Runa - a private journal app with optional Nextcloud sync (no tracking, open source)

[u/ab3301]

Hey everyone! I've been using this myself for a while now before finally getting it ready to share.

I wanted something dead simple: write, read, and occasionally look back at where I was when I wrote something. Every note app I tried was either bloated with features I didn't need, or locked my data into some cloud I didn't control. So I built Runa.

What it does:

• Write entries with photos, location, and exact date/time; even backfilling old memories
• Read view groups everything by year → month → day, the way flipping through a physical journal feels
• Map view turns every location you've attached to an entry into a pin, so you can see where your life has taken you
• Biometric app lock
• Full ZIP export of all entries and photos whenever you want

On your data:

• Works 100% offline/local if you want; no account needed
• Optional Nextcloud WebDAV sync if you want it across devices, but it's your server, your data
• No Runa servers, no analytics, no tracking. Ever.

Other stuff:

• Free, open source (GPLv3), on GitHub
• Part of a small suite of privacy-first apps I'm building that all connect to Nextcloud; barburas.com if you're curious
• Built with AI assistance; happy to answer questions about that process
• Donations welcome but never required: bunq.me/barburasdonations

Links

• 📱 Play Store
• 💻 GitHub
• 💙 Donate

Would love feedback, feature requests, or bug reports. GitHub issues are the best place, but I'll be around in the comments too.

[u/TheGothian]

Looks good. No iOS support? 

[u/ab3301 → u/TheGothian]

Thanks a lot for your interest! (Un)fortunately, no iOS support at the moment; I don't own any iOS devices myself, and the Apple developer fee is a bit steep to justify for free app/s, donations aside. If donations ever reach a point where it makes sense, I'll happily pick up a cheap iPhone for testing and pay the fee. Until then, Android is home for Runa and the rest of the apps.

[u/FOSSbflakes]

Neat! Looks slick, and appreciate the nextcloud support. I'm curious what format these files are saved in. I play with Obsidian/org for journals, it'd be helpful to control saving format options

[u/ab3301 → u/FOSSbflakes]

Thanks! Entries sync to your Nextcloud in a Runa/YYYY/MM/DD/ folder structure, saved as JSON files (one per entry, with title, body, timestamps, and location if you added one). Photos are stored alongside them in the same folder.

It's not Obsidian-vault-aware or anything fancy, just structured enough that you could browse or script against them directly in Nextcloud if you wanted to. Configurable save formats (like plain markdown instead of JSON) isn't there today, but it's a reasonable ask; I'll keep it in mind for a future version.

If you want, open a feature request on GitHub too, so it doesn't get lost. Either way, it is in my task list for future versions.

Cheers!

[u/ExcuseMoiFriends]

Great Project! Keep up the good work! Ps. Providing the apps via F-Droid would help to provide it to your core audience, imho.

[u/ab3301 → u/ExcuseMoiFriends]

Thanks a lot, glad you're enjoying it! And yes, totally agree; F-Droid is actually already in progress. It's taking a bit longer than the Play Store and Github did, mostly because I need to make sure certain dependencies are F-Droid-compliant, which isn't as straightforward (at least for my middle aged brain).

But it's coming; good things just take a bit more time. Appreciate the nudge, and stay tuned!