I recently took up bullet journaling (well, I’m still in trial stage), so I wanted an app to get used to the system and log tasks on the go. Actually, there’s an official one called “The Bullet Journal Companion“, but I didn’t like the feel of it, especially the lack of customization: I am trying to set up a system that works for me, so I wanted something as similar as possible to what I am going to use on my bullet journal.

I tried a couple of apps, and finally settled for this one, called ‘My dark diary‘. Don’t let the name foul you: I think the original version had some kind of vampire theme, but the current one has a minimal and streamlined layout.

Merits of My dark diary

• Custom UI primary and accent colours
• Night mode (on/off/auto)
• PIN
• tags
• You can use emoji in your titles

This last one feature is what I like the most, because it helps me with what I want to track. It also has an embedded function to record weather and mood, but I prefer to use the title of the entry, so that I can see it immediately from the dashboard.

How I use it for journaling

I use emojis as signifiers and change them according to the status. Actually, there is a task function in the app with checkboxes, but I prefer it this way because it resembles more its paper counterpart.

Here is my setup:

as you can see, there are three icons in the bottom left corner to select a mood, insert an image or add tags.

Here’s what an entry looks like in the dashboard:

What could be better?

There’s no cloud backup, only local. It’s not a big deal for me as these entries are meant to be recorded on my bullet journal anyway, but I understand that it could be a deal breaker for some people.

Stay tuned for more app reviews!