I love my paper journals and fountain pens,but they don’t always fit the occasion – or my bag. I might be at a family gathering carrying a purse too small for a notebook, or where pulling out a journal would feel a little awkward. That’s when my phone comes in handy. I can scoot to a location and pull my phone out without anyone knowing. A quick note lets me catch a thought or remember something about my surroundings before the moment slips away. And let’s face it – everyone is on the phone these days. Although I chose an analog way to journal, the digital does come in handy, and I use it when the time calls for it — and it can be free.
Digital journaling can be as simple as a few sentences about your morning, a photograph with a caption, or a funny moment you want to remember. There’s no need to write a masterpiece. “Had coffee, watched the dog, forgot why I walked into the kitchen” counts perfectly well.
You can keep those little moments on your phone or bring them back to your paper journal later. The important part is catching them before they wander off in your mind (which happens often with me lately).
Here are a couple of free apps which I currently use. Apple Journal and Microsoft OneNotes.
🖋️Apple Journal – An easy option for iPhone and the one I currently use on IOS. You can have several “Journals”, and it has prompts to help you start. It is free and should already be installed on your iPhone. If not, you can go to the store and download it. I particularly like this one for simplicity and use it when I am a passenger in a car so my fountain pens don’t fly all over the pages of my journal.
🖋️Microsoft OneNote – A very flexible app. Unlike Apple Journal it can be used across Apple, Android, and Windows. You can write on an iPhone or iPad, then open the same notebook on an Android phone or Windows computer and vice versa. Basic use is free, and it’s notebooks, sections, and pages make longer entries easier to organize. You could have one journal notebook with a section for each month. Sign in with the same Microsoft account on each device and keep the notebook in OneDrive so your entries sync through the internet.
A couple of useful apps that will work too are:
🖋️Day One & 🖋️Goodnotes – For longer entries, photos, and collecting everyday memories. It is available on both Android and iPhone and also has a paid feature which allows you sync across platforms. This is nice if you like more of a ‘set-up’ style. I don’t use either of these anymore and I found that there were just too many templates to fiddle with and all I needed were simple entries. However, many people like these two and swear by them.
🖋️Reminders is another installed app on Apple and great for lists and just jotting a quick thought down and has has a ‘To Do’ or even ‘Groceries’ file. I will normally jot those in my “Anything-Anywhere-Anytime” A6 journal, but for lists that you need to send to someone, this app works great, but again on Apple only. Reminders can be categorized and it is super easy to use.
I hope all enjoyed this little tip and explore journaling this way if writing isn’t your thing. Sometimes the best journal is simply the one you have with you. Open your phone, catch the thought, maybe write it down when you get home, and carry on.
Til next time…
From The Rabbit Hole
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