Happy Reasons
What's inside Happy Reasons
An entry is a video, a voice note, or a few written lines, plus how you felt that day. Everything else in the app helps you keep going and find those entries again later.
Free on iPhone and Android. Your entries are saved privately on your phone, and the Pro plan keeps an encrypted copy in case you lose your phone.
The basics
How entries work, who can see them, and what Pro adds.
Video, voice, and writing
Record up to 30 minutes of video, a voice note, or a written entry with headings and lists. You can attach a voice note or a written note to a video, too.
Who sees what
Your journal is private. Free entries stay on your phone, and Pro backups are end-to-end encrypted with your password. Happy reasons on the Happy Wall are public.
Mood insights
Pick a mood for each entry. Happy Reasons adds the weather, place, and activity, then shows patterns, like whether you move more on brighter days.
The Happy Wall
Short public videos of what made people smile today, each with a post-it note. Post your own, or just watch.
Reminders and a to-do list
Get a reminder to journal at a time you choose. Keep a daily to-do list with repeating items, and carry unfinished tasks into tomorrow.
Backup and sync with Pro
Pro backs up your entries, stickers, wallpapers, and to-do lists, and opens them on your other devices and the web.
The app, screen by screen
Real screens from the iPhone app.
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
Start with a video of up to 30 minutes, a voice note, or written text with headings and lists. Then add photos, short videos, a song from Spotify or Apple Music, or a YouTube link. Happy Reasons can also fill in the weather, where you were, and your steps and sleep from Apple Health or Health Connect.
Yes. Videos and voice notes are transcribed on your phone after you record, in the speaking language you pick in Settings. Search looks through transcripts and written entries, and you can turn on captions when you rewatch a video.
Pick a mood when you save an entry, from radiant to angry. The Explore calendar shows your mood on each day. Once you have enough entries, charts show how your mood changes with the weather, your steps, your sleep, and more.
You'll find both in the Grow tab. A prompt journey is a series of prompts on one theme, like Reflect on Today or Appreciating Your People, and some come from published guided journals. A challenge runs for a set number of days, and you can invite a friend to do it with you. Finishing either one grows a new plant in your garden.
A happy reason is a video of up to a minute about one thing that made you happy that day, with a post-it note on top. You post it to the Happy Wall, where other people can watch it and leave a kind comment. Happy reasons are separate from your journal. You can report any video, or turn happy reasons off in Settings if you'd rather not see them.
Explore brings back what you recorded a week, a month, six months, and a year ago. You can also scroll the mood calendar, search your entries, find them on a map, or browse every photo, link, and file you've saved.
iPhone, iPad, and Android. With Pro, your journal also opens on any other phone or tablet you sign in on, and on the web.