United Kingdom
A private journal for British writers, with nothing to disclose.
UK GDPR governs how organisations handle your personal data. We hold none of it — so there is no controller, no processor, and no record to request.
The Data Protection Act 2018 and UK GDPR are, on the whole, a grown-up settlement. They assume the app collects something and then set rules for how it must behave. The Eternal Journal sidesteps the whole apparatus by collecting nothing: your entries are encrypted in your browser and never leave the machine you wrote them on.
That has a practical consequence worth stating plainly. If you filed a subject access request with us tomorrow, the honest and complete answer would be that we hold no journal content of yours, because none has ever reached us. There is no lawful-basis argument to have, no legitimate-interest balancing test, no international transfer to justify under the UK's adequacy arrangements.
It also means there is no ICO complaint that could recover your writing if you lose it. That cuts both ways, and we would rather say so than let you find out later. Export a copy regularly; the export stays encrypted with your passphrase.
Practically: the file runs from a Hackney flat, a Bloomsbury study, a Glasgow tenement, or the long dead-signal stretch of the Northern line. There is no connection to lose. It handles a UK keyboard layout, and Welsh, Scots and Gàidhlig input, because it stores plain Unicode and does not autocorrect anything into English.
Pay once, keep forever, and give the second untouched copy to one person you trust.
The Typewriter Experience
The cursor stays. The text moves.
In Write mode, your cursor remains exactly at the centre of the screen. The page rises up to meet it. Past words fade into soft shadow at the edges, leaving the present sentence in clear focus. Switch to Read mode and the entry flattens into an evenly lit document — the fade is for writing; the flat light is for returning.
Radical Privacy & Encryption
AES-256-GCM, in your browser, with a key only you derive.
- ·PBKDF2 key derivation at 600,000 iterations — the OWASP 2024 recommendation. Existing journals upgrade transparently on first unlock.
- ·No accounts, no telemetry, no analytics, no cookies, no third-party scripts.
- ·IndexedDB storage with a localStorage fallback. Encrypted before it touches the disk.
- ·The file is not minified. You can read the source. We'd rather you trust it than us.
What It Does Not Do
- ✕No word counts chasing you across the screen.
- ✕No formatting toolbar wrestling your thoughts into neatness.
- ✕No cloud sync. No distant servers. Your words stay yours.
- ✕No social sharing. Your vulnerability is not content.
- ✕No AI assistant finishing your sentences.
- ✕No streak counters. No guilt. No gamification.
- ✕No subscriptions. No mood trackers. No noise.
Licensing & Gift Copy
One purchase covers up to three of your personal devices. It also includes a second untouched copy of the file — meant to be given to one person you trust. Lifetime updates. 30-day, no-questions refund. If you run a clinic, school, or workplace and want a copy for everyone, ask us about a site licence.
One Purchase. Yours Forever.
The price is $24 today. It will become $29.
One-time payment
Get The Eternal JournalQuestions
Does it comply with UK GDPR?
Compliance is mostly moot. UK GDPR governs organisations handling personal data, and we hold none of your journal content. There is no controller, no processor, no transfer, and no record to subject-access.
What would a subject access request return?
For journal content, nothing — it has never reached us. If you bought a licence, Paddle holds the purchase record as merchant of record, and you can request that from them.
Can I pay in pounds?
Checkout is priced in US dollars through Paddle. Your card network converts to pounds and the total is shown before you confirm. Paddle handles UK VAT as merchant of record.
Will it work on a UK keyboard, or in Welsh and Gaelic?
Yes. The journal stores plain Unicode and respects whatever layout your OS is set to. There is no autocorrect making English of your Gàidhlig.
Does it work with no signal — Tube, train, Highlands?
Yes. Once the file is on your device it makes no network calls at all. Signal blackspots are irrelevant to it.
Is it safe if my laptop is stolen on a train?
Entries are encrypted with AES-256-GCM before they touch disk, keyed from your passphrase via PBKDF2 at 600,000 iterations. With a strong passphrase the file is opaque to whoever has the laptop.
More in By Location
See all →GDPR-friendly by architecture, not by paperwork.
Most apps meet the GDPR with a stack of documents arranged around an unavoidable fact: they collect data. We arranged the software so there is nothing to document.
A private journal with no cloud copy to subpoena.
No data brokers, no de-identified telemetry sold downstream, no second copy sitting on someone else's disk waiting to be requested.
A private journal for the long Canadian winter.
PIPEDA and Quebec's Law 25 both regulate organisations that collect personal information. We collect none of your writing, so neither obligation attaches to it.
A private journal that works where the network doesn't.
The Australian Privacy Principles bind entities that handle personal information. This one handles none — and it needs no connection to run.
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Core
A private, offline journal that asks nothing of you.
One file. One password. Yours forever. No accounts, no cloud, no algorithms reading your three-in-the-morning thoughts.
Core
An encrypted journal where the passphrase never leaves your device.
AES-256-GCM with PBKDF2 key derivation at 600,000 iterations — the OWASP 2024 recommendation. Done in your browser, not on a server.
Core
A journal that doesn't track you. At all. Ever.
No analytics. No cookies. No third-party scripts. No "anonymous usage data." If you view the file source, you'll see for yourself.
Comparisons
The Eternal Journal vs Day One.
Both are journals. They're built on opposite assumptions about where your writing should live.
The cursor will be there when you return.
Centered. Blinking. Patient.
Start Writing