Feedback from a 13-Year User: App Complexity, Workflow Changes, and Pricing Conc
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Dear Day One Team,
I’ve been a Day One user since 2012—over thirteen years—and I’m writing to share some concerns about the direction the app has taken, both in terms of functionality and pricing.
The Workflow Changed
When I first adopted Day One, the entry creation workflow was beautifully simple: click the plus button, add an image, and the app would automatically create an entry using the photo’s EXIF metadata—date, time, location, and weather. It was frictionless. I could capture my travels retrospectively, knowing the metadata would be accurate and the app would handle all the details.
Now, that workflow is gone. To create an entry from a photo, I must first create an entry manually by selecting a date, then add the photo. It’s a fundamentally different—and significantly more cumbersome—process. For my use case (documenting multi-day expeditions and travels where I’m adding photos days later), this is a step backward. The app has become more complicated, not better.
I understand apps evolve, but losing a core workflow that users relied on—especially one that was elegant and efficient—feels like regression, not progress.
The Pricing Problem
When I purchased Day One in 2012, it was a one-time purchase. I paid once and used the app for over a decade. Now it’s subscription-only at $49 USD per year.
On the surface, $49 seems reasonable for an annual subscription. But here’s the problem: I’m in Australia, and that $49 converts to approximately $80 AUD per year. That’s a 63% markup on the nominal conversion rate.
The purchasing power parity argument doesn’t hold here. The economic reality for Australian consumers is that a US dollar and an Australian dollar have roughly equivalent buying power within their respective countries. Yet Day One pricing reflects a nearly 2x multiplier. When you combine Day One’s subscription with other apps I use (and many of us use multiple subscriptions), the cumulative cost becomes difficult to justify.
A Pricing Suggestion
I’d urge you to reconsider one of two approaches:
1. Offer a genuine lifetime purchase option again. Not a “lifetime” that lasts until you decide to change the model, but a true one-time permanent license. Many users like me would pay a higher upfront cost (perhaps $150-200) for genuine lifetime access rather than commit to indefinite annual payments.
2. Adjust regional pricing to reflect actual purchasing power parity. If Day One costs $49 USD in the US, it should cost approximately $49 AUD in Australia, not $80. The current pricing feels extractive.
The Broader Context
I’m not someone resistant to paying for quality software. I’ve invested in numerous apps and subscriptions. But I’m also watching my subscription fatigue grow—and I suspect many other users share this frustration. Day One is excellent, but it’s no longer essential for me at the current pricing, especially with the workflow changes that have removed what made the app uniquely valuable for my use case.
Competitors like Journey (which offers lifetime membership) and even budget alternatives like Diarium are becoming more attractive precisely because they offer either better pricing models or preservation of the workflows users actually value.
A Request
I’d genuinely appreciate if you’d consider:
• Restoring the simple “photo-to-entry” workflow that made Day One special
• Offering a genuine lifetime purchase option for users who want to invest in the app long-term
• Reconsidering regional pricing to be fairer to users outside the US
I want to continue using Day One—I have thirteen years of journaling history here. But I need to feel like I’m not being priced out of an app I helped build through early adoption.
Regards, -
Hi there, @rygar221376045c60
We really appreciate you taking the time to share this thoughtful feedback with us.
Restoring the simple “photo-to-entry” workflow that made Day One special
I just tested on my devices, and using the ‘Add Entry’ button created an entry for today, and once I uploaded an image, it allowed me to fill in the image EXIF metadata into the entry.
We have the steps to do it available here: https://dayoneapp.com/guides/getting-started-with-day-one/creating-entries/
Since this functionality should still be largely the same as how you recall it in the past, can you confirm with us what device you’re using and what view you have open (e.g. calendar view)?
Offering a genuine lifetime purchase option for users who want to invest in the app long-term
This feedback has been shared with our product team for consideration.
That said, with many of the features we’re working on and currently have, a one-time subscription might not always be feasible in the long term, as they incur ongoing monthly costs (hosting media, AI, 3rd-party integrations, etc.)Reconsidering regional pricing to be fairer to users outside the US
That is a good idea – I’ve also relayed it to my team.
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Previously I could directly add an image no need to created event and it would then create event based on EXIF data.
For me sadly DayOne becomes far too bloated and feature rich, which I dont need 90% off. You had such a good application which did everything required, maybe you should have a standard version with the base functionality and then the bloated new version in my opinion you’re regressing. I understand you wanna make money, but in my opinion you’re destroying a good product.
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