Day One alternative A note for every day, in the app that holds the rest.

Day One syncs between devices with Silver, at $49.99 a year. Varlig gives every day and every week a note of its own, keeps your photos with your entries, and syncs through your own iCloud, free.

Join the beta Varlig and Day One, side by side

Why people switch from Day One

Sync without a subscription
Day One’s free plan backs up one device and doesn’t sync. Varlig syncs every Mac, iPhone and iPad through your own iCloud, free.
All your photos
Day One’s free plan keeps one photo per entry. A Varlig note holds as many pictures and files as you add.
Your journal beside your notes
Today’s note and this week’s note sit with your plans, lists and calculations, and a calendar shows the days you wrote.

What comes with you

Every entry, as a note
Photos, videos, audio and PDFs
When each entry was written and last edited
Places, as links to Apple Maps
Tags, plus #dayone on every entry
Starred entries, pinned

Move in three steps

In Day One, export your journal as JSON. Day One saves a .zip file with your photos inside.
In Varlig on your Mac, choose File › Import Notes… and choose the .zip. On iPhone and iPad, use Import Notes… in a note list’s … menu.
Choose Keep original dates, check the review and import. Day One stays as it was.

Journal names and weather don’t come across. To keep journals apart, export them one at a time and give each one’s entries a tag of their own. Each export can be up to 200 MB.

Import, export and backups

Varlig and Day One, side by side

Feature	Varlig	Day One
Sync between your devices	Free, through your own iCloud	Day One Silver, $49.99 a year
Photos in an entry	As many as you add	One on the free plan, up to 30 with Silver
Daily and weekly notes	Free, with a calendar of your days	Entries in journals, with a calendar
End-to-end encryption	For notes you protect with a password	For every journal, on every plan
Notes, lists and calculations	In the same app, with units, currencies and dates	A journal only
Where it runs	Mac, iPhone and iPad	Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Android, Windows and the web

Checked October 2026. Prices in US dollars, as each app lists them; they may change.

When Day One may suit you better

You want every entry end-to-end encrypted without giving each one a password.
You journal on Android, Windows, Apple Watch or the web.
You love Day One’s extras, such as daily prompts, weather and printed books.

Questions about switching from Day One

Does importing change my Day One journals?

No. Varlig reads Day One’s export and makes its own copies, so your journals stay as they were.

Do my photos come across?

Yes. Photos, videos, audio and PDFs in your export are attached to their entries, where they appeared.

Can I import an encrypted journal?

Export it from Day One on a device where the journal is unlocked: Varlig needs entries it can read. It can’t open a .zip file protected with a password.

Do imported entries show up in Varlig’s journal?

They arrive as notes with their original dates and the tag #dayone. Varlig’s journal holds the notes you write in it from now on, one for each day and one for each week.

Can I keep my journal private?

Yes. Give any note a password and Varlig encrypts it on your device, free, and you can lock the whole app too. Your notes stay on your devices and in your own iCloud.

Is Varlig free?

Yes: unlimited notes, daily and weekly notes, iCloud sync and every calculation are free. Varlig Pro adds extras such as journal templates and On This Day.

Write the plan.
Varlig does the sums.

Join the beta

Import, iCloud sync and shared notes are free in Varlig. Varlig Pro adds power tools when you want them.