Heartspring Alternative: Keep Your Video Journal Going

Heartspring, the journaling app that used to be called Talkbook, is shutting down at the end of 2026. If you're looking for a Heartspring alternative so you can keep talking through your day on camera, Happy Reasons is a private video journal for iPhone and iPad. Video journaling is free, and every entry is encrypted on your phone.

Here's what Happy Reasons offers, and how to get going with it this week.

Before you switch: save your Heartspring entries

Heartspring's in-app notice asks users to export their entries before the app closes. Do that first, then open a file or two to make sure they play, and keep a copy on a computer or in cloud storage.

Why Happy Reasons works as a Heartspring alternative

If you liked recording a short video about your day, you can keep doing exactly that.

Video, audio, or writing

Each entry can be a video, an audio note, or written text, so you can pick whatever fits your day. Videos can run up to 30 minutes, and video journaling is included on the free plan.

Each video is transcribed on your phone, so it becomes searchable text, so you can find an old entry by something you said. The transcript is encrypted along with the video.

Add the song or video that fits your day

You can add links to an entry. Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube links show up as a card with the artwork, so the song you had on repeat or the video that made you laugh sits right next to what you said about your day.

Prompts when you don't know what to say

Prompt journeys are guided sets of prompts you answer one entry at a time. Challenges run across several days and give you a reason to come back tomorrow. Some prompt journeys are part of Pro. For more ideas, video journal prompts has 60 questions you can use right away.

Small rewards for showing up

Each entry unlocks a puzzle piece in your garden, so you can watch the picture fill in as you keep journaling. You can decorate entries with stickers and choose a theme for the app. Some stickers come with Pro.

Your mood, in your words

You pick a mood smiley for each entry, and you can add the weather, your location, and what you were doing. Over time, insights show how your mood lines up with that context, like which activities tend to come with your better days.

Happy reasons, if you want to share

A happy reason is a short public post about something that made you smile, shared on the happy wall. Posting one is optional. Your journal entries stay private and never appear on the wall.

Private by design

Every video, photo, and transcript is encrypted on your device with a key derived from your password before it's stored. We can't watch your videos or read your transcripts.

On the free plan, entries stay on your phone. Pro is $3.99 a month or $29.99 a year and adds unlimited encrypted cloud backup, so your journal is still there if you lose your phone, and you can open it on another iPhone or iPad. See pricing for the details.

Happy Reasons runs on iPhone and iPad. An Android version is in development.

Record your first entry this week

Save your Heartspring entries, then record one new entry in Happy Reasons. Thirty to sixty seconds is plenty. How to start a video journal covers the first two weeks, including what to say when the camera feels awkward.

Still deciding between talking and writing? Read video journal vs written journal. More guides are in video journaling.