What are the best journaling apps for iOS?

Question

31

Options
Considered

513

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Recs.

Apr 10, 2021

Last
Updated

Here’s the Deal

29 Options Considered

Best journaling apps for iOS	Price	Last Updated
88 Awesome Note	-	Apr 7, 2021
-- Everyday Timeline	-	Jan 21, 2021
69 Day One	-	Apr 9, 2021
-- Momento	-	Sep 27, 2020
-- Moleskine Journal	-	Nov 19, 2020

See Full List

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score 103 · Answer 1

Awesome Note

Top Pro

Sync with Dropbox / can edit in Dropbox

Can use it for planning and Journalling almost like digital bullet journal. See More

Top Con

Backgrounds are girly and corny

You can’t add your own backgrounds, not in the start page neither in the individual entries, so you only have the ones provided and after a while they become boring. They don’t say this in the App Store, so it’s possible to buy it thinking you’ll be able to have personalized backgrounds but no. See More

PatientJumis's Experience

I Moved to Android and this is the only App. I miss. Loved it and got me started on Journal and Planning. I keep waiting and sending emails to the makers of Awesome Note to get it for Android as well. Samsung Galaxy S8. Eye candy? Yes Organize? Yes Love it ? Yes Rafael. See More

Top Pro

Multiple folders

You can make as much folders as you want, and although the colors available aren’t infinite they are pretty and enough. You can organize them with small index titles. See More

Top Con

No folders inside other folders

Although there is a little option to organize the folders in a category index you can’t make folders inside other folders so you waste time looking despite how organized your stuff is. See More

GenuineGaleru's Experience

i like this one See More

See All

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score 22 · Answer 2

Everyday Timeline

Top Pro

Weekly backup

To Dropbox, Evernote, or email. See More

Top Con

Lacks support

Multiple reports of dropped features, unfixed bugs, lack of updates. See More

EnterprisingAjtzak's Experience

day one keeps you motivated :) See More

Top Pro

Easy to use

Top Pro

Imports data from external sources

From different social networks as individual entries on your timeline. See More

Top Pro

Feature-rich

The app supports tags, multiple entries each day, passcode lock, reminders, a daily question, post statistics, weekly backups, synchronization, as well as adding photos, location information, and your mood to entries. See More

Top Pro

Online account means syncing and web access

You can access your data from anywhere you have a browser and internet access. See More

Top Pro

Has statistics

The application gives you statistics about your postings. See More

See All

score 47 · Answer 3

Day One

Top Con

Subscription based

For former users, it's $24.99 per year. For new users, current discount is $34.99 per year while full price is $49.99 per year. See More

Top Pro

Effortless syncing via iCloud

Between iOS and Mac. See More

DevotedHecate's Experience

Removed local sync from Mac to iPhone long ago Really bad move. See More

Top Con

Lack of DropBox and iCloud syncing

Top Pro

Beautiful UI

Choice of color palette, icon glyph variety and animations create a design that is pleasurable to look at and does not get in the way. See More

AmbitiousNut's Experience

Outrageous pricing move! See More

Top Con

Cannot local sync between Mac and iOS devices.

Top Pro

Easy to use

A high level of attention to detail, intuitive suggestions and automation of common tasks make this application very easy to use. See More

jasonology's Experience

Very clean, easy to use design. See More

Top Con

No encryption

Data is stored in a plain-text XML file. See More

Top Pro

Easy to to find old posts

With a good search and calendar view. See More

Top Con

Limited to one photo per entry

Currently, in both the mobile and Mac apps, only a single photo can be added to a journal entry. See More

Top Pro

All the features you need

You can create more than one entry in one day. You have many styles and font choices. You can add photos, tags to your entries. Optionally, you can have pass-codes, reminders. You can opt to automatically add location and weather data. Search function built-in. Ability to export a portion or all entries to PDF. See More

Top Con

Lacks Windows or Web support

Day One has no Windows or Web support, which can be inconvenient. For example, if users don't want to write a long journal entry on their phones and only have a Windows PC available as an alternative, they are not able to use it as a more practical alternative to write said post, not even using a web browser. See More

Top Pro

2012 Mac App of the Year

Top Con

You need to purchase two separate subscriptions to sync your iPhone and Mac

Read this from Day One Support: http://help.dayoneapp.com/day-one-2-0/how-many-licenses-do-i-need-to-run-day-one-on-multiple-devices See More

