A real person, when that matters
Journaling with an optional human perspective.
Sometimes reflection calls for another person. Browse public Guides by topic and location, invite someone you know, or invite a Guide from another journal into a Bubble. A Guide can offer insights and Attend to entries you share with them, but cannot post entries to your journal. Where offered, choose a monthly retainer or unlock individual insights with credits.
Choose the kind of presence you want
Look for warmth, candor, life experience, or a perspective outside your usual circle rather than broadcasting a vulnerable thought to everyone you know.
Guidance for many kinds of growth
Invite a parent or sibling to witness entries you share, a coach to reflect on fitness goals, a cooking instructor to respond to kitchen experiments, or a teacher to read creative writing. A performance coach can help an emerging creator think through their work, and a business mentor can offer perspective on decisions and setbacks.
Guidance stays in context
A Guide can read the entries you share with Guides and add text, photo, audio, or video insights connected to the entries that inspired them. They cannot post entries to your journal, so your original experience stays central.
A monthly Guide retainer
Some public Guides offer a monthly retainer. The app shows the Guide amount and DiaryBub fee before payment. The first month is charged before the request reaches the Guide, and access begins only if they accept. If they decline or do not accept within 72 hours, that first payment is refunded and the subscription is canceled. Your journal visibility choices still apply.
Unlock to view with credits
Some Guides offer Unlock for Credits instead of a retainer. After acceptance, complimentary insights appear immediately; paid insights appear as locked cards showing the exact cost. You can use purchased Human Guidance credits to reveal one when you choose, and the Guide earns only on unlock. Text and photo cost 1 credit; audio and video cost 2. Manual unlock is the default unless you explicitly enable automatic credit spending.
Attendance means “I am here”
A Guide can Attend to an entry with a small acknowledgment that they witnessed it. Attend is not liking, loving, hating, disliking, or judging what happened. It is a quiet way to say that someone you trust is here with you, even when they have no insight to add.
The Curio and 1-on-1 requests
The Curio brings private conversations, comments, and 1-on-1s into your journal. A Guide can share a linked preview of an entry in your conversation so its context stays close. When a Guide is available, you can request time together by suggesting when and how to meet and adding a note. The other person can confirm, propose another time, or decline; pending and confirmed requests stay together in the Curio. In a Bubble, it also holds group and member conversations.
A separate choice for each journal
In a personal journal, your Guide relationship and visibility choices determine access. A Guide you know from one journal can be invited into another. In a Bubble, each member separately decides whether that Guide can see their own posts. Bubble members can add entries; Guides cannot.
Peer reflection, not professional care
Human guides offer personal perspective. They do not replace therapists, doctors, attorneys, financial advisors, emergency responders, or other qualified professionals.
Common questions
Good to know before you begin.
What is a human guide on DiaryBub?
A human Guide offers peer reflection and lived perspective. Guides create their own profiles and can choose to appear in the app directory.
Are DiaryBub guides therapists?
No. Human guides provide peer perspective, not therapy or licensed professional services.
What can an accepted Guide access?
In a personal journal, access follows your Guide relationship and visibility choices. In a Bubble, each member separately approves access to their own posts. A Bubble Guide invitation alone shares no member content.
Can a Guide write in my journal?
A Guide can add insights and Attend to entries they can see, but cannot post journal entries. In a Bubble, members can post their own entries; a Guide stays in the guidance role.
Can I revoke a guide’s access?
Yes. You can end a guide relationship and revoke future in-product access through DiaryBub.
Do I need a subscription to invite a Guide?
It depends on the method that Guide offers. A monthly retainer charges the first month before the request reaches the Guide. Unlock for Credits has no monthly retainer or upfront Guide charge; you use purchased credits only when you unlock a paid insight, unless you explicitly enable automatic spending. The app shows the methods available on your platform before you commit.