End-to-End Encryption in Journal Jar

Your private thoughts and photos should stay private. That's why every entry in Journal Jar is end-to-end encrypted by default. Your entries are encrypted on your smartphone before they're uploaded, so only you (and the people you share a collection with) can read them. For an end-to-end encrypted collection, the text and photos, as well as the collection's name, are encrypted.

What this means for you

• Even as the site operators, we cannot see your posts, titles, or photos.
• Anyone who got hold of the data on the server wouldn't be able to see or read anything either.
• Only your devices hold the keys needed to decrypt the data.

Why iCloud Keychain matters

The key that decrypts your content is stored securely on your smartphone. We never have a copy of it.

If you turn on iCloud Keychain Sync, that key is stored securely and follows you to your other Apple devices (e.g. an iPad or a new smartphone). If it isn't, your key only lives on one device, and if that device is lost, reset, or wiped, the key is gone with it and your encrypted content (entries, photos) can no longer be recovered. Not even by us.

Our recommendation

• Turn on iCloud Keychain Sync under Settings → [Your Name] → iCloud → Passwords and Keychain, and keep it on while you use encrypted collections. (It is usually on by default.)
• Stay signed in to the same Apple Account on every device where you use Journal Jar.

In case you would rather not rely on iCloud Keychain, you can opt out of encryption (or live with the risk of data loss). When you create a collection, you can turn off end-to-end encryption. Those collections can always be recovered after a device change, but their content isn't end-to-end encrypted. It's still protected in transit, but we as the operator could technically access it. You can't switch a collection between encrypted and unencrypted later.

A note on shared collections

In a shared encrypted collection, every member needs the key on their device. If a member loses access to their key, they lose access to the collection too. As long as that member wasn't the collection's admin, they can be re-added to the collection and regain the key for it this way. So the recommendation applies to all users.

If you have any questions about encryption in Journal Jar, feel free to reach out to us.