---
title: "About Ember | A Private Journal for the People in Your Life"
description: "Ember is a private journal and life archive for the people in your life. Here is the story of why I built it, and how it is priced."
url: https://ember.mov/about/
language: en
---

Ember • Origin

# Why I built Ember

![A poet lies in bed in a cramped attic, an umbrella hung over him against a leaking roof, books piled on the floor.](https://ember.mov/assets/art/spitzweg-poor-poet.webp)

*Carl Spitzweg, The Poor Poet, 1839*

One person, one native app for Mac, iPhone and iPad, and a quiet place to remember the people who mattered.

I've lost nearly five people I know. Not lost like they are gone. Lost like I forgot their name.

The girl I helped sell lemonade at the side of the road. The first person who ever had a crush on me. They are still out there somewhere. But their names are gone, the story of how we met is slowly eroding, and the details I was sure I would always remember are fading.

They were all like embers. Giving warmth in the cold, and then quietly going out.

So I built Ember.

## A place for everyone who crossed your path

Ember is a private journal for the people in your life. It is a [life archive](https://ember.mov/what-is-a-life-archive/), where everyone who has mattered to you, even someone you met only once, gets their own space: how you met, the stories you lived together, and the small moments you want to keep, all written simply.

You write the way you always would. Type @ and a name to tag a person, and entries gather into the worlds and stories they belong to. Mention someone once and that entry is theirs forever. Each person lives in their own world, sometimes two, like the colleague who slowly became a friend. And when someone you are tending starts to fade, Ember reminds you quietly. No guilt, just awareness.

## Made by one person

Ember is not a venture-backed startup. There are no investors asking for growth, and no ads. It is one person building the app I wished existed, slowly and carefully, for the people I do not want to forget. It is native to macOS, iOS and iPadOS and built in Swift, so it stays fast and quiet and out of your way.

## How it is priced

The app is fully free, with no limits on your writing, your people, or your memories. Ember Plus is a small subscription, $4.99 a month in the US, for private iCloud backup and sync across your devices, plus niceties like the full theme catalogue. Prices follow purchasing power, so in many countries Plus costs less than in the US. It follows the same idea as Obsidian: the core app is free, and an optional paid sync keeps this one-person project alive. You never pay to keep what you have already written.

## Still building

Ember is still being built, and honest feedback genuinely helps. If you have bug reports, ideas, or just want to say hello, reach me on the [Feedback board](https://feedback.ember.mov/). You are talking directly to me, not a support desk.

### Ready to start writing?

Ember is a private life archive for your Mac, iPhone and iPad. Local-first, no lock-in, no AI, no noise.

[Download on the App Store](https://apps.apple.com/app/apple-store/id6775558241?pt=128905247&ct=site&mt=8)