Happy Reasons
Video journaling
Heartspring Alternative: Keep Your Video Journal Going
Heartspring, formerly Talkbook, closes at the end of 2026. Happy Reasons is a Heartspring alternative for private video, audio, and written journaling.
· 3 min read
A journal for your most important memories
Record a video, leave a voice note, or type a written entry. 100% private and for your eyes only.
Free on iPhone and Android. Back up your journal with the Pro plan.
Wednesday · June 10
Good afternoon
Record your journal
Capture a moment from your day
Happy reason
What made you happy today?
Explore
Album
Your journal archive
Happy wall
Happy reasons from all over the world
Settings
Account & preferences
What you can do in Happy Reasons
Real screens from the app, in the order you'll use them: recording an entry, keeping the habit, and looking back.
Talk, record a voice note, or write
Talk to the camera for up to 30 minutes, leave a voice note on the walk home, or type a few lines before bed. Videos and voice notes are transcribed on your phone, so you can search for something you said months ago.
Keep the rest of the day with it
Add photos, a song from Spotify or Apple Music, or a YouTube link. Happy Reasons can fill in the weather, where you were, and your steps and sleep from Apple Health or Health Connect. After a while, it shows how your mood changes with each of them.
Make each page look like yours
Give an entry a color theme, put a photo behind your journal as wallpaper, draw on the page, or turn a photo of your dog into a sticker.
Share one thing that made you smile
A happy reason is a video of up to a minute with a post-it note that says what made your day. Post one to the Happy Wall, watch other people's, and leave a kind comment. Happy reasons are the only public part of the app, and you can switch them off in Settings.
Prompts for the days you don't know what to say
The Grow tab has guided prompt journeys like Reflect on Today and Appreciating Your People, including some from published guided journals. Challenges run for a set number of days, and you can invite a friend to do one with you.
A small celebration every time you journal
Save an entry and the app counts your streak and shows your mood for each day of the past week. Add the streak widget to your home screen to see it without opening the app.
Missed a day? You can make it up
If you skip a day, the top of your journal shows how many days you need to fill in to keep your streak. Set the entry's date to the day you missed, and the streak carries on.
A garden that grows as you journal
Each entry earns a puzzle piece, and finishing a prompt journey or challenge grows a new plant. Walk a little pixel character through your garden to see everything you've grown.
See what you were doing a year ago today
Explore puts a mood on each day of the calendar and brings back entries from a week, a month, six months, and a year ago. You can also browse every photo, link, and file you've saved, or find entries on a map.
Only you can open it
Lock the app with Face ID or your fingerprint. On the free plan, entries are saved only on your phone. With Pro, they're encrypted on your phone with your password before they're backed up.
What people say on the App Store
Rated 4.8 out of 5 from 53 App Store ratings
The best video journaling diary
“I have tried them all—Confide, Talkbook (now Heartspring), and countless others—and this is the best video journaling apps. I tried it in July for the first time and it was ok but…”
— gabjbr, App Store
Creative, low-pressure way to journal
“Journaling can feel daunting when I’m just staring at a blank page, but I love that you can type, video journal, or even answer prompts in this app. The encouragement makes it much…”
— p2g, App Store
Find some Happiness!!
“Would thinking about what part of today made you happy help your mind and mood? Well apparently so for me. The app by itself is bright, calming with a fun welcoming interface. You…”
— EdfromPDR, App Store
Encouraging
“At first I was hesitant about posting, but it's actually been fun. I especially love the Happy Reasons!It's been inspiring to see the little AND big things that make people happy a…”
— Jadyn's, App Store
Love the data privacy
“Amazing to see an app take data privacy so seriously. On device encryption makes me comfortable sharing about my day and knowing it will stay safe.”
— RenGee123, App Store
From the blog
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How to start a video journal, step by step: what you need, what to say, how long to record, and how to turn it into a daily habit that sticks.
· 6 min read
Frequently asked questions
Tap the plus button and choose video, voice note, or writing. Talk or write about your day, pick how you felt, and save. The entry goes into your journal under today's date, ready to watch, hear, or read again whenever you want.
No. You can record a voice note or type a few lines instead, and pick a different way each day. One entry can mix them too, like a video with a written note attached.
Only you. Free entries are saved on your phone, and you can lock the app with Face ID or your fingerprint. With Pro, entries are encrypted on your phone with your password before they're backed up. The Happy Wall is the one public part of the app, and you only post there if you want to.
Yes, and there are no ads. Video, voice, and written entries, mood insights, guided prompts, the garden, and the Happy Wall are all free. Pro keeps an encrypted backup of your journal so it's safe if you lose or replace your phone, and opens it on your other devices and the web.
Open the Grow tab and start a prompt journey, like Reflect on Today or Appreciating Your People. Each step gives you a prompt to answer. On other days, talk about one thing that happened and see where it goes.
As long as you like. A 30-second video counts, and so does a single sentence. On the days you have more to say, videos can run up to 30 minutes.
Set a daily reminder for a time that suits you, and add the streak widget to your home screen. If you miss a day, you can fill it in later. Set the entry's date to the day you missed and your streak carries on.