Tackbok - Gratitude Journal

A private, open-source place for daily gratitude. Write freely, add photos and voice memories, track moods, and keep your journal yours.

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Inspiration

For two years, I used Presently to practice gratitude during a difficult period in my life. It helped me notice what I had instead of what I lacked. Years later, I built Tackbok to carry that experience forward on Android and iOS, with room for photos and voice memories alongside words.

What it does

Tackbok is a free, open-source gratitude journal. Gentle prompts and worksheets help you begin; words, photos, voice notes, moods and tags help you capture a moment. A personal timeline brings those memories back. Themes and typography make the space yours, while Presently import lets you bring your history along. Journaling needs no account, entries are stored locally, and optional backup and biometric locking give you more control.

How I built it

I built Tackbok with React Native and Expo, using SQLite for local storage, TanStack Query for data management, and Uniwind for styling. RevenueCat powers optional, one-time support purchases. Every journaling feature is available to everyone, with no ads or feature paywalls.

Challenges I ran into

Making the design work across phones, tablets and foldables took more than stretching layouts. Samsung Remote Test Lab revealed incorrectly scaled artwork on a folded Galaxy Z TriFold and voice memo player that spread too wide on larger screens. I fixed the artwork's display-density handling, constrained the audio player's width, then rebuilt and retested the affected screens.

Accomplishments I'm proud of

Turning a practice that helped me into an app others can use is the biggest one. I'm also proud of bringing text, photos and audio into a personal journal, supporting nine interface languages, and keeping the complete experience free and open source.

What I learned

Small presentation bugs can change how an otherwise simple app feels. Testing different form factors taught me to check artwork and controls as carefully as the main layout. Building Tackbok also taught me how to offer voluntary support purchases without putting journaling behind a paywall.

What's next for Tackbok

I plan to expand language support and keep refining the experience across devices. The goal remains simple: make it easier to notice, keep and revisit the small moments worth remembering.

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