Help & Support

Henscratch is a travel diary for iPhone, iPad and Mac that you write together with the people you travel with.

Getting started

What do I need?

An iPhone or iPad with iOS 27 or iPadOS 27, or a Mac with macOS 27, signed in to iCloud. Your diary is stored in your iCloud account, so Henscratch asks you to sign in first if you aren't.

Does it work without a connection?

Yes. Write as usual; everything syncs through iCloud once you're back online.

Writing together

How do I invite someone?

The person who started the diary invites the others: in Settings, under Shared with, tap Invite Someone and send the invitation, for example by Messages. The other person opens it on a device with Henscratch, and the diary appears there. Everyone in the diary can read and write its shared trips.

Someone invited me. What happens to my own diary?

An Apple Account belongs to one diary at a time. If your own diary is still empty, it's simply replaced by the one you're joining. If you've already written trips in it, or you're already in someone else's diary, the invitation can't be accepted.

How do I keep a trip to myself?

Turn on Private when you create the trip. A private trip stays in your own iCloud and nobody else in the diary sees it. Whether a trip is private can't be changed later.

How do I remove someone, or leave a diary?

The person who started the diary can remove people under Settings › People. To leave someone else's diary, ask them to remove you.

Whose iCloud storage does the diary use?

The diary, with its photos and voice memos, counts towards the iCloud storage of the person who started it.

Photos

Why does Henscratch ask for full access to my photos?

With full access, Henscratch shows the photos you took on each day of a trip, so you can pick them as you write, and finds the places you went from where they were taken. Without it, you can still add photos one by one with the Photos button. You can change access any time in Settings › Privacy & Security › Photos on your iPhone or iPad.

What does "Saving photo copies" mean?

When not everyone in the diary can open a photo's original (for example, because it isn't in an iCloud Shared Library you all belong to), Henscratch saves a full-quality copy to the diary so everyone sees it. On iPhone and iPad, Download photos on Wi‑Fi only in Settings keeps this off your mobile data.

Voice memos

How do voice memos work?

Tap the microphone in a day to record. Henscratch keeps the recording in the day and writes down what you said, on your device. The written version is in English.

Exporting

Can I get my diary out of the app?

Yes. Export a day or a whole trip as a PDF to read, print or share, or as an archive. A PDF can also be translated into another language as it's exported.

When something's wrong

"No connection to iCloud"

Check that the device is online and signed in to iCloud. What you write is kept on the device and sent as soon as iCloud can be reached again.

"Time to update"

Someone in your diary is using a newer version of Henscratch, and this device needs it too. Update Henscratch from the App Store; nothing is lost in the meantime.

How do I delete everything?

Trips can be deleted in the app. To remove everything Henscratch stored in your iCloud, go to Settings › [your name] › iCloud › Storage › Henscratch on an iPhone or iPad, or System Settings › [your name] › iCloud › Manage on a Mac. See the Privacy Policy for more.