Top Pro

Markdown support

See All

score 10 · Answer 4

Momento

Top Pro

Tagging system

Momento allows tagging people, places & events, as well as creating custom tags for better management. See More

Top Con

Absolute lack of support

Developers will not help anyone exporting data, and will not answer customers asking for help. See More

Top Pro

Search

You can search through both imported and entries you've written yourself. See More

Top Pro

Journaling and social in one place

Momento will combine both your personal journal entries and things you've shared on social networks. See More

Top Pro

Passcode protection

See All

score 21 · Answer 5

Moleskine Journal

Top Pro

Innovative

Moleskine has unique and rarely seen features such as handwriting support, paintbrush, highlighting, color options, multiple notebooks that can be derived from different templates. See More

Top Con

Lack of instructions

There's some difficulty getting an answer from Moleskine. See More

ToughResheph's Experience

Started with high expectation, ended up with high disappointment See More

Top Pro

Everything in one spot

Saves having multiple apps. See More

Top Con

Unresponsive to Apple Pen and palm rejection when using a small tip

This causes random signs and overflows of different line thickness. See More

Top Pro

Paper styles

Top Con

Complicated interface - no page or word search

The interface is quite cumbersome; not as easy as Good Notes. If you need to find a page, there's no index or a way to search by word. The Page-Turn Assist works but as soon as you turn it off, pages are very hard to turn. See More

Top Pro

Handwriting support

See All

score 11 · Answer 6

Quiller

Top Pro

Includes prompts and quotes

In order to help you with getting started on your entries the app includes prompts and quotes. See More

Top Pro

Statistics

Top Pro

Exports as text or PDF

Top Pro

Skeuomorphic design

See All

score 9 · Answer 7

Remembary Connected Diary

Top Pro

Skeuomorphic design and font

Top Pro

Multiple export options

You can format your entries as either data or text, then export to your iOS device, send to e-mail or place it on Dropbox. See More

Top Pro

Imports data from external sources

Pulls information from Twitter, Facebook, RSS feeds, iCal events and pictures and video from photo library so that even if you don't add entries yourself you still have some record of the day. See More

See All

score 7 · Answer 8

Journey - Diary, Journal

Top Pro

Multi-platform

Available for Android, Chrome, Mac, Windows and web. See More

Top Con

Pricetag

Membership and cross-platform premium costs are quite high for those who might be on a tight budget. Buying premium on all devices without membership could be costly. See More

Top Pro

Beautiful and intuitive interface

Simple and easy to use. See More

Top Con

Need to pay for Windows app

Expensive pricing for Windows application. See More

Top Pro

Exports nicely to .doc or .pdf

Future proofs your diary and enables you to print a nice book. See More

Top Con

Doesn't seem to allow positioning text between images

It may be there but not clear how to do (if at all). Needs something that allows text then picture, more text another picture. See More

Top Pro

Sync with Google Drive

Non-proprietary syncing, safe and secure. See More

Top Con

No support for Linux

No support for Linux except for web app. See More

See All

score 4 · Answer 9

OnePAD Pocket Notebook

Top Pro

Simple, focused

The app abstains from using files, folders and interfaces to put the focus on the writing. See More

Top Pro

Syncs via iCloud

Top Pro

Exports to txt

See All

score 18 · Answer 10

Moment - diary & journal

Top Pro

Great design

Top Pro

Looks like a paper diary

Top Pro

Simple

Top Pro

Free

Top Pro

Great customer support

See All

score 14 · Answer 11

Dyrii

Top Pro

Works with iCloud

Has apps for iOS and Mac See More

Top Con

Localization missing for non-English languages

score 4 · Answer 12

Diarly - Daily Journal

Top Pro

Can export your diary to PDF or Markdown

Top Con

Doesn't support Handoff in combination with the macOS app

This would have made it easier to quickly switch between writing a diary entry on phone and computer. See More

paldepind's Experience

Diarly strikes a very nice balance between simplicity and power. It is very focused on being a great app for writing a journal. I use it every day on iOS and macOS. See More

Top Pro

Beautiful design

Diarly looks simple and beautiful. You can choose from many color themes or make your own. See More

Top Con

It has a dark mode but doesn't follow the system wide dark mode setting

It now respects system wide setting See More

Top Pro

Supports password encryption

All entries are stored encrypted in the cloud for maximum security and privacy. See More

Top Pro

Fair price

It has a fair one-time purchase price. This app won't cost a fortune if you write your diary in it for the rest of your life. See More

