The Gift Journal

The Gift Journal · User Guide

The Gift Journal User Guide

Step-by-step help for The Gift Journal on iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Mac.

Version 1.4 feature guide · updated 8 October 2026 · covers the current full Version 1.4 Build 311 Relationship Memory release, including the completed Practical Detail timeline. Version 1.5 Build 318 is in App Review as a localisation-only release adding Spanish and Portuguese (Portugal).

The Gift Journal is organised around people rather than shopping lists. You can remember ideas, hints, preferences, occasions and gift history throughout the year, then use that memory when an occasion approaches.

This guide explains the complete app step by step. It covers iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch, including privacy, iCloud, sharing, backup, Portable Journal Export including Save from Safari / Browser Saves, Version 1.4 Person Received Gifts, Practical Details with current-value freshness and Previous values, private Stored at memory, photo-first/offline capture, discreet notifications and Portable Journal v2.

Start here

  1. Getting started — first launch, adding people, sample data and the five main iPhone/iPad tabs.
  2. People — Contacts import, manual people, birthdays, relationship notes, Practical Details and their value history, relationship-role filters and Person Received Gifts.
  3. Ideas, Hints and Context — quick capture, Version 1.4 photo-first/offline capture, photos, links, provenance and converting a Hint into an Idea.
  4. Occasions, planning and budgets — birthdays, Christmas, custom occasions, multi-person occasions, readiness and budgets.
  5. Wishlist — My Wishlist, selective sharing and marking an item as received without losing its saved details.
  6. Gift status, fulfilment and history — chosen/bought/arrived/wrapped/given, Received Gifts, delivery and return information, reactions and repeat-gift memory.
  7. Sharing and Protected items — curated sharing, app-to-app Gift Journal transfers and device-authenticated protection.
  8. Apple Watch — exactly what the Watch companion can and cannot do.
  9. Reminders and widgets — discreet-by-default Version 1.4 notification behaviour, richer-detail opt-in, readiness and privacy-safe widgets.
  10. Using The Gift Journal on Mac — desktop navigation, editing, search, Quick Look, drag/drop, Print/PDF/CSV and widgets.
  11. Save from Safari / Browser Saves — Version 1.1: confirm a page in Safari, let it wait in a durable inbox, then review it on Mac, iPhone or iPad and save it to a Person or My Wishlist.
  12. iCloud, backup, restore and Portable Journal Export — what each preservation tool is for and how to use it.
  13. Settings, trial, Full Unlock and support — appearance, regional settings, ownership, privacy/legal and feedback.
  14. Platform capability guide — where each feature is available.
  15. Troubleshooting — sync, notifications, Watch, imports, protected items and recovery.

Technical documentation

If you are a developer, archivist or advanced user who wants to understand a Portable Journal .zip file, see Portable Journal Export formats, covering frozen schemaVersion 1 and Version 1.4 schemaVersion 2.

A note about privacy

The Gift Journal is local-first and does not require a proprietary Gift Journal account for the core journal. Selective sharing is deliberately narrower than a Portable Journal Export. Protected items add an additional device-authenticated disclosure boundary for selected records.