On the mornings you choose, at the hour you choose, it texts you four small questions: what you're grateful for today, what you're grateful for in life, your daily affirmation ("I am…" — you finish the sentence), and what yesterday taught you. You reply like you'd text a friend — a few words per question is plenty. Steps keeps the record, day by day, on the web at steps.org. That's the whole product. No feed, no moods, no photo albums, no advice.

They come from peer-reviewed research into journaling methods, not from any product. The two gratitude questions are the most-studied practice in positive psychology. The daily affirmation and yesterday's lesson add two more angles the research supports: affirmation in your own words, and reflection that turns experience into learning. The studies — and the places where the science is honestly mixed — are all linked at steps.org/benefits.

Your call, from one morning a week to all seven, at the hour you pick. We recommend starting daily — it's the fastest way to make the habit stick — and easing off later if you like. Some research even suggests weekly gratitude keeps the practice fresher than daily for some people, so there's zero pressure to be a seven-mornings person. Change your schedule anytime, just by asking.

Nothing bad. Steps nudges once, gently, in the early afternoon — and that's it. No guilt notifications, no streak-shaming, no "don't lose your progress!" theater. Answer when you answer; skip when you skip. The whole point of a journal that texts first is that busy weeks don't quietly kill the habit.

Steps costs $5 a month or $38 a year (€4.60 / €35). If you don't subscribe, nothing is lost — your journal stays readable and downloadable at steps.org, forever.

Fiercely. Your mornings are encrypted, stored in the EU, never sold, never used to train AI, never shown to anyone — no ad networks, no analytics on your words, no human reading them. Steps texts from a plain phone number you can save under any name, so even your lock screen keeps the secret. You can download everything, or wipe everything, anytime.

No — and it never will. We're human first: what your journal means is for you to decide, not software. Steps asks its questions, keeps your answers, and tallies simple things like what keeps showing up in your mornings — your words, counted, never judged. The practice itself is fair game, though: ask it what the research says, how to write better entries, or whether weekly beats daily, and it will gladly help you get more out of journaling. And if your entries start repeating, it offers the same question from a different angle — a nudge at the practice, not at you. No interpretations, no life advice, no pep talks. The full list of things it will never say is public, at steps.org/safety.

Not unless you tell them. Steps texts from a plain phone number — no caller ID, no business name, and no app icon on your home screen. You save the contact under any name you want ("Bob", "Journal", or no name at all), and that's the only thing that ever appears: on your lock screen, on your watch, on the car screen.

No. Steps lives in iMessage — you're already set up. (WhatsApp is coming soon.) The web at steps.org is for everything else: rereading your mornings, downloading your record, and managing your plan.

As much as you like. Most people answer each question in a few words; some mornings deserve a paragraph. Everything you write is kept with that day, shown back to you on the web exactly as you wrote it.

Steps texts "Daily affirmation. I am…" and you finish the sentence, in your own words. It's deliberately never a pre-written script: research suggests affirmations work best when they're yours and tied to what you actually value, and can fall flat when they're someone else's words. Steps never suggests an ending and never comments on yours.

No. Steps is a journal — it isn't medical care, therapy, or a mental-health program, and it deliberately offers no advice. If you're going through something heavy, please talk to a human professional; if anything you write suggests you're in danger, Steps points you to real crisis lines immediately (see steps.org/safety) instead of playing counselor.