I wanted to open the app, start typing, and have everything else disappear. That's what Cozy's distraction-free writing mode does.
The whole interface falls away
Press ⌘⇧F and the sidebar, the calendar, the buttons, all of it goes. What's left is the text, centered on the page, and nothing else. It's the closest I could get to writing on a blank sheet of paper without leaving the computer.
Sound you choose, silence you keep
- Ambient soundscapes. Rain, forest, café, or fireplace, playing quietly behind your writing if you want something to sink into.
- Typewriter keystrokes. Optional mechanical key sounds, for when the clack helps you keep going.
- No notifications. Cozy never interrupts you to say you've missed a day. If you want to write, you open it. If you don't, it stays quiet.
Formatting that stays out of the way
The formatting symbols, the asterisks around bold, the hash marks on a heading, only show up on the line your cursor is sitting on. Every other line renders clean, so the page reads like finished writing while you're still in the middle of it. There's an optional serif editor font too, if that's the mood you write in.
No AI, on purpose
A lot of writing tools now put a suggestion box between you and the sentence you were about to write. Cozy has none of that, and won't. There is no AI in the app. The words on the page are yours, and the app's only job is to not get in their way.
Your writing stays in your own files
Every entry is one of your own files, in a folder on your computer. No account to sign into, no cloud syncing in the background, nothing to lock you in. You can read and edit your writing in any text editor, and it'll still be there in ten years whether or not Cozy is.
Related reading: a journal kept in your own files, a private journaling app, and an offline journaling app.
“I've been using it for a week and I do not regret the purchase at all! :) Very solid, intuitive and aesthetic. I synced with two of my computers to be able to access it from bed, which is where I like to do my digital journaling, and works like a charm. I hope your app continues to grow!”
u/sorabood