Their site doesn't seem to have a lot of info about its features, but from the screenshots it doesn't seem to do much that the built-in Apple Notes doesn't do. Weather and geotagging are unique, of course, but I'm not sure those are worth $45 (for the iOS and macOS app together) to me.

What in particular do you think DayOne offers that can't be offered by Notes on iOS or macOS?

IMHO nothing better really. The price hike is really surprising. No, this app really doesn't do anything special. But it seems there are people (and a lot of them) to whom this app appeals a lot and I am sure they find it useful and it works for them. I think the look and feel is very clean and gives a diary like experience maybe. But anyway, its Mac app cost just doesn't make sense to me at least.

One can try this - a full screen writer app like WriteRoom or CleanWriter (my favourite - just love the type writer sound) or iA Writer and write in simple text files and save in an encrypted folder and sync it with the service of your choice self hosted or otherwise.

You can do journaling in Notes or any notetaking app for that matter. The difference with Day One doesn't really appear in a feature list... it's the user experience. It's built around making journaling a smooth experience and presenting the result as a journal, rather than a collection of notes.

It's not necessary. But, it's nice.

The current price tag is a little surprising. I picked it up years ago on iOS for like $3. The version I have has been rebranded to Day One Classic.

I had one back when I used a Mac. It is one of very few programs I miss from my Mac and I still look from time to time to see if they have poeted it yet.

The other was "Alarms" which was discontinued even on Mac.

>When I type, I'm able to render my thoughts directly into text, whereas when I write with a pen I have to think about the physical process of writing. I imagine I'm not the only one here who feels this way.

I struggle with this personally because while I know that typing is a faster way to get things down, I really really like the "analog" method of physically writing something down. It offers me some amount of tangible pleasure, but like you said, by the time I get the idea down much of that initial mental spark is fading so it becomes a race against the pen.

Perhaps there's some combination I could practice. Anyhow, this app looks quite neat and I will definitely check it out. Thanks for the link.

>> When I type, I'm able to render my thoughts directly into text, whereas when I write with a pen I have to think about the physical process of writing. I imagine I'm not the only one here who feels this way.

It is still the reverse for me. For me, writing involves less cognitive load than typing:

While writing, my mind wanders into thinking more (probably since it still has a capacity to, perhaps just because writing is slower than typing) which helps further.

While typing, I still make a lot of mistakes, which take attention away. I hate touch-screen keyboards as my error rate with them continues to be an order of magnitude higher than the same with physical keyboards even after several years of use.

you might want to try fountainpens. they make physical process of writing fun and enjoyable. i like the mindful part of writing slowly with pens.