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Show HN: ZenJournal – Fast journal app with chat interface

56 points by randomor 7y ago

randomor 7y ago
Maker here. A while ago I wanted to find a journal app that would allow me to type my thoughts and ideas into a stream as if chatting or tweeting. I couldn't find anything. Most current journaling apps are either bloated with irrelevant features or require too much efforts like notifications, answering random questions, multiple taps, too much whitespaces, or forcing you to come up with a title. So I decided to create it using React Native, and V1 was published last year, and had gained a small user base. ZenJournal 2.0 offers a few unique features other than a single-stream focused interface where you can open and type: - Unified search and type: you can type '?' into the log entry point and start searching. - Discreet Mode: you can double tap your logs and it can obfuscate everything so you can comfortably journal in public spaces or show off your past efforts. - Pull to graph: you can pull from your stream to see a heatmap of your past 100 days. - Hashtag auto-suggestion. Organize everything using #hashtags and tap to search. V2 was just made available on iOS App Store today, with Android coming in the following months. Let me know if you have suggestions and feedback. Thank you!
- jamais 7y ago
  I just fell in love with this journal. that would be great if I had control over the fonts.
  - randomor 7y ago
    Thank you for the shout-out! Will add that to the feature list. What's your desired font?
    - piranha 7y ago
      I love Helvetica, but a bit bigger than default font size right now.
- iudqnolq 7y ago
  Slight error (no longer applicable): "iOS only. Coming to Android soon" And that makes me very happy, because this looks like exactly what I've been missing. Just downloaded.
alanng 7y ago
The biggest concern of me with journals is that I'm always afraid that one day the developers will stop developing it, and all my data will be gone. Therefore, I choose some reliable names like Evernote or Wordpress to store my thoughts there. Although agreeably, they are not fast and smooth, they provide reliability. How do you plan to solve this? I believe many people have the same concern as me because personal thoughts are very important.
- llagerlof 7y ago
  I know what you mean, but you are thinking in cloud applications. Well, this app works offline and allow export backup data, so I don't think this is a concern if you backup regularly. A non-blocking automated backup to Google Drive would be nice though.
- randomor 7y ago
  Very valid concern! Currently it exports to and restores from JSON so it's already 10x portable than most journal apps. I've been using this app for the last year and half consistently so it's hard to quit this habit now. In the event that I can no longer update this app, it will be open sourced. I’m also considering OS it before that so more can contribute. Also, right now the JSON format is extremely simple with a log key and timestamp key and anyone can create a compatible app. I'd recommend it as the new hello world project instead of a to-do list app. :)
- eitland 7y ago
  Evernote and reliable doesn't seem like something that shoumd be in the same sentence or am I seriously mistaken?
npo9 7y ago
Wow, I really like the privacy policy of this app. I think I’d rather use pen & paper for this sort of thing, but I might come back to this to use during times of very light travel
- randomor 7y ago
  Thanks for noticing: https://thezenjournal.com/#privacy https://thezenjournal.com/#privacy Pretty deliberate about the policy. I don't care about third-party analytics, especially in a journaling app. I use this to app sometimes multiple times a day, on the go. But I wanted to make sure the experience is as close and stress-free as pen & paper.
moreorless 7y ago
Looks awesome. How does the author monetize? If it is free, someting something.
- randomor 7y ago
  Right now I'm purely solving a personal pain, so I'm just offering it for free because I have to publish anyway and I kinda enjoy the process. As soon as there are enough requests coming in for features that I personally don't use, like syncing, appearance (color, fonts) customization, prompt questions etc. I'm going to experiment with a freemium model to make this more sustainable. This is also why I haven't open sourced it yet, because I want to leave room for experiment and make this sustainable long-term.
  - eitland 7y ago
    To me offline is more important than open source for an app like this. Sustainability without being another app that demands monthly payments is also important to me (there are some really nice examples of apps that play their freemium game excellently out there. Agenda on iOS come to mind as an example as does Manic Time on PC. I own both.)
criddell 7y ago
Thank you for making something that doesn't put all of it's data on somebody else's server. I love that it's an offline app.
jonteru 7y ago
For me, the killer feature in a journal is that it sends me reminders of what I was doing 1 month/year/etc ago. I was willing to pay for that feature in the app I use. Maybe it can be useful for your planning. All the other features seem to be spot on!
HenriNext 7y ago
Looks really nice, well done. The video was bit too fast for my slow post-christmas brain (plus fast pace doesn't induce feeling of calm and Zen). Otherwise perfect :)
- randomor 7y ago
  Thank you! Yes the video is a bit fast. I’ve slowed it down since my first draft but still too much content to be fit in the 30s.
genuineirony 7y ago
Honestly, I have fallen in love with this app.
- randomor 7y ago
  Wow thanks! I spent two weeks to create that space illustration myself so I guess it’s worth it... :) please give it a review or spread the word so more people can find it.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
llagerlof 7y ago
Well, I am testing this app since yesterday, now I can make some valid points. Things I loved: - Can start typing just after opening the app. - Can add text with line breaks. - The same button to confirm is the button to add a new text. - Clear and dark modes are very nice. - Easy to backup and restore. Things that would improve the app: - Edit previously saved records - Add a field "updatedAt" - Allow the user to quickly sort by "createdAt" or "updatedAt". - Add a marker to show the records that were updated (change the style of datetime, add a dot, an asterisk, etc. anything to show that this record was modified. Or show both datetimes on modified records). I just found one little strange behaviour. If you type just blank characters (spaces and/or LF), it allows you to add the entry. To finish, congratulations for this beautiful application.
- randomor 7y ago
  Thanks for the feedback! Although edit is something I rarely had the need to use, I agree it’s probably something that i have to add. Love the idea of having a marker to differentiate. About the spaces, yes you can add an empty line if you want. I’ve used it to add a separator. Sometimes I also just start or end my log with an empty line it also will separate logs if they are logged within five minutes(so they are auto grouped together). Are you using the iOS version? Would the Discreet Mode be useful to you at all? Please help spread the word and leave a review in the store if you can. Happy holidays!
  - llagerlof 7y ago
    > About the spaces, yes you can add an empty line if you want. Sorry, I think I don't explained well. What I meant to was if the user type only spaces, oy only LF, or both, without text and confirm, this entry will be recorded, but without any text.
    - randomor 7y ago
      Are you saying the app doesn’t prevent you from just adding blank logs as entries? That’s also intentional as a way to do separators. :)

