this is an older samsung j7-sky pro smartphone.

i have a need to start keeping a journal or diary of some medical
symptoms for a few months. i am not looking to note how many girls are
eyeing me up, lol!

i need a simple dated diary or journal to make short quick notes in
that has no permissions needed. i looked some over and, of course, they
want access to everything when i do not see the need for access to
anything.

anyone have one they use or can reccomend?

tia

Jess Fertudei wrote on Wed, 21 Aug 2024 08:50:10 -0400 :

> this is an older samsung j7-sky pro smartphone.
>
> i have a need to start keeping a journal or diary of some medical
> symptoms for a few months. i am not looking to note how many girls are
> eyeing me up, lol!
>
> i need a simple dated diary or journal to make short quick notes in
> that has no permissions needed. i looked some over and, of course, they
> want access to everything when i do not see the need for access to
> anything.
>
> anyone have one they use or can reccomend?

I don't know, offhand, but I very much want to be helpful for others.

Much like a 'todo' list, or a 'grocery lists, a 'diary' is just a text
file, in the end, but there are two factors which make you want one.

1. A diary probably enters the date automatically, and,
2. Any app seems to only really modify one file (or one file location).

Given that, you likely don't want the Simple Text Editor for Android, which
is what I use to write to a text file from voice input for todo lists.
<https://texteditor.maxistar.me/>
<https://github.com/maxistar/TextPad>
<https://f-droid.org/packages/com.maxistar.textpad/>
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.maxistar.textpad>

Running the Skyica App Finder to locate a free ad-free 'diary' app,
we find 1,205 results when I simply use the keyword 'diary' to search.

If I add the word "medical" to "diary", we get urine trackers, diabetes
apps, headache apps, dietary apps, menstruation diaries, seizure diaries,
FODMAP diaries, psychology diaries, gym & PT diaries, etc.

Without knowing more, I'll just suggest a well-rated "personal diary".
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=it.carrystudios.personal_diary

If that's not to the OP's liking, this is a "thought diary" apparently.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=xyz.dewanshrawat.thoughts

And, just in case, here's a simple diary for feelings & for emotions.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=app.SimpleDiary

Those are just three out of a thousand that showed up when I searched for
free ad-free inapp-purchase-free diaries for the OP, where I only ask the
OP to check them out if they fit his needs & to let us know how it goes.

That way, we all learn from each other which are the best apps out there.

Andrew wrote on 8/21/2024 :
> Jess Fertudei wrote on Wed, 21 Aug 2024 08:50:10 -0400 :
>
>> this is an older samsung j7-sky pro smartphone.
>>
>> i have a need to start keeping a journal or diary of some medical
>> symptoms for a few months. i am not looking to note how many girls are
>> eyeing me up, lol!
>>
>> i need a simple dated diary or journal to make short quick notes in
>> that has no permissions needed. i looked some over and, of course, they
>> want access to everything when i do not see the need for access to
>> anything.
>>
>> anyone have one they use or can reccomend?
>
> I don't know, offhand, but I very much want to be helpful for others.
>
> Much like a 'todo' list, or a 'grocery lists, a 'diary' is just a text
> file, in the end, but there are two factors which make you want one.
>
> 1. A diary probably enters the date automatically, and,
> 2. Any app seems to only really modify one file (or one file location).
>
> Given that, you likely don't want the Simple Text Editor for Android, which
> is what I use to write to a text file from voice input for todo lists.
> <https://texteditor.maxistar.me/>
> <https://github.com/maxistar/TextPad>
> <https://f-droid.org/packages/com.maxistar.textpad/>
> <https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.maxistar.textpad>
>
> Running the Skyica App Finder to locate a free ad-free 'diary' app,
> we find 1,205 results when I simply use the keyword 'diary' to search.
>
> If I add the word "medical" to "diary", we get urine trackers, diabetes
> apps, headache apps, dietary apps, menstruation diaries, seizure diaries,
> FODMAP diaries, psychology diaries, gym & PT diaries, etc.
>
> Without knowing more, I'll just suggest a well-rated "personal diary".
> https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=it.carrystudios.personal_diary
>
> If that's not to the OP's liking, this is a "thought diary" apparently.
> https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=xyz.dewanshrawat.thoughts
>
> And, just in case, here's a simple diary for feelings & for emotions.
> https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=app.SimpleDiary
>
> Those are just three out of a thousand that showed up when I searched for
> free ad-free inapp-purchase-free diaries for the OP, where I only ask the
> OP to check them out if they fit his needs & to let us know how it goes.
>
> That way, we all learn from each other which are the best apps out there.

all of that is kind of interesting - when i look at the app store i see
a bazillion of them, too. does your system have the ability to answer
my question?

i was looking for experience as to any that require no permissions. can
your app finder sort by that?

tx

Jess Fertudei wrote on Wed, 21 Aug 2024 20:10:42 -0400 :

> all of that is kind of interesting - when i look at the app store i see
> a bazillion of them, too. does your system have the ability to answer
> my question?

Ironically, Google is never going to give you the kind of search you need
to find the best apps which are free, ad free, gsf free & in-app $ free.

I get my Skyica App Finder for free from the developer so I don't know if
it costs money or not for regular people, but here's the link to it.
<https://skyica.com/appfinder/get/>

> i was looking for experience as to any that require no permissions. can
> your app finder sort by that?

The Skyica App Finder can sort on, oh, I don't know, about fifty different
things, where people who don't use it are never gonna find the best apps.
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=scadica.aq>

The only thing Skyica App Finder doesn't search for are GSF free apps.
For that I use the Aurora app (which replaces the Google Play Store app).
<https://gitlab.com/AuroraOSS/AuroraStore/-/releases>
<https://aurorastore.org/> & <https://auroraoss.com/>
<https://f-droid.org/packages/com.aurora.store/>

Bear in mind that the Aurora Store isn't a store. It's just a Google Play
Store client, much like a browser isn't a store. A browser is a client.

When you search using the Aurora app, you can also search for free, ad
free, and GSF free apps - which is the only search term that I use that
Skyica App Finder doesn't search by (GSF = Google Services Framework).

The simplest way to describe GSF is it's Google spyware that developers
link into their code so you want to find apps that don't have GSF in them.

Looking at the three diary apps I had selected after a Skyica search,
it.carrystudios.personal_diary === free, no ads, but it requires GSF
xyz.dewanshrawat.thoughts === free, no ads, but it requires GSF
app.SimpleDiary === free, no ads, but it requires GSF

In Aurora, if I search for "diary" but I uncheck "paid", "ads" & "gsf",
and if I set the rating to 3+ or better & 50K or more downloads, only
these two apps show up on that initial search of just the word "diary".
Writer Journal - StoryNote by Pocket App
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lightweight.WordCounter.free>

Journalistic: Micro Journaling by Micro Journaling Labs
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.journalisticapp.twa>

These didn't show up in the Skyica search because I had filtered out any
ads that asked for in-app purchases - but Aurora doesn't have that filter.

Both those last two have no GSF spyware in them, which is worth something.

But I wouldn't call them diaries; but as I said, a diary is just an app
that saves a file that you speak into the microphone to create, and maybe
it adds the day automatically. Dunno if any of these are any good.

You'll have to download one or more of the five and let us know what you
liked and didn't like about them - where that's a useful thing to do.