Your own version

Your own Day One-style journal on your iPhone

Day One is a polished journal with prompts, photos and On This Day memories. If you only ever write on your iPhone and want a journal shaped around your own habits, describe it to Borel. It writes a native journal app in Swift, which you try in your browser and keep on your phone, locked with Face ID.

Updated . Borel isn’t connected to Day One.

A prompt to start from
“A private journal. The home screen shows today's entry with one prompt from my own list, and an "On this day" card with entries from the same date in earlier years. Entries have text, up to ten photos, a mood tag and an optional place name. I can dictate an entry instead of typing. Search by word or tag. Lock with Face ID.”

About Day One

What people like about Day One

In our words, from what Day One says about itself.

  • Unlimited entries and journals, even on the free Basic plan.
  • On This Day memories, daily prompts and templates.
  • End-to-end encryption, and on paid plans more photos per entry, every device, and audio with transcription.

Day One lists Basic at $0 a year (one device, one photo per entry), Silver at $49.99 a year and Gold at $74.99 a year, which adds its AI features.

Made for you

What your own journal can do

What the prompt above builds, and what you can change by asking Borel in plain words.

  • Prompts you wrote

    One question a day drawn from your own list, or none at all.

  • Photos without a quota

    Pictures from your library through Apple's photo picker, as many per entry as you decide.

  • Looking back, your way

    A card at the top with what you wrote a year ago today, or a month ago.

  • Spoken entries

    Talk instead of typing, and the Speech framework turns it into text you can tidy up.

Said plainly

How it's different

  • There's no end-to-end encrypted sync between devices.
  • It's an iPhone app, with no Mac or web version to write on.
  • It holds text, photos and dictated words; videos and audio clips aren't in this prompt.
  • Your app isn't Day One and won't look or work like it: it has only what you ask Borel to build, and none of Day One's own content.
  • Your data stays in your own app: on your iPhone by default, or in your app's own database in Borel's cloud if you add accounts.

How to get yours

From the prompt to your home screen

  • 1

    Start from the prompt

    Change anything in it first: names, rules, screens. Borel asks what it needs to know, then writes the app in Swift and SwiftUI.

  • 2

    Use it in your browser

    It opens in a live iPhone simulator streamed from Borel's Mac, at no cost. Building starts free, with 5 free credits a day, up to 30 a month.

  • 3

    Keep it on your iPhone

    With Pro, from $20 a month, Borel Companion installs it with a free Apple ID, up to 3 apps at a time, and renews each one every 7 days while it runs.

How to make a journal appThe screens it needs, what it keeps, the iPhone features it can use and what to ask for next.See the guide

Frequently asked questions

Not automatically. If you have your entries in a text or JSON file, ask Borel for an import screen that reads it, then check a few entries on your phone.

Yes. Entries are kept inside the app on your iPhone, Face ID can lock it, and nothing goes online unless you add accounts.

Yes. Tap the microphone and speak; the words appear as text you can edit before saving.

Yes. Choose a time and the iPhone shows a quiet reminder then, whether or not the app is open.

Make your own journal

Start from the prompt on this page and change it until it's yours. Borel builds it while you watch.