Plan forward. Reflect backward. Create freely.
Penjo is a handwritten journal + daily planner with Apple Calendar & Reminders, iCloud sync, and Face/Touch ID privacy. It feels like a physical agenda, each day a fresh sheet, with on device handwriting search and image effects to remove backgrounds, make stickers, and add instant frames, for creative, rich notes.
Why Penjo
PLAN & ORGANIZE
• All in one: Journal, planner, daily notes, and habit logs together.
• Calendar & Reminders: Check today at a glance, add tasks, and stay on schedule. (Also supports Google Calendar and Exchange.)
• Views that fit your routine: Day, Week, and Month for planning; List & Reader for fast, distraction free browsing of past entries.
• Day vs. List modes: In Day Mode, the next item is the next date and journals open on today’s sheet. In List Mode, the next item is the next nonempty day and journals open to the List/Reader view.
• Sync: iCloud keeps iPad, iPhone, Mac, and visionOS up to date.
• Privacy: Lock private journals with Face ID or Touch ID.
CREATE
• Pencil first: Write, sketch, annotate. Add text, images, shapes, and map cards.
• Personalized tool picker: Create your own set of pens and pencils, reorder tools, and switch fast.
• Scribble text entry: Write with Apple Pencil to enter typed text quickly in text fields.
• Create as you go: Background removal, clip with shapes, flip, stickers, instant frames (Image Playground supported where available).
FIND & REUSE
• Find and reuse: On device text recognition lets you search handwriting and text in images, and Copy as Text converts selected handwriting to typed text on your clipboard.
• Flexible pages: Add or remove pages automatically, insert or collapse space; choose dot, grid, or lined paper.
• Copy or move sheet: Duplicate or move any sheet to another day or journal, perfect for reusing templates.
PERSONALIZE & ACCESS
• Personalize: Custom names, covers, and colors; drag & drop to reorder journals.
• Widgets: Jump to today’s notes and trackers from your Home Screen.
• Export and share: Export pages or full journals as PDF to archive, print, or share.
Penjo Unlimited
Unlock unlimited journals & pages, full iCloud sync, enhanced Calendar & Reminders, and protected journals. Family Sharing available on monthly plans.
Roadmap highlights
Collections • Custom Covers • Cross page links and more
Support
penjoapp.com • support@penjoapp.com
Privacy Policy: https://penjoapp.com/penjoappprivacy
Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Seriously, just get it and pay for it to help support future development. It’s only in its infancy and yet it is exactly what I have been looking for. All the google calendar entries on each daily page which you can note, text, annotate and add images via paste or drag/drop slideover from files to your heart’s delight. Event details on tap. New calendar entries. Dynamically updating for new events. Weekly and monthly views. I have been seeking a google calendar/planner/journal iPad integration that will allow me to doodle and draw attention visually to important entries in my Google calendar — and Penjo, while still rudimentary — checks all the boxes (especially as regards drag/drop images from files as I have built an extensive clip art library). There is another app that came close, but it’s functionality for the use of outside images was cumbersome and pedantic. Another popular planner app promises “Google Calendar sync,” but delivers only a manual linking to each event. Nooooo time for that! Drag/drop was the game-changer here for me, as was the blank canvas. I know the developers have many updates in store and I am looking forward to seeing what they come up with. However as a visual artist, I have to point out that their app icon could use some polishing. It looks like it was created as an after-thought — and potential purchasers may believe the same of the app without trying it. Just my own two cents.
Developer Response
Thank you for your detailed review and for recommending Penjo! We’re glad to hear that the app is meeting your expectations, especially with features like drag-and-drop, close integration of calendar events and the ability to annotate them. We appreciate your feedback on the app icon as well and will keep it in mind as we continue to refine our designs to better reflect the quality of Penjo.Your insights are incredibly helpful as we continue to develop and improve the app. We have many exciting updates planned, and we can't wait for you to see what’s coming next!Thank you again for your support and for sharing your thoughts. If you have any more suggestions or need assistance, please feel free to reach out.
