Sync between devices
Bifolio syncs through your iCloud by itself whenever you’re signed in — there is no switch for it inside Bifolio. Settings ▸ iCloud shows where things stand:
- Up to date, with when it last synced.
- Syncing… while changes are on their way.
- iCloud unavailable — writing on this iPhone only when you’re signed out of iCloud. Everything still works, and sync starts again when you sign back in.
- Couldn’t sync, with iCloud’s own reason underneath.
Photos, video and recordings can arrive a little after the words they belong to, and show as still syncing until they do. If you edit the same entry on two devices before they’ve caught up, Bifolio keeps both: the other becomes a separate entry, marked “Also edited on another device”.
A new iPhone, and entries waiting for a key
Your journal is encrypted, and its keys travel between your devices in iCloud Keychain. On a new iPhone signed in to the same Apple Account, your entries arrive through iCloud and their keys through iCloud Keychain.
Until an entry’s key arrives, it shows Waiting for this entry’s key from your other devices and can be read but not changed, and Settings ▸ iCloud counts how many are waiting. Check that iCloud Keychain is on for your Apple Account. If the keys still don’t come, use your recovery key.
The recovery key
A recovery key is optional. With it, you can open your journal on a new device even if iCloud Keychain can’t bring your keys.
- To make one, choose Settings ▸ Privacy & Encryption ▸ Create Recovery Key. Bifolio shows the key once: 52 letters and numbers in groups of four. Copy it, save it to Files or print it, then type its last group to show you’ve kept it. Keep it somewhere safe, away from your iPhone.
- To use it, choose Settings ▸ Privacy & Encryption ▸ Enter Recovery Key, or the same button on an entry that’s waiting. Capitals, spaces and dashes don’t matter.
- To replace it, choose Replace Recovery Key. The old key stops working for your journal in iCloud. Your journal’s own keys don’t change, so this can’t take back access someone may already have had.
The lock
In Settings ▸ Lock, switch on Require Face ID or Require Touch ID (your iPhone’s passcode is the fallback), or choose Set journal passcode for a passcode of its own, at least four characters long. With either on, Bifolio is covered in the app switcher and must be unlocked after launch or when you come back to it.
After five wrong journal passcodes, Bifolio makes you wait before the next try: 1 minute, then 5, 15, and 60 minutes for each one after that. Restarting the app or changing the clock doesn’t shorten the wait. Face ID and Touch ID are never made to wait.
Forgotten your journal passcode?
A journal passcode can’t be recovered: Bifolio keeps only a one-way hash of it, on that iPhone. If you also switched on Face ID or Touch ID, that still opens Bifolio, and you can then choose Change journal passcode or Remove journal passcode in Settings ▸ Lock.
The passcode never syncs, so your journal still opens on your other devices and on a new iPhone signed in to the same Apple Account.
Export your journal
Settings ▸ Export exports All Journals or This Journal as a Markdown bundle or a PDF. For a single day or journal, use the page’s Share menu; for a single entry, its own menu’s Share ▸ PDF.
A Markdown bundle is a zip with a folder for each journal, one plain-text file for each day, and your photos, video, recordings and drawings beside them. It opens in any text editor, and Bifolio can import it again. Exports aren’t encrypted, so keep the file somewhere safe.
Weekly backup
In Settings ▸ Backup, choose a folder — in iCloud Drive or on your iPhone — then switch on Weekly backup, or tap Back Up Now. Each backup is a Markdown bundle of every journal, named “Bifolio Backup” and the date. The newest three are kept, and Bifolio never touches anything else in the folder. Backups aren’t encrypted either.
iOS decides exactly when a weekly backup runs. If the section says the folder can’t be reached, choose it again.
Move from Day One
In Day One, export your journals in JSON format — they arrive as a .zip. Then choose Settings ▸ Import ▸ From Day One and pick that file.
- Each Day One journal becomes a Bifolio journal of the same name.
- Entries keep their date and time, with their photos, video and audio, and their place and weather. Tags arrive as a line of hashtags at the end of the entry.
- Text formatting, stars and PDF attachments don’t come across; the import says how many attachments it left out.
Move from Apple Journal
In the Settings app, go to Apps ▸ Journal and choose Export All Journal Entries. Then, in Bifolio, choose Settings ▸ Import ▸ From Apple Journal and pick the zip.
- Entries come into the journal you have open, with their photos, video and audio. A title becomes the entry’s first line, in bold.
- Apple Journal’s export doesn’t include the time of day, so each entry is placed at noon on its day.
Undo an import
Every import from any source lands each entry on the day it was written, and importing the same file twice changes nothing. If an import wasn’t what you wanted, find it under Settings ▸ Recent imports and tap Undo: exactly those entries move to Recently Deleted, where you can restore them for 30 days. Undo is available on the iPhone that ran the import.
Recently Deleted
Deleted entries and journals wait in Settings ▸ Recently Deleted for 30 days before they’re deleted for good. Restoring a journal brings back the entries deleted with it.
The reminder isn’t arriving
Check that Settings ▸ Reminder ▸ Daily reminder is on; if notifications are turned off for Bifolio, the section says so and offers Open Settings. The reminder is quiet on purpose — no sound, and it doesn’t light up the screen — so look for it in Notification Centre. It doesn’t come on a day you’ve already written. Reminders are scheduled a month ahead, so open Bifolio at least once a month to keep them coming.
Place and weather are missing
They stay off until you switch on Settings ▸ Location & weather ▸ Record place and weather and allow location access. Bifolio notes them on entries you write on the day itself, and needs a connection to do it. Entries written for an earlier day don’t get a place or weather.
Widgets show no entry text
Widgets show counts and dates. To let them show a line from your entries, switch on Settings ▸ Widgets ▸ Show entry text in widgets. While the journal lock is on, they never show entry text. A new widget shows “Open Bifolio to begin” until you’ve opened the app once.
Siri and Shortcuts
Say “New entry in Bifolio”, “Open today in Bifolio”, “Record an entry in Bifolio” or “Search Bifolio”, or find the same actions in the Shortcuts app. The New Entry control can be added to Control Centre. Each one opens Bifolio — after unlocking it, if the lock is on.
Writing prompts and Apple Intelligence
The “Need a spark?” card on an empty page comes from Settings ▸ Prompts ▸ Writing prompts; switch it off there if you’d rather not see it. Questions drawn from your recent entries, Journaling Suggestions and Writing Tools are all under Settings ▸ Intelligence ▸ Apple Intelligence features. Questions from your entries need an iPhone with Apple Intelligence, in a language it supports.
More
There are more answers in the questions on the home page, and how Bifolio handles your data is set out in the privacy policy.
Bifolio is made by Canopus Labs Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales, company number 17471266. Registered office: 71–75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9JQ, United Kingdom.