The Journal In Your Pocket
The Sealed Journal vs Apple Journal.
One comes free with the phone. The other comes free of the phone.
Apple Journal is genuinely good. It is free, it is polished, and it is already on your iPhone. It will suggest moments to write about, drawn from your photos, your workouts, your locations, the music you played. For many people that is exactly the encouragement they wanted.
It is also inseparable from the phone. Your journal lives inside an Apple ID, inside iCloud, inside an ecosystem — and the suggestions that make it easy are made possible by how much of your life the device already sees. The journal comes to you pre-filled with yourself.
The Sealed Journal is one HTML file. It runs in any browser on any machine, asks for no account, and suggests nothing. Nothing is drawn from anywhere except you, sitting down, deciding to write. That is a smaller offer, and for some people the right one.
The Facts, Side by Side
| Apple Journal | The Sealed Journal | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Free, bundled with iOS | One-time purchase |
| Current price | Included with iOS: Free | One purchase: $24 (rising to $29) once |
| Free tier | — | No — a live demo, then one price |
| Platforms | iPhone (iOS) first | Any modern browser, any operating system |
| Account required | Yes — Apple ID required for iCloud sync | No — no account, ever |
| Cloud sync | Optional — iCloud sync tied to your Apple ID | No sync, no server — a single offline HTML file |
| Encryption | Apple-managed encryption; strength depends on Advanced Data Protection settings | AES-256-GCM client-side, PBKDF2 at 600,000 iterations |
Bundled with iOS; not sold separately.
Apple Journal prices checked 11 August 2026. Source: www.apple.com. If you find a figure out of date, tell us and we'll correct it.
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 Sealed JournalQuestions
Isn't Apple Journal private too?
Apple's protections are real and, properly configured, strong. But the journal still lives inside an account and an ecosystem, and its privacy depends on settings, sync state, and Apple's architecture. Ours depends on one thing: a passphrase only you know, encrypting a file only you hold.
What if I don't use an iPhone?
Then Apple Journal isn't available to you at all — it is iPhone-first by design. The Sealed Journal runs wherever a browser runs: a ThinkPad, a Chromebook, a ten-year-old iMac.
Why pay $24 when Apple's journal is free?
You aren't paying for features — Apple has more. You're paying for the absence of everything else, and for a file that belongs to you rather than to a platform. Software bundled free with a platform ultimately serves the platform.
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The Sealed Journal vs Day One.
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The Sealed Journal vs journaling in Notion.
Notion is a brilliant tool for organising work. It is a strange place to put your inner life.
The Sealed Journal vs Apple Notes.
Apple Notes is the path of least resistance. The Sealed Journal is the path that takes the journaling seriously.
The Sealed Journal vs Obsidian for journaling.
Obsidian is for building a second brain. The Sealed Journal is for emptying the first one for a moment.
The Sealed Journal vs a paper notebook.
Paper is excellent. It also can't be locked, searched, or carried in the pocket of a thousand future devices.
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Core
Your journal lives on your machine. Not someone else's.
No syncing, no servers, no "your data is safe with us." Local storage, encrypted, yours.
Core
No account. No email. No "create your profile."
The Sealed Journal asks for one thing on first run: a passphrase you choose. That's it. That's the entire onboarding.
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.
Answers
Are journaling apps actually private?
A bedroom with the door ajar.
The cursor will be there when you return.
Centered. Blinking. Patient.
Start Writing