Thinkblot vs Day One
Pick Day One if you type your journal and want end-to-end encryption on every plan, templates and daily prompts, audio, and apps on Android, Windows and the web as well as Apple devices. Basic is free; Silver is $49.99 a year and Gold $74.99.
Pick Thinkblot if you'd rather keep a journal by hand. Its Journal gives you a ruled page for each day, reads only what you ask, offers a question from your week when you're stuck, and shows the page you wrote a year ago today.
Last checked: 27 October 2026 · Compared with Thinkblot's Journal notebook
Thinkblot and Day One, row by row.
| Thinkblot | Day One | |
|---|---|---|
| Platforms | iPhone (including iPhone Duo), iPad with Apple Pencil, Mac, and Apple Vision Pro (the iPad app). iOS and iPadOS 27.1 or later. | iPhone, iPad, Mac and Android, plus the web (Gold) and Windows (Daily Chat). |
| Handwriting recognition | Read on your device. Fixing a misread word changes the text, never your ink. | — |
| What happens to a line you write | It stays ink. When Thinkblot can help, a small blot appears at the end of the line. Tap it, and the line becomes a reminder, a drafted message, a payment or time on your calendar. | Entries are typed. You can add a drawing. |
| Tasks and reminders | A box in front of a line makes it a task. Tick the box on paper and it's done in Reminders too. Unticked tasks carry forward. | — |
| Maths | Write a sum and an equals sign, and the answer is written for you. Write “total” under a column and it adds itself. | — |
| Privacy, account and where data lives | No account and no Thinkblot server. Notebooks live on your devices and in your own iCloud. Private Cloud Compute is optional and asks first. | End-to-end encryption on all plans. For Gold's cloud AI, content is decrypted while it's processed, unless the model runs on the device. |
| Sync | Your own iCloud, through Apple's private CloudKit database, on the same Apple Account. | Day One Sync. |
| Export | PDF or Markdown. | — |
| Pricing model | Not out yet. Join the waitlist. | Basic free. Silver $49.99/year. Gold $74.99/year. Yearly only. |
| A page for each day | A ruled page for each day, written by hand. | Typed entries, with templates. |
| Prompts | A question from what you wrote this week, or from yesterday's photos, places and walks. | Daily prompts on every plan. Gold adds Daily Chat and Go Deeper. |
| Looking back | The page you wrote a year ago today. | — |
On a phone, scroll the table sideways.
What Day One users write about.
We read 149 App Store reviews of Day One rated 1 to 3 stars, posted since January 2025, and sorted each by what it complained about. These were the most common. Quotes are paraphrased, and no reviewer is named.
- 43Crashes and new bugs after updates
Stuck mid-update for days; cannot open or delete the app.
- 32Basics behind the paywall
Full-screen premium prompt with no close button blocks access to old entries.
- 24AI nobody asked for
AI button in compose view cannot be hidden; journaling is a place to avoid AI.
- 16Notes lost
An update wiped years of entries, including memories of a newborn.
- 16Slow, hot or heavy on storage
Typing lag: first letter takes seconds to appear; phone heats up.
Where Thinkblot is built differently.
Nothing happens to a line until you tap it. Set a notebook to Paper and nothing on it is read at all.
Notebooks live on your device and in your own iCloud. There's no Thinkblot server for them to be lost on, and a new device brings them back from iCloud.
Handwriting is read on your device. No account and no Thinkblot server; Private Cloud Compute is optional and asks first.
Sync runs through your own iCloud, in Apple's private CloudKit database, the same system Apple's own apps use.
Low-star reviews are a slice of any app's users, not a verdict. Day One also has many happy ones.
Where each one is better.
- End-to-end encryption on every plan.
- Android, Windows and the web.
- Templates, daily prompts and audio recording.
- More than ten years of journaling features.
- Writing by hand, on a ruled page for each day.
- Only what you ask is read.
- Yesterday's photos, places and workouts, to write beside.
- Read on your device or with Apple's Private Cloud Compute; kept in your iCloud.
Thinkblot vs Day One, asked.
- Is Thinkblot a Day One alternative?
- If you want to keep your journal by hand, yes. If you type your journal, or need it on Android, Windows or the web, Day One does more.
- Can I handwrite in Day One?
- Day One's entries are typed, and you can add drawings. It doesn't read handwriting. Thinkblot is made for writing by hand.
- Is a Thinkblot journal private?
- There's no Thinkblot account or server. Your Journal lives on your devices and in your own iCloud, and it reads only what you ask it to.
- Does Day One have AI?
- Day One Gold lists Daily Chat, highlights, Go Deeper, summaries and image generation. Encrypted content is decrypted while cloud AI processes it, unless the model runs on the device.
How do
you think?
Thinkblot is coming soon to iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Vision Pro. One email the day it's out. That's all.
Join the waitlistClaims about Day One come only from its own pages, as they read on 27 October 2026. Prices are in US dollars and may change.
Thinkblot facts come from the Thinkblot support page. Last checked: 27 October 2026.