Clearful vs Journal
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Clearful
This app provides a secure and private space for personal growth and mental well-being. Capture thoughts, emotions, and experiences with rich text, photos, and audio, organized with powerful formatting tools. Rediscover past moments and build a consistent journaling habit with guided prompts and progress insights.
- Text, photo, and audio journaling
- Rich text editor with 13+ formatting options
- Moment rediscovery with time-based entry review
- Encrypted and private with Face ID/Touch ID
- Cross-device sync (iPhone, iPad, Mac, Web)
- Extensive library of guided journal prompts
- Habit building with streaks and reminders
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Clearful is your journaling companion for personal growth and mental health. Discover a smarter, less anxious, and happier you by exploring your experiences, thoughts, emotions, and ideas in a secure and private journal and diary. FEATURED App of the Day 5 Resolutions You'll Actually Keep New Year, New Beginnings Start Your Mindful Journey Your Personal Growth Toolkit Lower Your Stress Levels +20 more EXPRESS YOURSELF Capture your life with text, photos*, and audio (soon) in your journal and diary. Write what's on your mind in a peaceful yet powerful journaling canvas. Highlight life's moments in your journal entries with images*. Transform spoken words into text with audio journaling and transcription (soon). ADD STYLE & STRUCTURE Organize and stylize your journal and diary entries with our simple, powerful, and beautiful text editor with 13+ formatting options, including headings, bullets, numbers, checklists, quotes, dividers, links, and text styles. REDISCOVER MOMENTS With Rediscover, look back at your journal and diary entries from various time periods. Relive memories and milestones, see how far you've come, and uncover patterns and blind spots. PRIVACY & SECURITY Your journal and diary are encrypted, secure, and private. Privacy protections like Encryption, Face ID & Touch ID, Entry Lock*, No Ads, No Data Sharing, Device Manager, and Sign In With Apple give you more control over the data in your journal and diary. ACCESS ON ALL DEVICES Take your journal and diary wherever you go with iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Web apps. Everything stays in perfect sync across all your devices. GUIDED JOURNALS LIBRARY Discover journal prompts and journal templates for all of life's topics: work, career, creativity, emotions, goals, planning, habits, gratitude, happiness, self-care, health, wellness, memories, personal growth, self-development, self-reflection, relationships, self-love, sleep, stress, anxiety, and travel. BUILD A JOURNALING HABIT Small steps every day add up to big achievements over time. Stay accountable with daily or weekly streaks, and remember to journal with custom reminders. MAKE IT YOUR OWN Personalize your journal and diary with Dark Mode and Themes* to match your style, mood, and personality. Build Custom Templates* tailored to your unique journaling needs and curate guided journals into your own Custom Collections*. INSIGHTS & PROGRESS Visualize your journaling progress and gain insights with charts and analytics that reinforce your journaling habit. WORLD-CLASS CUSTOMER SUPPORT Get in touch with us for our quick, personal, and friendly customer support. JOURNALING TYPES Gratitude Journal Reflection Journal Work Journal Travel Journal Self-Care Journal Anxiety Journal Mental Health Journal Morning Pages Journal 5-Minute Journal Pregnancy Journal Sleep Journal Dream Journal Relationship Journal AND MORE Pinned Entries* Entry Search Writing Details Export Journal Entries Use Offline Template History* *Clearful is free to use forever with unlimited entries. Additional features, including photos, unlimited devices, insights, more guided journals, custom templates, themes, and more, are available with a Clearful Pro membership. PRICING & LEGAL Clearful offers auto-renewing subscriptions: $9.99 billed monthly and $59.99 billed annually. Your subscription will be automatically renewed unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the current period ends. Payment is charged to your iTunes account. Subscriptions may be managed, and auto-renewal can be turned off anytime in Account Settings. These prices are in United States Dollars (USD). Pricing in other currencies and countries may vary, and actual charges may be converted to your local currency depending on the country of residence. Terms of service: https://www.clearful.com/terms-of-service Privacy policy: https://www.clearful.com/privacy-policy CONTACT US If you have any feedback or questions, please contact us at hello@clearful.com.
Journal
Capture and reflect on life's moments with rich media like photos, videos, and audio. Intelligent suggestions and prompts help you start writing, while multiple journals and goal tracking support a consistent practice. Sync across devices for seamless access.
