What Zenith Journal is

Zenith Journal is a journal drawn as a night sky. Every entry you write is a star, and the journals you keep are constellations — lines you draw between those stars.

It is built by Black Syntax and is part of the Zenith Suite. See The Zenith Suite & broker.

#Five words

The whole app rests on a few words. The app and ask the sky — its built-in AI assistant — use the same ones.

• An entry is one thing you wrote: its title, its words, and whatever it carries — pages, tags, ties and files.
• A star is how an entry is drawn in the sky: on the day it is filed under, at the height you placed it.
• A journal is a named, ordered group of entries. One entry can sit in as many journals as you like, or in none.
• A constellation is a journal as the sky draws it: its stars, joined by the lines you drew, with its name beside them.
• The escritoire is the desk where your journals are made and kept, each one a glass plate.

Each is explained on Entries, stars, journals & constellations.

#Hold the sky and a star appears

Hold an empty part of the sky and a new star — a new, blank entry — appears on that day, where your finger is. Write it, join it to another star, or leave it loose. A tap on empty sky only sparkles; holding is what places. See Tap, hold, drag & pinch.

#Four ways to look

The same writing can be seen four ways, from the switch at the top left:

• "sky" — every entry a star along the year, journals as constellations. See The sky.
• "list" — every entry in words, newest first, with search. See The list.
• "orbits" — journals as planets, their entries as moons, and entries in no journal circling the sun. See The orbits & "file in…".
• "insights" — counts of what you write (Gold). See Insights (Gold).

#Your first open

The first time you open the app, one page says what it is and offers four ways to begin. Nothing needs setting up. See Your first five minutes and The welcome, hints & the example journals.

#Journal gold

Journal gold — the one-time paid upgrade — costs $1.99, once. It opens this app only: "journal gold stands alone — $1.99, once, this app's forever". It is never a subscription.

The standard features are free. What needs building, the expandable features and bring to life are Gold. Ease — the accessibility page — is always free. Anything you received plays free, and nothing you already chose is taken away. Backing up the whole app is free; sharing your entries and journals, and bringing in other people's, are Gold.

See Journal Gold.

#Who makes it

settings › "about" names the app, says what it is, and reads "built by black syntax · part of the zenith suite". Under "contact & publishing" are zenith suite, black syntax · developer and friend castle · publisher, each with an email and a website, then "more apps →". Under "feedback", "tell us what the sky got wrong — it reaches a person", and "write to support ↗" opens an email draft for you.

#How this guide writes things

Every control is named by the label it wears on screen, in the app's own lowercase, in quotes — "write it", "keep the name". A path through settings looks like settings › "ease" › "hold delay (seconds)". A glyph is named the first time it appears on a page, like the plus ✛. Anything Gold opens is tagged (Gold).

#See also.

Your first five minutes · Entries, stars, journals & constellations · Journal Gold · The Zenith Suite & broker