Time Caps vs DailyRetro
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Time Caps
This app allows users to create a digital diary with various types of entries, including daily reflections, future messages, and voice notes. It offers features like mood-based coloring, serendipitous retrieval of past entries, and secure privacy protection. Users can also subscribe for enhanced functionalities and premium features.
- Daily mood-based journal entries
- Write messages to your future self
- Record voice notes for the future
- Serendipitous retrieval of past entries
- Secure passcode and biometric lock
- Daily reminders and widgets
- Offline functionality
Read full descriptionHide full description
＊＊＊Featured on App Store＊＊＊ Features: ＊ Daily Caps: One day one cap, different colors for your different moods. ＊ Day Grid: Display journals in grids. Fill your lovely life with colorful daily caps. ＊ Time Fortune: Collect fortunes by writing daily caps. Share in your mood color. ＊ Future Caps: Write to your next birthday, to next Christmas, to the time after the exam/enrollment/entry, to the dear future you. ＊ Echo Caps: Send yourself a piece of voice from the present. ＊ Old Time: Shake your phone like a jar full of caps and meet your old days by serendipity. ＊ Workshop: Regain cap pieces every day to craft more future caps. ＊ Widgets: Meet your lovely widgets, glanceable anytime on your device. ＊ Account System: No more worry about accidentally removing the app or switching to a new phone. ＊ Privacy Protection: Secure your journals with passcode lock or Touch ID/Face ID. ＊ Daily Reminder: One day one cap! ＊ Offline Use: Everything works well under no network connection. ＊ Export & Share: Export your favorite caps to your albums or share them with your friends. ＊ Time Traveler Pro: Subscribe to unlock exclusive features, enhance Daily Caps, double regaining Pieces, and enjoy premium sync. Your lovely designer and developer (same person :D) is working hard to explore and create more cool and useful features. Thanks for your liking and support! If you like it, don’t forget to come back for rating, encouraging your developer and helping Time Caps become better. Ideas or feedback are always welcome. Please email us at: hi.pol.chen@gmail.com. Crafted with love by Pol Terms of Use: https://timecaps.app/terms Privacy Policy: https://timecaps.app/privacy
DailyRetro
This app helps you track habits, record thoughts with photos and markdown, and stay organized with daily reminders. It offers passcode and iCloud support for privacy and data backup.
- Diary keeping with photos and markdown
- Habit tracking for routine management
- Daily reminders and notifications
- Passcode support for privacy
- iCloud support for data backup and sync
Read full descriptionHide full description
Your habits. Your story. DailyRetro brings your diary and everyday habits together. Write a few lines, save a photo, and record the routines that shape your day. When you look back, remember more than what you did—remember what the day meant to you. KEEP THE LITTLE MOMENTS Capture thoughts, memories, and everyday details in your diary. Add photos and use Markdown formatting to make each entry your own. MAKE ROOM FOR GOOD HABITS Keep track of habits and recurring activities alongside your daily reflections. Record a walk, a reading session, or another small thing you want to make time for. RETURN TO YOUR DAYS Browse your past entries and revisit the moments you want to remember. Your diary gives your routines a little more context. A GENTLE DAILY REMINDER Set a reminder to pause and reflect. A few lines can be enough to keep a day from slipping away. KEEP YOUR DIARY LOCKED Use passcode protection for your diary. DailyRetro also supports iCloud backup and synchronization when enabled. Start with today: one thought, one photo, or one habit worth remembering.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: DailyRetro at weekly against Time Caps's every 6 weeks. Time Caps's advantage is ratings volume (156 vs 2) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 18.0). On price, rating, ads and in-app purchases 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
Both are free to download. Time Caps sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month and DailyRetro sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
DailyRetro holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Time Caps has 156 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Time Caps ships an update every 6 weeks, DailyRetro weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 26, 2026 and October 30, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Time Caps | DailyRetro |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (156 ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 83.7% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 156 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 6 weeks | Weekly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Freemium | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 18.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 18 MB | 14 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | 灿海 陈 | Liqiang Wang |
Customer experience
Time Caps
DailyRetro
Bugs and requests
Time Caps
Reported bugs
2 issues- 🐛 Interface issues with updates
- 🐛 Face ID issues reported
Requested features
9 requests- Ability to export previous posts
- Lower gem prices for capsules
- More options for describing the day
- Add template feature
- Support dark mode
Show 4 moreShow fewer
- Ability to add photos to daily journal entries
- Option to get one future cap a week
- Allow editing of old time caps without currency
- More descriptive options for daily mood
DailyRetro
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Time Caps
- Time Traveler Pro (Monthly)$3.991 Month
- Time Traveler Pro (Yearly)7 Days trial$24.991 Year
- 1200 Cap Pieces$0.99
- 2888 Cap Pieces$1.99
- 3600 Cap Pieces$2.99
Show 1 moreShow fewer
- 5000 Cap Pieces$3.99
DailyRetro
- Buy me a coffee$2.99
