How to use Goal Journal on iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch. This is the same guide as Help in the app (⋯ → Help Guide).
Get Goal Journal on the App Store. Using Android? See the Android user guide.
Screenshots are from an iPhone with sample data. On iPad and Mac the same screens open in larger windows.
Topics
- Getting Started: The home screen, the tour, and finding your way around.
- Goals & Templates: Create, organize, complete, and reuse goals.
- Tasks & Due Dates: Statuses, due dates, reminders, notes, and moving tasks.
- Task Review: Unfinished work grouped by goal.
- Quick Notes: Capture a thought now, file it later.
- Shopping Lists: Store lists you check off, share, and reuse.
- Daily Journal: A note and rating for a goal.
- Reminders: Daily review and per-task alerts.
- Reports & Calendars: Weekly, monthly, and yearly progress.
- Goal Reports: Preview, print, email, or share a report.
- Settings & Export: Look, lock, categories, Recycle Bin, and export.
- Apple Watch: Turn it on, then show it on the watch.
- Widgets: Goal progress and due tasks on your iPhone Home Screen and Lock Screen.
- iCloud Sync: What syncs and what stays on each device.
Getting Started
The home screen, the tour, and finding your way around.
Home shows Quick Notes, Shopping Lists, Task Review, and Reports, then your Active Goals. Open Help anytime from ⋯ → Help Guide.
- Start Using Goal Journal: A built-in tour goal. New journals get it once. Recreate it from New Goal → Template.
- New Goal / New Task: In the toolbar on Home, or inside a goal. Only a title is required.
- Search and chips: Search finds goals and tasks. Chips filter Active Goals only.
- Reorder: Tap Reorder next to Active Goals and drag. This also sets the Watch order.
- ⋯ menu: Every screen, plus sorting and Delete Goal.
- Mac: Close a sheet to go back. ⌘N adds a goal or task, ⌘⇧H goes Home, and the Go menu opens every screen.
Completed goals are hidden by default; change this in Settings. One-time purchase, no ads, no subscriptions.
Goals & Templates
Create, organize, complete, and reuse goals.
Tap a goal for progress, tasks, and Share Goal Report. Edit Goal changes the title, category, or target date, or marks the goal Completed.
- Categories: Work, Personal, Hobbies, Longterm, Hidden, or your own (tap + next to Category). Settings can hide a category from Active Goals or Task Review.
- Templates: New Goal → Template fills in the title, category, and tasks. Save any goal as a template from Goal Details. Statuses, dates, and notes aren’t copied.
- Delete: Swipe a goal, or use ⋯ → Delete Goal, then confirm. It stays in Recycle Bin for 30 days.
Tasks & Due Dates
Statuses, due dates, reminders, notes, and moving tasks.
Each task has a title, details, a status, an optional due date, and an optional reminder.
- Move: Open a task and tap Move to Another Goal. Its notes go with it.
- Statuses: Only Completed counts toward progress. On Goal Details, tap a task’s status mark to complete or reopen it. Add your own with + next to Status. Change Status updates several tasks at once.
- Due dates: A task is overdue when its date has passed and it isn’t done. Tasks with no date are never overdue.
- Remind Me: On the task, turn on Remind Me and pick a date and time. You’ll get a notification on this iPhone or Mac. Completing or deleting the task cancels it.
- Notes: Add progress notes in Task Details. Hide Done shows open tasks only.
- Delete: Swipe left (iPhone) or click the trash (Mac), then confirm. Restore from Recycle Bin within 30 days.
Task Review
Unfinished work grouped by goal.
Unfinished tasks grouped by goal, in your Custom order. Open it from the orange card on Home.
- Chips: Pending, Overdue, Due today, Upcoming, No due date, or a category give you a flat list.
- Search, Reorder, and the circle: Filter by name, drag goals or tasks, or mark a task Completed.
Quick Notes
Capture a thought now, file it later.
An inbox for thoughts that don’t have a goal yet. Add them from Home or with Quick Note on the Watch.
