Comparison

Life Diary vs Diary! SmartDiary

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

Head to head
About

Life Diary

A private digital journal for iPhone and iPad, offering secure note-taking with encryption and Face ID. Capture thoughts, track moods, and embed photos or voice recordings. Includes optional spiritual journaling and rewards for consistent use.

Highlights
  • Private journaling with Face ID/Touch ID
  • On-device encryption
  • Embed photos and voice recordings
  • Mood tracking and mapping
  • Structured templates (Gratitude, Goals)
  • Optional spiritual journaling
  • Digital rewards for consistency
Features
Read full description

Life Diary: Write, Create, Memories. Life Diary is your personal sanctuary, a beautifully private space to honor your thoughts, celebrate your growth, and protect your memories. Built exclusively for iPhone, your words stay entirely yours. No accounts. No tracking. No advertisements. Just a pure canvas secured by Face ID and powerful on-device encryption. Write Your Way. Whether you want to express yourself freely or build a meaningful routine, Life Diary adapts to your mind. Start your day with structured templates for Gratitude, Mood, or Goals. Bring your memories to life by embedding vivid photos and personal voice recordings directly into your pages. Track your emotional landscape with intuitive mood mapping, and quickly find any moment in time with seamless, instant search. Private by Design. Your personal history belongs to you alone. Rest easy knowing your journal is locked tight behind Face ID, Touch ID, or a custom passcode. Every entry is instantly encrypted at the device level. With optional automatic iCloud backups, your legacy is safely preserved in your own secure cloud, unreadable to anyone else, including us. No sign-ups, no data harvesting, and no hidden surprises. See Your Story Unfold. Rediscover yourself through rich visual insights. Track your writing consistency with a beautifully integrated Calendar view, and explore your personal trends on a personalized Dashboard highlighting monthly mood metrics, writing streaks, and unique personal facts. Bring the past into the present with nostalgic memory prompts that surface what you wrote on this exact day in years gone by. A Sanctuary for Spirit. (Optional) Find peace with a dedicated, quiet space tailored exclusively for daily devotions and prayer journaling. If you choose, securely connect with a compassionate prayer team to share requests and find community in your spiritual journey. Find Your Momentum. Cultivate a rewarding daily writing habit. As you consistently put pen to paper, earn elegant digital Feathers to personalize your canvas, unlocking premium typography, beautiful color themes, and the prestigious Golden Quill. Choose Your Experience Life Diary Premium — Lifetime Access Unlock the ultimate journaling toolkit with a single, one-time purchase. No recurring subscriptions. • Advanced Capture: Use Speech-to-Text, native camera integration, and live locations. • Preserve & Export: Print your entries or export beautifully formatted PDFs and custom Life Books. • Time Capsules: Write heartfelt letters to your future self, digitally sealed until your chosen date. • Total Customization: Access Hidden Entries, unlimited media attachments, and all premium fonts and themes. • Independent Archiving: Export fully encrypted backup files to save on any external drive. (Already a member? Tap Restore Purchase to carry your lifetime access forward.) Daily Goals+ — Premium Subscription Nurture your focus with gentle, intentional check-ins scheduled four times a day to help you set one micro-goal and keep moving forward. • Start your journey with a complimentary 7-day free trial. • Flexible monthly or annual plans available. The Fine Print Daily Goals+ subscriptions automatically renew unless turned off in your Apple Account Settings at least 24 hours before the current billing period ends. Manage your subscription or turn off auto-renewal at any time. • Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ • Privacy Policy: https://life-diary.expo.app/privacy.html Helping you safeguard your memories since 2017. Thank you for making us a part of your story.

About

Diary! SmartDiary

Record daily life with photos and track your mood and schedule on a calendar. Secure your entries with a passcode and easily access past memories. Customize your diary with various settings for a personalized experience.

Highlights
  • Record memories with photos
  • Track daily mood and schedule
  • Passcode lock with biometric support
  • iCloud backup and data migration
  • Customizable calendar and diary settings
  • Input forgetting notifications
Read full description

Simple and easy operation private diary application. ・Leave memories of daily life with photos easily. ・You can enter in the calendar the mood and schedule of the day. ・You can easily display past memories. ・Passcode lock (Touch ID, Face ID support) ・iCloud backup (iPhone, data migration between the iPad is also possible) [Other functions] ・Cover photo setting ・Calendar display setting (Start Week On, Calendar Position, Cover Photo Size, Transparency) ・Diary text setting (Font Size, Font Depth, Line Spacing) ・Theme color setting ・Notification of forgetting input ・Support for landscape orientation (iPad only) [Credit] ・Designed by Freepik and distributed by Flaticon (https://www.flaticon.com) ・Icons8 (https://icons8.com) ・This software includes the work that is distributed in the Apache License 2.0.

Screenshots

Life Diary4 screens
Diary! SmartDiary4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Diary! SmartDiary at Free against Life Diary's $19.99. Diary! SmartDiary also leads on review sentiment (93% vs 49%) and rating (4.6 vs 4.3). Life Diary's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (every 4 days vs every 3 months). On ratings volume, in-app purchases, monetization model and device support 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

Diary! SmartDiary is free to download; Life Diary costs $19.99 up front. Life Diary sells 9 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month and Diary! SmartDiary 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

Diary! SmartDiary holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.3. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 100 and 45 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 49% of Life Diary's written reviews are positive against 93% of Diary! SmartDiary's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Life Diary ships an update every 4 days, Diary! SmartDiary every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on November 12, 2026 and November 2, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Life Diary versus Diary! SmartDiary: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLife DiaryDiary! SmartDiary
Price$19.99Free — better
Rating4.3 (100 ratings)4.6 (45 ratings) — better
Positive reviews48.6% of reviews93.3% of reviews — better
Number of ratings100 — better45
Update frequencyEvery 4 days — betterEvery 3 months
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.115.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size28 MB12 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAJ AmenHideki Okuno

Customer experience

Life Diary

All ratings100 ratings
Positive84.0%
Neutral3.0%
Negative13.0%
Written reviews105 reviews
Positive48.6%
Neutral13.3%
Negative38.1%

Diary! SmartDiary

All ratings44 ratings
Positive90.9%
Neutral2.3%
Negative6.8%
Written reviews45 reviews
Positive93.3%
Neutral6.7%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

9 purchases

Life Diary

Subscriptions2
  • Daily Goals+7 Days trial$2.991 Month
  • Daily Goals+7 Days trial$19.991 Year
One-time7
  • Font Style$2.99
  • Privacy$3.99
  • Video$5.99
Show 4 more
  • Media$5.99
  • Speech$9.99
  • Print$19.99
  • Unlock all premium features$29.99
1 purchases

Diary! SmartDiary

One-time1
  • Remove Ads$2.99

Questions

Is Life Diary free?
Life Diary costs $19.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Is Diary! SmartDiary free?
Diary! SmartDiary is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Life Diary or Diary! SmartDiary?
Diary! SmartDiary is rated higher. Life Diary averages 4.3 out of 5 from 100 ratings, while Diary! SmartDiary averages 4.6 from 45 ratings.
Do Life Diary or Diary! SmartDiary have ads?
Diary! SmartDiary shows ads; Life Diary does not.
Which is updated more often, Life Diary or Diary! SmartDiary?
Life Diary ships an update every 4 days, and Diary! SmartDiary every 3 months. Most recently, Life Diary was updated on November 12, 2026 and Diary! SmartDiary on November 2, 2026.

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