iPad and journals are a match made in heaven.
The large screen fits a journal page perfectly, the stylus provides pen-and-paper feel close to the real thing, and the convenience of electronics solves all the troubles of traditional journals.
If you want to do digital journaling on iPad, this article is for you.
Why Use iPad for Journaling?
First, let's talk about why someone would choose iPad digital journaling over traditional journals or phone apps.
iPad has several natural advantages:
Screen is big enough. Phone screens for journaling are a bit cramped—can't see details clearly, not good for handwriting. iPad's 10-inch+ screen is just right—one page is a complete journal.
Good handwriting experience. Apple Pencil's pressure sensitivity is very high—people with good handwriting can produce beautiful results. Even if your handwriting is average, with templates and decorative elements, the visual effect won't be bad.
Portable but not small. Compared to carrying a whole box of stationery out, iPad plus stylus is much lighter. But the journal produced has more quality than a phone app.
What Do You Need to Prepare?
Consider both hardware and software.
Hardware wise:
- iPad: Theoretically iPad 2018 and above support Apple Pencil, but larger screen iPad Air or iPad Pro have better experience
- Stylus: Apple Pencil first or second generation, depending on your iPad model. If it's the base iPad, third-party Logitech Crayon is also good
Software wise:
- CanJournals: Supports block editing and handwriting doodling, rich templates
- GoodNotes or Notability: If you're more used to pure handwriting experience
- PDF templates: If using GoodNotes, you can use ready-made journal template PDFs
Beginners should try starting with CanJournals. If you don't use it, just download and look, get familiar with how digital journaling works.
Tips for Choosing Apps
Don't spend too much time choosing apps.
Really, many people get stuck at this step—researching whether this or that is better, comparing dozens, finally downloading a bunch of apps, but not starting a single journal page.
Pick one that looks good, download it and start using it. If it doesn't work well, switch.
There are quite a few journaling apps on iPad. CanJournals, GoodNotes, Notability—these are all used by people, each with features. My suggestion is try CanJournals first. It has templates, block editing, works on phone and iPad, low learning cost.
Start Making Your iPad Journal
Assuming you've downloaded the app, what's next?
Step 1: Pick a template.
CanJournals' template center has various types of templates. Daily plan, weekly plan, diary, reading notes... Beginners should choose simple ones, like daily plan or evening diary. Too complex structure and you'll quit.
Step 2: Adjust the template.
Templates aren't dead. You can change colors, fonts, adjust block positions. Journals are personal things—whatever looks good is fine.
Step 3: Start writing.
Don't think too much. Write whatever you want. What you ate today, what you did, what you thought—these are all journal content. There's no standard answer.
Step 4: Add some decorations.
This is where digital journals are more convenient than traditional ones. Tap your fingers to insert images, stickers, dividers. CanJournals has built-in decorative elements, you can also import your own images.
Advanced Tips
After using for a while, try these advanced approaches:
Doodle directly with stylus. CanJournals supports doodling directly in stylus mode. Draw little illustrations, highlight with markers—pages come alive.
Mix block editing and handwriting. Typing and handwriting can coexist. For example, type main content, handwrite annotations and little thoughts.
Build your own templates. If you find a page structure you built works particularly well, save it as a custom template, use directly next time.
Regular review. CanJournals organizes your records by time. After a while, flip through—you'll find many interesting details.
Common Questions
Is iPad journaling slow?
It's a bit slow at first, since you need to adapt to the software. But actually much faster than traditional journals. No need to find stickers, cut washi tape, worry about layout not being designed well. Template on, start writing.
What if my handwriting is ugly?
Ugly handwriting doesn't affect a journal's value. The core of journals is recording, not calligraphy. Plus there are many decorative elements to make up for this "flaw."
Is carrying just iPad inconvenient?
No. iPad plus stylus is much lighter than traditional journal notebook plus a bunch of stationery. Plus you can add content anytime, no worry about carrying too many stickers and washi tapes.
Finally
iPad digital journaling is a great starting point. Easy to start, high fault tolerance, low entry barrier.
Pick a handy app, find a favorite template, start writing from today. Whether it looks good or not isn't important, what's important is starting to record.
For journaling, action is a hundred times more important than choosing the right tool.