56 points by randomor 7y ago

Maker here. A while ago I wanted to find a journal app that would allow me to type my thoughts and ideas into a stream as if chatting or tweeting. I couldn't find anything. Most current journaling apps are either bloated with irrelevant features or require too much efforts like notifications, answering random questions, multiple taps, too much whitespaces, or forcing you to come up with a title. So I decided to create it using React Native, and V1 was published last year, and had gained a small user base. ZenJournal 2.0 offers a few unique features other than a single-stream focused interface where you can open and type: - Unified search and type: you can type '?' into the log entry point and start searching. - Discreet Mode: you can double tap your logs and it can obfuscate everything so you can comfortably journal in public spaces or show off your past efforts. - Pull to graph: you can pull from your stream to see a heatmap of your past 100 days. - Hashtag auto-suggestion. Organize everything using #hashtags and tap to search. V2 was just made available on iOS App Store today, with Android coming in the following months. Let me know if you have suggestions and feedback. Thank you!

jamais 7y ago
I just fell in love with this journal. that would be great if I had control over the fonts.
- randomor 7y ago
  Thank you for the shout-out! Will add that to the feature list. What's your desired font?
  - piranha 7y ago
    I love Helvetica, but a bit bigger than default font size right now.
iudqnolq 7y ago
Slight error (no longer applicable): "iOS only. Coming to Android soon" And that makes me very happy, because this looks like exactly what I've been missing. Just downloaded.

alanng 7y ago

The biggest concern of me with journals is that I'm always afraid that one day the developers will stop developing it, and all my data will be gone. Therefore, I choose some reliable names like Evernote or Wordpress to store my thoughts there. Although agreeably, they are not fast and smooth, they provide reliability. How do you plan to solve this? I believe many people have the same concern as me because personal thoughts are very important.

