I’m writing in Markdown and a little RTF.
I have been doing research into, and thinking about, RTF lately. I think it’s pretty much as futureproof as Markdown, and neither are as futureproof as we might like to think.
I do not use the Sorter to capture notes. I use Drafts for that.
DevonThink is overkill or journaling. But if you are using DevonThink anyway, as I do, it’s a good choice.
Thanks for the insights.
Yep – been embedded in DEVONthink for ages.
Honestly, I’m a little bit surprised about all the disappointment for Day One. I’ve been using It almost daily since 2011 shortly after it launched. I’ve had some issues now and then but it’s always been top notch. I feel like development can be a little slow but it’s deliberate, they’re pretty communicative about it, and they avoid feature bloat. Syncing has been rock solid (I use my iPhone, watch, iPad, and Mac pretty consistently).
This isn’t to negate others experiences on here. I hate it for you! But just wanted to throw out my positive experience with it.
Same here, I started to dislike the way they changed the way it handled markdown, the other aspects are annoying too.
Also, there is no way to export your data as a single file per entry (either text or pdf).
Same. I’m on a 1,029 day streak using it, and I know I wouldn’t if I’d been using other apps I’d previously tried. There are lots of basic diary apps out there but I really appreciate the e2e encryption, Day One’s pulling my Instagram pics (and handling other social media via IFTT integration), time/location/weather data, On This Day flashbacks, multiple journals and more (Siri shortcuts, tags, reminders, offline use, map view, calendar view, filters).
It’s certainly not perfect (I’m not happy with the font choices or the lack of text/background color customization) but I’ve put over 10,000 entries in the app and haven’t lost anything and it syncs between my iPhone and Mac.
One thing that most surprises me is that if you only need one journal and are willing to give up e2e encryption and social media import, the Basic version of Day One is free - yet people still complain. 
Could I live without e2e, syncing, and multiple journals? Not personally, but it might be enough for most people.
I moved away from Day One because sync always sucked for me even when I used to pay for it (duplicate entries and journals, full redownload of the data without any need, etc). They had a MAJOR failure of their sync service where some entries ended up in other people’s journals! A tiny fraction of the user base, but still, this is completely unacceptable. I am a legacy user (I owned the apps before they moved to subscription) so I am allowed much of the subscription features for free, but I am never approaching this app again even with a ten-foot pole.
I have using Diarly for weeks now and couldn’t be happier. E2E, works over iCloud, included in Setapp. Way simpler than Day One, true, but straightforward and it WORKS.
Yes they had a failure a year ago where a handful of non-e2e accounts ended up in some other people’s accounts, and then sync was down for a day or two as they fixed it. It was terrible. It was also a one-time event in the six years the app’s been around, and two years after it introduced e2e encryption. As the OP from two years ago you’ve detailed how the app’s sync “always sucked” but it clearly was a local issue for you and not widespread. Diarly’s not a bad app - and as part of SetApp it’s a great deal - but it’s not as polished or as useful as Day One for me, which is more refined and in my experience pretty rock solid.
(I’m glad it works for you – my bad experience does not diminish yours by any means 
)
Absolutely, Diarly has a LOT less features than Day One. However, what it does, I found it does way better than Day One – not once have I thought “why the hell does this work like this” or “why does this not work now?” It is polished – albeit, yes, very simple.