- Journaling suggestions and prompts
- Rich media attachments (photos, video, audio)
- Handwriting and sketching support
- Multiple journal organization
- Streaks and insights for habit tracking
- Cross-device iCloud sync
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Take a moment to reflect on your day. Capture and write about the details of everyday moments and special events using photos, videos, audio recordings, places, your state of mind, and more. Journaling suggestions make it easy to remember your daily experiences—so you can add them to your journal and never have to start with a blank page. Organize your entries by creating multiple journals for different aspects of your life, keep track of your journaling goals with insights and streaks, and sync your journal between iPhone, iPad, and Mac using iCloud. Get started writing with journaling suggestions • Choose from suggested moments to start your journal entry with intelligently grouped outings, photos, workouts, media and more. • Get a writing prompt to guide your insights. • Find inspiration with reflection prompts to focus on gratitude, kindness, purpose, and more. • Journaling suggestions are created using on-device intelligence based on how you use your iPhone. Choose what information you want to enable for suggestions. • Suggestions created on your iPhone sync securely to iPad. Preserve powerful memories in rich detail • Illustrate your entries with the photos, videos, and places that tell your story. Customize the layout by placing attachments seamlessly within the text you write. • Get inspired to keep writing by asking for prompts tailored to the contents of your entry. • Get creative and express yourself with lettering, sketches, and doodles using your finger, or Apple Pencil on iPad. And you can make your journal even more personal with entries in your own handwriting. • Record your voice directly into your journal and have it transcribed automatically, or record your surroundings to add context to your entry. • Express yourself with text formatting options, including lists, quotes, and various text styles. • Add a widget to your Home Screen or Lock Screen that shows your current streak at a glance or presents writing prompts that change throughout the day so you can reflect on what’s going on in the moment. • Start a new entry and add content from other apps like News, Music, or Safari. • Keep your entries organized by creating multiple journals for different aspects of your life, and add a custom name and icon for each. Enjoy past moments • Browse, search, and sort your journal to look back and reflect on key moments in your life. • Easily find past entries using the calendar. • See entries written at a specific location or find entries you made nearby in the new Places view. • View each entry and its attachments in a beautiful fullscreen view. • Print or export your entries. Build a good habit • View your journaling streaks, the days you journaled, and other fun stats in the new Insights view. • Set a schedule or receive notifications at convenient times based on how you use the app. You’ll get reminders when it’s time to write, or when new journaling suggestions are ready, so you can keep a consistent journaling practice. Journal for wellbeing • Log your state of mind right from within Journal and save it to the Health app. • Automatically save your writing time as Mindful Minutes in Health. • Keep your journal private and secure • Protect your journal with your device passcode, Touch ID, or Face ID, so no one but you can access it. • Store your entries safely in iCloud so they’re automatically backed up. Certain features are available only in select languages and regions.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Journal at none against Clearful's 5. Journal also leads on ratings volume (342K vs 3.2K). Clearful's advantage is update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 3 months). On price, rating, review sentiment 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
Both are free to download. Clearful sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month. Journal asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Clearful against 4.8 for Journal. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Journal has 342K ratings behind it against 3.2K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 85% of Clearful's written reviews are positive against 80% of Journal's.
Clearful ships an update every 2 weeks, Journal every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on November 11, 2026 and November 12, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Clearful | Journal |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (3.2K ratings) | 4.8 (342K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 84.6% of reviews — better | 79.8% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 3.2K | 342K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks — better | Every 3 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Freemium | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 — better | 17.2 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 140 MB | 6 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Clearful Journal, Mindfulness Diary and Mental Health Inc. | Apple |
Customer experience
Clearful
Journal
User reviews
Clearful
From 3.2K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Simple and easy to use
- 📝 Helpful writing prompts
- 🔒 Secure and private
- 🗓️ Useful for daily journaling
- 💭 Promotes self-reflection
Room to improve
- 💰 Expensive subscription model
- 🔓 Lack of offline access
- 🖼️ Limited free features (e.g. no image uploads)
- 🤖 Aggressive upselling of paid version
Journal
From 342K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Journaling made easy
- 🔒 Private and secure
- 👍 Organized and intuitive
- 👍 Helpful suggestions and prompts
- 👍 Convenient voice recording
Room to improve
- 🐛 Cursor jumps around while typing
- 🐛 Occasional crashes and freezes
- 🔍 Lack of search and filtering options
- 🔍 Inability to organize entries into folders or tags
- 🔍 Limited customization options for fonts, colors, etc.
Bugs and requests
Clearful
Reported bugs
3 issues- Frequent app crashes or freezes
- Syncing issues across devices
- Password/login problems
Requested features
5 requests- Ability to customize text color and font
- Integration with music or ambient sounds
- Offline journaling capabilities
- More free templates and prompts
- Improved accessibility features
Journal
Reported bugs
3 issues- Cursor jumping to top/bottom of entry while typing
- App freezing or crashing when adding multiple photos
- Inconsistent behavior when editing existing entries
Requested features
6 requests- Add search and filtering capabilities
- Implement tagging and folder organization
- Provide more customization options
- Expand to iPad and Mac platforms
- Integrate with Health app for mood tracking
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- Add option to share/export journal entries
In-app purchases
Clearful
- Journal & Diary - Pro Monthly$9.991 Month
- Journal & Diary - Pro Monthly$14.991 Month
- Clearful Pro: Journal & Diary$59.991 Year
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- Journal & Diary - Pro Yearly7 Days trial$59.991 Year
- Journal & Diary - Pro Yearly7 Days trial$89.991 Year
Journal
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Clearful free?
Is Journal free?
Which has better reviews, Clearful or Journal?
Do Clearful or Journal have ads?
Which is updated more often, Clearful or Journal?
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