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Penzu

Personalized Online Diary Software

Published 11/18/2010 and rated

2 out of 5 stars by AppAppeal Editor

What can you use the app for?

Penzu is a personal journal and online diary. It is a cloud-based application that promotes private journaling on a secure site.

What is the history and popularity of the app?

Penzu was founded by Alexander Mimran and Michael Lawlor in 2008. Approximately 14,000 unique visitors are seen on the site each month.

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What are the differences to other apps?

Penzu houses the journal on a cloud with privacy as the default setting for all entries. Users may make entries public and available for comment.

How does the web app look and feel to use?

Immediately after registration, users are taken to their pad. This appears as a sheet of lined paper with the date already set in the corner. There is a prompt to enter the title and also where to begin an entry. Advanced font settings, including italics and bold are only available to pro members.

The interface is easy to use and intuitive; however the free plan should include some basic text editing options.

How does the registration process work?

Users provide a first and last name, email address, and password to register on Penzu. Free accounts are then prompted to choose one of six avatars. Custom avatars are limited to pro accounts.

What does it cost to use the application?

Penzu free includes a private journal that can be shared at the user’s discretion via creation of public links. It also allows searching and sorting of entries, photo insertion which is compatible with Flickr, auto-saving, comment privileges for public entries and a deletion process that allows recovery. Penzu Pro adds a mobile app, military grade encryption, tagging, larger photo size uploads, multiple format exports, the ability to email entries to the journal, customization of the style of the journal, advanced editing features, past entry creation, reminder system, and post imports from Live Journal, RSS, or blog services. The Pro plan is offered at a cost of $19/year with proceeds donated to global literacy charities.

Who would you recommend the application to?

For basic journaling with privacy, the free application may appeal to some people. The fact that even the most basic text editing tools are unavailable will be annoying to many users, but is unlikely to prompt them to upgrade to the paid plan.

Penzu Features