Room for your plans
Choose a day, jot down your tasks, add a time, and celebrate the little checkmarks.
A little home for your daysMake plans.
Make plans.
Keep memories.
A free planner and photo diary for your Mac. Make plans today, then keep your words and photos as memories when each day passes. All in one cozy place.
Download for MacTake a little peekA page for every version of you.
daypetal
A FRESH LITTLE PAGE
Friday, September 4
M31T1W2T3F4S5S6
Little plans
✓Make time for a walk
Start something lovely
Call someone you love
Dear diary…
A slower morning.
Sunlight on the kitchen floor.
A little moment worth keeping.
Photos, thoughts, and tiny happy things.
THE LITTLE THINGS, TOGETHERA planner today.
A planner today.
A keepsake tomorrow.
A diary that grows with you
Past dates become diary pages automatically. Add your thoughts and photos whenever the moment comes back to you.
Your memories, kept close
Your diary stays on your Mac and works offline. Encrypted iCloud Drive backups start automatically when iCloud is ready, with older versions to return to.
GOOD TO KNOW
A few little details.
Daypetal lives on your Mac.
This page is just its front door.
Is Daypetal free?
Yes. The planner, diary, photo attachments, and encrypted backups are free to use. There’s no subscription. If you’d like to help with development, you can support Daypetal with an optional one-time contribution.
Which Macs can run Daypetal?
Daypetal runs on Apple silicon Macs with macOS 13 or later. You can plan, write, and browse your photo diary offline. Internet access is needed to check for updates or upload encrypted backups to iCloud Drive or another cloud service.
How do I install it?
Open the downloaded disk image. In the Daypetal window, drag Daypetal along the arrow into Applications. Eject the disk image, then open Daypetal from Applications. If you already have Daypetal, quit it before replacing the app. Your diary and photos stay on your Mac.
Where are my diary and photos stored?
Your working diary and photo copies stay on your Mac, in Daypetal’s Application Support folder. Automatic backups save separate encrypted copies in your iCloud Drive. No diary content is sent to this website. You can open your local data folder from the app’s settings. Daypetal encrypts backups; the working diary on your Mac is not encrypted by the app.
How do automatic iCloud backups work?
Enable iCloud Drive and Passwords & Keychain in macOS. Daypetal then prepares backups automatically when you open it, with no folder picker. It encrypts your diary and photos on your Mac, saves backups in iCloud Drive / Daypetal, and keeps the encryption key in iCloud Keychain.
It saves a first backup, then backs up after saved edits settle for one minute while the app is open. Check backup status or pause in Settings → Backups. Existing backup folders and pauses are kept. A saved backup means the encrypted file is ready on this Mac; iCloud handles uploading it.
How much iCloud storage do backups use?
Backups use your own iCloud storage. Each saved version contains a full copy of your diary and attached photos, so more photos and more versions use more space. Daypetal keeps 30 versions per Mac by default, or 100 if you choose. You can change this in Settings → Backups; pausing keeps your existing backups.
Can I recover my diary on another Mac?
Recovery needs both your backup files and their encryption key. Sign in to the same Apple Account with iCloud Drive and Passwords & Keychain enabled, and allow both files and keys to sync. Then choose a saved version in Settings → Backups → Backup history. Daypetal asks before replacing the diary on that Mac and keeps a local safety copy.
Each Mac keeps its own working diary. To bring a saved version to another Mac, restore it from backup history. Daypetal cannot tell you when macOS has finished syncing your files and key.
Can I make a separate backup somewhere else?
Yes. In Settings → Backups → Advanced, export a manual encrypted backup to a local folder or a folder synced by Dropbox, Google Drive, or iCloud Drive. You choose and keep its passphrase. Manual Restore is in Advanced too. This export folder is separate from your automatic backup destination.
Will it check for updates?
Yes. Daypetal can check when it opens, every six hours while it’s open, or whenever you choose Check for updates in settings. Choose Download update, then Restart and install to update the app in Applications. Your diary and photos stay in place. Updates are authenticated and verified, and urgent releases show an in-app alert and a macOS notification when allowed. Versions before 1.0.7 need one final manual upgrade to gain in-place updates.