Privacy

What makes a journal app private?

People write the true version of what’s going on with them only when they’re sure who can read it. “Private” on an app’s homepage doesn’t tell you that. These six questions do, for any journal or diary app, AI or not.

Updated 5 November 2026

1. Where do my entries actually live?

The best answer is “on your device first”. Some journal apps keep your entries on their servers and show you a copy; others keep them on your phone and sync a copy. The second kind keeps working offline, and your journal doesn’t disappear if the company does.

middle place: local-first. Your journal lives in the app’s storage on your iPhone, iPad or Mac.

2. Who can read my synced copy?

Syncing between devices means a copy sits on someone’s server. Ask whether it’s encrypted with a key only your devices hold (end-to-end), or encrypted with a key the company can use. Plenty of apps that say “encrypted” mean the second.

middle place: sync between your own devices is encrypted on your device before it leaves, with a key shared through your iCloud Keychain. The privacy policy lists exactly what our servers can and can’t see.

3. What goes to the AI, and what happens to it?

This is the question most AI journal apps answer vaguely. For a model to reply to an entry, it has to read the entry. So ask: which company’s model, does anything in between store it, and can I avoid the cloud altogether?

middle place gives you three options and says plainly what each one does:

Built-in (default): your entry and the context for that reply go through our relay to Anthropic’s Claude. The relay forwards it and streams the reply back. It doesn’t store what you wrote or what the AI said. On this option some features, like keeping your timeline up to date, Life Report and turning voice into text, use Google’s Gemini the same way.
Your own Anthropic key: requests go straight from your device to Anthropic. Our servers aren’t in the path at all. The key stays in your Keychain.
Apple’s on-device model: replies are written on your iPhone, iPad or Mac, and your writing doesn’t go anywhere.

Your photos are never sent to a model. When an entry has photos, your device describes each one in a few words on-device (when it was taken, how many faces, what it shows) and only those words go with the entry.

4. Are there ads, trackers or analytics SDKs?

A journal app with an ad network or a third-party analytics SDK is sending something about you to someone. Check the App Store privacy label, and the policy.

middle place: no ads, no third-party trackers or analytics SDKs, and nothing sold. We count how often features are used, in our own backend, with no content attached. We also keep a log of how many AI requests your account makes and when, so we can keep costs and abuse in check; it never holds what you wrote. The privacy policy spells out every count.

5. Can I lock it?

Your phone gets handed to people. A journal app should be able to lock itself behind Face ID or a passcode, and it shouldn’t show your last entry in the app switcher.

middle place: Face ID keeps the app closed when you want it to, and a cover goes over the app when you leave it, so the app switcher never shows what you wrote.

6. Can I take my journal with me, or delete it?

You should be able to export your journal in a form you can read, and delete your account and data without emailing anyone.

middle place: you can export your journal, and delete your account from inside the app. Deleting removes your synced copy from our servers and erases the app’s data on that device. Your encrypted iCloud Drive backups stay in your own iCloud until you remove them.

A quick checklist for any journal app

Entries stored on your device first, not only on the company’s server
Sync encrypted with a key the company doesn’t hold
A clear answer on which AI provider reads your entries, and what is stored
An option that keeps AI on your device, or lets you use your own key
No ads, no third-party analytics or tracking SDKs
Face ID or passcode lock, and a hidden app-switcher preview
Export in a readable format, and self-serve account deletion

Comparing apps? The AI journal app comparison covers how the major apps handle encryption and AI.

Private journal questions

Can the people who make middle place read my journal?

Your synced journal is encrypted with a key only your devices hold, so we can’t read it. When you use the built-in AI, each entry passes through our relay on its way to the model; the relay doesn’t store or log it. If you don’t want to rely on that, use your own Anthropic key or Apple’s on-device model and our servers aren’t involved in replies at all.

Is there an AI journal app that works offline?

middle place can use Apple’s on-device Foundation Models, so replies are written on your iPhone, iPad or Mac without your writing leaving the device. Some features, like Life Report, need the cloud.

Does middle place need an account?

You sign in with Apple once, so your account follows you across your devices and reinstalls. There’s no username, profile or password, and you can choose Hide My Email.

Is a password-protected diary app the same as an encrypted one?

No. A passcode or Face ID lock stops someone holding your phone from opening the app. Encryption decides who can read your data when it’s stored or synced. A private journal app should do both.