Dark mode switch icon Light mode switch icon

Support

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there an import/export option?

Chronicling supports import and export from either a single file (.chronicling) or from .csv files for events, categories and groups.

What are Shortcuts useful for?

Shortcuts are a great way to get data into and out of Chronicling. Automations, which trigger a shortcut to run at a particular time, or after a particular event, can be used to log events in the background.

Here are some examples:

Daily Log - extracts and formats a simple table of all events logged today. Useful to add to a daily journal entry.

Export Category - export a csv file of events for a single chosen category, which you can modify to suit your needs. Simply select which category you wish to export in the “Find Events” action. For large amounts of data, in-app export (see above) is much faster.

Import Category - this is a template for the type of Shortcut needed to import data into Chronicling from any source. Depending on the size of the input file, you may need to enable an option in the Settings App > Shortcuts > Advanced called “Allow Sharing Large Amounts of Data”.

Import from Do - this shortcut is an example of the Import Category shortcut above customised to support the csv format exported by the “Do” app. It creates all necessary Categories (for habits) and Groups (requires Premium).

Why isn’t sync working?

To sync data between devices automatically, each device must be logged into an iCloud account with iCloud Drive enabled.

What does the “Range” option do when editing a category?

The Range controls two things:

  1. The time period shown on the bar chart’s x-axis (displayed for each category and in miniature in list view)
  2. The period used to calculate totals and averages

You can choose between fixed calendar periods (like “This Week”) or, with Premium, rolling periods (like “Last 7 Days”). Rolling periods update daily - for example, “Last 7 Days” always shows the most recent week, while “This Week” resets on the first day of the week.

The range also defines how the chart is divided: the number sets how many bars appear, and the interval sets what each bar represents (days, weeks, etc.).

Is Chronicling Premium shared with my Apple Family?

Yes, both subscriptions and the one-time lifetime purchase option are eligible for family sharing. Once purchased, if it doesn’t automatically apply to family members’ devices, please tap restore purchases.

Note that for in-app purchases to be shared, users must share a payment method, as per App Store requirements.

The watchOS app isn’t loading

The watch app relies on iCloud sync to share data with the iOS/iPadOS apps. On first launch, it can take a little while to sync your categories, as indicated by the loading spinner. Please leave the app open for a minute or so to complete this first-time sync. If it still fails to load, please get in touch!

Why is the Find… Shortcuts action not working?

Since iOS 18, there is a Shortcuts bug that causes filtering in find actions to fail when using a variable representing a custom type (e.g. filtering events by a category, or categories by a group), which I’ve submitted as feedback to Apple (FB14741165).

To work around this, please use the Category Name or Group Name filters instead of the Category or Group directly. The “Get Text from Input” action can be used to get the name from a category/group variable.

Does Chronicling have a URL scheme?

Yes, but this is not officially maintained. If you find any issues, do drop me an email and I’ll see what I can do.

For immediately opening the add category or add event sheet:

For jumping to a specific tab:

For opening a specified category:

Contact

If you have any questions not answered here, or feedback about the app, please email me at support@chroniclingapp.com.