Feature Introduction

Lifelog Note, also known as 人生笔记Real in China, is a local-first diary and note-taking app. Record life with text and photos, then revisit entries through the timeline, photo calendar and diary threads.

The app is available for iPhone, iPad and Android and is free to download. Some media, export and personalization features require membership. Check the app for current benefits and prices.

Start with a practical guide: keep a travel journal with photos, or connect your reading notes for one book.

Free and Membership Features

Feature	Free allowance	Membership expansion
Ordinary photos	9 per entry in the regular editor	Up to 25 photos, Live Photos and videos in total per entry
Diary threads	Up to 3	Create more threads
Tags	Up to 3	Create more, with a total limit of 200
Templates	Up to 2, including the existing default template	More templates; save an existing entry as a template
Notebooks	1	Create more notebooks

Check the app for current benefits. Creating entries by photo date has a separate free limit of 2 photos per operation; it is not the regular editor’s per-entry allowance.

Core Recording Functions

Powerful Rich Text Editor

• Multi-format text: Supports multiple text styles such as headings, bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, quotes, and code blocks.
• Lists and checklists: Easily create ordered lists, unordered lists, and checkable to-do lists.
• Custom styles: Adjustable font, font size, line spacing, and paragraph spacing to create the most comfortable reading and writing experience.
• Quick toolbar: Provides a customizable floating toolbar with frequently used functions within reach, and supports multi-line display.

Rich and Diverse Media Support

• Images and Live Photos: Add ordinary photos at the end of an entry. Photo editing and cropping, and Live Photos on iOS, require membership. Motion playback depends on the original media.
• Video and Audio (membership): Add videos and record/import audio files. Inserting images, videos and recordings within the text also requires membership.
• Attachment support (membership): Can add attachments in various formats such as PDF, Word documents, and compressed packages.
• Speech-to-text (iOS, membership): Convert recordings into text for organization and searching. Review the transcription for accuracy.

Version 1.23 preview: Android motion photo detection and import require membership and depend on the media format and accompanying motion resources. Availability through release channels has not yet been confirmed; use the features available in your installed version.

Smart and Assisted Creation

• Diary templates: Create and share text templates to reuse questions and preset tags. For example, design your own movie review or daily reflection template.
• Mood and weather: Add mood icons, Emoji, or weather conditions to each diary to intuitively capture the emotion of the moment.
• Auto-save: Content is saved automatically while editing. Auto-save does not replace backups; regularly back up or export important entries.
• Word count: View entry word counts and daily, monthly and yearly statistics. The writing heatmap groups text by diary date, so backdating or changing an entry date also changes its place in the statistics.

Using Diary Templates

Open “Template” from the sidebar and tap “+” to create a text template. The list supports editing, deleting, sharing and drag sorting. A movie review template is provided on first installation, and you can write your own prompts. Choosing a template while editing replaces the current text and can apply preset tags. Templates do not retain photos, videos or audio. The diary detail menu’s custom template option saves an existing entry’s text as a template and requires membership.

Organization and Browsing

Multi-dimensional Browsing Methods

• Timeline view: Browse all diaries in reverse or chronological order, with support for quick monthly jumps.
• Calendar view: Switch between photo and mood calendars, or open the yearly view. Calendar photos come from media in saved entries, and you can choose the display image for a day.
• Map view (membership): View all diaries with geographic locations on a map, creating your own personal footprint map.
• Media gallery: Open “Media” at the top of the sidebar to browse saved photos, Live Photos and videos in the current notebook. Filter by media type and switch chronological order.
• "Wander": Revisit saved entries in the current notebook with optional tag filters. The top-right menu offers random cards or a double-column view; the latter supports random, latest and oldest sorting.

Powerful Organization and Management Capabilities

• Notebooks: Create multiple independent notebooks to completely isolate content on different topics (such as work, life, travel).
• Multi-level tag system: Classify diaries using tags, supporting the creation of hierarchical tags (parent-child tags) for more refined management.
• Diary threads: Link related entries to follow one event over time. Learn how threads differ from tags and explore examples.
• Pinning function (membership): Pin important diaries to the top for quick access.
• Batch operations: Supports multi-selecting diaries for batch operations like deleting, moving, adding/removing tags, and merging into a diary thread.

Efficient Search Function

• Full-text search: Quickly search diary content, comments, and diary thread titles.
• Advanced filtering: Supports combined filtering by tags, geographic location, and diary type (diary/comment/diary thread).

Personalization and Customization

Interface and Appearance

• Theme mode: Supports three modes: light, dark, and follow system settings.
• Theme customization (membership): Use preset or custom colors and background images, with overlay and blur controls. Eligible first-time users can choose a 24-hour preview when prompted in the app.
• Custom fonts: Import TTF/OTF files in Settings → Font/Text Display, and adjust font size, line height and paragraph spacing.
• Display adjustment: Freely adjust the home page view (timeline/calendar/cards, etc.), text line height, paragraph spacing, and image display style (nine-square grid/waterfall).
• Timeline style: Provides multiple timeline date display styles to meet different aesthetic preferences.

Special Features

• On This Day: Review saved entries from the same date in previous years. This requires existing entries with matching dates.
• Annual Report: Generate your annual writing summary report.
• Desktop widgets: Quickly access "Wander", "Latest Notes", "On This Day", and other content from your phone's home screen.

Data and Security

Privacy and Security

• Local-first: Journals are stored locally on your device by default. If you enable cloud backup or sync, the relevant data is also stored in your chosen drive.
• App lock (membership): Supports setting a password and biometric (Face/Fingerprint ID) to lock the application.
• Privacy view (membership): Enable it in Settings → Note lock and restart the app. iOS blurs the background preview; Android uses system secure-display restrictions.

Backup and Sync

• iCloud (iOS): Back up data via your personal iCloud Drive.
• WebDAV: Supports backing up to your own NAS or other cloud services via the WebDAV protocol.
• Aliyun Drive: Provides Aliyun Drive as an additional backup option.
• Automatic backup (membership): Once configured and enabled, backups can run while the app is in the foreground.
• Multi-device sync (Beta): Uses your own iCloud or Alibaba Cloud Drive. Enable it and keep the app in the foreground. WebDAV is for backup, not two-way sync. Read the backup and migration guide.

Import and Export

• Data export: Export diary data and related media as a .zip archive for migration and storage.
• PDF export (membership): Export diaries as beautifully formatted PDF files based on a specified time range and tags.
• Data import: Restore diary data from a backup .zip file.
• Same-Wi-Fi transfer: Follow the instructions in Sync & Backup → Local Network Migration to transfer data to a new device. Check backups and media before and after migration.

Sharing

• Image sharing: Generate beautiful long images of a single diary or an entire diary thread for sharing.
• Calendar sharing: Generate images of monthly or yearly calendar views for sharing.