Comparison

Journal vs cal

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

Head to head
About

Journal

This app offers a simple yet beautiful interface for creating personal diaries and notes. Customize your entries with dynamic themes, background colors, and various fonts. Add photos and expressions to make your memories more vivid and secure them with a password.

Highlights
  • Dynamic themes
  • Classified management
  • Background color options
  • Add photos and text
  • Multiple font choices
  • Password protection
Features
Read full description

Simple and exquisite interface notebook, hand-written account, diary, "Secret NoteBook" is the intimate life assistant, warm spiritual corner. Vivid diaries with dynamic effects, switch the interface and animation effects according to the selected theme. Make life's memories colorful. [Introduction to Functions] --Dynamic Theme-- Various dynamic themes are selected to make the diary more vivid. --Classified management-- Custom categorization for easy access to Diaries --Background color-- Rich background color selection ---Editorial diversity-- Diary can add photos, text, dynamic effects, expressions --Font-- Multiple font selection --Password settings-- Privacy password guarantees the security of your diary

About

cal

Capture and revisit your daily memories with photos and notes. This app presents your month as a visual calendar, allowing you to easily view past moments. Your data remains private and stored solely on your device.

Highlights
  • Add photos to any day
  • Jot down notes for each entry
  • View month as a photo calendar
  • Full-screen view of daily memories
  • Export entries for sharing
  • Private, on-device storage
Read full description

Life moves fast. CalDiary helps you slow down and remember it — one photo, one day at a time. Add a photo to any day, jot a little note, and watch your month fill up with memories. The calendar view lets you see your whole month at a glance — every day a tiny window into your life. Tap any day to see your photo full-screen, with your note tucked underneath just the way you wrote it. What you can do: * Add a photo to each day — from your library or straight from your camera * See your whole month as a photo calendar at a glance * Tap any day for a full-screen photo and your personal note * Export your month view or a single day to keep or share Your memories stay yours. No accounts, no cloud, no servers. Everything lives on your phone — completely private, always. Free forever. No ads. No subscriptions. Just your days. Clean, minimal, and made for the little moments worth remembering.

Screenshots

Journal4 screens
cal4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: cal at 5.0 against Journal's 4.0. cal also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 1) and update cadence (every 10 days vs every 6 weeks). Journal's advantage is ratings volume (4 vs 1) and device support (3 vs 1). On price 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. Journal sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. cal asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

cal holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 4 and 1 respectively.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Journal ships an update every 6 weeks, cal every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on October 18, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 2 level
Journal versus cal: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterJournalcal
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.0 (4 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Number of ratings4 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeksEvery 10 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS11.1 — better26.4
Further details — not scored
Size53 MB1 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developer楚婷 柯Begimay Ahmatova

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Journal

One-time1
  • Advanced Version$1.99
None

cal

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Journal free?
Journal is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is cal free?
cal is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Journal or cal?
cal is rated higher. Journal averages 4.0 out of 5 from 4 ratings, while cal averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Journal or cal have ads?
Neither Journal nor cal shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Journal or cal?
Journal ships an update every 6 weeks, and cal every 10 days. Most recently, Journal was updated on October 18, 2026 and cal on October 24, 2026.

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