I built Cozy for the desk first, a real window, a real keyboard, a calendar you can move through. But most of what's worth writing down happens away from the desk, so the journal had to come along. Cozy for iPhone and iPad is the same journal, reading the same folder of files, on whichever device is to hand.
A diary app for iPhone and iPad, if that's the word you use
Journal, diary, log: it's the same act either way. You open it, you write what happened, you close it. Cozy gives you a dated entry, a calendar to walk back through, and moods and photos if you want them. If you've been looking for a diary app for iPhone or iPad and kept landing on subscriptions or apps that hold your writing hostage, this is the one that just leaves it in files.
It's the same journal, not a companion app
A lot of desktop apps ship a phone version that can only view things, or only capture things. Cozy on iPhone and iPad does what Cozy on the desktop does, write a new entry, go back and write into an old day, format text, add photos and video, tag and track. It's reading the same Markdown files, so an entry you start on the couch is the same entry you finish at your desk.
Your entries stay plain files, on iOS too
- Plain Markdown. Every entry is a .md file you can open in the Files app, in any editor, on any computer.
- No account. Nothing to sign up for, no password, no profile.
- No Cozy server. Nothing leaves your phone through me. The only thing your writing touches is your own iCloud.
- Nothing to leave. Because it's your folder, walking away from Cozy costs you nothing, the journal is already in a format that outlives the app.
Sync runs through your iCloud Drive
Keep your journal folder in iCloud Drive on your Mac or PC and Cozy on your iPhone or iPad opens that same folder. Apple does the syncing; Cozy just reads the files. That's the whole mechanism, and it's the reason there's no monthly fee, there's no server on my end to pay for.
The trade is that iCloud Drive is the only route to iOS. Between computers you can use Dropbox, OneDrive, or anything else that syncs a folder. To an iPhone or an iPad, it has to be iCloud.
One purchase, and the phone and iPad come with it
Cozy is a one-time $35 for the desktop app, and that single license covers every Mac and Windows PC you own plus Cozy for iPhone and iPad. Enter the same key on your phone and it unlocks. If you only want the phone app, it's $19.99 on its own, once, not monthly.
Right now the iPhone and iPad app is in an open beta on TestFlight , free to join for as long as it runs. Anyone can get in; you don't need an invite and you don't need a license yet.
How does Cozy compare to other iOS journal apps?
I built one of these, so weigh my opinion accordingly. The facts in the table are the ones I'd want if I were choosing, and where another app beats Cozy on iOS, it says so.
| Cozy | Day One | Apple Journal | Journey | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price model | One-time: $35 desktop with iPhone and iPad included, or $19.99 phone only | Subscription: $49.99–$74.99 / year | Free | Subscription: $6.99 / month or $49.99 / year · $199 lifetime |
| Where entries live | Plain Markdown files in your own iCloud Drive | Day One's servers, own format, end-to-end encrypted | Inside Apple's Journal system | Journey's cloud, or Google Drive |
| Account required | No | Yes, for sync | Apple ID | Yes, Google or email sign-in |
| Platforms | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Windows | iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, web | Apple only, iPhone, Mac | iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, Linux, web |
| Sync | Your own iCloud Drive | Built in and handled for you | iCloud, automatic | Built in, through Journey's cloud |
Day One
The most polished journal on the iPhone, and the one most people try first. Sync across iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch is handled for you and it works well, the photo handling is excellent, and the end-to-end encryption is real. The trade is the arrangement: $49.99 a year for Silver or $74.99 for Gold, and your entries sit on Day One's servers in a format only Day One reads. If you want Android today, it beats Cozy. Cozy vs Day One →
Apple Journal
Free, already on your phone, and Apple's privacy claims here are not marketing, entries are encrypted on device and in iCloud. If you live entirely on Apple devices and want nothing more than a place to write, there's a real argument for just using it. The catch is that your journal lives inside the Journal system and your Apple ID: it isn't there the day you sit down at a Windows machine, and getting the writing out as files means an export. Cozy vs Apple Journal →
Journey
The most cross-platform of the bunch, iPhone, Android, desktop, and a web app, with a clean interface and a Google sign-in. If you switch between an iPhone and an Android, or want to write from a browser at work, Journey does things Cozy doesn't. Entries live in Journey's cloud rather than as files you hold. Cozy vs Journey →
Where Cozy falls short on iOS
Two things, and I'd rather you hear them from me. There's no Android version, so if your household is split, Day One or Journey serves you better. And sync to iOS only works through iCloud Drive; if you've built your life on Dropbox, that's a folder you'll have to move.
If you got here from a Reddit thread
Every "best journaling app for iPhone" thread ends the same way, a wall of subscriptions, and one person quietly asking whether anything just saves plain files you can keep. I couldn't find that app, so I built it. If that's the thread that sent you here, this is the one I'd have posted.
Head-to-head: Cozy vs Day One, Cozy vs Apple Journal, Cozy vs Journey.
Related reading: the best journaling apps in 2026, a journal app for Mac, a private journaling app, and a journaling app without a subscription.
I'm loving Cozy so far and can't wait to try out the iPhone app as well when it's ready. Everything is working really well and it is a great writing experience in the app, very enjoyable to use.