A One Line a Day App for iPhone
The classic five-year memory book made one line a day famous: one page per date, five slim slots per page, and the quiet thrill of seeing last year’s line sitting just above today’s blank one.
Little Memory is that idea, as an iPhone app: a one-sentence journal that’s been collecting little lines since 2011 — over 1,000,000 memories saved by over 30,000 journalers.
Why one line a day works
Tried keeping a journal before? Quit by week two? The blank page wins almost every time — a whole empty page every night is a lot to ask. One sentence is different: you can write one sentence even on your worst day. That’s the whole idea. Little Memory is a journal for people who have a hard time keeping a journal. Write one line — maybe fifteen seconds — and that’s your journaling for the day. Library run. Dropped my keys down the stairwell. Chicken for dinner. Those are three whole days of it.
And just like the paper book, the real magic comes later. The little lines pile up into a time capsule — a little daily memory journal full of memories for your future self.
(Coming from a bigger journaling app? See how Little Memory compares as a Day One alternative or a Daylio alternative.)
What the app does that paper can’t
So why an app instead of the paper book?
- It reminds you to write. A nightly email reminder arrives, and you can save the day’s memory just by hitting reply.
- It looks back more often. The book shows you this date in past years. Little Memory resurfaces what you wrote a week ago, a month ago, a year ago — and as the years stack up, further back still.
- It holds photos. Some days the memory is a picture, so attach it.
- It never runs out of pages. A five-year diary ends in year five. One journaler here is eight years and 2,000+ memories in, still going.
- It’s searchable. That line about the lighthouse, or the soup dumpling place? Found in seconds, not by flipping pages.
- It counts the days. Current and longest streaks, your most used words, and how your emotions have shifted over time.
- It backs itself up. Automated nightly backups to Dropbox, and you can export everything at any time.
Little words are powerful. Hands down, the most meaningful app on my iPhone.
Karl Dotter, UX Designer
Private by default
One-sentence memories tend to be the honest ones, so yours are always private by default. No social media login required, and support comes straight from the developer.
Keeping one through a baby’s first years? That has its own page. Curious about everything else it does? Take the little tour.
