A different kind of timeline
A private alternative to Google Timeline.
Google Timeline can help you remember places and routes. Journary is for people who want that record to stay with their iPhone, their own iCloud and their own decisions.
One email when the app is ready. Nothing else.
The short version
Your location history should have a clear home.
Google says Timeline saves visits and routes to a map on your signed-in devices. It also offers an encrypted backup on Google servers when you turn backup on. That is a reasonable choice for some people. It is not the only choice.
Journary does not receive your location history on a Journary server. It records on your iPhone and syncs through your private iCloud. You can see the routes, correct a place, add your own words and export your record.
What changes
The record stays close to you.
Journary is built around a simple boundary. Your location history is app data on your devices, not a profile on a Journary account. There is no Journary location server waiting on the other side of the map.
Private iCloud sync still lets your Apple devices share the record. The point is not to pretend a phone is the only place data can exist. The point is to make the storage path visible and keep the product out of it.
- No Journary account is needed for the location journal.
- Routes and places remain available for correction and review.
- Your own writing stays free at every age.
- You can export the history you created.
Side by side
Different storage choices, different trade-offs.
Google Timeline and Journary both help you look back. Their boundaries differ. The table keeps the comparison specific to what each product documents, rather than turning privacy into a slogan.
| Question | Google Maps Timeline | Journary |
|---|---|---|
| What it remembers | Visits and routes shown in Google Maps Timeline. | Location points, places, routes, trips and diary content on iPhone. |
| Where it is kept | Timeline is saved on signed-in devices. Google also offers an encrypted server backup when enabled. | The product contract keeps the history on iPhone and syncs through your private iCloud. No Journary location server receives it. |
| Can you change it? | Google documents editing and deletion controls in Timeline. | Journary lets you correct places and remove data you do not want to keep. |
| What it is for | Looking back at places and routes in Google Maps. | Building a location history you can read, search, export and add to. |
A useful boundary
Private does not mean incomplete.
A private location journal still needs useful context. Journary can organize routes into places and trips, show a day on the map, and let you add what the coordinates cannot know. A route can tell you where you walked. Only you can say why you went.
The app also keeps the basics open. Maps, trips, photos, search, corrections, exports, posters and your own writing stay free. Only Journary-generated prose older than 12 months requires Pro.
- The map stays useful without Pro.
- Your notes do not become a paywall hostage.
- Pro is planned as one $69.99 lifetime purchase.
- There is no subscription or trial.
Before launch
A clear answer about imports.
Journary is a separate iPhone app, not a Google account setting. It does not require a Google login. Google documents an export called location-history.json, but Journary has not announced a supported import path for that file. Keep your export. We will document import support if and when it ships.
For now, the safest way to start is to join the waitlist and begin a new private record when Journary is ready.
Good to know
Is Journary a Google Timeline replacement?
It is an alternative for people who want an iPhone location journal with no Journary location server. It does not promise the same account, device or import behavior as Google Timeline.
Does Journary upload my location history?
No Journary server receives your location history. Journary records on your iPhone and syncs through your private iCloud. See the privacy page for the full boundary.
Can I export my Google Timeline file into Journary?
Google provides a location-history.json export. Journary has not announced a supported import path for that file, so this is not a launch promise.
What does Journary Pro cost?
Journary Pro is planned as one $69.99 lifetime purchase. There is no subscription, free trial or renewal. Journary is still in development, so the App Store purchase is not available yet.
Read the source
Coming to iPhone
Keep the days that Google never knew how to name.
Journary is coming to iPhone. Join the waitlist and we will email you when it is ready.
One email when the app is ready. Nothing else.