This app doesn’t help me with journaling or record keeping. It is so bad that it got me mad at Apple for recommending such a terrible app.Not only that, somehow if you turn on the Journaling Suggestions by accident, this app can access your phone Activity, Media, Contacts, Photos and Significant Locations. Why would you need to access my contacts at all? Also, isn’t a journal supposed to be private ?This app has 4 parts:Journal - basically a place for storing “stuffs”. Talk into it to get transcribed texts. What’s new about voice to text? Many apps offer that for free. A good replacement is to use any free messaging app to send a message to yourself.AI friend - the worst part. chat capability is much worse than any free ai such as talkie / character ai. whoever pays for that may not know there are free and better options out there. Also, why is there this feature to begin with? Just for the sake of having an ai chatbot?Gallery - just a calendar display of past entries. Many messaging apps have that also. Any journaling app would also have that.Insights - again, there are better mood trackers out there and they’re free. I don’t know who would pay that amount of money ? Also, they had the “AI friend” send me a letter speaking non-sense.I don’t know why Apple would recommend such an app. I suspect that this app being “#1 app of the month” is not even real. Or, maybe they’re spending much ad money to get downloads.
Hi Char,I'm really sorry that Lifelight left you feeling this frustrated — especially when it came from an Apple recommendation. Thank you for taking the time to write such a detailed review; we genuinely appreciate the specificity, even when the feedback is tough to read.On privacy: Lifelight is designed to be a private journaling space. The “Journaling Suggestions” you mentioned is an optional iOS feature created by Apple. When it’s turned on, your iPhone may say that suggestions can be based on activity, media, contacts, photos, and significant locations. Those suggestions are generated by iOS on your device, and Lifelight only receives items you explicitly choose to add to an entry. We don’t get your full contacts list, location history, or photo library by default, and we don’t see anything you don’t select.In terms of features, Lifelight is built around a few ideas:• Journal – a quick way to capture thoughts (including by voice) and attach context like music or workouts if you want to.• AI Friend – an optional companion for reflection and emotional support; you can completely ignore it if it’s not your thing.• Gallery & Insights – tools for revisiting past moments and noticing patterns over time.It’s clear from your review that this isn’t the type of journaling experience you were looking for, and that’s totally valid. Many people do prefer a simple text-only journal or a “message myself” style workflow, and there are great options for that. Our job is to make sure that, for people who want what Lifelight offers, the value (and pricing) feels fair and well-communicated — and your review is a strong reminder that we still have work to do there.If you’d like to share more about what would have made it genuinely useful for you, we’d be grateful to hear it at lifelight_help@outlook.com. Either way, thank you again for trying Lifelight and for calling out where it missed the mark for you.