Handwritten JournalSay it. Write it. Keep it.
Your child says what happened today. The words appear on a ruled page, and they write over them in their own hand. Finish a line and the guide disappears. A year of days becomes a book.
Free. No ads, no account, no subscription. iPad with iOS 18 or later. Apple Pencil recommended; a finger works.
The app's own page: their words land, their ink is marked as they write, and the finished line becomes their handwriting.
Three steps, one page, no ceremony.
Handwriting practice is dull. Journalling is not. If the sentence a child practises is one they wanted to say, practice stops being practice.
Talk
Tap the microphone and say what happened. Up to five minutes, and stopping part-way is completely fine. Speech is recognised on the iPad, and there is always Type it instead.
Write
The whole thing is one long page, and they work down it at their own pace with an Apple Pencil or a finger. Ink inside the letter turns green and ink outside turns red, as they write.
Keep
Finish a line and the guide underneath goes away. What is left is their handwriting, exactly where they wrote it. The page joins the journal with the date, and exports as a PDF.
Their words. Their page. Their book.
Every other tracing app hands a child a word list — cat, dog, ball. This one asks what happened to them today and hands that back to be written.
Their words
The sentence is worth writing because the child said it. Speech becomes the guide text, right on the page, with no word list in sight.
Their page
Finish a line and the guide disappears. What is left is their handwriting, exactly where they wrote it — no results screen, no moving on.
Their book
Newest first, dated, searchable by what they said. Export a page, a month, or the whole journal as a PDF for a grandparent.
A journal with a handwriting engine underneath.
Marked letter by letter
Green inside the letter, red outside, while they write — never afterwards. An untraced letter scores zero, so half a word scores like half a word.
Stroke order, taught not told
A letter drawn out of order keeps most of its score, and when the word is finished the page teaches that one letter — it draws itself, they trace it, and they carry on.
A practice sheet
Every letter Aa to Zz and 0 to 9 on the same ruled paper. Touch one and it draws itself stroke by stroke, with arrows to follow; trace it and it turns green.
Five typefaces, five sizes
Chosen by a grown-up, never earned. Andika is in the list because some children read it far more easily; every face is previewed at its real size before you pick it.
Points, stars and streaks
Three stars for a page at ninety percent, a streak for writing day after day, eight badges to earn. A number that only goes up, with nothing to unlock and no levels.
Several children, one iPad
A profile each, with their own journal, typeface and size, and an optional four-digit PIN to keep a sibling out. Export any child's pages as a PDF whenever you like.
Free, and not because you are the product.
There is no account, no server, no analytics and no advertising. Speech is recognised on the iPad and no audio is recorded or kept. The App Store privacy label is Data Not Collected.
- Nothing leaves the iPad unless a grown-up exports a PDF and shares it.
- No account, no sign-in. Choose a name, start writing. A PIN is optional.
- This website is the same. It sets no cookies and loads nothing from third parties.
Read the privacy policy — it is short, because there is nothing to disclose.
Settings, not rewards.
You choose the letter style and the size, and nothing has to be earned to make the letters bigger. Progress is kept per setting, so a dip after you make the letters smaller shows you why instead of worrying you.
- Left-handed layout, colour-blind ink, finger tracing on or off
- Haptics and guide lines are switches, per child
- Read any entry as their handwriting or as typed words, one tap apart
Made for children roughly five to eight who can speak in sentences and are learning to form their letters. Not a curriculum, not a reading app, not a game with levels, not online.
A writing centre that runs itself.
No logins, no Wi-Fi, no class setup. Several children on one iPad, a dated page per sitting, and a PDF for the portfolio. Occupational therapists get per-letter scoring, stroke-order judgement and a lesson on the letter that missed — inside meaningful writing, not in a drill.
- For K–2 teachers and school leaders · one-page PDF
- For therapists, tutors and specialists · one-page PDF
- The parents' one-pager for a school newsletter or a waiting room
Free classroom pilots are running from October 2026 to January 2027 — ask about one.
Things grown-ups ask.
Does it need an Apple Pencil?
It is best with one, or with any iPad stylus. A finger works too, and there is a switch for it in the child's profile.
Is it free? Is there a subscription?
It is free, with no ads and no account. Everything in this version is included. There is no subscription.
My child is hard to understand. Will dictation work?
Speech recognition on young voices is imperfect, so the words stay editable until they are written — a misheard word never has to enter the record. And there is always Type it instead.
Where does our data go?
Nowhere. There is no account and no server. Speech is recognised on the iPad and no audio is kept. The only thing that can leave is a PDF a grown-up exports. The privacy policy has the details.
What if we lose the iPad?
Export the journal to Files or iCloud Drive now and then; the whole book is one PDF. There is no cloud sync in this version, by design.
Is it cursive? Which handwriting programme does it follow?
Print only, in five typefaces. Stroke order follows ball-and-stick print in the order most classrooms teach. It is not a licensed programme and does not teach reading.
Can two children share it?
Yes. Each gets a profile with their own journal, typeface and size, and an optional PIN. A PIN keeps a sibling out; it is not encryption, and the app says so.
iPhone? Android? Chromebook?
iPad only, iOS 18 or later, in portrait or landscape. A child holds an iPad like a notebook, and the page needs the room.
Do it for a day and you have a page. Do it for a year and you have a book.
Free on the App Store. No ads, no account, nothing leaves the iPad.
Get it on the App Store