Printable · for the person with a birthday coming · updated November 2026

Stop writing resolutions. Start writing to next year’s you.

A letter to your future self template that fits on one page and takes twenty minutes on the evening before a birthday. Six prompts, scratched open one at a time so you do not read ahead. Print it, or seal it in Dear You, the app we make, where it stays locked until the date even from you.

Download the one-page template (PDF) Download Dear You: Daily Letters on the App StoreOpen Dear You in the App Store · one sealed letter free
Questions firstThen the prompts
What should a letter to your future self include?

Where you are right now, one thing you are proud of, one thing you are afraid of, one small thing you want to be true by the time it opens, a question, and a kind last line. That is the six-prompt template above, and it fits on one printed page.

How long should it be?

One page by hand is about right; a thousand words is too many to read on a birthday. The prompts are short on purpose.

When should it open?

A year is the classic birthday length. Dear You seals letters for a week, a month, a year, three years or five, and the letter stays locked until its day, even from you, per the listing.

Is the template free?

Yes: the PDF above, no email required. The app is free to start too: your first daily letter, two Open When letters, one future letter waiting at a time, write-back notes, search, Face ID lock, PDF export and backup. Plus adds a fresh letter every day, the full Open When shelf, unlimited future letters and all seven Journeys.

Is anything I write uploaded?

Not by the app: no account, no ads, no analytics; letters stay on the iPhone with an optional password-protected backup you keep yourself. Notifications never show your words. Nothing on this page is stored either.

Is it a mental-health app?

No. The listing says Dear You is a reflection and writing app, not a medical or mental-health service. If the letter is hard to write for reasons bigger than a birthday, a person to talk to comes first.

Six promptsScratch each one when you reach it

Write the answer before scratching the next. The point of the foil is that you cannot plan the whole letter; you have to be where you are.

1. Right nowWhere are you sitting as you write this, and what is the one thing on your mind that you will have forgotten by next year?
2. Proud ofOne thing from this year you did properly. Not the biggest; the one you would not have managed two years ago.
3. Afraid ofName the thing you are nervous about for the coming year, in one sentence. Future you will want to know how it went.
4. One small true thingBy the next birthday, I want it to be true that ___. Make it small enough to actually happen.
5. A question for themAsk future you one question you cannot answer today. They will write back; the app seals the reply for a later you.
6. The last lineSay something kind, the way you would to a friend who is a year older and tired. Then sign it with the date.
How it worksPaper or app
1

Write it the night before

Print the PDF or open Dear You and start a future letter. The six prompts are on both. Twenty minutes; stop when the page is full.

2

Seal it for a year

On paper: envelope, the date on the front, a drawer you do not open. In the app: pick a year (or a week, a month, three or five years); it stays locked until its day.

3

Next birthday, write back

When it opens, answer the question you asked, and seal the reply for a later you. The app calls these letter threads: a conversation with yourself that can run for years.

Honest limitsRead before downloading
Plus is a subscription.

Annual with a trial, or monthly. Free is real but small: one future letter waiting at a time, two Open When letters, your first daily letter. One birthday letter a year fits the free tier exactly.

It stays sealed.

Even from you. If you want to peek, this is the wrong tool, which is also why it is the right one.

Phone only.

No account means no sync. Backup is a file you keep. A paper copy in a drawer is a fine backup too.

Not a mental-health service.

The listing says so and so do we. A letter is a letter.

Not forFour people
The screensAnnotated
Dear You letter for today: Dear you, nobody photographs the maintenance days, ending with one small step and a question to sit with

A letter for today

  • 1An original letter chosen for what you asked for: a lift, calm, a fresh start, courage, gratitude or a surprise. 97 in the library per the release notes.
  • 2Every letter ends with one small, doable step.
  • 3And a question worth writing back to. The write-back is where your own letter starts.
Dear You Open When shelf: sealed envelopes for when you can't sleep, doubting yourself, the day went wrong, you need a push

Open When

  • 1A shelf of sealed envelopes for real moments. Two are free; the rest are Plus.
  • 2Seal your own: “open when the results come in”, in your words, for the day it is needed.
  • 3The birthday letter is the same idea with a date instead of a moment.
Dear You Growth: Keeper level First Ink, Consistency Blooms grown across days that mattered, this week's quest to write back twice

Growth without streaks

  • 1Consistency Blooms grow from days you actually wrote; nothing resets.
  • 2A windowsill plant and gentle monthly recaps, per the listing.
  • 3Nothing is taken away for a quiet week.

Open Dear You in the App Store

Dear You: Daily Letters. A letter for today, a letter to future you sealed until its day, and a private place to write back. No account, no ads, Face ID lock.

Download Dear You: Daily Letters on the App StoreFree to start · Plus optional

Sources

  1. Dear You: Daily Letters on the App Store, listing and release notes read 4 November 2026 (version 1.2.0): future letters and seal lengths, Open When, letter threads, free tier and Plus, privacy, the not-a-mental-health-service statement.

The six prompts and the PDF are ours; use them freely. The scratch cards run in your browser and store nothing.

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