Are journaling apps actually private?

Usually less than they feel. A journal app feels private the way a bedroom feels private — you're alone when you write. But most journaling apps are cloud services: your entries travel to the company's servers, live in their backups, and are governed by a privacy policy that can change, a subpoena the company must answer, or an acquisition you don't get a vote on. Some are encrypted in transit but readable at rest. Some scan entries to power "insights." A growing number reserve the right to use your writing to develop AI features.

None of that requires bad intent. It's simply what cloud architecture does: it creates copies, and copies create obligations and risks.

The only privacy that doesn't depend on a company's ongoing good behaviour is structural: entries that never leave your device, encrypted with a key only you hold. That is the whole design of The Sealed Journal. We can't read your journal, mine it, train on it, lose it in a breach, or hand it to anyone — not because we promise not to, but because we never have it.