Notebooks
A guided walkthrough of how Notebooks let you group and control visibility of your journal entries and stories.
A free journal for Android and the web
Journaling Evolved.
Full journaling, free. Not a trial.
A free personal journal that helps you understand how your life is changing. Unlimited entries, moods and tags, notebooks, goals, sleep, and AI that reads your journal back to you. No entry cap, no trial clock, no paywall on the part you came for.
iPhone: coming soon. Developed as a web-first app, so it works well on all modern browsers.
- No entry cap
- No trial clock
- No ads
- Private by default
The page
A page that looks like one.
On the web, start writing from the Write Cafe and the page opens over a photograph: a lake at first light, a chalkboard, a compass on an old map. Nothing between you and the words but one save bar.
Write
Write it down. Tag how it felt.
A fast, quiet editor with no entry cap. Mark your mood, tag entries however you think, and search everything you have ever written from the top of your journal.
Moods
Read it back, with how it felt.
Open an entry on the web and it sits over a photograph too, with its mood and tags underneath. Private by default: an entry is yours alone until you choose to share it.
Notebooks
A notebook for each part of your life.
Morning pages, work, the garden, a year, a person. Keep them apart, or let them run together in one timeline.
Reflect
AI that reads your journal back to you.
Daily, weekly and monthly reflections find the topics and patterns in what you wrote. Ask JQ, the built-in companion, about anything in your journal.
A real month, read back
Thirty days of entries. Here is what the reflection noticed.
Emily wrote 42 entries over 27 days this spring. Below are four of them, word for word, and the monthly reflection HiveJournal wrote from all 42, unedited.
From her journal
Apr 12 · overwhelmed
Big deadline looming at work, and the pressure feels heavier with each email. Caught myself worrying about Jack’s freelancing again—wondering if I’m being too pushy or if my standards are just what he needs right now.
Apr 14 · peaceful
Jack said he appreciates my push for stability even if he doesn’t always agree. It felt good to hear. I took a break from work to take a long walk…
May 1 · contemplative
It’s funny how reconnecting with an old friend lifted my spirits, yet I can’t help but feel the familiar tension with Jack lingering in the back of my mind.
May 6 · reflective
I can’t stop thinking about the conversation Jack and I had last night. Or rather, the argument. It feels like I just spiraled into a familiar pattern—my instinct to protect our financial stability clashing with his need to explore creativity.
Monthly reflection
Topics
- Relationship tension and communication with Jack
- Work deadlines, promotion, and performance pressure
- Financial security versus creative ambition
- Friendship, social connection, and trip planning
- Yoga, walks, and other grounding routines
Patterns
- Repeatedly replaying arguments and worrying about finances appear alongside descriptions of anxiety, heaviness, and difficulty focusing.
See the entries behind this →Hide the entries
24 of her 42 entries mention an argument or money. Three of them:
- Apr 17 · reflective“I mean, I worry so much about finances, about the future, that I forget to consider his passion.”
- May 4 · contemplative“It's 11:47pm, and I can’t stop replaying the argument with Jack in my mind.”
- May 7 · heavy“I hate feeling like I’m pressuring him—I want him to succeed, but my mind goes straight to the practical financials.”
- Work milestones and deadlines bring both pride or excitement and increased pressure; a promotion is valued but also raises expectations.
See the entries behind this →Hide the entries
32 of her 42 entries mention the deadline or her promotion. Three of them:
- Apr 16 · reflective“I had the promotion talk at work, which should've felt like an upward lift. Instead, with a deadline looming, my thoughts swirled like the clouds outside.”
- Apr 29 · reflective“I’m pleased with the promotion, but I don't want to let the pressure break me.”
- May 10 · conflicted“My promotion should be a boost, but lately it feels like a weight.”
- Social connection, trip planning, yoga, and walking are described as sources of relief or renewed perspective, though their benefits may coexist with ongoing stress.
