Extended Show Notes (full description):
In this episode, we pull back the curtain on how we’re building AI that helps without harvesting inside MOSSLET, our small, bootstrapped, privacy‑first social network with a private journal at its core. 🌿

We cover:

• Our new spell checker ✏️ for your private journal, and why we designed it to help you write better without profiling you
• How journaling prompts work with just a single mood word 😊 instead of your full journal history
• What happens when you upload a handwritten journal page 📷: image → text → immediate deletion
• How mood insights use dates, mood labels, and word counts—never your raw entries 💭
• Our three‑layer privacy approach: send only what’s necessary, process and delete, and contractual protection with data_collection: "deny"
• How we use local AI models ⚙️ (via Bumblebee in Elixir) as a fallback so many requests never leave our own servers
• Why we haven’t moved AI fully into the browser yet—and what would need to change for that to make sense 💻

If you’ve ever wondered, “How can a journaling app use AI and still be private?”, this episode walks through the real technical and product decisions behind our answer.

👉 Try MOSSLET and experience privacy‑first AI for yourself: https://mosslet.com

Have questions or want us to dive deeper into the technical side? Reach out—we’re building this in public and are happy to talk about how it all works under the hood.

Today we're introducing Journal — a completely private space for reflection built right into MOSSLET. Plus, we're catching you up on major platform updates including Discover, RSS feeds, our referral program, and accessibility improvements.

What You'll Learn

• Platform updates: Discover, RSS, referral program, and more
• Why we built a private journaling space inside a social network
• How Journal's privacy screen protects your thoughts in shared spaces
• The AI features that help without harvesting your data
• How end-to-end encryption keeps your entries unreadable — even to us

Recent Platform Updates (January 2026)

🌿 Discover & RSS Feeds — Browse public community posts and subscribe via RSS
💳 New Pricing Options — Subscriptions (monthly/annual) or lifetime payment, with Affirm plans in US
💸 Referral Program — Earn 30% recurring + 35% on lifetime (real money via Stripe)
✈️ Smart Sharing — Paper airplane icon, sidebar indicators, content warnings
🦖 Accessibility First — Keyboard navigation, screen reader support, semantic HTML
⭕ Circles — Groups renamed for a warmer, more personal feel
📸 Better Uploads — HEIC, WebP support with real-time progress
🐜 Bot Defense — Protection against automated spam and abuse

Pricing That Works For You

• 14-day free trial on all subscription plans
• Monthly or annual subscriptions — cancel anytime, no hassle
• Lifetime payment — pay once, own your account forever
• Affirm payment plans available in the US for annual and lifetime tiers

Journal Features (v0.12.0)

✍️ Write freely — Optional titles, 120+ mood options, automatic word count tracking
📚 Organize with Books — Group entries into themed collections
📈 Writing streaks — Build consistency with daily streak tracking
⭐ Star favorites — Mark meaningful entries to revisit later
🔒 Privacy screen — One-tap content hiding with countdown timer
✨ AI journaling prompts — Get inspired without sharing your history
🔮 Mood insights — Pattern analysis that never reads your actual words
📷 Handwritten upload — Digitize paper journal entries with AI

How Privacy Actually Works

Unlike other platforms, Journal entries are encrypted with your personal key before they ever reach our database. We store functional metadata (dates, word counts, book assignments) but your actual writing — titles, content, moods — exists only as encrypted noise.

Even we can't read what you've written.

AI features are designed privacy-first:

• Prompts generated using only your current mood
• Insights based on dates and word counts, never content
• Handwritten photos processed once, then immediately deleted
• Zero training on your personal data

Why This Matters

Whether you're processing something difficult, practicing gratitude, tracking creative projects, or just need somewhere to dump your thoughts at the end of a long day — Journal is your private corner of the internet.

A place where your reflections stay yours. Where AI helps without harvesting. Where privacy isn't a marketing claim — it's a cryptographic reality.

Ready to start journaling? Join MOSSLET today!

Episode Timeline:

• 0:00 — Opening: The world our kids are growing up in
• 0:45 — Platform updates: Discover, RSS, referrals, pricing and more
• 3:00 — Why we built Journal
• 4:15 — Core Journal features walkthrough
• 6:45 — AI that respects your privacy
• 9:15 — How encryption actually works
• 10:45 — A small act of rebellion

Links:

• MOSSLET: https://mosslet.com
• Journal announcement: https://mosslet.com/blog/articles/12
• Referral program details: https://mosslet.com/referrals
• All updates: https://mosslet.com/updates
• Open source code: https://github.com/moss-piglet/MOSSLET — Verify our privacy claims yourself
• Why Open Source Matters: Our code is completely open source. You don't have to take our word about encryption, privacy-first AI, or data handling — you can inspect the code yourself and verify that we do exactly what we say we do. Transparency isn't optional when you're asking people to trust you with their thoughts and memories.

Connect with us on Mosslet!
Mark -> @mark -> https://mosslet.com/profile/mark
Isabella -> @justagirl -> https://mosslet.com/profile/justagirl

Learn more about identity graphs (and surveillance capitalism)
The Social Dilemma -> watch it now on Netflix!
The Age of Surveillance Capitalism -> a book! -> Shoshana Zuboff
Don’t Be Evil -> another book! -> Rana Foroohar

Have feedback on this episode?
👉 Leave a voicemail here

Have feedback on this episode?
👉 Leave a voicemail here