The welcome, hints & the example journals

Three small things start a new journal off: one welcome page, a couple of one-line hints, and somebody else's journals, to look at while there is nothing of yours yet.

#The welcome

It opens by itself the first time the app opens. It is headed "the journal", then "a sky of everything you've written". Nothing is set up here.

"to begin" — four doors:

"worth knowing" — four lines:

• "hold empty sky to place an entry on that day."
• "drag along the dotted path at the foot of the sky to turn the year."
• "the list is the same journal in words, and reads aloud."
• "everything about how it looks, sounds and moves is in settings · ease."

A "settings" door sits below them, and opens settings.

Any choice, "‹ the journal" or back marks the welcome as met, so it doesn't come back by itself.

Bring it back. settings › "the journal" › "hints" › "replay the welcome" closes settings, and the welcome opens again.

#Hints

A hint is one quiet line near the foot of a view, shown once. It has no button and no arrow. Tap it and it goes for good.

Two are shown today:

A hint is drawn under the corner buttons, so a tap on a button always reaches the button.

Bring them back. settings › "the journal" › "hints" says how many have been put away — "1 of 2 have been put away." — or "every first-time hint is waiting to be shown." "show the hints again" brings every one back and says "the hints are back".

#The example journals

Somebody else's journals: "a few years of one person's life, most of it closed and finished, one journal locked, one left empty. something to look at while there is nothing of yours to look at."

There are seven:

• "moss", "ordinary days", "workshop", "test runs" and "us" are closed — finished, every word still readable, nothing new taken in.
• "the man at the gate" is locked.
• "—" is empty and open.

Each entry shows its title and words, its day and time, and where it happened. Under an extra header called "written", each says how it was written — "written live", "backfilled Oct 2026", "written after, 3 Nov 2026". Some entries are tied to others. Most of the writing is from 2019 to 2032; a few entries are filed in 1911 and one in 2035.

They are free.

Put them in. On the welcome, "show me somebody else's journals". Or settings › "the journal" › "the example journals" › "put the example journals in". It says "somebody else's journals to look at". The locked one is locked as it goes in. If they are already here, nothing more is added.

Take them out. The same place › "take the example journals out". There is no second question.

• Taking them out "removes exactly what came in — it cannot reach a word of your own".
• The locked one is opened first with the passphrase it came with. If it won't open, it stays, sealed and whole.
• An example entry you have written into stays where it is: "whatever they started as, they are yours now".
• An example journal you have filed your own entries into stays too, holding them.
• It says "the examples are gone", adding what stayed — "· one you wrote in stayed" or "· <n> you wrote in stayed", and "· a journal with your own writing in it stayed" or "· <n> journals with your own writing in them stayed".
• What it takes out goes to the burn pile, where it waits thirty days and can be pulled back. See The reliquary & the burn pile.

#Ask the sky can do these

Ask the sky — the built-in AI assistant — can put the example journals in or take them out, bring every hint back, put one hint away, and open the welcome again or close it. See Ask the sky in the Journal.

#See also.

Your first five minutes · Settings, page by page · The reliquary & the burn pile