Perfect
✨Pokki✨
I’ve been looking for a journal app for a while now that didn’t try to be anything but a journaling app and when I came across this, I was overjoyed. It’s intuitive, it’s clean, it’s minimalist, and it puts you and not in app purchases at the forefront. Using this app reminds me of my black paper notebook and gel pens I used as a kid way back in the early 00s and it feels just as magical as 8 year old me remembers. I always have my iPad with me and having access to a digital journal that feels like a physical one has done wonders for my mental health and my therapist loves it too. I cannot sing the praises of this app loud enough or highly enough. Do yourself a favor and download this if you need a space to let it all out emotionally, creatively, or professionally. This is hands down the best journal app I’ve ever used. Goodnotes can take its pay to write model and kick rocks. This is incredible.
Developer Response
Thank you so much! We're so happy Penjo brings back those magical childhood journaling memories. It means a lot to hear it's been helpful for your mental health too. This is exactly why we built it - to be that simple, clean space for your thoughts. Thanks for the kind words!
Love it + Ideas
Koyottee
I love this app because its the only planner that syncs both ways with my apple calendar; I run two small businesses and have various apps populating my apple calendar at all times; its amazing to open my planner app and have all of it in one place. The one thing I wish that could be added, are various planner layouts - this app would be utterly perfect if it could have a journal layout that supported a habit tracker, a monthly review, a yearly goal checklist, etc, just like the goodnotes type planners, maybe even a book style layout with hyperlinked tabs. If that comes it’ll be utterly unstoppable, but for now it’s still my favorite planner app. It’s made my life easier for months
Developer Response
Thank you so much for your kind review and thoughtful suggestions! It means the world to us to hear how Penjo has been a helpful tool in managing your busy schedule.We’re happy to share that Penjo already offers some features that might enhance your experience. Each journal includes a drawable month canvas that you can use for habit tracking. Additionally, there’s a month view available alongside the week view to help you plan effectively. Both the month view and month canvas are accessible via home widgets, providing even more convenience. You can also create multiple sheets for a single day, so for instance, you could create a dedicated sheet for January 1st as your yearly goal checklist. Plus, you can bookmark these sheets for quick access.As for your idea about hyperlinked tabs and more planner layouts, cross-page links are on our roadmap, and we’re excited to explore more ways to make Penjo even more versatile in the future. We’ll also work on improving how you discover these features to make them easier to find and use.Thank you for your support and for sharing how Penjo has made your life easier. Your feedback inspires us to keep improving!
Amazing journalling app
Priya2021
This app is phenomenal. I have tried to get into the habit of journalling multiple times with paper and on my phone. But I could never keep the habit going. But, once I downloaded this app, I have been journalling for almost 2 months now. Thank you so much for this amazing app. One feature request I have is for the next page to automatically be created after you have written half of the page (instead of having to complete 75% of the page). This will really help with resting my palm and writing with ease longer. Thanks!
Developer Response
Update: Thanks again for the suggestion about earlier page creation. With v3.6.5, a new page is now created when you reach the bottom 40%. Thank you so much for your kind words!We’re so glad to hear that Penjo has helped you build a consistent journaling habit. It truly means a lot to us.Also, thank you for the thoughtful suggestion about creating the next page earlier. We’ll definitely explore ways to make writing feel even smoother during longer sessions.Thanks again, and feel free to reach out anytime!
• Shape Handles: You can now resize shapes using four edge handles, and adjust lines with two endpoint handles for more precise control.
• Duplicate: Added a Duplicate option to the context menu for text boxes, images, shapes, map boxes, and drawings—quickly copy any object on the same page.
• PDF Export: Improved PDF export performance, especially for batch exports covering many days.
• Font Compatibility: Fixed an issue affecting calendar event and reminder list boxes when using certain custom fonts.
• Plus a few small fixes and overall improvements to make Penjo even smoother.
Version 3.6.9
The developer, Zafer ARICAN, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .
Data Not Linked to You
The following data may be collected but it is not linked to your identity:
Usage Data
Diagnostics
Privacy practices may vary, for example, based on the features you use or your age. Learn More
The developer indicated that this app supports the following accessibility features. Learn More
Supported Features
Dark Interface
Differentiate Without Color Alone
Information
Seller
Zafer ARICAN
Size
18.4 MB
Category
Productivity
Compatibility
Requires iOS 17.0 or later.
iPhone Requires iOS 17.0 or later.
iPad Requires iPadOS 17.0 or later.
Mac Requires macOS 14.0 or later and a Mac with Apple M1 chip or later.