Keeping Your Day One Encryption Key Safe

Your journal is personal, and we believe it should stay that way. That’s why Day One uses end-to-end encryption to protect your entries with an encryption key that only you can access.

Day One offers two types of encryption: standard encryption, which secures your data at rest without requiring you to hold a key, and end-to-end encryption (E2EE), where only you hold the key and Day One cannot access your content. This guide covers E2EE keys. If your journals use standard encryption, you will not have an encryption key to find or back up — that is expected and normal.

What Is an Encryption Key?

Your encryption key is a long string of letters and numbers that acts like a super-secure password. It’s automatically generated when you enable end-to-end encryption in Day One.

It’s unique to you, and Day One does not store a copy.
If you lose access to this key, you will not be able to read your encrypted entries, even if they’re still stored on your device or in the cloud.
You should never share your encryption key with anyone else, even when using shared journals.

⚠️ Warning: If your encryption key is lost and you don’t have a backup, Day One cannot recover your encrypted content. It will be permanently unreadable.

How to View and Backup Your Encryption Key

Follow these steps to view your encryption key and see the backup options available.

iOS / iPadOS

Open Day One.
Tap your account icon in the top right to open the app settings.
Tap Sync.
Tap View Encryption Key.
Tap Backup Manually to create an offline backup.

Android

Open Day One.
Tap your account icon in the top right to open the app settings.
Tap Sync.
Tap Encryption Key.

macOS

Open Day One.
Click Settings > Sync > Advanced.
Click View Encryption Key.
Click Create New Backup, Save, or Print to back up your key.

Web App / Windows App

You can view and back up your encryption key on Windows, whether you’re using the native Day One app for Windows (available from the Microsoft Store) or the Day One web app in a browser. The settings are the same in both.

Open the Day One web app and sign in.
Go to Settings > Account > Encryption Key.
Click View/Back up.

Best Practices for Backing Up Your Key

Depending on the platform you’re using, when you view your encryption key, you’ll see some/all of the following backup options:

Backup to iCloud
Backup to Google Drive
Manual backup options:
- Send to Email Address
- Save/Download PDF
- Print
- Copy

Because Day One cannot recover your encrypted data without your key, we strongly recommend backing it up right away using at least one online and one offline backup method.

Online – Backup your key to iCloud or Google Drive

Backing up your encryption key to either iCloud or Google Drive (or both!) is recommended for convenience: in future, when you sign in to Day One on a new device, you’ll only need to sign into your Apple/Google account to restore your key automatically, without having to type it in, scan the QR code, or copy/paste it.

Note that although your key is securely stored in your Apple/Google account, it can only be accessed via the Day One apps – there isn’t a way to view your encryption key directly in iCloud/Drive using this method. For that reason, we also recommend using an offline method to backup your key manually.

Can someone with access to my Google account use the Google Drive copy of my key? Not on its own. Day One saves your key to a hidden area of your Google Drive that only the Day One app can use, so it doesn’t appear with your other Drive files, and the key is encrypted before it’s uploaded. Day One only retrieves it after you sign in to your Day One account, and only the copy saved for that account. Your journal entries are not stored with your key: they stay in Day One Sync, and opening them requires signing in to your Day One account. So a family member or anyone else who can get into your Google account, but not your Day One account, can’t use this backup to read your journals.

The exception is if you sign in to Day One with your Google account. In that case, anyone who can get into your Google account can also sign in to Day One as you, open your journals, and restore your key from Google Drive.

To remove the Google Drive copy of your key, sign in to the Day One web app at https://dayone.me and go to Settings > Advanced > Clear Encryption Key from Google Drive, then click Delete. This option only appears if your key is backed up to Google Drive. Before you remove it, make sure your key is backed up somewhere else, because Day One can’t recover it for you.

Backing up your key is also separate from the Auto Backup to Google Drive setting in Day One for Android, which saves an unencrypted copy of your entry text to a visible “Day One Backups” folder in your Google Drive. Anyone who can open your Google Drive can read those files. For details, or to turn that setting off, see Backups in Day One Android.

Offline – Backup your key manually

While the online backup methods can be very convenient, they rely on your continued access to your Apple/Google accounts, so it’s strongly recommended to have your key backed up manually too, so you’ll still have access to it should you ever find yourself unable to access your Apple/Google accounts.

Downloading a PDF of your key is a good first step, so that you can view the key itself, as well as the QR code, which you can scan with an iOS/Android device to add your key to Day One.

You can then also store the PDF in multiple locations, such as an encrypted external drive, or a password manager like 1Password.

Beyond that, it’s also a good idea to print out the PDF and store it in a safe place, so that you’ll always have a hard copy to refer to if you ever need it.

What Happens If I Lose My Encryption Key?

If you lose your encryption key and no longer have access to any trusted device where Day One is installed, you will permanently lose access to your encrypted journal entries.

Your data is still there — it just can’t be decrypted.
There is no way for Day One to recover the key or the content.
If you can’t find it on an existing device, you can contact our support team and provide us with your user ID so that we can check whether you have previously saved your key and point you in the right direction to find it.
Note that you can still use Day One to write new content, but you’ll need to create a new account and a new encryption key.

⚠️ Important: We can’t stress this enough — make sure your encryption key is backed up safely.

Still Need Help?

If you need help accessing your encryption key or have questions about your specific situation, please visit https://dayoneapp.com/contact to contact our support team.

Next Steps

Back up your encryption key today using at least one online and one offline backup method.
Store your key offline in a secure place.
Share this guide with friends or family who use Day One.