Help & User Guide
Everything you need to get the most out of Life Journal — from getting started to advanced features.
Life Journal is your personal photo and video journal. Upload your photos and videos and the app automatically organises them into journal entries by date and location, generates AI written summaries, and lets you explore your memories on an interactive timeline.
Getting Started
Creating an account
- Open Life Journal — you will see the landing page with a demo video.
- Click Open my journal to go to the sign-in screen, then click Create account.
- Enter your name, email address, and a password (minimum 8 characters).
- Complete the human verification check.
- Tick the Terms & Conditions checkbox — you can read the full terms by clicking the link.
- Click Create account.
You will be redirected to the email verification page. Check your inbox for a verification link and click it to activate your account. The link expires in 24 hours — if it expires, use the Resend verification email button on the verification page.
Signing in
Click Open my journal on the landing page, then enter your email and password. If your email is not yet verified you will be redirected to the verification page automatically.
If you have two-factor authentication enabled on your account, after entering your password you will be asked for a 6-digit code. The code is emailed to your registered address and is valid for 10 minutes. Enter it and click Verify to complete sign-in. If the code expires, click Back to sign in and try again.
Forgotten password
If you have forgotten your password, click the Forgot your password? link on the sign-in screen.
- Enter your email address and click Send reset link.
- Check your inbox for an email from Life Journal — it contains a Reset my password button.
- Click the button (or paste the link into your browser) and enter a new password.
- The link expires 30 minutes after it is sent, or immediately once you use it — whichever comes first.
- After your password is reset, sign in with your new password.
If you do not receive the email within a few minutes, check your spam folder. If you still need help, contact [email protected].
Sidebar Navigation
| Link | What it does |
|---|---|
| Home | Shows your most recent journal entries and recently uploaded media |
| All Media | Every photo and video you have uploaded, filterable by type |
| Journal | A collapsible timeline — expand by year, month, then day to find any entry |
| Upload files | Opens the upload panel |
| ✨ New AI Entry | Create a brand new journal entry from an AI generated image |
| Subscribe / Manage Subscription | Start a subscription or manage your existing one |
| Help | This help page |
| Admin | Visible only to admin users — system configuration and user management |
Uploading Files
Click Upload files in the sidebar, the Upload button in any view, or drag and drop files directly onto the home screen drop zone.
- Supported images: JPEG, PNG, HEIC, WebP
- Supported videos: MP4, MOV, AVI, WebM
- Maximum file size: 500 MB per file
Each file shows a thumbnail, filename, size, and live progress bar. Files are uploaded one at a time and the view refreshes automatically when all uploads finish.
The app reads the date and GPS location from your file's metadata and automatically groups it into the right journal entry. If a file has no location data it is grouped by date only.
Journal Entries
Click any day card on the home screen or in the timeline to open the full journal entry. From inside an entry you can:
- View all media — browse your photos and videos in a grid; click any thumbnail to open it full screen
- Edit the summary — add or rewrite the AI journal summary (see Editing the Journal Summary)
- Add notes — write free-text notes saved against the whole day
- Dictate — record what happened in your own words from inside the summary editor and have it transcribed automatically (see Audio Dictation)
- Set a cover image — click Set as cover on any photo to use it as the entry's thumbnail
- Generate an AI image — click ✨ Generate Image to create an image for this entry (see AI Image Generation)
- Toonify — click 🎨 Toonify to turn the entry's photos into a cartoon collage (see Toonify)
- Delete the entry — click Delete entry; you will be asked to confirm before anything is deleted
Editing the Journal Summary
Every journal entry has a Journal Summary at the top, written automatically by AI when you upload photos. Click Edit to open the summary editor:
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| Dictate | Record your voice — the transcript is added to the text box so you can speak about your day naturally |
| Use AI | Sends your current text to AI, which rewrites it into polished journal prose and puts the result back for you to review before saving |
| Save | Saves the text and automatically generates hashtags from it |
| Cancel | Closes the editor without saving anything |
You can combine all three — dictate a rough account of the day, then click Use AI to turn it into polished prose, then Save.
If no summary exists yet, the section shows an empty state prompting you to add one.
Audio Dictation
Inside the journal summary editor, click Dictate to record your voice:
- Your browser will ask for microphone permission on first use — click Allow.
- The button turns red and shows Stop while recording.
- Click Stop to finish — your audio is transcribed automatically.
- The transcript is added to the summary text (it will not overwrite anything already written).
- Review the result — you can edit it directly, click Use AI to polish it into journal prose, or just click Save to keep it as spoken.
AI Image Generation
You can generate AI images in two ways:
Add an image to an existing entry
Click ✨ Generate Image on any open journal entry:
- A panel opens with a description field (positive prompt) — describe the image you want to create.
- Add an optional negative prompt to exclude things you do not want in the image.
- Choose a Style from the dropdown.
- Choose an Aspect ratio — landscape (16:9), portrait (9:16), square (1:1), or classic (4:3).
- Click Generate — progress is shown live: Queued → Generating → Finalising → Done.
- The generated image appears in the panel. Click Open full size to view it or Save to journal to add it to this entry.