Top Pro

Timestamps can be inserted

This can be used to mark the exact time of day different part of a diary entry was written. See More

Top Pro

Has a Mac app

They sync via iCloud. See More

See All

score 4 · Answer 13

My Wonderful Days

Top Pro

Reminders

Top Con

Forced to buy pro version and it is very expensive at £9.99

Top Pro

Mood rating system

Top Pro

PDF export

Top Pro

Syncs via iCloud

See All

score 15 · Answer 14

MacJournal

Top Pro

Clean UI

score 3 · Answer 15

The Dream Log

Top Con

Dev has not updated App to 64 bit

If you want to use this App forget about using iOS 11 (by far the most innovative OS for the iPad ever). See More

Top Pro

Very stylized steampunk-themed design

Top Pro

Exports to e-mail, PDF and Facebook

Top Pro

Optimized for writing in the dark

The Dream Log is "chromatically calibrated" for low-light scenarios. See More

Top Pro

Privacy lock

For when you want to be sure that no-one read your entries. See More

See All

score 5 · Answer 16

Chronicle

Top Con

No updates for the past several years

Top Pro

Syncs via iCloud

Top Pro

Backup via Dropbox

Top Pro

Supports multiple journals & multiple entries in day

Top Pro

Markdown formatting

Top Pro

Passcode support

See All

score 3 · Answer 17

myMemoir

Top Con

Not available in the UK store either. Only in the Latvian store!

Top Pro

Exports to ePub, PDF, or txt files

Top Con

Limited availability

For instance, not available in Canadian AppStore See More

Top Pro

Additional themes for sale

As in-app purchases. See More

Top Pro

Video and photo support

You can add videos and photos to your entries. See More

Top Pro

Multiple journal support

See All

score 3 · Answer 18

Clearful

Top Pro

Guided Journaling Library

Templates and prompts on topics like work, gratitude, goals, and personal development. See More

Top Pro

Calm and Beautiful Writing Canvas

Allows you to focus on your thoughts and emotions without distractions. See More

score 2 · Answer 19

DearDays - Personal Automatic Journal

Top Pro

A great full-featured journaling app

It takes me less efforts to keep a journal, fun, easy and inspiring, love it! See More

Top Pro

Brand new design, interesting!

29 Options Considered

My Recommendation for Awesome Note

My Recommendation for Awesome Note

Sync with Dropbox / can edit in Dropbox

Backgrounds are girly and corny

Multiple folders

No folders inside other folders

My Recommendation for Everyday Timeline

My Recommendation for Everyday Timeline

Weekly backup

Lacks support

Easy to use

Imports data from external sources

Feature-rich

Online account means syncing and web access

Has statistics

My Recommendation for Day One

My Recommendation for Day One

Subscription based

Effortless syncing via iCloud

Lack of DropBox and iCloud syncing

Beautiful UI

Cannot local sync between Mac and iOS devices.

Easy to use

No encryption

Easy to to find old posts

Limited to one photo per entry

All the features you need

Lacks Windows or Web support

2012 Mac App of the Year

You need to purchase two separate subscriptions to sync your iPhone and Mac

Markdown support

My Recommendation for Momento

My Recommendation for Momento

Tagging system

Absolute lack of support

Search

Journaling and social in one place

Passcode protection

My Recommendation for Moleskine Journal

My Recommendation for Moleskine Journal

Innovative

Lack of instructions

Everything in one spot

Unresponsive to Apple Pen and palm rejection when using a small tip

Paper styles

Complicated interface - no page or word search

Handwriting support

My Recommendation for Quiller

My Recommendation for Quiller

Includes prompts and quotes

Statistics

Exports as text or PDF

Skeuomorphic design

My Recommendation for Remembary Connected Diary

My Recommendation for Remembary Connected Diary

Skeuomorphic design and font

Multiple export options

Imports data from external sources

My Recommendation for Journey - Diary, Journal

My Recommendation for Journey - Diary, Journal

Multi-platform

Pricetag

Beautiful and intuitive interface

Need to pay for Windows app

Exports nicely to .doc or .pdf

Doesn't seem to allow positioning text between images

Sync with Google Drive

No support for Linux

My Recommendation for OnePAD Pocket Notebook

My Recommendation for OnePAD Pocket Notebook

Simple, focused

Syncs via iCloud

Exports to txt

My Recommendation for Moment - diary & journal

My Recommendation for Moment - diary & journal

Great design

Looks like a paper diary

Simple

Free