I’ve been a long-time listener of Wondercraft’s HN Recap podcast.[1] Lately, though, I’ve felt the format has become a bit too rigid: every episode follows the same structure (real-world implications, technical analysis, etc.), sometimes missing the main point of the original post or discussion. Given how good current models are, I’d expect better summaries and synthesis.

What’s your favorite podcast for keeping up with tech or HN? Recommendations for daily tech news podcasts that focus on interesting, non-mainstream stories are also welcome.

I even built an offline podcast playlist tool[2] to compare different options, but I still haven’t found anything that consistently does a better job.

[1]: https://hackernewsrecap.buzzsprout.com

[2]: https://podshare.lovable.app (the sample playlist is the list an agent found, but nothing has really stood out so far)

Hi everyone,

I just released ZenJournal v5, a minimalist journaling app I’ve been building, rebuilding, and rebuilding again from scratch for the last 8 years.

It first launched in 2018 on Product Hunt and here on Reddit with some love. It was featured by the App Store in 2021, and later showed up organically in a few productivity YouTube videos, but it never really reached critical mass. Maybe it never will.

At some point, working on it started to feel like that Japanese shrine tradition where the building is periodically taken apart and rebuilt from scratch.

In my case, the trigger was usually some painful upgrade or rewrite: the next React Native upgrade that practically required a new project, and then every year after SwiftUI was announced, me wondering if it was finally capable of building the app the way I imagined it.

Spoiler: not quite. Dynamic variable-height cells in a giant timeline are still not where pure SwiftUI shines.

And yes, I know: don’t build yet another journaling app.

Every indie dev thought leader has warned against this. It is definitely sound advice. $20 MRR 8 years in FTW.

But ZenJournal is the one app I keep returning to, because I still use it myself.

The original idea was simple:

reduce friction, delete features, and optimize for speed from first principles.

That’s also the part that seemed to resonate most when I shared it before:

open and type.

No setup ritual. No new-entry button. No title. No template. No mood survey. No prompt asking how your day was. No onboarding maze. No account required.

Just open the app and start writing.

I built it partly as a reaction to the journaling apps I kept bouncing off: blank document-style entry screens, required titles, master-detail drills, too much ceremony, too many growth-hacking features, too many reminders, and too much pressure to make each entry feel “full.”

ZenJournal uses a consolidated timeline instead.

A log can be one word, one sentence, one photo, or a long thought, and it all flows in the same place. It feels less like maintaining a diary archive and more like having a calm place to text your future self.

There’s also Discreet Mode, where the app can open into a locked timeline with your words hidden by default. Double-tap to reveal, start typing anytime, and locking is optional. I wanted it to feel usable even in public or at work.

With v5 this year, I think I finally cracked the code. The app now has the foundation I wanted for years:

• iCloud / CloudKit sync (primary reason for this rewrite)
• Works on Mac, so you can log from your computer too
• Multiple timelines with nested namespaces (that's purposefully designed with the consolidated timeline)
• A new Liquid Glass interface
• Full SwiftUI + UIKit rewrite — UIKit was the missing piece all those pure SwiftUI rewrites needed
• New icon and website

I think journaling is underrated as a productivity habit, not because it helps you “optimize your life,” but because it gives your thoughts somewhere to go.

It is also a practical way to time-travel.

ZenJournal is my attempt to make the most frictionless way to carbon-copy your stream of consciousness into words, so that a tiny wormhole is created when your future self reads it.

App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/id1399816360

Pricing: free plan available with cloud sync, really not much limitation other than max 2 timelines. Subscription starts at $4.99 for the first year, then $9.99/year. Lifetime option is $29.99.

If you use a journaling app, I’d love to hear:

What makes you stick with it?
What usually makes you stop?
And what would make you try, or not try, something like ZenJournal?

Hi everyone,

I just released ZenJournal v5 on the App Store.

This app has been 8 years in the making, including many failed attempts to rewrite it from React Native into SwiftUI. I’m fully aware that making yet another journaling app is probably one of the most unforgivable indie dev sins, but ZenJournal is the one app I keep coming back to.

That’s really the only reason I kept working on it:

I still use it myself.

The whole idea is extremely simple:

open and type.

No setup ritual. No friction. No ceremony.

I wanted it to feel as easy as texting a trusted friend — more private than posting, less stressful than tweeting, but still familiar enough that you actually use it.

The biggest feature is honestly what it doesn’t have:

• No account
• No onboarding maze
• No forced paywall upfront
• No “new entry” button
• No blank screen after opening
• No prompts
• No titles
• No mood surveys
• No noisy notifications

Just a quiet place to write.

A lot of my work on ZenJournal was about removing small bits of awkwardness I feel in other journaling apps.

If an entry is only one word or one sentence, it shouldn’t create a giant empty document-like space. Everything in ZenJournal lives on a consolidated timeline, so short thoughts, longer entries, and photos all sit together naturally.

Search also doesn’t live in a separate view buried somewhere far away. You can just type ? to start searching, and results refresh directly in the same timeline.

There’s also a Discreet Mode: the app can open into a locked timeline where your words are hidden by default. Double-tap to reveal, start typing anytime, and locking is optional. I wanted it to feel usable even in public or tight spaces without making privacy feel heavy.

New in v5:

• iCloud / CloudKit sync (now works seamlessly with Mac)
• Multiple timelines with nested namespaces
• A new Liquid Glass interface
• A full SwiftUI + UIKit rewrite
• A new icon and website

There is no grand strategic justification for this obsession.

I made ZenJournal for myself, and for the people who somehow found it, used it, and supported it over the years.

v5 is finally here.

Pricing: Free plan includes cloud sync and all features with 2 timeline limits. Sub starts from $4.99 for the first year then renews $9.99 after. $29.99 LTD also available.

App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/id1399816360

I’d love to hear what you think — especially from people who like the idea of journaling but usually bounce off journaling apps.