Comparison

Personal Diary (Journal) App vs Notepad Notebook Onenote plus

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Personal Diary (Journal) App

This app provides a simple and secure digital space for journaling. It offers passcode and biometric protection, iCloud sync across devices, and the ability to add photos, moods, and weather to your entries. It's designed to be an accessible and ad-free journalling experience.

Highlights
  • Passcode & biometric protection
  • iCloud sync across devices
  • Import photos into entries
  • Set mood and weather
  • Daily writing reminders
  • VoiceOver support
  • Dark Mode
Features
Read full description

"When all you want is the digital equivalent of a paper diary, this is the perfect one." - goyyboy "Loving the lighthearted feel of this deceptively powerful app." - plinkplok "Good and accessible with VoiceOver" - Allan.summers Need a simple, free, and easy-to-use journalling app? Meet Personal Diary! With no advertisements, limitations, nor any upfront cost, Personal Diary is your simplest and best journalling tool yet. Easily access all your entries in all your devices with iCloud Sync. Write diary entries without worrying that someone will peek at what you wrote, with passcode & biometric protection. Forgot about your diary? The app can 'summon' you back with a friendly nudge. You can also import as many photos as you wish into your entries. As an optional addition, you can set your mood, and add weather and tags to an entry. Notable Features: - Numeric passcode lock (any number of digits). - Unlock using Touch ID or Face ID on supported devices. - Auto-saves as you type. - Simple & easy to use. - Sync data between devices via iCloud Drive. - Ability to pick a mood and weather of the day. - Mood & weather can be automatically chosen. - Import photos to your entries. - Select a theme to suit your style. - Dark Mode for better night use. - VoiceOver fully supported. - Simple Rich Text editing supported. - Optimized for multitasking on iPad. - Full support for physical keyboards, trackpad, and mice. - watchOS keyboard support on Series 7+, and FlickType keyboard support for legacy watch models. - Fully compatible with all modern iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch* models. - Daily notifications for writing in your diary. - No advertisements & absolutely FREE! :D *Some features may not be available on the Apple Watch. Primary editing and viewing functions, such as the Timeline interface and entry editor, are available on the watch. Don't forget to let me know what you think of Personal Diary by leaving a review on the App Store! Reviews and ratings help and let other users find this app. If you have any problems or questions, feel free to send a feedback; I might be able to help! :) Warning: - Please do not forget your password. If you forget your password and your identity cannot be verified, you may not be able to access your data. This app allows you to tip/donate to directly support the development of this app through in-app purchases. No new features will be provided when you tip, it's just to support the app's development if you would like to. Selecting a Small/Medium/Large Tip will initiate a one-time payment for tipping. A Continuous Tip is an automatic-renewal subscription to tip every month, and will renew automatically every month unless it's turned off or cancelled (through your account settings) at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. For this, your Apple account will be charged when payment is confirmed, and charged for auto-renewal within 24 hours prior to the end of the current period at the selected price. You may locate our terms at https://legal.wern.cc/app/terms and privacy policy at https://legal.wern.cc/app/privacy.

About

Notepad Notebook Onenote plus

Capture, organize, and share your ideas with a versatile digital notebook. Create searchable notes, checklists, and to-do lists in various formats, including text, sketches, and photos. Collaborate with others by sharing and annotating content.

Highlights
  • Create searchable notes
  • Support for text, sketches, photos
  • Digital notepad and word processor
  • Share and collaborate with others
  • Annotate images and documents
  • Personal and business checklists
  • Set reminders for activities
Features
Read full description

GET ORGANIZED Notepad plus gives you the tools you need to keep your work effortlessly organized: • Write, collect, and capture ideas as searchable notes, notebooks, checklists, and to-do lists • Create notes in a variety of formats, including: text, sketches, photos, screenshots, image files and more • Use Notepad plus as a digital notepad and easy-to-format word processor for all your thoughts as they come SHARE YOUR IDEAS Notepad plus gives you the tools to share, discuss, and collaborate productively with others: • Create, share, and discuss with the people who help get your work done, all in one app • Search within pictures and annotate images to give quick feedback Notepad plus IN EVERYDAY LIFE • Make personal checklists to keep your thoughts organized • Set reminders to keep on top of activities and write to-do lists • Gather, capture, and store every thought you need to stay productive Notepad plus IN BUSINESS • Create agendas, write memos, and craft presentations • Annotate documents with comments and thoughts during team meetings, then share with colleagues • Get your projects underway faster and maximize productivity by letting multiple participants access and work on different aspects alongside each other Notepad plus IN EDUCATION • Keep up with lecture notes so you don’t miss a vital thought • Clip and highlight articles from the web for academic research • Plan and collaborate for better academic group work

