Most people think journaling has to be a daily writing assignment that needs a dedicated app and the perfect routine. That expectation is exactly what makes people start, feel behind within a week, and quietly give up on the whole thing.
I've taken the opposite approach. For about ten years I've kept my journal in Apple Notes, and more recently in Apple Photos, with no extra app and no rule that says I have to write something every single day. If you want a simple method you'll actually keep up, this is the system I use.
Why I use Apple Notes instead of a journaling app
Apple Notes is already my digital notebook. It's where I store ideas, thoughts, and anything I want to capture, so keeping my journal there meant I didn't have to learn or maintain a separate tool just for one job.
I like the simplicity of it, and it works the same on my iPhone and my Mac. I can quickly capture text, links, or images wherever I am. When you already live in one app all day, adding your journal to it removes almost all the friction that kills the habit.
Setting up the Journal folder
The setup is deliberately plain. I have a separate folder called Journal, and that's where every entry lives. Keeping it apart from my personal and work notes means the journal stays its own space, and each note in the folder is a single journal entry.
A naming convention that keeps entries in order
Every note starts with the date, written year, then month, then day, followed by “journal entry”. So a note created in August 2026 on the 19th is titled with that date first. It's a small habit that pays off across hundreds of entries.
The reason it matters is sorting. By default Apple Notes sorts a folder by date edited, so the moment you go back and update an old entry, it jumps to the top and your timeline falls apart.
I sort the Journal folder by title instead. Because every title leads with the date, everything stays in true chronological order no matter when I last touched it.
Tagging entries so you can find them
Apple Notes lets you type a hashtag followed by a word to add a tag, either an existing one or a new one. I use tags to attach a topic to an entry, so a note about a specific theme carries that theme with it.
One entry from a hard week last year is tagged with stoicism, because that's the lens I was using to process what was going on at the time.
Later, when I want to find everything connected to a topic, I select the tag in the sidebar and every entry with it comes straight up. Between the dated titles, the tags, and plain keyword search, nothing is ever hard to find.
What I actually write
I don't follow any framework or method. The thing I do most is what I'd just call free writing. I brain dump whatever I'm thinking about, particularly if I'm working through something difficult or a thought that keeps circling. Getting it out of my head onto the page is where most of the value is for me.
Other times I lean into gratitude instead. On a given day I'll write about what I appreciated, where I was, and the things I felt grateful for. It's the same folder and the same habit, just pointed at a different question depending on what I need that day.
Capturing moments and keeping the bar low
Some entries aren't writing at all. When my son had his first day at kindy, I dropped in a couple of photos and a short note from the day, tagged it as sentimental, and moved on. That's enough to mark the moment and find it again.
That's the whole philosophy. The goal isn't to document every minute or write paragraphs every day. I set the bar deliberately low, because one sentence or one photo is usually enough to capture a memory or a thought I'd otherwise forget.
Low expectations are the reason the habit survives, where a rule to write a lot every day would have killed it years ago.
The pinned “Significant Dates” note
At the very top of the folder I keep one note pinned, called Significant Dates. In Apple Notes you pin or unpin a note by swiping right on it or right-clicking, and a pinned note stays fixed above everything else in the folder.
This note works as an index, or a timeline of the key moments in my life. When my kids were born, when we bought and sold houses, when we moved into the house we built, milestones from growing my business, finishing my university exams. Read on its own it's a quick, moving way to look back over the last decade.
What makes it more than a list is linking. If you highlight text in a note, right-click, and edit the link, you can point it at another note just by typing that note's title. I've linked entries in Significant Dates to the full journal entry for that date, so one click on a milestone takes me to what I actually wrote when it happened.
Using Apple Photos as a photo journal
Apple Notes is still where I do most of my written journaling, but over the last couple of years I've started using my Apple Photos library the same way. It's a fast, low-friction place to capture a moment and write down the memory so I don't lose it.
This started when we were building our house. The builder would share progress photos and write little updates about what they were doing, so I began downloading them, adding them to Apple Photos, and putting those notes in as captions. I now have a complete photo journal of the entire build.
Adding a caption is quick. In Apple Photos you swipe up on a photo and type whatever you want in the caption field. After a trip like our first ever MinorCo team retreat in Bali, I write straight onto the photos, a line about our general manager Sharmayne keeping the week running, and a note under the final team photo about what the week meant.
Writing on the photo itself is a fast, easy way to document a thought at a key moment in time, and I use the two systems side by side.
Why I skip Apple's Journal app
Apple does have a dedicated Journal app, and if you're new to journaling it's worth a look. I decided against it for two reasons.
The first is history. When it launched I gave it a go, but I already had years of entries in Apple Notes and there was no way to import them, so I'd have been starting fresh or splitting my journal across two apps. Neither was worth it.
The second is that when I tried it, it felt basic and a bit underbaked. It has improved since, and from what I've read there's still work to do, but I'd rather keep the system that already works for me without downloading anything extra.
Conclusion
Journaling doesn't have to be a chore or another app to maintain. A folder, a naming convention, a few tags, and the occasional captioned photo have kept me going for ten years, and you can watch the whole system in the video if you'd like to see it in action.
FAQ
Do you need a separate app to journal? No. Apple Notes and Apple Photos, which are already on your iPhone and Mac, are enough. Keeping your journal in an app you already use every day removes the friction that usually ends the habit.
How do you keep Apple Notes journal entries in order? Start every note title with the date in year, month, day order, then set the folder to sort by title. Because the titles lead with the date, entries stay in chronological order even when you edit an old one, which sorting by date edited would scramble.
How do you find old journal entries? Use tags and search. Add a hashtag topic to entries you might want to group, then select that tag in the sidebar to pull them all up. Between tags, dated titles, and keyword search, older entries stay easy to reach.
How do you journal with photos? In Apple Photos, swipe up on a photo and type in the caption field. A short caption turns a photo into a quick, low-effort journal entry, which is how I documented our entire house build.
Should you use Apple's Journal app instead? If you're new to journaling, it's worth trying. I stay in Apple Notes because there's no way to import my years of existing entries, and because when I tried the Journal app it felt underbaked, though it has improved since.
How often should you journal? As often or as little as you like. Setting the bar low, one sentence or one photo, is what keeps the habit alive, rather than a rule to write pages every day.