Best Journal Writing Apps in 2025

Enjoy a distraction-free writing experience, including a full screen mode and a clean interface. With Markdown, you can write now, and format later.

Platforms: Windows, Mac, PC

Best for: Drafting, Book, Story, Poetry, Journal, Blog, Essay, and Free

Website: https://ghostwriter.kde.org/

Write without distractions. WriteRoom is a full screen writing environment. Unlike the cluttered word processors you're used to, WriteRoom lets you focus on writing.

Platforms: Mac

Best for: Drafting, Book, Story, Journal, Essay, Blog, and Poetry

Website: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/writeroom/id417967324?mt=12

Also rated 3.6 ★ on the App Store

Ideas, stories, and life’s events. Capture them in a journal that’s easy to carry and offers more than bound sheets. Chronicle for iPad is about you and your words. Write comfortably and benefit from being able to find anything you wrote with built-in search.

Platforms: iPhone, iPad, Mac

Best for: Note-taking and Journal

Website: http://slidetorock.com/apps/Chronicle-for-iPad-journal.html

Also rated 4.5 ★ on the App Store

FocusWriter is a simple, distraction-free writing environment. It utilizes a hide-away interface that you access by moving your mouse to the edges of the screen, allowing the program to have a familiar look and feel to it while still getting out of the way so that you can immerse yourself in your work.

Platforms: Windows, PC

Best for: Drafting, Book, Essay, Journal, Poetry, Story, Blog, and Free

Website: https://gottcode.org/focuswriter/

Also rated 4.0 ★ on TechRadar

A focused environment where you can write freely. With iA Writer, you can gain unparalleled insight into your writing structure, detect superfluous words and clichés, and navigate through your documents and notes with ease.

Platforms: Mac, iPhone, iPad, Windows, Android, Chrome, PC

Best for: Drafting, Book, Story, Poetry, Journal, Essay, and Blog

Website: https://ia.net/writer

Also rated 4.0 ★ on PC Magazine

Ignite your creativity. Coach your brain to think creatively & spark brilliant ideas at work and in life.

Platforms: iPhone, iPad

Best for: Outlining, Journal, and Free

Website: https://brainsparker.com/

Also rated 4.7 ★ on the App Store

Zoho Writer is a fully-featured word processor on the cloud, designed for collaborative work that gives you everything you need to create powerful documents. With a clean UI, intuitive interface and document modes, it introduces you to a new way of writing.

Platforms: Android, Windows, PC, iPad, iPhone

Best for: Drafting, Book, Essay, Journal, Poetry, Story, Blog, and Free

Website: https://www.zoho.com/writer/

Also rated 3.4 ★ on Google Play

In Outline you can create notebooks for your personal needs of widest range: travel or recipe book, any kind of journal or diary, photo album, daily planner, and so on and so forth. Just everything you could imagine!

Platforms: iPhone, iPad, Mac

Best for: Note-taking and Journal

Website: https://outline.app/

Also rated 4.2 ★ on the App Store

Chapters lets you manage multiple notebooks, each fully searchable and with its own settings. Keep a personal journal, a photo diary, notes about that project at work, and a travel journal in a single app.

Platforms: iPhone, iPad, Mac

Best for: Note-taking and Journal

Website: http://slidetorock.com/apps/Chapters-iPad-notebooks.html

Also rated 4.0 ★ on the App Store

Traditional word processors include dozens of options for formatting text, distracting you from what really matters: writing. Calmly Writer is an editor designed to focus on what you want to tell, with a simple, unobtrusive and ease-to-use user interface.

Platforms: Windows, Mac, Online, Chrome, PC

Best for: Drafting, Book, Essay, Journal, Poetry, Story, Blog, and Free

Website: https://www.calmlywriter.com/

Also rated 4.5 ★ on TechRadar

Capture what’s on your mind. Add notes, lists, photos, and audio to Keep.

Platforms: Online, iPhone, iPad, Android

Best for: Note-taking, Story, Book, Blog, Journal, Poetry, and Free

Website: https://www.google.com/keep/

Also rated 4.5 ★ on TechRadar

Black Note is the black theme's notepad. It's the simple notes app.

Platforms: Android

Best for: Note-taking, Story, Book, Blog, Journal, Poetry, and Free

Website: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=notepad.not...

Also rated 4.8 ★ on Google Play