The Complaint Diary
The app keeps the diary that councils, landlords and ombudsmen ask for, and prints it in the layout their own forms use. Everything stays on your phone until you send it.
Starting a diary
Choose what is happening: noise, damp or mould, repairs that have not been done, anti-social behaviour, or something else. Each one asks for the things that problem's form asks for, and prints its own layout. Add your name and address under the menu at the top right, since they go at the head of every page.
Recording a noise while it is happening
Tap It is happening now the moment it starts. The entry is written into the diary there and then, the clock runs, and the microphone shows the level. When it stops, tap It stopped and say what it stopped you doing. You can keep the last minute of sound if you want it.
You can also write one up for earlier, and change the times. The sheet shows both the time of the event and the time you recorded it, which is what makes a diary worth something to the people reading it.
About the decibel number
It comes from the phone's own microphone. It is not a calibrated sound level meter, the reading depends on where the phone is lying, and no council will accept it as a measurement. It is useful for showing, within your own record, that one night was louder than another. The printed sheet says exactly that, so nobody is misled.
Printing and sending
Tap Print or send. You can print the sheet, send it as a PDF, or send the whole case as one file with the photographs, the recordings and a spreadsheet of the entries. A4 and Letter are both there.
What is free, and what the unlock adds
Writing entries is always free and never limited: times, sound levels, photographs, recordings and everything you write. The free version prints the first two pages of the sheet and keeps one diary. The one-off unlock prints every page, sends the whole case as one file, adds the spreadsheet, allows as many diaries as you need, puts a passphrase on what you send, and makes encrypted backups.
Backups
There is no cloud behind this app, so a backup file is the only thing that survives a lost phone. Make one from Settings; it holds every diary with its photographs and recordings, encrypted with a passphrase you choose. Nobody can recover that passphrase, so write it down somewhere safe. To put it back, open the file from Files, or use Restore in Settings.
Keeping it private
Settings can lock the app with Face ID, Touch ID or your passcode. A diary about somebody you live with should not open for them.
Common questions
- Does my council have to use this app? No. It is your diary; you send the sheet to whoever asks for it.
- Can I keep more than one diary? Yes, with the unlock. Noise and damp are usually different departments and different forms.
- Will it record all night? It records while a noise entry is running, and keeps only the last minute if you ask it to.
- Does anything go to the cloud? No. The app has no servers and no account.
Contact
Anything at all, including bugs and suggestions: conor@conorhannah.com.