# Diary! SmartDiary vs General Journal

The clearest difference is update cadence: General Journal at weekly against Diary! SmartDiary's every 3 months. On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. Diary! SmartDiary sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and General Journal sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

Diary! SmartDiary ships an update every 3 months, General Journal weekly. The most recent releases landed on November 2, 2026 and November 5, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | Diary! SmartDiary | General Journal |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | **[4.6 (45 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/diary-smartdiary/id1381186388/reviews)** | — |
| Number of ratings | **45** | — |
| Positive reviews | 93.3% of reviews | — |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Ads | Yes | Yes |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | **Weekly** |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Size | 12 MB | 90 MB |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 15.0 |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Hideki Okuno](https://appshunter.io/developer/1234067922) | [Zhegang Xu](https://appshunter.io/developer/1710880748) |

## What reviewers say

### Diary! SmartDiary

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/diary-smartdiary/id1381186388)

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

**In-app purchases (1)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Remove Ads | $2.99 | one-time |


### General Journal

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/general-journal/id6771730545)

**Features:** macOS Compatibility, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (2)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| General Journal Basic | $1.99 | per month |
| General Journal Premium | $2.99 | per month |


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Diary! SmartDiary free?

Diary! SmartDiary is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Is General Journal free?

General Journal is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Do Diary! SmartDiary or General Journal have ads?

Both Diary! SmartDiary and General Journal show ads.

### Which is updated more often, Diary! SmartDiary or General Journal?

Diary! SmartDiary ships an update every 3 months, and General Journal weekly. Most recently, Diary! SmartDiary was updated on November 2, 2026 and General Journal on November 5, 2026.

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*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*