Help
How can we help?
36 short guides — how to write, how to find your way back, and what to do when something isn't behaving.
Nothing matched that. Ask us directly and a person will answer.
Getting started
Install it, sign in, and write the first page.
- What Dayspring isA journal that shows you, over time, what God has been making of you.
- Install it and sign inDayspring runs on the web, on your Mac, and on iPhone and iPad. Signing in is Apple or Google — there's no password to invent.
- Write your first entryOpen a page and start. Everything else in Dayspring is built out of what you write here.
- Bring your old journal inImport from Day One, Diarly, or a Dayspring backup. Your history arrives dated correctly, and the surfaces read it as if you'd always been here.
- Your trial periodA 14-day trial, everything unlocked, no card needed. Here's exactly how it works and what happens at the end.
Writing
The editor, and everything you can put on a page.
- Formatting your writingBold, italic, headings, lists and quotes — without a single asterisk in sight.
- The slash menuType / on a new line and everything you can put on a page is one keystroke away.
- Scripture, prayers and impressionsPut a passage, a prayer, or a word you sensed onto the page — and have Dayspring remember it for you.
- Contemplative practices15 ways of praying with a page in front of you — the Examen, Lectio Divina, and others.
- Photos in entriesDrag one in, paste it, or use /image. Up to 20 MB each, with captions and reordering.
- Speaking an entry instead of typing itTap the microphone and talk. Dayspring turns it into text and drops it where your cursor is.
- Photographing a handwritten pagePoint your phone at a paper journal and Dayspring turns it into text you can check before it's saved.
- Focus modeEverything but the page goes away. Press ⌘⏎.
- Every slash commandReferenceType / on a new line to open the menu. Here is everything in it.
- Highlight coloursReferenceThe five highlighter colours, and what each one writes into your entry.
- The practice libraryReferenceEvery contemplative practice you can bring onto a page, where it comes from, and how it moves.
Finding & returning
Coming back to what you've already written.
- Find a word, or ask a questionOne box, two speeds. Type to search instantly; press Return to ask something bigger.
- The Ascent — a week, a month, a yearYour writing seen from four heights. The higher you stand, the more shape you can see.
- The Lamp — where you've been in scriptureAll 66 books, lit by how much you've actually been living in them.
- The Altar — what you've prayedThe things you've brought up more than once, gathered by subject, with what you wrote afterwards.
- Your pages, side by sideEvery entry you've written as a wall you can stand back from, zoom into, filter, and read.
Settings
Making it look and feel the way you want.
- Themes and fonts6 themes, each with its own typeface, and a matching light and dark.
- Making the page comfortable to readSize, line height, and column width — the three that matter most.
- Every keyboard shortcutReferenceThe complete list, for macOS and for Windows and Linux — generated from the app itself.
- Every setting and its defaultReferenceWhat each setting does, and what it's set to before you change anything.
Account & billing
Your trial, your subscription, your account.
- Plans and pricesOne plan, everything included, monthly or yearly. The price differs slightly on iPhone, and here's why.
- Changing or cancelling your subscriptionWhere to go depends on who takes the money — Apple or Stripe. Dayspring sends you to the right place.
- A payment didn't go throughAn expired card doesn't lock you out on the spot. Here's what actually happens.
- Deleting your accountSettings → About → Delete account. Take a backup first — deletion is permanent and we can't undo it.
Your data & privacy
Where your writing lives, and how to take it with you.
- Where your writing livesOn your device, and safely stored with us so it can follow you. The honest details, including what we don't do.
- Download a backup of everythingOne button, one zip, all your entries as plain text and all your photos as real files.
- How Dayspring reflects, and what it won't doIt selects your own sentences. It never writes your spiritual life for you.
Troubleshooting
When something isn't behaving.
- An entry hasn't appeared on my other deviceAlmost always a sync that hasn't caught up. Your writing is safe on the device you wrote it on.
- I signed in and my journal is emptyAlmost certainly two accounts, not lost writing. Here's how to tell, and how to fix it.
- The Mac app won't open or updateGatekeeper on first launch, and what to do if an update seems stuck.
- A photo won't uploadSize, connection, or format. The entry itself is never blocked by a stuck photo.
Still stuck?
Write to us and a person will read it — not a queue, not a bot. If you're still in your 14-day trial and something's in the way, say so and we'll sort it.
Get in touch