A private journal · In beta, limited places
For the part of your life no one else sees.
Hidden Life is a private journal with an AI companion. You write about your day. It asks a few thoughtful questions about what you wrote, remembers what you have told it before, and over the weeks points out patterns you might not have noticed.
What an entry looks like
Read this slowly, once or twice
Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Psalm 139:23-24
Then, one question about it and you
What part of today would you want known as it really was?
The meeting this afternoon. I said I was fine with the decision, and I wasn’t. I have been saying fine a lot lately.
What would you have said, if you had said it?
It will ask one more — a few at most — and ends whenever you say so.
Why it is called that
Two hidden lives
The one no one else sees — where you can be honest. And the one you aren’t seeing yet — the patterns, the quiet answers, the thread running through your days. A short conversation each day tends the first. A companion who remembers helps with the second.
What it is for
What you would use it for
Ten minutes, most days. Here is what people do with it.
Keep a daily journal
Write about your day, in your own words. Entries are kept in order and are easy to find again by date, by your own tags, or by searching.
Think something through
When something is on your mind, the companion asks the next question a good friend would, so you keep going past the first thing you wrote. It asks. It does not advise.
Pray, or reflect on a passage
Start from a short passage, read it slowly, and answer one question about it and your own life. Scripture, the Stoics, many traditions, or none.
See what keeps coming up
Every few days the companion reads back over what you have written and may point out a pattern: a name you keep returning to, something you stopped mentioning. It shows you the entries it came from.
The journal
How would you like to begin?
Each entry starts one of three ways. After that the page is yours. Your words are the entry. The questions stay in the margin.
From a passage
A line chosen for where you are, and one question about it and you. Scripture, the Stoics, or every tradition at once, as you choose.
From your own thread
A question drawn from what you’ve written.
A blank page
You go first. One question after. Or none at all: the companion can be turned off, and the journal is whole without it.
The other one
The hidden life
The part you aren’t seeing yet. Everything here is drawn from your own words, offered as a question, never a verdict.
In plain terms: a second page in the app where the patterns the companion has noticed are listed. You can say “that’s it”, “that’s not it”, or let one go, and it learns from that.
You have written about your brother four times this month, and each time you stop at the same place.
In August you asked for patience with the move nearly every day. You haven’t mentioned it since.
Every thread names the entries it was drawn from. No sources, nothing is written. It looks rarely, and only when there is something.
Where do you come from?
Four ways to be met
Chosen when you begin, and changeable any time.
Christian
Scripture as the daily passage. The companion speaks of God, prayer, and what may be answered.
Stoic
Passages from the Stoics. The companion speaks of what is up to you and what is not, and does not name God unless you do.
Universal
Passages from every tradition: scripture, the Stoics, the Tao, the mystics and the poets. The companion speaks in the register of the passage in front of you.
Or none. No passages. The prompt comes only from your own writing. The companion is a quiet interviewer.
Passages are cut from public domain texts, never composed. The companion does not invent scripture, give advice, or tell you what your life means.
The promise
How your words are kept
Plain words first.
- Who can read it You. Not us. Not advertisers — there are none. Not anyone we work with. Your words are never used to train a model, ours or anyone else’s.
- The companion When the companion is on, your entries are sent to an AI provider under a contract that forbids keeping or training on them. It reads only what you have written here. It never sees your photos. Turn it off and nothing is sent.
- Sealing the room Sealed, your entries are encrypted with a key only your devices hold. We cannot read them, recover them, or hand them over. The companion goes quiet.
- Leaving Take everything out as plain text and photos, any time. Or burn it all: entries, drafts, photos, devices, and your email are gone within a day, and from backups within thirty.
Questions
Plain answers
What is Hidden Life?
A private daily journal with a companion that remembers. You write; it asks a few questions drawn from your own words; and over weeks it may point to a thread you have not seen. It works in a browser today, with iPhone, iPad and Android apps to follow.
What does the companion actually do?
It opens an entry with a passage, or with a question taken from what you have written before. It asks a few follow-ups, a handful at most, and stops whenever you say so. Now and then it names a thread running through your entries, and always shows you the entries it came from.
It does not give advice, tell you what your life means, or act as a therapist. It can be turned off, and the journal is whole without it.
Is it a Christian journal?
It can be. You choose where you come from: Christian (scripture as the daily passage), Stoic (passages from the Stoics), Universal (passages from every tradition), or none at all (only your own writing). You can change it any time. Passages are cut from public domain texts; the companion never invents scripture.
Who can read what I write?
You. Not us. Not advertisers, because there are none. Not anyone we work with. Your words are never used to train a model, ours or anyone else’s. There are no ads and no tracking.
What does the AI see?
When the companion is on, your entries are sent to an AI provider under a contract that forbids keeping or training on them. It reads only what you have written here, and it never sees your photos. Turn the companion off and nothing is sent.
What does sealing do?
Sealing encrypts your journal with a key only your devices hold, made from twelve words you are shown once. After that, our servers store only text they cannot read. We cannot read your entries, recover them, or hand them to anyone.
What do I give up if I seal?
Read this before you do it.
The companion goes silent. No passages chosen for you, no follow-up questions, no threads, no margin notes. It cannot read what we cannot read. You keep a private notebook; you lose the companion.
The twelve words are the only way back. Every new device, reinstall, or cleared browser needs them before it can open your journal.
If you lose the words and every device that holds the key, your journal is gone. Permanently. We cannot reset it, recover it, or make an exception, because we never had the key. There is no support request that fixes this.
Write the words on paper. Keep them somewhere that is not a screen. You can unseal at any time from a device that holds the key, and the companion returns.
Should I seal?
Most people should not. Unsealed, your journal is already encrypted in transit and at rest, and no one reads it. Seal if what you write could put you at risk should anyone ever be able to read it (us, a court, someone who breaks into our servers) and you are willing to give up the companion for that.
Does it work offline?
Yes. Reading and writing everything works with no connection, and it syncs when you are back. When the companion cannot be reached, its questions wait, and a simple prompt keeps you writing.
How do I sign in?
A link sent to your email, then a passkey on your device. There is no password.
What does it cost?
Nothing during the beta, which has a limited number of accounts. It will not stay free: the companion costs real money to run and there will never be ads, so a paid plan is coming. You will be told the price well before anything changes. Whatever you decide then, everything you have written stays yours to read and to export.
Can I take my writing out, or delete it?
Take everything out as plain text and photos, any time. Or burn it all: entries, drafts, photos, devices, and your email are gone within a day, and from backups within thirty.
Will it remind me to write?
No. No streaks, badges, day counts, or notifications. The room is still here when you come back.
Beta · Limited places
Request an account
Hidden Life is in beta, with a limited number of accounts. It is free during the beta. It will not stay free: the companion costs real money to run, and there are no ads and never will be, so a paid plan is coming. The beta is how we work out a fair price.
You will be told the price well before anything changes. Whatever you decide then, everything you have written stays yours to read and to export.