They say habits are hard to keep, and I agree. That’s why I’m proud of myself for journaling for almost 10 years now, starting in 2016.

I still remember being at the zoo in New York and discovering the new Day One digital journal app. I thought to myself that it would be much easier to capture my thoughts on the spot instead of carrying a pen and notebook with me.

That night, I bought the app in my hotel room.

I’ve been using it consistently ever since—not every single day, but pretty close. The minimalist layout was what initially drew me in. Over the years, though, the features evolved and the pricing model changed from a one-time purchase to a subscription.

I was grandfathered into the Plus plan because I had already purchased the app, but newer features, such as video and voice recording, required a subscription.

Now, the price has increased to around $50 per year. That’s not a huge amount of money, but it’s not exactly cheap either. However, the price wasn’t the main reason I started looking elsewhere.

It was the layout.

The app that once felt minimalistic and pleasing gradually became more feature-heavy. At times, it started to feel almost like Microsoft Office—packed with features and options that I personally don’t need.

I’ve Looked Elsewhere Before

This isn’t the first time I’ve looked for an alternative.

I previously switched to Journey when I was using a Galaxy phone because Day One didn’t have an Android app at the time. Even today, I don’t think the Android version is as polished or feature-rich as the iOS version, which doesn’t make much sense to me considering how capable Android is.

Then, somewhat by accident, I stumbled upon Everlog.

The layout and design immediately caught my attention. It feels like a mix between Apple Journal and Day One, keeping the minimalist look and feel while maintaining the core features I care about.

There is also a one-time purchase option, although my experience with Journey taught me that a one-time payment doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll continue getting new features forever—especially when it comes to newer things like AI, which I’m not particularly interested in anyway.

So I decided to give Everlog a try.

The 15 GB Problem

As a test, I exported my entire Day One journal.

The export was around 15 GB, and getting it out wasn’t exactly painless. I had to keep the Day One app open during the process to make sure the export didn’t lose progress.

Once I had the file, I tried importing it into the iPad version of Everlog because my iPhone was running out of storage.

It failed.

The app crashed.

So I moved the export file to my Mac and tried importing it there instead.

Thankfully, that worked.

At this point, things were looking promising.

Except for one unexpected problem.

Storage.

The Storage Problem

A lot of people became frustrated when Day One started using its own cloud backup service for better reliability. Now I understand why.

Having a large journal archive means dealing with large backup files. I already pay for iCloud+, but even with that, I found myself needing to consider upgrading my storage further.

And this problem is only going to get worse as my journal continues to grow.

After almost 10 years of journaling, 15 GB isn’t exactly surprising. If I continue journaling for another 10 years, that number will only increase.

Then Came Sync

The other problem was syncing.

I had inconsistent results when trying to sync files between my Mac, iPhone, and iPad. Some files would appear on one device but not another.

I restarted the apps, restarted the devices, and tried troubleshooting the issue, but I still couldn’t get a consistently reliable experience.

And that’s when I started questioning whether switching was actually worth it.

Stability Matters

One of the things I value most in an app is stability.

That’s especially important when I’m using an app long-term to store personal data that I may want to access years from now.

Day One isn’t perfect. The price increase isn’t something I can simply brush aside, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the price increases again in the future.

But after almost 10 years of using it, Day One gives me something I value more than having the newest features:

stability.

My journal is important to me. I don’t want to constantly worry about whether my data will sync properly, whether an import will work, or whether a new app will still be around and supported years from now.

For me, that’s worth something.

So, Am I Staying With Day One?

For now, yes.

I’m still interested in alternatives because I love technology and I enjoy trying new apps. Everlog is interesting, and I may continue experimenting with it.

But after trying to move almost 10 years and 15 GB of journal entries, I realized that switching isn’t as simple as finding an app with a nicer interface.

There is something to be said for an app that has been quietly doing its job for years.

So for now, I’m sticking with Day One.

I’ll occasionally use Apple Journal as well, and on Android I’ll continue experimenting with Pixel Journal.

Maybe I’ll switch eventually.

But for now, Day One stays.