An Arizona State University graduate student is creating a cross-platform journaling app for users to store memories through writing, pictures and audio.

The app, Inqwell, is currently open to a small number of users on a trial basis, and could be available to the public within the next month.

Race Musgrave, 25, the founder of Inqwell, said the app will support various media such as pictures, videos and audio recordings so the user can journal in whatever form is appealing to them, and to make the journaling experience personal to the user.

“It’s this idea of preservation, of your own personal history, in a way that is unique to you,” Musgrave said.

Although journaling has always been a way to preserve memories, Musgrave and his team, the creators of Inqwell, intended to make the app a one-stop shop so that no memories get lost.

“The entire goal was for it to be a central place for memories,” Musgrave said. “And not like your photo log, where you take photos and you never go back to them, but a place where you can store precious memories and then be able to find them easily.”

Grace Mason, 22, has been writing in her journal every night for the past 10 years. Mason said she sees the value in keeping a journal for family history records and to track personal history.

“It keeps track of memories, which I appreciate. Like with my friends or, like, with my boyfriend, I can look back and be like, ‘Oh, this is when we got together,’” Mason said.

Over the years, Mason has filled more than 20 different notebooks with her life experiences. Each notebook differs in cover or page style, which helps Mason differentiate parts of her life through the journals themselves.

“It is fun to look back on them and think, ‘Oh, yeah, this is from a very specific chunk of my life.’ Like, you can see your life in chapters, kind of,” Mason said.

Another feature to emphasize the user’s ability to personalize their experience in Inqwell will be custom themes. Much like Mason’s journals, users will be able to select a theme for their journal to make it uniquely theirs.

However, journals, like all other books (and apps), are not just about the covers or personalized appearances. Rather, it’s what the author puts inside of them that counts. According to a 2006 study about journaling, a trend among participants showed that journaling benefited them mentally and emotionally when they wrote about stressful events in their lives.

Musgrave said the positive effects of journaling on mental health played a role in fueling his vision for creating Inqwell.

“The practice of journaling has a lot of benefits in general, I mean, there’s so many psychological benefits to journaling,” Musgrave said. “A lot of therapists will recommend journaling as a first approach to taking on any new facet of life, whether you’re trying to overcome addiction or you’re just moving through a hard time in your life.”

Dwain Wiltbank, 59, has kept a journal for 50 years and said that, for him, journaling is a way to record and process emotions.

“I remember things better,” he said. “I process through pain and grief quicker. I feel confident expressing my thoughts related to an issue because I had to verbalize things in my journal previously.”

Mason said she has seen journaling benefit her as a way for her to unwind at the end of the day.

“It’s very relaxing. I enjoy doing it just to have, like, a little moment with myself every day,” Mason said.

Another emotionally beneficial way to journal, beyond writing about stressful events, is through gratitude journaling.
Studies have shown that a person writing down what they are thankful for will reduce stress and anxiety, and will increase optimism and overall mental health.

Dianne Johnson, 65, has kept a daily gratitude journal since 2001, when her friend gifted her a journal for Christmas and invited her to write five things she was grateful for daily.

Johnson said this was at a particularly difficult time in her life when she felt angry, discouraged and fearful.

“I decided to give being thankful a try because I needed to change something in my life,” Johnson said. “After a while, I realized that I was feeling much more optimistic and was more able to focus on the good that was still in my life.”

Although Johnson’s external negative situation persisted for over a year, she said her practice of gratitude journaling was a life-changing blessing for her.

“My natural mindset is that the glass is half empty. I tend to be pessimistic and only see the negative things going on around me,” Johnson said. “Over the years, I have discovered that a daily practice of journaling things I am grateful for actually can rewire my brain, and when I write consistently, I am happier and more optimistic.”

However, even with all the known benefits journaling has to offer, it still can be difficult for a person to get into the habit of it. Even Mason, Johnson and Wiltbank, who have years of journaling experience, said they find it hard to journal some days.

“I don’t apply guilt or shame on myself for not writing. I also give myself permission that an entry can be nothing more than ‘today sucked,’ or ‘great day,’ Wiltbank said. “When I’m in a journal slump, sometimes that is what I write about.”

Mason said she has her own routine and standards of what qualifies as journaling, even when she doesn’t feel like writing some days.

“It’s the last thing I do before I go to bed,” Mason said. “Really, the only things that I make sure I write down every single day are, like, the date, and then at least one word. And that counts.”

Johnson said she struggles to write if she has set a rigid goal for herself. She said she doesn’t force herself to write if she doesn’t feel like it, but with her gratitude journal, the feeling has usually passed by the next day and she’s able to write for both days.

Creators of Inqwell foresaw the challenge many people face when struggling to build a journaling habit and planned accordingly. The app will include artificial intelligence-supported features to make the journaling process more seamless, according to Musgrave.

The app will use generative AI to create personalized prompts for the user based on their day and what they want to write about.

The benefit of using AI to journal is that even when the user doesn’t necessarily feel like journaling, they still do, which can help form the habit of journaling more easily, according to Musgrave.

As Johnson, Mason and Wiltbank have said, making journaling a daily habit is more than just a routine; it has a real and positive impact.

“Short summary, journaling makes my life happy,” Wiltbank said. “Because of my journaling, I handle problems better. For major decisions, my journal becomes the brainstorming board to write ideas in and the place I refer to.”

Johnson said she finds joy not just from the practice of writing, but also in reading old entries.

“It is rewarding to be reminded of growth I have made or my outlooks that have changed,” Johnson said. “It is validating to see things I have accomplished or overcome. I feel joyful when I remember individuals who have blessed my life and experiences I have enjoyed. My journals help to give me perspective and hope.”

Mason said she hopes to keep journaling for the rest of her life.

“It’s just a great way to look back,” Mason said. “And you get to hang out with yourself reading old journals.”

At its core, Inqwell is meant to be a tool for users to experience all the benefits journaling has to offer while also offering a unique technological experience to users through its various features, Musgrave said.