Create a brand new entry from an AI image
Click ✨ New AI Entry in the sidebar:
- Choose the date for the entry (defaults to today).
- Optionally enter a city and country so it appears in the right location group.
- Write a description (positive prompt) and an optional negative prompt.
- Choose a Style and Aspect ratio.
- Click Generate & Create Entry — the image is generated and saved, and the new entry opens automatically.
All prompts are screened automatically before generation. Prompts that contain inappropriate content are rejected and not processed.
Toonify
Click 🎨 Toonify on any journal entry to turn your photos into a cartoon-style collage:
- A list of all photos in the entry appears — each is ticked by default. Untick any you do not want to include.
- Each photo has a caption field — you can type your own caption or leave it blank to use the photo's existing description automatically.
- If none of your photos have descriptions, choose which photo should display the journal entry text using the Use entry text option.
- Choose your style options:
- Text style — caption bar or speech bubble
- Font size and font colour
- Background colour and background opacity for the caption area
- Click Generate collage — each selected photo is processed in turn and progress is shown live.
- Preview the toonified images, then click Add to journal entry to save them, or ← Back to go back and change your settings.
Frame Extractor
The Frame Extractor (in the sidebar under Tools) extracts still frames from a video as individual images. This is useful if you want to pick the best moment from a clip and save it as a photo in your journal.
- Click Frame Extractor in the sidebar.
- Upload a video file.
- The app extracts key frames automatically.
- Click Save to journal on any frame you want to keep — it is saved as a new media item under the same date as the original video.
Editing Media Metadata
Click any photo or video thumbnail to open the metadata editor. You can update:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Captured date & time | Override the date when the photo was taken |
| City | The city where the photo was taken |
| Country | The country where the photo was taken |
| Place name | A specific location name, e.g. "Tower Bridge" |
| Latitude / Longitude | GPS coordinates (optional) |
| Camera model | The device that took the photo |
| Description | Your own description of the moment |
| Tags | Comma-separated labels, e.g. "sunny, london, outdoor" |
| Journal description | AI-generated description of this specific photo — you can edit it directly |
After clicking Save changes a dialog asks whether AI should regenerate the journal description using the updated information, or keep the version currently shown.
Editing the date or city will move the photo to the correct journal entry automatically. If no entry exists for the new date and location, one is created.
Image info (EXIF data)
For photos, the metadata editor also shows an Image info panel in the preview column. Click the Image info heading to expand it and see the technical data embedded in the original file by your camera or phone, including:
- Date and time the photo was taken
- GPS location (latitude, longitude, altitude)
- Camera make and model, lens, focal length
- Aperture, shutter speed, ISO, and exposure settings
- Image dimensions and colour space
This data is read directly from the file's EXIF tags — it is not editable here, but it can help you verify or fill in the editable metadata fields above. If the image has no embedded EXIF data (e.g. a screenshot or a downloaded image) the panel shows "No embedded EXIF data found in this image."
Deleting a photo or video
Click the red Delete button at the bottom of the metadata editor. A warning will appear confirming that this action cannot be undone. Click Confirm to permanently delete the photo or video.
Subscriptions
Click Subscribe in the sidebar to see the available plans:
| Plan | Price | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Free Trial | £0 for 5 days | Full access, then £10/month — cancel before the trial ends and you will not be charged |
| Monthly | £10 / month | Cancel any time |
| Yearly | £100 / year | Saves £20 compared to paying monthly |
Click Select on a plan to proceed to the payment page. After a successful payment you are returned to Life Journal automatically.
Click Manage Subscription in the sidebar to update your payment method, view billing history, or cancel. Cancellation takes effect at the end of your current billing period — you keep access until then.
The AI Assistant
The AI assistant (the chat bubble in the bottom right) can help you:
- Write journal entries — describe your day or a photo and it will write a vivid journal entry in your voice
- Reflect on memories — ask it to help you recall or expand on past moments
- Answer questions about the app — ask how any feature works
The assistant remembers your past conversations so it can build on previous context naturally.
Account & Security
Profile settings
Click your avatar (top-right) and choose Profile to open the settings panel. After making changes, enter your current password and click Save changes.
Two-factor authentication (email OTP)
For extra security you can enable two-factor authentication on your account:
- Open Profile settings.
- Scroll to the Security section.
- Tick Two-factor authentication (email OTP).
- Enter your current password and click Save changes.
From that point on, every time you sign in with your password you will also be sent a one-time 6-digit code by email. The code expires after 10 minutes. To disable 2FA, untick the checkbox, enter your password, and save.
Importing social media posts
In the sidebar, click Import from Facebook to connect your Facebook account and pull your own posts as journal entries. Once imported, entries are flagged with their source. To remove all entries from a platform:
- Open Profile settings.
- Scroll to the Imported data section.
- Click Delete all next to the platform name and confirm.
Privacy
- Your uploaded photos and videos are stored privately and are only visible to you.
- You can delete any photo, video, or journal entry at any time.
- Your data is processed in accordance with our Privacy Policy and UK GDPR.
- For account issues or to request deletion of your data, contact [email protected].
Getting Help
If something is not working as expected:
- Use the AI assistant to ask a question — it knows how the app works.
- Email us at [email protected].