GoKawiilStephen Headrick / Android Authority
I’m closing in on 10,000 journal entries since I started way back in 2014. I’ve been a dedicated Day One user that entire time, but every once in a while, I see a new journal app that makes me think about switching. Last year, Google released its very own journal app, and I have to say, as a huge fan of modern Android design — and more specifically, Material 3 Expressive — Google’s Journal app immediately caught my eye.
I have to get this out of the way right at the start: I haven’t found anywhere that explicitly confirms that Pixel Journal uses end-to-end encryption. Google only states that, although the data you enter into Journal is processed on your device, if you choose to back it up to your Google account, “Google uses world-class security to protect the entries you back up or share.” Day One, on the other hand, makes it loud and clear that end-to-end encryption is enabled by default. My journal would probably be super boring to anyone else, but I still want it to be a safe space for my thoughts, and that absolutely means end-to-end encryption is a must-have for me. That said, Google’s app still has some fun features and design touches that I really like, so if that encryption caveat isn’t an issue for you, it’s worth taking a look. Let’s dive in.
Do you journal? 8 votes Yes, in an app. 0 % Yes, in a physical notebook. 13 % No, but I should probably start. 50 % No, and I don't want to. 38 %
A visually pleasant place to be
Stephen Headrick / Android Authority
Pixel Journal has a number of features that I wish I had in Day One. Of these, most noticeable is Google’s use of Material Design standards in its app. This app feels smooth and modern in a way that Day One does not. Although Day One has improved a lot on this front since it initially came to Android, I still see lag when doing relatively simple things in the app. Just try tapping the journal switcher button; you’ll notice it takes a moment before the drawer slides up from the bottom of the screen. Maybe it’s due to its simplicity, but I don’t see this when perusing around in Pixel Journal.
I also like that Material You theming is incorporated in Journal, making the UI match the color you’ve chosen in your device’s theme settings. While Day One does allow you to choose the color of your journal from a pre-selected list of color options, Material theming is a central design feature of Android these days, and I love that Google uses it in Journal. Like the rest of my Pixel UI, my journal is green right now; it’s March, so I chose St. Patrick’s Day colors for this month’s Material You theme, and that’s auto-applied to my journal, too. Ideally, I’d go one step further if I were Google and allow Material theming as an option, in addition to selecting a color manually — almost a combination of what these two apps offer.
Stephen Headrick / Android Authority
To put it simply: if I were building a brand new journal app for Android right now, it would look more like Pixel Journal and less like Day One. Day One seems to be trying, though, with some of its newer features incorporating newer Android components, but its timeline view, for example — which is the main view that people see and interact with most frequently — looks stale and dated. I should also mention one of my biggest pet peeves about Day One: it uses a font across the entire app that I believe was used more in older versions of Android, and it’s just plain ugly to me. It doesn’t look good in the modern world of Android, and typography in a writing app is of utmost importance. Day One on iOS has a whole list of fonts to choose from, but the Android version has been stuck with this one font since its inception. Pixel Journal at least uses a more modern font and allows you to choose between serif and sans serif, although once again, I’d prefer even more options than either app has.
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