About Kokoro Nikki

One person, one diary, and the reasons behind it.

Why it exists

I built Kokoro Nikki because I needed a place with no demands, too.

I tried dozens of journaling apps, and every one asked something of me: a streak, a score, a goal. I just wanted to understand what was going on inside.

This app is made by one person, not a data company. Your diary isn't my business model. It's your diary.

— Moreno, creator of Kokoro Nikki

Who makes it

Kokoro Nikki is designed and built by Moreno Preto, an independent developer. There is no larger company behind it: the app, this website and the replies to your emails all come from the same person.

Why it's paid

Kokoro Nikki is paid, and that is a decision, not an afterthought. A diary should be a moment to stop and step away from the constant flood of information, not one more screen competing for your attention.

That rules out ads inside the app, and it rules out making money from what you write. An app that does neither has one honest way to keep going: the people who use it pay for it.

There are two plans. The annual plan includes a 7-day free trial for new subscribers, started in the App Store or Google Play with a payment method; the monthly plan is charged from the first day. You write your first entry before you see any price, and if you decide not to subscribe, that entry stays yours to read and export. No countdowns, no "last chance" discounts.

Why Japanese

I'm not Japanese, and I have no personal tie to Japan. What drew me in was a way of looking at things.

Japan has kept diaries as a literary form for more than a thousand years, and it has a word for something I wanted this app to have: ma (間), the pause that gives meaning to what surrounds it. Most apps fill every gap. Kokoro Nikki tries to leave room, and to help you live a little more slowly.

Borrowing from a culture that isn't yours asks for care. That's why the haiku mode counts morae rather than syllables, and why the daily reflections follow the Japanese seasons and holidays.

What it will never do

  • No streaks, scores or counters of missed days.
  • No copy of your diary on our servers: it lives on your phone. An entry only leaves it for emotional analysis, if you agreed to it, and it isn't stored.
  • When you dictate, your phone's own speech recognition (from Apple or Google) turns it into text. The audio file is never uploaded.
  • No account to create.
  • No ads inside the app, and what you write is never sold.

Elsewhere

Kokoro Nikki also writes and shares outside this site:

To write to me: contact@kokoro-nikki.com