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Ask HN: Any of you who keep a journal like to try a beta release of our iOS app?

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Re: Ask HN: Any of you who keep a journal like to try a beta release of our iOS app?

#31
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It looks like this is a private version of Path, and if that's the case, this may be just what I'm looking for! I'd love to ditch "social networks" and have my own way to store my moments and memories in the cloud on a timeline. I just don't want the rest of the world to see.

This is the exact reason why I built this app. It's completely private and it will stay that way. I really want us to be completely honest with ourselves when it comes to writing an entry. Because you are your only audience, I hope this will encourage us to just pour our hearts into it without the fear of others reading it.

How serious are you about keeping it private when it's on your servers? Do you have encryption at rest?

Re: Ask HN: Any of you who keep a journal like to try a beta release of our iOS app?

#32
post #20

Requested an invite, and am in the Bay area. How do you intend to make money? I read in another comment that your sync is a home-grown, non-iCloud solution. So you definitely have costs. I ask because I would like to know why I should trust you with my personal data, and unless you have a non-privacy intrusive way of making money, how do I know that the data will not get "sold" later?

Please answer the privacy/encryption question. Probably the most important piece of info if the usp for this is a "private journal app."

Re: Ask HN: Any of you who keep a journal like to try a beta release of our iOS app?

#33
post #20

Requested an invite, and am in the Bay area. How do you intend to make money? I read in another comment that your sync is a home-grown, non-iCloud solution. So you definitely have costs. I ask because I would like to know why I should trust you with my personal data, and unless you have a non-privacy intrusive way of making money, how do I know that the data will not get "sold" later?

I have a revenue model spec'd out and I can certainly tell you right now that selling your data isn't one of them. I'm a huge fan of Evernote and Phil Libin and Blobly will follow the 100+ year plan. So privacy is definitely the top most priority. I truly believe that Blobly will become the repository of our lives so making sure you guys are happy is definitely important.

Blobly will have a freemium and a premium plan to help keep the application running. However, I can't list right now what some those features are just yet but I can assure you that your data will be safe.

Re: Ask HN: Any of you who keep a journal like to try a beta release of our iOS app?

#34
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure :) It's the three key features that DayOne doesn't have: Search, Notebooks (organization), and Data. Search - I really enjoy writing. My thoughts are always racing which means I'm constantly writing into Blobly. As the number of entries continues to grow they become a lot harder to find. So I built a search functionality into the app to make it easy to find old memories. Notebooks - Blobly provides away for you…

I came here to ask the same question. Honestly, I was hoping for proper encryption. That's the only feature Day One does not have that I want so very badly. I have no desire to upload my secrets to your server. No offense, but that's just irresponsible for a private journal.

Excellent question and your concerns are very much valid.

Data encryption is definitely on the list but wasn't sure if i should mention it because I wanted to limit myself to 3 talking points. I want to keep all the magic behind scenes and just focus on letting you guys know that it just works. Safe keeping your data is very very important.

Re: Ask HN: Any of you who keep a journal like to try a beta release of our iOS app?

#35
post #20

Requested an invite, and am in the Bay area. How do you intend to make money? I read in another comment that your sync is a home-grown, non-iCloud solution. So you definitely have costs. I ask because I would like to know why I should trust you with my personal data, and unless you have a non-privacy intrusive way of making money, how do I know that the data will not get "sold" later?

Please answer the privacy/encryption question. Probably the most important piece of info if the usp for this is a "private journal app."

Hi Joel,

I was going to respond to your comment but since this is a very important topic, I thought I would reply the original commenter so that it becomes more visible. The response was for both you and tsyhco :).

Re: Ask HN: Any of you who keep a journal like to try a beta release of our iOS app?

#36
post #13

Can you compare/contrast this with another iOS app I've been looking at for journaling - Day One http://dayoneapp.com/ ?

Sure :) It's the three key features that DayOne doesn't have: Search, Notebooks (organization), and Data. Search - I really enjoy writing. My thoughts are always racing which means I'm constantly writing into Blobly. As the number of entries continues to grow they become a lot harder to find. So I built a search functionality into the app to make it easy to find old memories. Notebooks - Blobly provides away for you…

Day One has a great search and data syncing, fyi. Right now I use Dropbox (they also have iCloud support) to sync across iPhone/iPad/computer.