See the entries behind this →Hide the entries
25 of her 42 entries mention yoga, a walk or the trip. Three of them:
- Apr 14 · peaceful“I took a break from work to take a long walk — the city holds so much potential, even amidst this pressure.”
- Apr 16 · reflective“On the other hand, planning the upcoming trip with friends is a balm.”
- May 6 · reflective“Tonight, I feel a little more grounded amidst the chaos, partly because of the yoga practice I squeezed in earlier today.”
One thing to try
Schedule a brief daily reset—such as yoga, a walk, or a supportive conversation—and use a planned, calm check-in with Jack to discuss financial concerns and creative goals without trying to resolve everything during an argument.
Emily is one of HiveJournal’s AI test writers, not a real person: an AI writes her journal so we can try features on a realistic one. The reflection is the same monthly reflection your journal runs, shown here with three of its patterns and one of its suggestions. The reflection doesn’t cite entries itself; we picked the quotes under each pattern, word for word, to show where it comes from. Yours is written only when you ask for one, or if you turn on automatic reflections, which are off by default.
Track
Goals and sleep in the same place.
Set goals and check in against them. Log how you slept, night by night, and see it next to what you wrote.
Night
The same page, after dark.
Dark mode on the web keeps the scene and turns the text soft white, so a late entry does not mean a bright screen.
See it move
Short walkthroughs, narrated.
A minute or two each, hands-free. Scroll sideways for more.
Your journal stays yours
The most private thing you write deserves more than a promise.
Private by default
Every entry is yours alone until you choose to share one, as a single link.
Locked at the database
Row-level security means the database itself only lets you read your entries, not just the app.
A lock on the app
Open the app with a PIN, Face ID or your fingerprint.
No ads
We never sell your data, and the app has no third-party trackers or ad SDKs.
Leave with everything
Delete your account and everything in it from Settings, whenever you want.
Who can read it
Entries are encrypted in transit and at rest, but not end-to-end, so our systems can technically read them. Text goes to an AI provider only when you use an AI feature.
The details are in plain words in our privacy policy.
Same account, more to try
Other things we make.
Your account opens these too. Use them or don’t: the journal never depends on them.
Cornerstone Display
Your family's shared home screen: routines, calendar and dinner on an old tablet or a spare TV. Nothing to buy.
See the Cornerstone Display →Stories on Graphene
Serialized fiction from HiveJournal's story network, told in episodes. Your own entries can become a story too.
Browse the stories →Songs from journals
Short, original songs made from entries, with names removed. Yours stays private unless you share it.
Listen to a few →Made by Sandon Jurowski, who also built HabitForge, and by Point Seven Studio. HiveJournal first went on sale in the App Store in June 2020. The Android app followed on Google Play in August 2026, and the new iPhone app is next.
Questions
- Can you read my journal?
- In the app, only you can: the database itself only lets your account read your entries. They are encrypted in transit and at rest, but not end-to-end, so our systems can technically read stored entries, and access is limited to authorized personnel. The privacy policy has the details.
- What does the AI do with my entries?
- Nothing until you use an AI feature. Asking for a reflection, chatting with JQ or making a song sends the text it needs to our AI provider. Automatic reflections, automatic mood and the weekly song are off unless you turn them on. We do not use your writing to train AI models.
- Is it really free?
- Yes. Entries, moods, tags, notebooks, search, goals, sleep and AI reflection are free in full, with no entry limit and no trial clock. Paid plans exist for other HiveJournal tools, not for your journal.
- Is there an iPhone app?
- It is coming soon. Until then, HiveJournal works in Safari on your iPhone, and you can add it to your home screen.
- Can I use it on my phone and my computer?
- Yes. It is one account: write on Android or on the web at hivejournal.com and your journal is the same in both.
The journal is complete on its own. When you want more, the same account opens stories, audio, rehearsal and connection tools. Explore everything HiveJournal makes