There are many different reasons why you should consider starting a diary or journal. It’s true that journaling can help improve your focus, creativity, and enhance your life outlook.
For some, handwriting journals are obsolete, as they’re too much hassle to carry around with you – nowadays, digital journals can be easily accessed online and in real time.
There are several apps that allow you to write in diary directly from your smartphone – here’s some of the best journal apps that you can download immediately.
The Five Minute Journal App – Best Diary App for Android
If you’re really looking to write down your day in a full structured format, you’ll definitely want to look at the Five Minute journal.It’s based on the bestseller Physical Journal that’s sold millions of copies worldwide.
In the morning, you’ll get a specific prompt on your Android device that you can respond to – the Five Minute journal focuses on improving your positive outlook on life using advanced psychology lessons.
One of the good things about the app version over the physical journal is that you can add pictures to the post very easily. You also get a daily quote which is shared online too, as well as a mood tracker in-built into the app.
This format works effectively and covers all aspects of journaling, and it’s translated from physical to app format very well.
It will probably be the ideal choice for those who try and start their daily habit writing, but often fail – the FMJ works well, and can keep you motivated to stick with it instead of abandoning it.
Plus, you can customize entry prompts or cadences to meet your needs, which isn’t something you get with free diary apps.
The idea is to help you improve your overall mood, as well as forcing you to increase your appreciation for the smaller things in life. The ability to switch into dark mode is a nice touch too.
This is definitely one of the best diary apps that you can download for Android, but you need to dedicate yourself to the system to really appreciate it.
Grid Diary – A diary & note taking app combo
Grid Diary claims to be an easy way to create and maintain a diary. The diary app provides you with numbered boxes for which you can create a custom header, or form your own diary made up of different grids.
The real advantage of Grid Diary, as the name suggests, is that you can use different grids for different things.
The defaults include things such as the “Wins today” and “Personal growth“, but realistically you can change these different grids into whatever you want them to be.
This means that if you want to use one as your evening diary for short notes, you can. You can then use other grids for whatever you want – a long form weekly diary, a to do list or something else.
You are able to check entries using the integrated calendar, or you can change the view within the app that will allow you to look over all entries on the grid. When using paid versions, you can also sync the app up to your laptop too.
Grid Diary is a solid choice for journaling during the same situations, and it’s extremely customisable, so you can really set it up however you desire – all you need to do is ask yourself the right questions to help your life become more productive.
Journey – Simple and clean interface for digital journals
Another good diary app that will suit those looking for something simple is Journey. This app is designed in a minimalistic way, and the clean design will make it extremely easy-to-use on a day to day basis.
The idea of Journey is to help improve your concentration, reduce stress and allow you to sleep better. This is reflected in the clean user interface that’s easy to navigate.
If you love travelling, this is a great apps that allows you to take notes about different places you have visited. This is super handy when you visit different countries, as you’ll be able to make memories and remember them when you’re done.
There are a couple of other things that make Journey stand out. Firstly, you can easily set up the Coach option, which can help you to get into a daily or even weekly pattern of writing in your diary.
Another is that there’s a very easy Zapier integration, which allows you to easily set up automatic backups via linking it to a third party app. And, you can auto publish your notes somewhere else using Zapier too.
It’s also very easy to sync Journey up to your Google Drive too, which is perfect for Android users.
It’s a solid choice if you’re looking to create diary entries with the ability to add photos, use a calendar view and utilise many other core journaling features too.
Diaro – Add double password protection on journal entries
This is a simple journal app called Diaro. It’s a pretty simple app, but it has some great features that make it a great digital journal.
One reason why some users will love Diaro is that it allows easy password protection when you create journal entries – this means that you can stop others from accessing the app, even if your phone is unlocked.
Calendar view show the entry lists in chronological order. Furthermore, you can modify the layout of your app too by changing your fonts settings, which makes it feel like a more unique journal app.
One of the best things about the Diaro app is that you can easily use it offline, and you can link it up to Dropbox if you want to backup your previous entries too.
If you want access to the Premium version, then you can upgrade with a one time purchase. The premium features do make the app worthwhile, as it has pretty much everything you could want in a journal.
Conclusion
Journals help you increase your productivity, and in just a few hours each week, you can start to see a difference.
Just write down your thoughts or take notes during your work days and you’ll start to notice an improvement in your memory.
The truth is, ritually using a diary can be hard. This new habit demands dedication, and the right journaling app helps with this problem, as it can ensure you establish a daily writing schedule (matched with a day planner app is even better!).
If you want to write down how your day went, consider using a diary app to make the structure of your sentences – and then days – a little more memorable.
