There's no shortage of apps that want to help you document your life, but there are none quite like Kennedy. The critically acclaimed app Day One has carved out a niche for itself as the go-to journalling app for iOS users, offering a selection of features that allow you to log your life in private and share what you want in public. Kennedy takes a different approach, stripping away much of the interface, preferences, and sharing options that make Day One so popular, and leaving you with a surprisingly fun experience.

Created by designer Brendan Dawes, who previously successfully Kickstarted an accessory that gave the iPhone a physical shutter key, Kennedy's interface is very sparse. On launching the app for the first time, you'll be presented with an abstract circle containing the word "now." Clicking that circle automatically pulls in the time, your current location, the local weather, the music you're listening to, and a random news headline, which you can change from a feed containing recent articles. You're then given the option to add a note, take a photo, or add an image from your phone's library. The concept is that Kennedy helps you remember things in their correct context; it's named for the clichéd question "where were you when Kennedy was shot?"

The automation is similar to the recently released Heyday journalling app, which came out a few days after I began testing Kennedy, but without the myriad of options. There's no tweaking, no arranging, and no suggestion that you should tweet out your note out with a #KennedyApp hashtag. There's not even the option to save notes elsewhere or send them out by email. What you're left with, then, is an intensely personal experience.

As much as I appreciate the stripped-back interface, there are a couple of features I'd like to see added. If, like me, you prefer to stream your music through a third-party service like Spotify or Rdio, you'll be disappointed to discover Kennedy can only ascertain what song you're listening to if you're playing back local files or streaming from iRadio. Dawes says he'd like to get Spotify working, and also plans on integrating other third-party apps down the line, but for now only Apple's Music app is supported.

The final piece of the Kennedy puzzle is perhaps the most intriguing. While you can't export individual notes, you can generate a CSV or JSON file containing all your notes. Dawes has been experimenting with these files using 3D modeling and printing, and has achieved some great results. He used the database to generate a spherical visualization of how often it rains. "Nothing earth-shattering," Dawes notes, "but kind of fun."

Kennedy is available from the App Store today for $1.99.