Penjo is a digital journal and planner you write by hand. In the morning, today's page shows your Apple Calendar events and reminders, and you plan around them with Apple Pencil or your finger. By evening, the same page is your diary, with notes, sketches and photos of the day, and iCloud keeps it on your iPad, iPhone and Mac. Later, search finds the words you wrote, even in your handwriting.
In September 2026, the App Store featured Penjo in "Make the Most of Apple Pencil" in 173 countries.
PLAN WITH YOUR CALENDAR
• See your Apple Calendar events and Apple Reminders on the day page and in the week and month views, including Google and Exchange calendars. Add, edit and complete them without leaving Penjo.
• Reminders you haven't finished from earlier days appear under Overdue on today's page.
• On iPad and Mac, the day drawer keeps the day's plans beside your page as you move from day to day.
• See your week at a glance, with each day's page and plans. The month page is a canvas too, for a habit tracker or a mood chart.
MAKE IT YOURS
• Give each journal its own look: 18 cover colors, 20 paper colors, and blank, lined, grid or dotted paper in different spacings.
• Use Day Mode for a page every day, or List Mode for occasional notes, class notes, trips or scrapbooks.
• Choose fonts and colors for your text, set up your own Apple Pencil tool palette, and pick light or dark.
WRITE YOUR DAY
• Every page starts blank on the paper you chose, and you decide what goes where. Add more pages to a day when you need them.
• Penjo can straighten the lines you draw, and you can scribble over words to erase them.
• Photos: remove the background, add a sticker effect or an instant photo frame, flip a photo or clip it to a shape, right on the page. Add text boxes, shapes and maps too.
• Add moments from your day and gratitude prompts with Journaling Suggestions, and use Writing Tools and Image Playground on supported devices.
SYNCED AND PRIVATE
• iCloud keeps your journals in sync on iPad, iPhone, Mac and Apple Vision Pro. They stay in your own iCloud, and we never see what you write.
• Lock the app or a single journal with Face ID, Touch ID or your device passcode.
• Export a day, week or month as a PDF, or back up and transfer whole journals as .penjo files.
LOOK BACK
• Search also finds the text in your photos, with text recognition on your device.
• On This Day shows what you wrote on the same date in earlier years.
READY FOR THE NEWEST APPLE DEVICES
• The Liquid Glass design on iOS 26, iPadOS 26 and later, in your journal's colors.
• iPhone Duo: open it like a book, with the page on one side and the day's events and reminders on the other, or set it half open on a table and write on the flat half. Fold it shut and the journal closes.
• Home Screen widgets, and Penjo in 22 languages.
FREE AND UNLIMITED
Penjo is free to start, with no account to create: 3 journals and 14 day pages in each. Penjo Unlimited adds Apple Calendar and Reminders, iCloud sync, unlimited journals and pages, app and journal locks, PDF export and .penjo backups, on all your devices. Choose a monthly or yearly subscription, or pay once with Lifetime. Family Sharing is available on the monthly plan.
Questions? Every message gets a personal reply.
support@penjoapp.com
Privacy Policy: https://penjoapp.com/privacy-policy
Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Seriously, just get it and pay for it to help support future development. It’s only in its infancy and yet it is exactly what I have been looking for. All the google calendar entries on each daily page which you can note, text, annotate and add images via paste or drag/drop slideover from files to your heart’s delight. Event details on tap. New calendar entries. Dynamically updating for new events. Weekly and monthly views. I have been seeking a google calendar/planner/journal iPad integration that will allow me to doodle and draw attention visually to important entries in my Google calendar — and Penjo, while still rudimentary — checks all the boxes (especially as regards drag/drop images from files as I have built an extensive clip art library). There is another app that came close, but it’s functionality for the use of outside images was cumbersome and pedantic. Another popular planner app promises “Google Calendar sync,” but delivers only a manual linking to each event. Nooooo time for that! Drag/drop was the game-changer here for me, as was the blank canvas. I know the developers have many updates in store and I am looking forward to seeing what they come up with. However as a visual artist, I have to point out that their app icon could use some polishing. It looks like it was created as an after-thought — and potential purchasers may believe the same of the app without trying it. Just my own two cents.
Developer Response
Thank you for your detailed review and for recommending Penjo! We’re glad to hear that the app is meeting your expectations, especially with features like drag-and-drop, close integration of calendar events and the ability to annotate them. We appreciate your feedback on the app icon as well and will keep it in mind as we continue to refine our designs to better reflect the quality of Penjo.Your insights are incredibly helpful as we continue to develop and improve the app. We have many exciting updates planned, and we can't wait for you to see what’s coming next!Thank you again for your support and for sharing your thoughts. If you have any more suggestions or need assistance, please feel free to reach out.
Start Journaling Now!!
9ros
i wanted to update my review now that apple journal is on ipad, there are people who may need convincing that this app is the best. if you want FULL control of your layout- photos, lined paper, all system fonts, this is the app you want. the newer list mode is a small but effective change. ive started other subjects and a bullet journal with 4-month spreads. and yes, as some other users have mentioned i also have a folder of png "stickers" to decorate, and it makes it feel like a physical journal. ive even designed washi tape for my bullet journal. this app makes it so enjoyable, its life changing! for now, the only thing apple journal has over penjo is voice memos, if thats important to you. "effects" photos crashes the app, i recommend using a shortcut or removing backgrounds yourself. ONLY negative i have. so , START JOURNALING in 2026!!! thank you penjo for being such a responsive & innovative team. original review: this is everything i could want in a digital journal. i started using this app at the beginning of the year. i've been journaling almost every day. when night mode came out, it was like christmas for me. the experience typing with a bluetooth keyboard is still not perfect, it brings the text all the way to the bottom of the screen when i'm typing somewhere else. not a big deal but a bit inconvenient. (edit:fixed!) something i would love to see is the option to simply have numbered pages in a journal instead of it being organized by date. i find it difficult to use this app for subjects other than daily journaling. (fixed again!) still 5 stars though by far. great app.
