Moving from Day One

How do I move my Day One journal to Everglow?

Export your Day One journal as JSON, then import that file from Everglow’s Settings. Entries keep their dates and text, and tags become topics. Photos stay in Day One.

Verified against Everglow 1.5 on 10 October 2026.

Everglow 1.5 has no importer built for Day One. It reads Day One’s JSON and CSV files through its general importer, which recognizes their date and text fields on its own. The Day One steps below come from Day One’s help pages, read the same day.

Which Day One export to choose

Day One exportEverglow 1.5 reads it?What carries over
JSON, from any Day One appYes, without setupDate and time, full text, tags as topics
CSV, from iPhone or AndroidYesDate and time, full text
Plain Text or MarkdownNot reliablyThe whole export is one text file, so chosen as a ZIP it arrives as a single entry
PDFNoNothing

Choose JSON. Day One says its JSON files can contain all entries, media and metadata, and each entry in them carries a machine-readable date. CSV is the fallback: Day One’s CSV export holds only the date and the text. Day One lists what each format contains in its guide Exporting entries.

Step by step

  1. Set up an AI engine in Everglow first. The on-device model, your own API key or Everglow Cloud all work. Without one, imported entries are saved but not read, and the import pauses until an engine is ready.
  2. Export from Day One. On iPhone, open Settings → Import/Export, choose the journal, set a date range and choose JSON. On a Mac, Control-click the journal in the journal pane and choose Export, then JSON. The web and Windows apps export a whole journal from Edit Journal → Journal Settings → Export Journal.
  3. Open the ZIP on your iPhone. Save it to the Files app and tap it, and Files expands it into a folder, as Apple describes in Create or open ZIP files. Inside is a .json file, plus folders of photos and other media if you included them.
  4. Import into Everglow. Open Settings → Privacy & Data → Import from another app, tap Choose a file or folder, and pick the .json file.
  5. Review before saving. Each entry shows its date and first lines. Tap one to correct its text or date or to split it, and switch off any entry you don’t want. If you have more than one engine set up, choose the one that reads the entries under Runs on. Then tap the Import button.
  6. Let it run. The import continues in the background and picks up again if you quit Everglow. At the end, a summary counts the entries imported, any skipped as already imported, and any that failed.

Choosing the ZIP itself also works for a small export of a single journal. The .json file is the safer pick: Everglow 1.5 reads only one .json file from a ZIP, and a large ZIP full of media may not open at all.

Try a small sample first

Before you move years of writing, import a short stretch. Day One on iPhone and Android can export a date range; on a Mac, select a range of entries in List view and export just those. Then compare the sample in Everglow with Day One: the number of entries, a few dates and a few complete texts.

On the free tier, keep the sample to 7 entries or fewer, because imported entries count toward the 7 free entries. When the sample looks right, export the rest. Entries you already imported are skipped the second time, as long as their text and day haven’t changed.

What carries over

  • The full text of every entry.
  • The date and time Day One recorded. Entries land on those dates, not on the day you import them.
  • Tags, which become topics on each entry. This needs the JSON export, because Day One’s CSV has no tags.

After import, Everglow reads each entry the way it reads new writing, so your Day One years become part of Ask, search and the pages for people and places.

What changes on the way

  • Titles. Day One’s export has no separate title field. A title is the first line of the text, usually marked with #, and it stays the first line in Everglow, # included.
  • Formatting marks. Day One writes entry text as Markdown and puts a backslash before some punctuation, so a sentence can end in \. instead of a plain period. Everglow 1.5 shows these characters as they are.
  • Media references. Where a photo, video or recording sat, the text keeps a line such as ![](dayone-moment://…), but the file itself isn’t imported.
  • Time zones. Everglow keeps the exact moment of each entry and shows it in your iPhone’s current time zone. Day One also records the time zone you wrote in, which Everglow doesn’t use, so an entry written near midnight while traveling can appear on the neighboring day.

What stays in Day One

  • Photos, videos, audio recordings and PDF attachments.
  • Location and weather.
  • Favorite and pinned marks.
  • Journal names. Entries from every journal you import share one Everglow timeline.

Everglow’s import reads a copy of the export file and changes nothing in Day One. Keep your Day One journal and the export file until you have checked the result.

Will my photos come over?

No. Everglow 1.5 imports the text of each entry and leaves photos, videos, audio and PDFs behind, with a placeholder line where each one was. Keep Day One, or a JSON or PDF export from it, for your media.

Will my dates be kept?

Yes. Day One’s JSON export stores each entry’s date and time in a standard format that Everglow reads exactly, so entries land on the days you wrote them. Everglow shows those moments in your iPhone’s current time zone, so check any entry written near midnight in another time zone.

Can I keep using Day One?

Yes. Everglow doesn’t connect to Day One or change it, so new Day One entries need a fresh export. When you import again, entries whose text and day are unchanged are skipped, and an entry you edited in Day One comes in as another entry beside the earlier one.

What if my journal is very large?

Import it in batches by date range. The engine you choose reads every entry: on-device keeps your text on your iPhone but is slower, Everglow Cloud uses its monthly allowance and pauses if that runs out, and your own API key sends entry text to that provider. Beyond 7 entries you need Everglow Unlimited, a one-time purchase ($9.99 in the US), or an active Everglow Cloud subscription. A paused import waits in the notification bell and resumes where it stopped.

Can I move my entries out of Everglow later?

Yes. Settings → Export your journal creates a ZIP of plain Markdown files, one per dated entry, with your conversations alongside. The file is unencrypted, so store it somewhere private.

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