llagerlof 7y ago
I know what you mean, but you are thinking in cloud applications. Well, this app works offline and allow export backup data, so I don't think this is a concern if you backup regularly. A non-blocking automated backup to Google Drive would be nice though.
randomor 7y ago
Very valid concern! Currently it exports to and restores from JSON so it's already 10x portable than most journal apps. I've been using this app for the last year and half consistently so it's hard to quit this habit now. In the event that I can no longer update this app, it will be open sourced. I’m also considering OS it before that so more can contribute. Also, right now the JSON format is extremely simple with a log key and timestamp key and anyone can create a compatible app. I'd recommend it as the new hello world project instead of a to-do list app. :)
eitland 7y ago
Evernote and reliable doesn't seem like something that shoumd be in the same sentence or am I seriously mistaken?

npo9 7y ago

Wow, I really like the privacy policy of this app. I think I’d rather use pen & paper for this sort of thing, but I might come back to this to use during times of very light travel

randomor 7y ago
Thanks for noticing: https://thezenjournal.com/#privacy https://thezenjournal.com/#privacy Pretty deliberate about the policy. I don't care about third-party analytics, especially in a journaling app. I use this to app sometimes multiple times a day, on the go. But I wanted to make sure the experience is as close and stress-free as pen & paper.

moreorless 7y ago

Looks awesome. How does the author monetize? If it is free, someting something.

randomor 7y ago
Right now I'm purely solving a personal pain, so I'm just offering it for free because I have to publish anyway and I kinda enjoy the process. As soon as there are enough requests coming in for features that I personally don't use, like syncing, appearance (color, fonts) customization, prompt questions etc. I'm going to experiment with a freemium model to make this more sustainable. This is also why I haven't open sourced it yet, because I want to leave room for experiment and make this sustainable long-term.
- eitland 7y ago
  To me offline is more important than open source for an app like this. Sustainability without being another app that demands monthly payments is also important to me (there are some really nice examples of apps that play their freemium game excellently out there. Agenda on iOS come to mind as an example as does Manic Time on PC. I own both.)

criddell 7y ago

Thank you for making something that doesn't put all of it's data on somebody else's server. I love that it's an offline app.

jonteru 7y ago

For me, the killer feature in a journal is that it sends me reminders of what I was doing 1 month/year/etc ago. I was willing to pay for that feature in the app I use. Maybe it can be useful for your planning. All the other features seem to be spot on!

HenriNext 7y ago

Looks really nice, well done. The video was bit too fast for my slow post-christmas brain (plus fast pace doesn't induce feeling of calm and Zen). Otherwise perfect :)

randomor 7y ago
Thank you! Yes the video is a bit fast. I’ve slowed it down since my first draft but still too much content to be fit in the 30s.

genuineirony 7y ago

Honestly, I have fallen in love with this app.

randomor 7y ago
Wow thanks! I spent two weeks to create that space illustration myself so I guess it’s worth it... :) please give it a review or spread the word so more people can find it.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

llagerlof 7y ago

Well, I am testing this app since yesterday, now I can make some valid points. Things I loved: - Can start typing just after opening the app. - Can add text with line breaks. - The same button to confirm is the button to add a new text. - Clear and dark modes are very nice. - Easy to backup and restore. Things that would improve the app: - Edit previously saved records - Add a field "updatedAt" - Allow the user to quickly sort by "createdAt" or "updatedAt". - Add a marker to show the records that were updated (change the style of datetime, add a dot, an asterisk, etc. anything to show that this record was modified. Or show both datetimes on modified records). I just found one little strange behaviour. If you type just blank characters (spaces and/or LF), it allows you to add the entry. To finish, congratulations for this beautiful application.

randomor 7y ago
Thanks for the feedback! Although edit is something I rarely had the need to use, I agree it’s probably something that i have to add. Love the idea of having a marker to differentiate. About the spaces, yes you can add an empty line if you want. I’ve used it to add a separator. Sometimes I also just start or end my log with an empty line it also will separate logs if they are logged within five minutes(so they are auto grouped together). Are you using the iOS version? Would the Discreet Mode be useful to you at all? Please help spread the word and leave a review in the store if you can. Happy holidays!
- llagerlof 7y ago
  > About the spaces, yes you can add an empty line if you want. Sorry, I think I don't explained well. What I meant to was if the user type only spaces, oy only LF, or both, without text and confirm, this entry will be recorded, but without any text.
  - randomor 7y ago
    Are you saying the app doesn’t prevent you from just adding blank logs as entries? That’s also intentional as a way to do separators. :)