- File: Open a note, pick a goal, then pick a task or New task from this note.
- Delete: Swipe (iPhone) or trash (Mac).
Captured shows how long a note has waited.
Shopping Lists
Store lists you check off, share, and reuse.
One list per store. Check items into the cart, then tap Finish this trip.
- Quantity and prices: Use + and −. Track prices gives you an estimated total.
- Rename: Tap an item’s name to see all of it and fix it. Change the store name at the top of the list.
- Plan today’s trip: Tap Plan today’s trip, tap the circle for each store you will visit, then Show Trip. You get a simple list of each store and what is still to get. Copy Summary if you want it on the clipboard.
- History: Reopen a trip, or tap Shop again to reuse a list.
- Share: Preview, print, email, or copy. Items already in the cart are left off.
- Watch: Add stores and items by voice and check them off.
Daily Journal
A note and rating for a goal.
Entries belong to a goal. Tap Review Goal, add a note and a 1–5 rating, then Save. Entries show in Goal Details, calendars, and reports.
Reminders
Daily review and per-task alerts.
You can get a daily review, and you can remind yourself about a specific task.
- Daily Review: ⋯ → Reminders. Pick a time and Save. It isn’t tied to due dates.
- On a task: Open the task, turn on Remind Me, and pick a date and time. Completing or deleting the task cancels that alert.
Reports & Calendars
Weekly, monthly, and yearly progress.
- Weekly: Stats and a task calendar.
- Monthly: Tap a day. Red means overdue, orange due, green done, and blue logged.
- Yearly: Streaks, busiest month, and a heatmap.
- More: Goal History, Task Breakdown, and Completion Stats, plus optional Time Insights (turn them on in Settings).
Goal Reports
Preview, print, email, or share a report.
Select goals, then Preview, Print, Email, or Share. The details checkbox adds task notes. For Gmail, use Copy HTML and paste. Customize the report in Settings → Goal Report Email.
Settings & Export
Look, lock, categories, Recycle Bin, and export.
Look and colors, categories and statuses, templates, Time Insights, and the report email.
- Security: Lock the app with Face ID, Touch ID, or a password. Tap Forgot password? to reset it.
- Recycle Bin: Keeps deleted items for 30 days.
- Export: A JSON or CSV of your goal list only. It can’t be imported back.
Apple Watch
Turn it on, then show it on the watch.
Setup
Both steps are on iPhone.
- 1. Allow it: ⋯ → Settings → Use Goal Journal on Apple Watch.
- 2. Show it: In Apple’s Watch app, turn on Show App on Apple Watch for Goal Journal.
On the Watch
Quick Note, Shopping Lists, and voice tasks or notes on open goals. Add new goals on iPhone or Mac.
It uses dictation, not Siri.
Widgets
Goal progress and due tasks on your iPhone Home Screen and Lock Screen.
Widgets only show information. Tap one to open that goal or task.
- 1. Allow them: ⋯ → Settings → Allow Widgets.
- 2. Add one: On iPhone or iPad, touch and hold the Home Screen, tap Edit → Add Widget, and choose Goal Journal. For the Lock Screen, touch and hold it and tap Customize.
- Goal Progress: One goal’s progress ring. Touch and hold the widget, then Edit Widget to pick the goal.
- Tasks Due: Overdue and due-today tasks, then what’s coming up.
- Privacy: Turn off Show Names in Widgets in Settings to show only progress and counts.
Widgets refresh when you open Goal Journal on this device. Hidden and completed goals never appear.
iCloud Sync
What syncs and what stays on each device.
Task titles, notes, due dates, and task reminder times sync across devices signed in to the same Apple ID. Open Goal Journal on a device once after you set a reminder so that device can schedule the alert. The journal title, look, report email options, Time Insights, and daily reminder time stay on each device.
Still need help?
Email appsupport@ca3dworks.com. Please include your device, the app version (About in Settings), and what you need help with.