iglu
Micro-journaling with on-device intelligence, for iOS
319 followers
Micro-journaling with on-device intelligence, for iOS
319 followers
Write short entries, make threads with them, search them by meaning, and revisit them through intelligent recommendations related to your recent writing — all that with on-device, non-generative AI. Iglu is the most private journaling app out there.
iglu
Hey Product Hunt! 👋
I'm Rafa, the developer of iglu, and I'm thrilled to launch the first version of our product!
iglu is the iOS app for micro-journaling with on-device intelligence. You can record your thoughts and moments into intricate threads and later revisit them with the help of AI — in the most private way possible!
We use on-device, non-generative AI to power:
Semantic search. If you're looking for something you wrote but don't remember the exact words, you can describe the general theme or topic of the entry you're looking for, and iglu will find it for you — it understands the meaning of what you write!
Intelligent recommendations. When you're not looking for anything specific or just want a feed to scroll through, check out the 'Explore' tab. You'll find recommendations of older entries that iglu thinks are related to what you've been writing recently. It's a fun and easy way to remember and revisit your life!
iglu protects and respects your privacy:
No accounts. That's right; you won't have to sign up or tell us your name or e-mail. We don't collect any data. We have no idea who's using iglu.
Everything runs on-device. We don't even have servers.
iCloud backup. Your data only lives on your phone and your personal iCloud account (as an encrypted backup).
Face ID locking. By default, iglu is locked behind Face ID.
We're excited to get feedback and opinions from the community — please share your thoughts with us!
Cheers,
Rafa
iglu
By the way, iglu is completely free right now. No catches.
We plan on monetizing it with a monthly subscription, but all of you who download it now will have lifetime free access! So don't leave it for later...
Manna
"Search by meaning" sounds magical—is it keyword-agnostic (e.g., finds "resilience" in entries about hiking)? If so, maybe layer in mood-tracking trends over time? Obsessed with the anti-cloud ethos here.
iglu
@desmond_ren1 yup, you got it! It doesn’t need exact keywords when searching, you can search something like “workout and food” to find “went to the gym before having dinner”.
It tries to understand the general meaning of what you write, it doesn’t care much about the actual words.
Awesome idea! What exactly do you have in mind? Something like getting insights about the general topics of your entries over time?
I’m glad you like it! Thanks for the feedback, I appreciate it 🙏
HabitGo
This is absolutely beautifully crafted, Rafa! The fact that iglu leverages on-device intelligence without compromising privacy is a huge win for anyone who journals but doesn’t want their thoughts floating around in someone’s cloud. ☁️🧠
Semantic search and recommendation features sound like they’ll make rediscovery a joy — I love the “Explore” idea as a way to spark reflection or memory. 🔍📔
Also, massive respect for building this with no accounts, no tracking, and purely local AI. This is the kind of mindful tech we need more of.
Can’t wait to see how iglu evolves — any thoughts on bringing this to iPad or macOS next?
iglu
@kui_jason wow, thanks!
That's a great idea, iglu on iPad or Mac would let us do some pretty nice things with all that screen real-estate. If you have nay ideas, drop them here, I'd love to hear it :)
Loved your proposition and clean design so downloaded it right away and made my first entry. I love how you differentiate it from note-taking and make this a personal, private affair. Curious to see the recommendations when they start coming. All the very best and good luck ❤️
iglu
@prachinain thanks! I appreciate it! Hope you enjoy the recommendations, lmk what you think about them. I'd love to hear your experience and any issues or suggestions you might have! Thanks for supporting us!
I like the simplicity of it and, of course, privacy.
As soon as I opened it, I immediately thought of a feature that could be useful, at least to me: linking.
Without necessarily exposing the links as a vector database that you can visualise and navigate, I would still like to be able to link entries (and maybe comments). Using the powerful semantic search, I would search for previous entries from within the current one and then link those with a meaningful connection: follow-ups on an idea, same states of mind, recurrences... In your screenshot, there is a similar idea displayed as a conversation with yourself through commenting, but I'm thinking more about something that may even happen several days apart.
It's different from folders or tags, or a list of search results, because you can navigate from one entry to the next following the connections... Hope it makes sense.
Still, well done Rafa!
iglu
@fabienb thanks for commenting!
I like where you're headed! This is a great idea, we'll definitely look into it. One thing that I thought after reading your comment was: what if this happened "automatically" — when you open an entry's page, it could display "related" entries on the bottom, kind of like recommendations based on this specific entry. This could reveal other entries with the same topic or theme. What do you think? Do you think you would still prefer to "link" them manually?
Thank you so much for the suggestion! If you think of anything else, please let us know :)
@rafa_bg Thanks!
Yeah, I think it could work, of course depending on how 'smart' the on-device intelligence is.
Having the system recommend previous entries may be helpful, particularly if something is way in the past it may have gone forgotten; but I also think that solely relying on the system may lead to false positives that then lead to wasting time cleaning up. Some people may also not need this feature at all and then find the UI cluttered.
So it could be a tricky thing to implement correctly.
Possibly, it could be a switch in the settings, like 'Enable Smart Suggestions', which would then add a button next to 'Comment' and titled 'Suggestions', 'Links' or 'Related'... There, if your entry includes, say, the word "restaurant", it could surface previous entries with the same word or topic. - This could be the automated route.
A way to implement the manual linking could be a long press on a word in the entry, which then opens a list (all, recommended or else). In fact, I was thinking more about hyperlinks than having a list of related entries, because it would be more like a 'flow', some kind of experience that may feel more personal than engineered, if you see what I mean.
I do like the clean interface though, so I hope I'm not planting a seed that makes you deviate from your vision... 😅
iglu
@fabienb got it! This is such invaluable feedback! We'll definitely take what you wrote in consideration if we decide to implement linking. Thank you!!
Please keep us updated on your experience with iglu :)
iglu
@vladimir_loginovv thanks for reaching out!
I think this is a bright idea! Right now, we are using non-generative AI, so it's not capable of generating summaries, but we could change that for sure. We'll definitely look into this!
I appreciate your help! If you have any other suggestions (or issues), don't hesitate to reach out!