A private diary for iPad and Mac

Your diary,
in your own hand.

Built for people who care about privacy. Nothing to sign up for, and nothing shared.

Try free on iPadTry free on Mac

Monday,

October 12, 2026

Woke up before the alarm for once. Made proper coffeeand drank it by the window while the street was quiet. Work was a lot. The Henderson deck is finally done, andPriya said it’s the best one we’ve sent all year. I didn’targue. Lunch on the steps, in the sun, for twenty minutes. Called Mum on the walk home. Dad’s knee is better andshe has started on the garden again. She laughed at mystory about the bus, the real laugh, the one I misswhen I go too long without calling. Stopped for figs on the way back. The flower man gave methe last of his dahlias for free. They’re on the table now. Pasta for dinner, two chapters of my book, and now this.I have written here every night since spring. Some pagesare three lines. All of them are true. Small day. Good day.

My Diary

2026

  • Locked to youFace ID, Touch ID or passcode
  • No serversWe never hold your pages
  • Your iCloud onlyIn your account, not ours
  • Data Not CollectedNo analytics, no tracking

The diary

The feel of paper.
None of its limits.

Write by hand or type, find any word you’ve ever written, and look back on this day in the years before.

  • Write with Apple Pencil.

    Real ink in black, blue or sepia on warm ruled paper, with a proper eraser and undo. Every page stays exactly as you wrote it.

    Saturday, October 17

    Rain all morning, so I stayed inand read by the window untilmy tea went cold. Good day.

  • Or type, if you’d rather.

    The same ruled page, with the keyboard. Pick a typeface and size, and switch between pen and keys any day.

    Friday, October 16

    Aa · Georgia

    Home late. The meeting ran long, but Priya’s idea is the right one and I said so. Made soup from whatever was left in the fridge, and it was better than it had any right to be.

  • Find any word.

    Search every page, handwriting included. Your writing is read on the iPad itself, never uploaded.

    Find

    river

    3 pages, newest first

    • Monday, 12 October 2026

      walked home the long way, by the river. The trees are just starting to turn

    • Saturday, 26 September 2026

      Ran by the river before work. My legs complained.

    • Thursday, 24 July 2025

      Swam in the river at dusk with everyone. Cold, loud, perfect.

  • On this day.

    See what you wrote on this date a year ago, or five. Every day you wrote is marked.

    October 2026

    SunMonTueWedThuFriSat
    12345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031

    On this day

    A year agoFirst morning in the new flat. Boxes everywhere…

    2 years agoA handwritten page

  • Pages that seal.

    Lock a finished page like ink that has dried. Ten seconds to change your mind, then it stays as written.

    Sunday, October 12, 2025

    Locked

    First morning in the new flat. Boxes everywhere, coffee made in a saucepan because the kettle is still packed somewhere. It already feels like mine.

    Locked as written

Try it here

Go on,
write on this page.

A page just like the app’s, right here. Nothing you write is sent anywhere; it stays in this browser.

  1. 1Write

    With your finger, a mouse or Apple Pencil. Pick an ink, or tap Aa to type.

  2. 2Turn back

    Swipe the page edge to look back at the last few days.

  3. 3Lock it

    Ten seconds to change your mind, then it’s kept as written.

Today

write here…

Privacy

Nobody reads it.
Not even us.

A diary is the most private thing you own. So Virtual Diary was built to know nothing about you, and to keep your pages only where you keep them.

  • Opens only for you.

    Turn on the lock, and the diary opens with Face ID, Touch ID or your passcode. Hand someone your iPad and the cover stays shut.

  • Where your pages live.

    A short list, and all of it yours.

    • Your iPad

      Where you write.

    • Your iCloud

      A private copy, in your Apple account.

    • Your Mac

      The same diary, if you want it.

    Our servers

    We don’t run one that holds a diary. Nothing to breach, sell or read.

  • No account

    Nothing to sign up for. We never ask your email.

  • No tracking

    No analytics and no ads in the app. Ever.

  • Read on your iPad

    Search reads your handwriting on the device itself.

  • Yours to take

    Export every page, whenever you like.

App Store privacy label: Data Not CollectedSee the listing

Virtual Diary for Mac

Pen on the iPad.
Keys on the Mac.

Write tonight’s page by hand on the iPad, then add a line from your desk. It’s one diary on both, the same page down to the last word, kept in step by your own iCloud.

Virtual DiaryFileEditViewSat 9:41 PM
Virtual Diary on a Mac, showing tonight's handwritten page with a line typed below it

Later, at my desk: booked the train to see Mum and Dad.

