How to use

Open diary

Choose Open diary on the home page. Add a home screen shortcut to open it quickly next time. Instructions are shown when you first start using the diary.

How to add to home screen

On iPhone or iPad, choose Add to Home Screen from Safari’s sharing menu. On Android, use Chrome’s Add to Home screen menu. On a computer, create a shortcut or install the site from your browser’s menu.

Find cafes

1. Open Find cafes.
2. Search by cafe name or area, or select a chain. You can also move the map to explore.
3. Choose a cafe from a map pin or the cafe list.

Cafes below the map are ordered by distance from its center. Swipe left or right, or use the page buttons, to see more.

Save favorite cafes

Tap ☆ beside a cafe name or in search results to save it. Tap the gold ★ again to remove it. Find saved cafes in Favorites.

Write and revisit entries

1. Open a cafe and choose Write an entry.
2. Enter the visit date, rating and thoughts, and add photos if you wish.
3. Choose Save.

The Diary shows individual entries by visit date, newest first. Choose View entry to read more, or Share this entry to share directly.

Take photos from your diary

1. Choose your camera under Diary settings. The in-app camera is the default.
2. Tap Take a photo in the diary editor to open your selected camera, then take and review your photo.
3. Edit with cropping, brightness, mosaic, text, Make it appetizing, or Background blur.
4. Choose Save to device and add to diary, and complete saving on your device.
5. Choose Save in the diary.

• Crop or mosaic: drag across the photo to select an area and apply the edit.
• To add text, enter it and tap where you want it on the photo.
• To undo, use Undo or Reset all edits.

Use Retake to take another photo. Close to cancel without saving. Your device camera may keep the original photo on your device.

View photo

Tap a diary photo to enlarge it. Swipe or use the arrows to move between photos, and choose × to close.

Edit or delete entries and photos

Choose Edit entry to change content or delete photos, thoughts or an entry.

1. To edit a saved photo, choose Edit this photo in the diary editor.
2. Crop, add text, apply a mosaic or adjust brightness, then choose Apply edits.
3. Saving the diary replaces the photo with your edited version.

The previous edited photo is removed from your diary and excluded from future backups. Cancelling leaves it unchanged.

Deleting a photo from the diary does not delete the original in your camera roll or device storage.

Keep notes about a cafe

Notes are available for any cafe, with or without favorites or diary entries. Save text, links, and photos separately from your diary.

1. Tap “Edit note”.
2. Enter text and add photos or titled links. You can save up to 20 images and 20 links.
3. Tap “Save note”. Tap an image to view it full screen.

Album

The Album in My records shows diary photos and saved collages, newest first. Tap a photo to enlarge it. For a diary photo, choose View linked entry to open its entry.

Cafe ranking

In My records, rank cafes by number of entries or average rating. Choose Share this ranking to share it on social media.

Explore Japan and prefectures

Areas containing cafes with diary entries are colored in. Explore Japan shows prefectures; Explore a prefecture shows municipalities within your selected prefecture. Gray areas are excluded. Saving a diary entry counts as a visit even without sharing it on social media.

Weekly and monthly reports

1. Choose Weekly report or Monthly report in My records.
2. View this week's or month's entry count, photo count and number of cafes visited. Use Previous week or Previous month to view earlier periods.
3. To share, choose the period's share button, review or edit the text, and share.

Charts show the past 12 weeks or months. Personal bests receive a crown. Shared charts show the selected period's totals and changes from the previous week or month. Share the chart, a collage of diary photos from the period, or both. When photos exist, both are selected by default. Select photos, adjust placement and rotation, and combine them. You can then add text, mosaic or brightness adjustments.

Reports use the diary's visit date. Change the first day of the week in Settings.

Share your diary

1. Choose Share this entry on the entry you want to share.
2. Select whether to include thoughts and photos, then review or edit the text.
3. Choose Choose where to share, then select a destination in your device's sharing screen.

To share only cafe information, choose Share cafe on its page. Your private cafe notes are excluded.

Share multiple photos

Select photos, then choose Share as separate photos or Combine into one image to share.

1. To combine photos, choose Arrange and combine photos.
2. Choose Simple or Style to arrange photos automatically. Simple uses no effects or overlaps. Style estimates the main subject from edges and colors and crops some surrounding space. If the estimate is uncertain, it crops the top 10% and bottom 20%. It combines main and supporting photos. Use the arrows to choose a style and Shuffle to change placement. Add 3D, Retro or Monochrome to either layout, separately or together. Retro simulates warped, faded and aged paper without borders. You can then drag and resize photos, select a photo and adjust its Rotation slider, or use Bring forward and Send backward to change overlapping layers.
3. Choose a plain color or textures such as Wallpaper, Board or Album. Select Background color, then Combine. Effects and background settings are kept for next time. New layouts start with Simple. Save up to ten presets with Save preset, and switch with Load preset. Rename them under Collage preset names in Settings.
4. Review the collage and add text, mosaic or brightness adjustments as needed. Use Undo or Reset all edits to start again.
5. To save the collage, select Save combined image and choose Use this image. You can keep it in your album without posting to social media.

If you cancel before choosing Use this image, the collage is not saved. Your diary photos remain.

A hashtag for cafe lovers

Include app information is selected by default. It adds the app name, #watashicafe and the cafe URL to the end of your text. Deselect it to remove them. Search for this hashtag on social media to find other users' posts.

Keep a backup

Regular backups protect against device loss, damage or replacement. Your diary is not stored on this site and cannot be restored without a backup.

1. Open Settings at the top right.
2. Under Backup and restore, choose Download backup with photos.
3. Check that the file has been saved.

Backups include entries, photos, saved collages, cafe notes and favorites. Keep a copy in Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive or another location so you can recover it if your original device becomes unavailable.

Choose a Backup reminder interval to receive regular reminders.

Restore a backup

1. Open the site on the destination device, then go to Backup and restore in Settings.
2. Select your saved file under Restore from backup.
3. Choose Restore on this device.

Restoring replaces your current diary. Back up any entries you want to keep first.

Save starting points for directions

1. In Settings, open Saved starting points.
2. Enter a name such as Home or Work and its address, then choose Save starting point.
3. In the cafe's Directions panel, choose a saved starting point and a travel mode, then search.

Save several starting points and edit or delete them later. Addresses stay on this device. When requesting directions, the selected address is sent to Google.

Delete all diary data

1. Back up the entries you need first.
2. Under Delete diary data in Settings, choose Delete all diary data on this device.
3. After both confirmations, the diary returns to its initial state.

Entries, diary photos, saved collages, notes, favorites and saved starting points are all deleted. Original camera roll photos and downloaded backup files remain.

Request cafe information

1. For an unlisted cafe, choose Request a cafe listing at the bottom of the page. For a listed cafe, use the correction or removal request links at the bottom of its page.
2. For additions or corrections, enter the cafe name, address and other details. For removal, check the displayed information. Give a reason for corrections or removal.
3. Answer the verification calculation and choose Send.

The administrator reviews requests before applying them. Cafe information remains unchanged until approval. Do not include diary content or personal contact details.

Contact

On X, contact@news874 by replying on X. Replies are public, so do not include personal information or private diary content.

Possibly closed cafes: Check cafes that may be closed or temporarily closed. Confirm their current status on their official website. You can still record past visits.