Re: Ask HN: Any of you who keep a journal like to try a beta release of our iOS app?

#37
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the exact reason why I built this app. It's completely private and it will stay that way. I really want us to be completely honest with ourselves when it comes to writing an entry. Because you are your only audience, I hope this will encourage us to just pour our hearts into it without the fear of others reading it.

How serious are you about keeping it private when it's on your servers? Do you have encryption at rest?

Very serious.

I don't want to give too much information away but there will be encryption at flight and at rest.

Re: Ask HN: Any of you who keep a journal like to try a beta release of our iOS app?

#38
post #36
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure :) It's the three key features that DayOne doesn't have: Search, Notebooks (organization), and Data. Search - I really enjoy writing. My thoughts are always racing which means I'm constantly writing into Blobly. As the number of entries continues to grow they become a lot harder to find. So I built a search functionality into the app to make it easy to find old memories. Notebooks - Blobly provides away for you…

Day One has a great search and data syncing, fyi. Right now I use Dropbox (they also have iCloud support) to sync across iPhone/iPad/computer.

From what I understanding is that they allow searching on their desktop OSX app but not on their mobile iOS app. Unless there was a recent update that I'm not aware of. If so then please ignore my comment.

Re: Ask HN: Any of you who keep a journal like to try a beta release of our iOS app?

#39
Website looks good (Still waiting on your email - No worries though)

A couple of things spring to mind which other HN'ers have addressed, but I will put my thoughts down regardless

1. Having an iPhone app is great - given the fact that you can take pictures, log your location - but for a large part of my day, I have a full blown keyboard and a 25" screen - and not being able to use that to jot down thoughts defeats the purpose. Everyday.me and Day One get this right (although they both have issues that I will highlight next). Case in point - I need a client on the desktop. Momento, the app that I have been using for close to 2 years now sucks at this, but they get almost everything else right.

2. With regards to having a client, perhaps an API would be nice - one that someone can run with to build a desktop client. I have no issues using a web interface, but Day One gets this right - a rich client, a keystroke away to capture something really quickly. Furthermore, it gives me the ability to post longer - like an end-of-the-day entry covering how I felt, and how I thought the day went

3. Export - I want my entries out of the system. Momento (my current journalling app of choice) gets this right. They give you ways to back up your entire journal, and a way to export your entries as plain text. This is my current issue with Everyday.me (I know they allow you to export entries now, but it's only specific ones - No bulk export capability)

4. Security - This is the reason I stopped using OhLife - I still post once in a while, but all my truly personal thoughts go in Momento. You mentioned that you already have Dropbox integration on your list, and that would certainly be nice. That does not mean I will not post to blobly but I need to know that security is a top priority.

5. Tags and potentially Address book integration - Momento gets this right, to some extent - But tags not only help search better, they provide (at least to me) some context to "group" things together.

6. Multiple photos per entry - Momento gets this right, Day One not so much.

7. Integration with other social networking sites - Twitter/Facebook at a minimum. Momento gets this right. Another one is the potential to hook into an RSS feed (Momento does this)

7a. (Addendum to point no. 7) Here's my approach to it - I export my phone entries, text messages, photos, momento entries, and calendar entries every month. I am working on a script that "stitches" together all this information to give me a full view of what my day looked like. I think for most this would be a little extreme, but getting close to it would be nice :)

With all that said, let me say that your app looks gorgeous, and I can't wait to give it a spin on my phone (once I get my invite :D) - I would love to have a one-stop full featured journaling app on my phone (and desktop). I wish you well - and you can be certain you will be getting some feedback from me - and something tells me, even some money :)

Good luck.

Re: Ask HN: Any of you who keep a journal like to try a beta release of our iOS app?

#40
I keep a very detailed journal. It's part of my therapy. The social stuff bothers me and so I stick to use apps like Byword which offers markdown support and Dropbox sync. What's lacking is the ability to link articles and images. Something I can do in markdown but is tedious.

Love to give this a try, if its not forcing me to use social networks.

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