Jadebook is an encrypted journaling app independently built by a solo developer, positioned as "a modern sanctuary for the independent mind." It emphasizes privacy, data sovereignty, and self-awareness. With no shareholders and no tracking, it is designed to help users organize their thoughts, record their growth, and, with optional AI, see patterns in themselves they might not notice.
Purpose
- For daily reflection, mental health maintenance, personal growth, and potential exploration.
- Suitable for people who want to treat journaling as a private tool and do not want their thoughts treated as a commodity, as well as users who care about data sovereignty and want to self-host or use an open-source version.
Main capabilities
- Recording formats:
- Journals: You can start with a guided framework or open a blank page and write freely.
- Notions: Capture thoughts, quotes, or observations in seconds, suitable for short, quick, easy-to-remember fragments of inspiration.
- Structured tags: High-fidelity tags with support for custom icons and colors, helping map life themes without complex database operations.
- Interface customization: You can rebuild the interface—colors, fonts, layout—to match your own mental state.
- AI features (fully optional, designed privacy-first):
- Personal prompts: Generate thought-provoking prompts based on recent entries, selected context, and recurring themes.
- Context-aware conversation: Chat with an AI that has read your entries, for example asking "What was I worried about six months ago?" or "Help me look at the patterns in my last ten entries."
- Deep insights (psychological profile): Automatically extract OCEAN traits, MBTI profile, and recurring themes; users can choose which entries participate in the analysis and have full control over the data used.
- AI usage employs zero data retention (ZDR).
- Security and sync: AES-256 encryption, with data syncing across devices.
- Open and self-hosted: An open-source (OSS) version is provided. If you do not want your data stored on the official servers, you can self-host.
How to use
- Use it via the web at jadebook.app.
- The free version includes all core features, data sync across devices, unlimited entries, AES-256 encryption, and 20 AI credits every 30 days.
- Paid plans provide higher content limits, advanced AI features, more AI credits, and experimental features. The official materials do not state specific prices or annual/lifetime plans (the FAQ mentions "why there is no annual or lifetime plan"; check the official website for details).
- You can choose to self-host the open-source version.
- The launch time of the mobile app is not yet provided.
Use cases
- Need a private, encrypted journaling space for deepreflection or quick notes.
- Want to use AI to discover emotional patterns, recurring themes, and personality tendencies from historical records.
- Value digital sovereignty and want to self-host or use an open-source version to manage personal data.
- Users who want the interface to adjust with their mental state and want a flexible, customizable tag system.
Limitations
- The official materials do not provide a specific launch time for the mobile app.
- Free-version AI credits are limited (20 credits every 30 days), and advanced AI features require a paid plan.
- AI output is based on the entries and personal data selected by the user, but the official materials do not explain the specific models or technical details.
- Self-hosting requires users to deploy and maintain it themselves; the official materials do not provide installation commands or deployment steps here.
- Information such as pricing, platform support (other than web), and refund policy is not yet provided.
