Day One / Passwords

We currently offer ways to recover your data via these solutions. We are in the process of adding encryption which will further protect your data if you choose to enable it.

Forgot Password on Mac

If you lost the password on the Mac app, you can follow these steps:

  • Open the journal file location in Finder. To do so:
    • Open Day One, and open the Preferences window (Day One > Preferences)
    • Click on the “Sync” tab
    • Click on the path under the “Data File” title. This will open a Finder window.
  • In Finder, find the “security.plist” file. To find it:
    • If you see “Journal.dayone”, right click it and select “Show Package Contents”
    • If you see “Journal_dayone” then click the disclosure arrow to show the contents
    • Once you’ve found the “security.plist” file, move it to the Trash.
    • Restart Day One.

Forgot Passcode on iPhone / iPad

  • The easiest solution is to try and remember, maybe spend a while guessing possibly combinations.
  • The next easiest solution only works if you are certain that your data has been synced to Dropbox or iCloud. If that’s the case, you can delete the app from the device and re-install it. Then re-sync your data back on from Dropbox or iCloud.

If that’s still not working you may follow these steps, which are a bit more complicated and involved:

  • First, you need to get the plist file off your device
    1. Download iPhone Explorer (Windows and Mac versions available)
    2. Connect your iPhone or iPod Touch via its USB cable, and run iPhone Explorer
    3. Browse to Device -> Apps -> Day One -> Library -> Preferences, and copy the file com.dayonelog.dayoneiphone.plist to your Desktop
  • Now you need to convert your plist file to a readable XML format. If you are on a Mac:
    1. Open Terminal
    2. Run the command plutil -convert xml1 ~/Desktop/com.dayonelog.dayoneiphone.plist -o -
    3. Your passcode should now be displayed on the screen (screenshot below)
  • If you are on Windows:
    1. Download and install this free software: plist Editor for Windows
    2. File -> Open -> find the file com.dayonelog.dayoneiphone.plist on your Desktop
    3. Your passcode should now be displayed on the screen

Day One iOS plist