reminder” that notifies at a particular time each day.
As some posts may contain adult content, they can be filtered out from your wall by turning on “Filter Adult” under the “General” section of the app’s settings. Like a few other apps on this list, you can also secure your journals with a PIN. Finally, your posts can be exported as a TXT or a CSV file, but in order to do that, you’ll have to pay a small price monthly to support the app via in-app purchases.
Install: (Free, with in-app purchases)
3. Penzu
Penzu is one of my favorite journal apps out there. Though the free version offers some basic features that you may need like writing entries in a single journal, setting reminders, locking the journal with a password, and locking the whole app with a passcode, most of the app’s features are available only on its Pro version that starts at $4.99/month via in-app purchases.
While the free version locks down your hands with its predefined settings, Penzu Pro unleashes you with great controls. This pro version lets you create more than just a single journal with the ability to lock them with different passwords that are secured by 256-bit encryption. The number of reminders can also be increased with their times customizable. You can even add custom journal covers, fonts, and backgrounds. If all this wasn’t enough Penzu Pro lets you change the dates of your entries and add tags to them.
Install: (Free, with in-app purchases)
4. DayGram
DayGram is a minimalistic app with a beautiful-looking interface. When you open the app, the entries, if you have any, are displayed in the form of a timeline. And if you choose to write a new one, you get the option to add the timestamp anywhere in it. Coming with multiple themes like light, night, lake, etc., it lets you change the look of the app completely. For further customization, you can change the font size, choose from a total of three borders, and use your phone’s font in the app. Like most other apps in this list, DayGram lets you set reminders for writing an entry for your journal, set a passcode for your journal, and offers Dropbox backup.
Install: ($0.99)
5. Daylio
If you’re not planning on creating long entries in your journal, Daylio is the best app for you. In addition to some common features of other journal apps like setting reminders (up to 2), securing the app with a PIN, and backup on Google Drive, it lets you choose your mood for a particular entry. Though there are only five moods available, you can change their names to whatever you desire. Furthermore, you can choose one or more activities from a list to make your post even more memorable. If the activity you’re looking for is not mentioned in the list, you can add it manually and even choose an icon for it.
Daylio lets you view some stats as well like monthly mood chart, average daily mood, mood count, etc. to help you keep a track of the things that you might need to change. There is also a premium version available for the app that can be bought with in-app purchases. This allows you to enjoy an ad-free experience, along with added functionalities like adding more reminders, downloading your entries as a CSV file, and auto backups.
Install: (Free, with in-app purchases)
6. Narrate
Narrate is an open source project licensed under Apache 2.0 and is hosted on GitHub, as a result of which, it is one of my favorite journal apps. Boasting with features similar to other apps in the list like securing the app with a passcode, cloud sync, and geotagging, it comes with some more cool features. You can backup your entries not only on the cloud but also locally on your device. Narrate comes with a useful feature that lets you restore deleted items. The photos that you take within the app are automatically saved to your phone’s camera roll and, if you want, you can turn this off in the app’s settings.
Install: (Free, with in-app purchases)
7. Universal Diary
Universal Diary is not very different from other journal apps. It lets you set a reminder for creating an entry at a particular time on some particular days. Like most other apps, you get the option to select a theme like white, dark, or summer, secure the app with a password, and backup up your data over Google Drive. As an addition, you can transfer it to an SD card as well. Universal Diary comes with an autosave feature that you stores your entry after every set interval of time. Though this option is turned off by default, you can turn it on in the app’s settings.
Universal Diary has something called “Marks” which includes things like notes, paintings, finance, etc. You can set your local currency in the app settings to make it more personalized. The app has a full version available as an in-app purchase that offers exporting to PDF and an ad-free experience.
Install: (Free, with in-app purchases)
8. Moment Diary
Moment Diary is a journal app with a lot of customization options. You can change the appearance in many ways like changing the colors, date colors, font colors, etc. You can also insert a background image and enable different skins. Moment Diary offers almost all the key features of most other journal apps, including reminders, passcode, and images. The main view of the app is that of a list but that can be changed in the app’s settings as well. You can view your entries as a list or a calendar entry, and can even view just the images in them. Any entry in the app is limited to 140 characters by default, but this limitation can be removed from the app settings. With an ability to search for a particular entry, Moment Diary is a great journal app.
Install: (Free, with in-app purchases)
9. Memoires
Though not a very aesthetically pleasing app, Memoires has an interesting feature called “Follow up”. This lets you add to an existing memory to create a flow of thoughts. Acquiring features from other similar apps, this comes with the ability to add images and voice recordings, weather and location information, add tags, and search for different memories. Once you have created an entry, you can share it with others, view and edit it, follow it up to create a flow of thoughts, and even navigate to the location where it was created. You can also add people to your entries, but for that, you’ll need to buy Memoires Contact Note ($1.06). Speaking of purchases, the app has a widget too that can be bought for $2.04 from here.
Install: (Free)
10. me.time
me.time is not exactly a journal app like the others in this list. Though it does let you note down your thoughts, you don’t really have the independence to write whatever you want. The app works on a slightly different perspective. You get a question, known as “Records”, every day that you can answer. These questions are designed to help you understand yourself better. You can opt to be notified daily of the questions and can even choose to hide your answers from others. Having said that, you can view the answers other users have written and shared with the public. Like most other journal apps, you can lock it with a password to hide your answers from others.
Install: (Free)
SEE ALSO: 12 Best Travel Apps for Android You Should Use
Use the Best Journal Apps for Android
Being able to recall all your memories in detail can be very nostalgic. Not everyone is gifted with a memory as great to be able to remember them all on their own. But now that you know 10 best journal apps for Android, you can use them to aid you in this domain and you no longer have to worry about forgetting any memory anymore. So which journal app did you like the most? Do let me know in the comments section below.
Abubakar Mohammed
