Get the weekly radar
One short email with the freshest products, every week.
Cozy keeps your journal as plain files on your own device — no sync, no AI, no subscription.
Grounded in available product and source data
Nothing written in Cozy leaves the device it was written on unless the user chooses to move it — it's a private journal that stays on your device, storing every entry as a plain file in a folder the user picks rather than a database on someone else's server.
That plain-file approach has a practical upside beyond keeping things off a server: entries stay openable with any app and can be backed up the exact same way a user already backs up other files, without needing Cozy itself to still exist years later. An entry isn't limited to text either — a photo, several photos, an audio recording, or a video (including one pulled straight from YouTube) can sit alongside the writing, and search works instantly through a Cmd+K shortcut.
Organizing years of entries is handled through List, Calendar, and Map views, plus tags and custom trackers for any habit or recurring thing worth following — a birdwatcher, a runner, and someone tracking mood can each shape Cozy differently. Writing itself gets a full-screen mode with optional ambient soundscapes (rain, forest, café, fireplace) for settling in, and the app writes in any language, including right-to-left scripts like Arabic that flow correctly on their own and mixing several languages inside one entry.
Cozy is sold as a one-time purchase with no subscription and a 14-day return window, covering macOS and Windows now, with an iPhone and iPad version currently in open beta.
By moving the files yourself — since entries are plain files in a folder you control, transferring a journal to a new machine works the same way as moving any other folder of files, through the same backup or file-transfer method you already use.
Yes — an entry can include a photo, several photos, an audio recording, or a video, and video specifically can be pulled straight from YouTube rather than only uploaded from the device itself.
No — it's a one-time purchase covering macOS and Windows, backed by a 14-day return window, so there's a bounded window to test it before the purchase is final.
Yes — the site states it supports any language, including right-to-left scripts like Arabic that flow correctly automatically, and mixing more than one language inside a single entry.
Only in open beta at this point — the page reviewed lists iPhone and iPad as in open beta rather than a finished release, worth checking directly for current status before relying on it as a primary device.
