Using Apple notes as a Journal

I’ve been slowly growing tired of trying third party apps on iOS. I’m not sure if it’s me getting older or trying to consolidate my data in one place but an area I needed to look at was journaling. This is something that I’ve been using DayOne for but not being a premium member It’s becoming a pain as I need to manually remember to backup and manage my entries.

That got me thinking about using Apple Notes as a journal. I use it for everything else so why not? The first thing I needed to do was to figure out my folder structure. I had plans for an elaborate setup but in the end kept it simple. I created a folder in Notes simply called Journal. Then within this folder I created a note called Journal 2019. I also pinned it and then added the notes widget to my today screen so that I can quickly get at it. Every day I create a new entry with the date and just jot down my thoughts along with any images I want to add to the day. It’s pretty simple but will always be in the order of latest first. I can also add as many images as I want, something I can’t do in DayOne without paying and giving them my data. There were two areas I wanted to address. The first was searching, well after testing I’m happy with what Notes gives me. Secondly images, I can add but if I want to look back I need to see all of the text too. DayOne is great for showing just images but I’ve decided I can just use the photos app for this. That’s how I’ve initially setup but now I am looking at shortcuts to let me quickly jot down my thoughts rather than fire up Notes every time. I’m happy I don’t have to remember to manually export and backup but now I need to figure out how to get my DayOne into Notes.
Lee Peterson @LJPUK