PicLoomHow a day’s journal gets written
A journal entry starts with what you want to remember. Open today or a day from years ago, and write a few lines. Add pictures, keep only words, or save a page of pictures without a title. Words alone are enough to begin.
From a few words to a journal page
Once you save a day, it opens as a journal page: your pictures set out with tape, a city postmark and a date stamp, and your words below. Pick one of four templates (instant prints, washi collage, stamps and tickets, or a grid notebook) and one of four papers (cream, kraft, grid or lined). Shuffle tries a fresh layout; the same page always comes back the same way. Switch to Text whenever you just want to read the words.
Choose the pictures that belong on this page
Tap a thumbnail to select it; the separate view or play button lets you look closer first. Choosing pictures does not automatically identify people or objects, or add labels to your writing. An optional context note can hold a detail that only you know. It stays separate from the entry and is not printed on the share card.
Write on the paper page
A day is written right on its paper page. Type a title and your words, place photos where you want them, then add stickers, tape, or handwriting and a drawing with your finger. Every piece is optional: a page of words alone is a whole page.
If you allow access to Apple Health, you can add the day’s activity as a few phrases in your text or as an activity card, either a small stamp or a full card. Activity phrases and cards use the journal language set in Settings → Journal; your own words are never translated.
You choose what leaves your phone
Writing happens on your iPhone. Your words, pictures and activity are not sent to an AI service. Apple Health is read on this device only, and only workout type, duration, distance, active energy, steps and activity rings; nothing is written back to Health. A saved activity card keeps its numbers even if Health changes later.
Share it as images or a video
The share button at the top right of a saved page offers images or a video. Images can be one long page or a set sized for where you post: 3:4, 9:16 or 1:1. Keep the page’s pictures, choose all accessible pictures from that day, or make a separate selection just for sharing; the page itself keeps its original selection, and the date stays with the day you wrote about.
Fonts still work the way they did: tap a sample to try a handwriting or a quiet book style, previewed with your own words. A video sets the page down piece by piece with built-in music, in 9:16 for Stories. Images are never limited; without Pro you can make 3 videos, and remaking the same page or changing its music does not count again. Nothing leaves your phone until you choose Save or a share destination.
Some pages are laid out for you
On days worth keeping (a trip, a new city, a holiday, a birthday or anniversary you add, an activity milestone) PicLoom picks photos from that day, leaving out screenshots, blurry shots and duplicates, and lays out a page for you. It waits as a light bookmark in the calendar until you keep it, edit it or say “Not this one”. Where Apple Intelligence is available, a short title and a line or two are written on your iPhone from plain facts like the date and the city; nothing is sent to an AI service for this.
Coming back to your pages
At the end of each month, your pages are bound into a month recap you can flip through like a book, and the year gets one too. On the anniversary of a page, it can come back to you. And if a page is meant for later, seal it until a date you choose: it stays locked, PicLoom reminds you when it opens, and you can add the day to your calendar without giving PicLoom access to it.
Keep your words
Drafts and saved journal entries are stored separately on your device. Only an explicit Save updates the saved entry and its widget content. If saving fails, your exact words remain available to retry. Keep device backups, and keep the original pictures in Photos: a saved entry also keeps compressed still copies of the pictures you chose, so the page stays readable even after an original is deleted or access changes. Videos and Live Photos keep a still cover, without sound or motion. These copies live with the app and are removed if you delete it.
If you are choosing a journal app, see how a photo-first journal compares to Day One.