Developer Response
Thank you so much for taking the time to update your review and for sharing such detailed feedback. It truly means a lot to us. Reading that Penjo feels “life changing” is incredibly motivating for our team.We’re also really glad you noticed that several of the points from your original review have been addressed. Your feedback genuinely helps shape how Penjo evolves.Regarding the crash when using photo effects, thank you for pointing this out clearly. This is definitely not expected behavior, and we would really like to fix it as quickly as possible. If you’re willing, could you please share a few details with us? You can reach us at support@penjoapp.com. Even small details help a lot.Thank you again for your kind words, creativity, and for recommending Penjo to others. We’re excited to keep making journaling better together, and yes, let’s start journaling in 2026.
This is the one!
Clipseangel
I have been looking for a note taking app that has the same fountain pen as the one in Apple’s notes. I have gone through sooo many and paid for more just to get the “pro” versions and they all were disappointing. But lo and behold, Reddit to the rescue! I couldn’t believe this little app had my beloved fountain pen! I gave them my money immediately! I have been using them since, faithfully. My writing is flawless and doesn’t distort like Apple notes app after hours of case study reviews. I have just two suggestions. Allow for the ability to lock our screen. I am sure zooming the page in and out is useful for some tasks, but for just writing or journaling, it does move more than I like when my arm hits the screen or my hand makes contact during writing. I have seen others with that function and it is wonderful keeping the page at the size you want and stable. Second, I may be missing this, I honestly may be missing the first suggestion, as in the ability exists and I am overlooking it but, I would love to have all of the Apple Pencil options, esp. the highlighter. If I am overlooking these things, I would love to be directed to them. Other than that, chef’s kiss! 10/10 no notes!!
Developer Response
Thank you very much for your through review and kind words. Happy to hear that Penjo meets your expectations. Regarding the zoom lock, it is a great idea and we immediately decided to include it in the next update and here it is!. Penjo v3.6.14 now includes zoom locking. When set from the context menu in the note, the zoom will be fixed to that current level to reduce the effect of possible palm touch. Thanks again for the suggestion. Regarding the all pencil options. You can switch between the default and favorite one from the pen icon on the right in tool picker. You can add remove pencils to your favorite toolpicker. Feel free to check FAQ in penjoapp.com or contact us last support@penjoapp.comThanks again for your kind words and suggestions.
Perfect
✨Pokki✨
I’ve been looking for a journal app for a while now that didn’t try to be anything but a journaling app and when I came across this, I was overjoyed. It’s intuitive, it’s clean, it’s minimalist, and it puts you and not in app purchases at the forefront. Using this app reminds me of my black paper notebook and gel pens I used as a kid way back in the early 00s and it feels just as magical as 8 year old me remembers. I always have my iPad with me and having access to a digital journal that feels like a physical one has done wonders for my mental health and my therapist loves it too. I cannot sing the praises of this app loud enough or highly enough. Do yourself a favor and download this if you need a space to let it all out emotionally, creatively, or professionally. This is hands down the best journal app I’ve ever used. Goodnotes can take its pay to write model and kick rocks. This is incredible.
Developer Response
Thank you so much! We're so happy Penjo brings back those magical childhood journaling memories. It means a lot to hear it's been helpful for your mental health too. This is exactly why we built it - to be that simple, clean space for your thoughts. Thanks for the kind words!
Penjo is now optimized for iPhone Duo, in every pose, and has a new Liquid Glass design.
- iPhone Duo: open it and the page uses Penjo's iPad layouts. In the book and seated poses, the page stays clear of the fold. Fold it shut and the journal closes.
- Liquid Glass: glass toolbars and your journal's colors, on iOS 26, iPadOS 26 and later.
- iPhone: Drawing, Text and Insert on the day page, with your journal and date in the second toolbar row (iOS 26 and later).
- Sticker tape: a new shape with torn ends, in any color and six patterns.
- VoiceOver reads every toolbar button with its state.
- Widgets support the tinted and clear Home Screen styles.
- Bug fixes and performance improvements.
This is the first 3.8 update. New features follow in the next updates.
Version 3.8
The developer, Zafer ARICAN, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .
Data Not Linked to You
The following data may be collected but it is not linked to your identity:
Usage Data
Diagnostics
Privacy practices may vary, for example, based on the features you use or your age. Learn More
The developer indicated that this app supports the following accessibility features. Learn More
Supported Features
Dark Interface
Differentiate Without Color Alone
Information
Seller
Zafer ARICAN
Size
30.3 MB
Category
Lifestyle
Compatibility
Requires iOS 17.0 or later.
iPhone Requires iOS 17.0 or later.
iPad Requires iPadOS 17.0 or later.
Mac Requires macOS 14.0 or later and a Mac with Apple M1 chip or later.
