Comparison

HighNotes vs Daily Journal

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

Head to head
About

HighNotes

This app encourages frequent, brief journaling to build a consistent habit. Easily add photos to your entries to make them more engaging and enjoyable to revisit.

Highlights
  • Frequent, brief note-taking
  • Builds journaling habit
  • Attach photos to notes
  • Enhances memory
  • Improves emotional health
Features
Read full description

Never miss a meaningful moment! HighNotes is a journaling app designed in a way that encourages you take smaller notes more frequently so it doesn't feel much of a commitment. It makes it easier to build a regular journaling habit. Attaching photos to your notes makes them more engaging and enjoyable to read. Keeping a journal many advantages like enhancing memory muscles, boosting comprehension, improving emotional health and communication skills. There are countless benefits you can count on with HighNotes.

About

Daily Journal

This app serves as a private digital journal to record daily experiences, emotions, and memories. Secure your entries with password, fingerprint, or face ID, and enhance them with photos. Track your moods and use built-in reminders to cultivate a consistent journaling habit.

Highlights
  • Password, fingerprint, and face ID security
  • Add photos to journal entries
  • Mood and emotion tracking
  • Calendar view for memories
  • Daily journaling reminders
  • Simple and beautiful interface
Features
Read full description

Daily Diary: Journal with Lock - is your personal journal for every day. It is a diary with a lock and mood tracker for you to note your experiences, explore your emotions and add photos to the entries. Make it your private and secure notebook, use it as a journaling app for free. Save your memories in your Daily Diary and keep them secure from curious eyes by using password, fingerprint or face-ID. Note the mood and use the emotion tracker to learn what makes you feel better. The app is beautiful and simple to use. FEATURES - SECURITY - protect your personal diary with password, fingerprint or face-ID - PHOTO ADDING - make it a photo journal, not only a diary with notes - CALENDAR - save and revive the best memories every time you want - MOOD TRACKER - note your mood and track emotions - DAILY REMINDERS - make journaling a habit - EASY-TO-USE - enjoy the simplicity and beauty of the app The perfect daily diary to write down your thoughts or plans for the day! You can come back to them every time you want to remind yourself about something important, save wonderful memories and photos, note your ideas and insights. WHAT TO EXPECT IN THIS DAILY DIARY A photo journal for memories You can write your thoughts, feelings or experiences and attach photos. Even little notes each day help to organize your inner thoughts and gain clarity on your priorities. It can also be used as a gratitude diary to remind yourself of the good things that have happened during the day. A mood tracker Track emotions and note your feelings every day to see what makes you happy or sad. Emotion tracker is a very important tool that contributes to understanding yourself better. All your notes are locked, so nobody except you can access them. Planning Use the calendar and daily reminders not to forget anything important. Planning is key to have everything done on time. Record your classes, appointments or other events on the calendar. Security Use fingerprint or face-ID to keep your personal notes private. Or set a password to be sure that your diary is protected. And for sure new features are coming soon!

Screenshots

HighNotes4 screens
Daily Journal4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: HighNotes at none against Daily Journal's 6. HighNotes also leads on ads (none vs shown) and iOS requirement (9.0 vs 15.0). Daily Journal's advantage is rating (4.8 vs 4.4) and ratings volume (5.6K vs 47). On price 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

Both are free to download. Daily Journal sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. HighNotes asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Daily Journal holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Daily Journal has 5.6K ratings behind it against 47, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 73% of HighNotes's written reviews are positive against 94% of Daily Journal's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

HighNotes ships an update every 2 months, Daily Journal every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 22, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 2 level
HighNotes versus Daily Journal: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterHighNotesDaily Journal
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.4 (47 ratings)4.8 (5.6K ratings) — better
Positive reviews72.7% of reviews93.7% of reviews — better
Number of ratings475.6K — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS9.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size23 MB143 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAleksandr FiodorovSimpleInnovation LLC

Customer experience

HighNotes

All ratings47 ratings
Positive85.1%
Neutral6.4%
Negative8.5%
Written reviews66 reviews
Positive72.7%
Neutral13.6%
Negative13.6%

Daily Journal

All ratings5,598 ratings
Positive95.7%
Neutral2.7%
Negative1.6%
Written reviews2,424 reviews
Positive93.7%
Neutral3.6%
Negative2.7%

Bugs and requests

HighNotes

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Daily Journal

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Password recovery not working for some users
  • Occasional app crashes or freezes

Requested features

4 requests
  • More free stickers and fonts
  • Ability to organize entries by categories
  • Option to add videos or audio recordings
  • Sync across devices

In-app purchases

None

HighNotes

No in-app purchases

6 purchases

Daily Journal

Subscriptions4
  • Journal for 1 month - 30% OFF7 Days trial$1.991 Month
  • Daily journal for 1 month7 Days trial$2.991 Month
  • Cute notes for 1 year DISCOUNT7 Days trial$12.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Cute notes for 1 year7 Days trial$17.991 Year
One-time2
  • Secret diary Forever 30% OFF$41.99
  • Secret diary with lock Forever$59.99

Questions

Is HighNotes free?
HighNotes is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Daily Journal free?
Daily Journal is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, HighNotes or Daily Journal?
Daily Journal is rated higher. HighNotes averages 4.4 out of 5 from 47 ratings, while Daily Journal averages 4.8 from 5.6K ratings.
Do HighNotes or Daily Journal have ads?
Daily Journal shows ads; HighNotes does not.
Which is updated more often, HighNotes or Daily Journal?
HighNotes ships an update every 2 months, and Daily Journal every 2 weeks. Most recently, HighNotes was updated on October 22, 2026 and Daily Journal on October 24, 2026.

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