Screenshots

Personal Diary (Journal) App4 screens
Notepad Notebook Onenote plus4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Personal Diary (Journal) App at 87% against Notepad Notebook Onenote plus's 31%. Personal Diary (Journal) App also leads on rating (4.4 vs 4.2) and device support (5 vs 3). Notepad Notebook Onenote plus's advantage is iOS requirement (10.0 vs 12.0). On price, ratings volume, update cadence and ads there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Personal Diary (Journal) App sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month and Notepad Notebook Onenote plus sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Personal Diary (Journal) App holds the better App Store score, 4.4 against 4.2. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 106 and 229 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 87% of Personal Diary (Journal) App's written reviews are positive against 31% of Notepad Notebook Onenote plus's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Personal Diary (Journal) App ships an update every 5 weeks, Notepad Notebook Onenote plus monthly. Both last shipped on October 20, 2026.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Personal Diary (Journal) App versus Notepad Notebook Onenote plus: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPersonal Diary (Journal) AppNotepad Notebook Onenote plus
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.4 (106 ratings) — better4.2 (229 ratings)
Positive reviews87.4% of reviews — better31.0% of reviews
Number of ratings106229 — better
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeksMonthly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS12.010.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size26 MB55 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperWern Jie LimTuyen Bui

Customer experience

Personal Diary (Journal) App

All ratings104 ratings
Positive82.7%
Neutral9.6%
Negative7.7%
Written reviews183 reviews
Positive87.4%
Neutral4.9%
Negative7.7%

Notepad Notebook Onenote plus

All ratings229 ratings
Positive76.9%
Neutral7.4%
Negative15.7%
Written reviews29 reviews
Positive31.0%
Neutral3.4%
Negative65.5%

User reviews

Personal Diary (Journal) App

From 106 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 💻 Simple and easy to use
  • 🔒 Secure with passcode/Touch ID
  • 🌤️ Ability to track mood and weather
  • 📸 Option to add photos
  • 🔍 Useful search functionality

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional crashes and stability issues
  • 🗓️ Lack of calendar view to easily navigate entries
  • 🔍 Search functionality could be improved
  • 📁 Issues with syncing and backing up data
  • 🤖 Automatic mood/weather detection not always accurate

Notepad Notebook Onenote plus

From 229 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Practical and easy to use
  • 👍 Good for staying organized
  • 👍 Useful for daily checklists
  • 👍 Nice and attractive interface
  • 👍 Useful scheduling function

Room to improve

  • 😠 Too many ads
  • 😠 Ads are disturbing and frequent
  • 😠 App is unusable due to ads
  • 😠 Ads interrupt concentration
  • 😠 Ads make the app borderline unusable

Bugs and requests

Personal Diary (Journal) App

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Entries sometimes disappear or fail to load
  • Passcode/Touch ID not working reliably
  • Syncing issues between devices
  • Unexpected crashes when opening the app

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add ability to password protect individual entries
  • Implement calendar view for better navigation
  • Allow adding videos and other media types
  • Improve search capabilities with advanced filters
  • Provide better data backup and export options

Notepad Notebook Onenote plus

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • App failed to record notes
  • Cannot insert images
  • Cannot enlarge font size
  • Lost unsaved notes upon exiting
  • Some ads cannot be closed

Requested features

4 requests
  • Ability to move/prioritize items
  • Option to change font and font size
  • Ability to move checked items to the bottom of a list
  • Vietnamese language version

In-app purchases

4 purchases

Personal Diary (Journal) App

Subscriptions1
  • Continuous Tip$1.991 Month
One-time3
  • Small Tip$0.99
  • Medium Tip$2.99
  • Large Tip$9.99
1 purchases

Notepad Notebook Onenote plus

One-time1
  • Notes without Ads$8.99

Questions

Is Personal Diary (Journal) App free?
Personal Diary (Journal) App is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Notepad Notebook Onenote plus free?
Notepad Notebook Onenote plus is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Personal Diary (Journal) App or Notepad Notebook Onenote plus?
Personal Diary (Journal) App is rated higher. Personal Diary (Journal) App averages 4.4 out of 5 from 106 ratings, while Notepad Notebook Onenote plus averages 4.2 from 229 ratings.
Do Personal Diary (Journal) App or Notepad Notebook Onenote plus have ads?
Neither Personal Diary (Journal) App nor Notepad Notebook Onenote plus shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Personal Diary (Journal) App or Notepad Notebook Onenote plus?
Personal Diary (Journal) App ships an update every 5 weeks, and Notepad Notebook Onenote plus monthly. Most recently, Personal Diary (Journal) App was updated on October 20, 2026 and Notepad Notebook Onenote plus on October 20, 2026.

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