The same page on iPad, handwritten with Apple Pencil, with the Mac's typed line arriving below it

Later, at my desk: booked the train to see Mum and Dad.

  • One diary, two desks

    Write on either; the page is waiting on the other, carried by your own iCloud.

  • Your ink comes along

    Pages written with Apple Pencil show on the Mac exactly as you drew them.

  • Touch ID on the cover

    The diary opens with Touch ID or your Mac password, and for nobody else.

  • Everything else, too

    On this day, search, export, and pages that seal when you’re done.

Try free on Mac

macOS 26 or later, Apple silicon or Intel · Notarized by Apple

Why I made it

A diary should
want nothing.

It should open, give you today’s page, and keep what you wrote, privately and for good. In a world where everything wants to read your words, that has become a rare thing to ask for.

3+ years
keeping a diary of my own
None
accounts, trackers or AI reading along

Dear reader,

I’ve kept a diary for more than three years now. Some nights it’s three lines; some nights I fill the page and wish there were another.

Somewhere along the way, every journaling app I tried started wanting something back: an account, a subscription, my photos and my location, and lately my words, so an AI could “reflect” on them. A diary is the one place I write what I wouldn’t say out loud. I don’t want it read, summarised or learned from. Not by a company, and not by a model.

So I made the diary I wanted to write in. No account, no servers of mine, no AI. Your pages stay on your iPad and Mac, and in your own iCloud, and nowhere else.

Tarak

Maker of Virtual Diary

support@virtualdiary.app
Read why it exists

Pricing

Pay once.
Keep it for life.

Your first page is free on both. After that, one payment per device: no subscription, and every update included.

iPad

$49once

Bought inside the app, through Apple.

  • Apple Pencil or the keyboard
  • Face ID, Touch ID or passcode
  • Restores with your Apple ID
Try free on the App Store

iPadOS 18 or later

iPad + Mac

Save $29

$69once

One diary, by hand and by keyboard.

  1. 1Pay once, here
  2. 2Your Mac unlocks with the license key on the next page
  3. 3Redeem the App Store code you’re given, and the iPad unlocks

Secure checkout by Dodo Payments

Mac

$49once

License key straight after checkout.

  • Typed pages, your iPad ink alongside
  • Touch ID or your Mac password
  • One license per Mac
or try it free first

Over five years

A diary is for years.
Pay for it once.

A typical journaling subscription costs about $60 a year, every year you keep writing. Virtual Diary is one payment, with every update included.

Typical subscription
$300
Virtual Diary
$49once
$0$100$200$300Year 1Year 2Year 3Year 4Year 5$300$49 once$251 savedby year five
Cumulative cost by the end of each year, in US dollars
YearTypical subscriptionVirtual Diary
16049
212049
318049
424049
530049

Questions

Before you
begin.

What people ask before they write their first page. The rest are on the Support page, all 16 of them.

T

Still wondering?

Ask Tarak, who made it.

No support bots and no ticket queue. Every email reaches me, and I answer them myself.

support@virtualdiary.app

No. There are no AI prompts, summaries or chatbots, and nothing you write is sent anywhere to be analysed. Handwriting search is done by your iPad itself, on the device, so your pages never leave it for that.

No. There is no account and no server of ours; your pages live on your iPad or Mac, and the automatic copy goes to your own iCloud Drive, never to us. Turn on the lock and the diary opens only with Face ID, Touch ID or your passcode. We couldn’t read it if we tried.

Yes. $49 once, or $69 for iPad and Mac together, unlocks the whole diary for life, including future updates. There is no subscription, and there never will be.

Yes. Download Virtual Diary for iPad or Mac and write your first page free, with no account and no card. When you want to keep going, unlock it once: $49 for one device, or $69 for both. Pages you have written can always be read, even if you never buy.

No. You can type on any page with the on-screen keyboard or a keyboard case. Apple Pencil adds real ink in black, blue or sepia, an eraser, and the option to turn handwriting into text.

Yes. Virtual Diary for Mac is the same paper page, made for typing. Turn on iCloud on both and your pages stay in step through your own iCloud; ink from the iPad shows on the Mac exactly as you wrote it.

Your first page is free

Tonight’s page
is waiting.

Nothing to sign up for. Open it, write a few lines, and see how it feels. If it isn’t for you, you’ve lost nothing but a page.

Try free on iPadTry free on Mac
  • No account
  • No subscription
  • No AI

Then $49 once, or $69 for iPad + Mac