A journal app for living abroad
The best journal apps for people living abroad are Natus if you want the journal to track who you are becoming while everything around you changes, Diarium if you need reliable sync across devices and platforms, and Day One if you want the strongest export for keeping the record safe. The reviews show the real risk for expats: phones get replaced, accounts get locked, and years of entries vanish right when the record mattered most.
What people say in their own reviews
Verbatim from public 1 and 2 star App Store reviews of other apps in this category, not Natus.
Lost all entries1 star review on Apple Journal
Got a new phone, all entries lost in transition.
Can't log back in1 star review on Day One
I used it every single solitary day for almost a year and now I can't log back in. I am in just the death cycle of trying and trying and trying and not getting the email sent to me.
Was great until...1 star review on Co-Star
I was really enjoying this app until I purchased a new iPhone. Before getting the new phone I had purchased a friend profile. After I switched phones I noticed i didn't have access to that any longer.
Lost access to journal1 star review on Penzu
The app is now not letting me access my journals I've had for 6 years, forces me to create a new account then says email address is already taken.
The options
Natus(this is us)
Best for: watching yourself change across the move
Living abroad is the biggest self-change event most people get, and the part nobody captures. Natus builds a First Reading of how you operate, then reads your weeks back every Sunday, so the shift in who you are in the new place is actually visible instead of just felt.
Diarium
Best for: sync that survives device and platform changes
A one-time purchase that syncs across iPhone, iPad, Mac and Windows, and imports from other journal apps. The pragmatic pick when your devices and SIM cards keep changing.
Day One
Best for: the most solid long-term archive
The strongest export tools of any journal, which matters when the journal is a years-long record of a life abroad. Its reviews warn about login failures, so keep the export habit.
Apple Journal
Best for: free capture on the go
Already installed and frictionless for daily notes in a new city. Warning straight from its reviews: entries do not always survive a phone change, so do not let it be your only copy.
The risk nobody warns expats about
Living abroad means new phones, new numbers, new accounts. The reviews show that is exactly when journals die: entries lost in a phone transition, logins that will not recover, purchases that do not transfer. Whatever you pick, the export habit matters more than the app.
What you are actually recording
A life abroad is not just events, it is a person changing. The versions of you at month one and month eighteen are different people, and a plain archive shows you the entries but not the shift. That difference is what Natus's Sunday read-back is for.
If you just want it safe
Diarium for sync everywhere, Day One for export, Apple Journal for free capture. Pair any of them with a monthly export and the archive outlives the app.
Common questions
- What is the best way to journal while living overseas?
- Two rules from the reviews: pick an app whose account you can recover from anywhere, and export periodically so a lost phone or locked login cannot take the archive. For the writing itself, whatever you will actually open.
- Why do so many people lose journals when they move or change phones?
- Because most journals tie the entries to a device or a fragile login. Reviews across Apple Journal, Penzu, Day One and Co-Star all describe entries or purchases vanishing in a phone transition, which is exactly the moment expats hit most often.
- Is there a journal that tracks how living abroad changes you?
- That is the unusual thing Natus does. It starts from a reading of who you are, then reads your actual weeks back, so the ways the new country is reshaping you show up as patterns rather than vague feelings.