Wirecutter: The Best Journaling Apps

Your life, written down and remembered.

Dabble Me is like a private timeline of your life. Journal a few lines about your day, add some photos, and rewind back to them.

Write by email or app
Attach photos
Rewind past entries
Daily inspirations
Inbox — Daily Emails

Dabble me.

To: [email protected]

It's Friday, Nov 13. How was your day?

November 13, 2026 8:00pm

Reply to this email with your entry for November 13.

On this day 10 years ago • Sun, Nov 13, 2016 you wrote...

Halfway through dinner, we both just stopped talking and smiled at each other like we'd known this was coming. That comfortable silence said more than the conversation.

Memory photo
What is a piece of advice you'd give your younger self?

Most people don’t stop journaling because they don’t care. They stop because life gets busy.

Dabble Me is built for that reality. Instead of asking you to make time, it fits into the day you already have — with a simple email and gentle reminders of moments you’d otherwise lose.

1,982,396

Total emails processed

Everything you need to keep journaling.

Simple, private, and designed to fit into real life.

Email or App

Hit reply on a daily email, or open the iPhone app. Write a few lines. Done.

Get the iOS app (beta)

Rewind

Your emails bring back past entries, from this day years ago or just a few weeks back. Rediscover moments you didn’t realize you’d forgotten.

Always Private

No social features. No sharing. No algorithms. Optional AI connector for ChatGPT and Claude — you approve access, and nothing runs until you connect. Your journal stays yours.

PRO

Custom Schedule

Choose when prompts arrive. Daily, weekly, or anywhere in between.

PRO

Photo Attachments

Attach up to 8 photos to any entry. Small moments, captured visually.

PRO

Calendar & Search

Browse entries by date, #hashtags, or search. Find what you’re looking for when it matters.

Start free. Upgrade when it feels right.

$0 /forever

Designed to help you get started.

  • Email prompts every other Sunday
  • Reply by email to journal
  • iPhone & iPad app
  • Read your entries online
  • Rewind to past entries
  • Export your data anytime
Start journaling
Habit-forming

$4 /month or $40/year

Designed to help you stay journaling.

  • Custom email schedule
  • Edit and organize entries
  • Photo attachments (up to 8)
  • Calendar view & search
  • iPhone & iPad app
  • AI connector
  • Tag your entries
  • Rich text formatting
  • Insights & Analytics
  • On This Day
  • Export your data anytime
Upgrade to PRO

Questions & Answers

Yes, by design. Your entries can’t be shared, posted, fed into AI models, or made public in any way...and they're never at risk of being indexed by search engines. There's no social layer and no audience — just your journal, kept private and secure. If you want the details, our Privacy Policy spells this out clearly.
Yes, for iPhone and iPad, in beta. Dabble Me for iOS is available now through Apple's TestFlight: join the beta to install it. Read your journal, write new entries, and get a daily reminder; photos, editing, search and On This Day are part of PRO.
There's no Android app yet. On any phone you can still write by replying to the daily email from your mail app, and the website works well on a small screen. PRO members can also connect Dabble Me to Claude or ChatGPT and journal from those apps, by voice if you like.
Yes. The core experience is free, forever. You'll receive an email prompt every other Sunday and can reply by email to keep your journal. When you want daily prompts, photos, search, and other tools, you can upgrade to PRO for $4/month or $40/year.
  • The One Framework — if journaling feels overwhelming, start here. Every evening, write just three things: 1 win from the day, 1 point of tension or stress, and 1 bit of gratitude. That's it. Five minutes, no pressure, and you'll start to see patterns in what lifts you up and what weighs you down. Popularized by Sahil Bloom, this simple framework makes journaling finally stick.
  • Travel Log — capture the places you go while you're still there. The name of that tiny restaurant, the street performer who made you cry, the wrong turn that led to the best view of the trip. Use #Paris or #RoadTrip2025 to group your adventures, and when the daily email resurfaces that random Tuesday in Tokyo three years later, you'll be right back on that train platform.
  • Relationship Time Capsule — write about the people you love while the moments are fresh. The thing your partner said that made you laugh, the weird inside joke your best friend started, the look on your mom's face when you surprised her. Tag entries with #Sarah or #Dad and build a searchable archive of the people who matter most—one that will guarantee you future smiles.
  • Career Wins & Lessons — it's easy to forget what you've accomplished at work by the time performance reviews roll around. Jot down the projects you crushed, the feedback you received, the hard conversations you navigated. Tag with #Work or #Promotion, and when you need to update your resume or negotiate a raise, you'll have receipts.
  • Gratitude Before Bed — end each day with one thing you're thankful for and tag it with #Gratitude. Over time, you'll build a searchable database of hundreds of small joys. When a tough day hits, scroll back through your gratitude entries and remember: your life is fuller than it feels right now.

Start remembering the days you’d otherwise lose.

Join thousands of people who’ve been writing with Dabble Me for years.

471,921 entries and counting.