Comparison

Waffle vs Echo Journal

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

Head to head
About

Waffle

This app facilitates shared journaling for couples, families, and friends to deepen connections. Users can share daily updates, photos, and videos, and answer prompts to get to know each other better. It offers a private space to document memories and strengthen relationships.

Highlights
  • Shared journaling for groups
  • Photo and video sharing
  • Daily prompts to foster connection
  • Customizable journal covers
  • Private and secure entries
  • Relationship strengthening tool
Features
Read full description

Waffle is the #1 shared journal app for staying connected and getting to know your partner, family, friends, or anyone you care about better. By journaling together on Waffle, you and your journal members will feel seen, heard, and loved. THE BEST SHARED JOURNAL APP Waffle lets you practice self-care together with your favorite people. Journaling consistently can be hard on your own, but it's easier and more fun together, like sharing a warm, fluffy waffle. Share photos and videos to tell them about your day, record memories, and capture the little things that might otherwise be forgotten—all in one journal. STAY UPDATED LIFE UPDATES "Documenting our married life together -- the highs, lows, and little things in between" - Amber "I love when I get notifications" - Karla No matter how far apart you are or how busy your day is, Waffle lets you take intentional moments to connect. Open the Waffle app at the end of the day, unwind, and share your story. If you thought about them during the day, let them know in your journal entry! WAFFLE TIME "When my friend says "Waffle time, people!" at the end of the day, my face lights up" - Lucy "Especially helped my girlfriend to recenter at the end of the day and see the many good parts of life that are easily drowned out." - Herman WAFFLE OF THE DAY QUESTIONS "Get to know each other better even though we've been married for 20 years" - Faith "It's a form of therapy. Brought me and my sister closer than ever." - Rita Waffle of the Day questions are designed to strengthen your relationships. By answering them each day, you and your journal members will get to know each other better. It helps you understand what's on their mind and lets them know what's on yours. Waffle makes sharing easy, with no pressure, in a relaxed and non-confrontational way. AESTHETIC JOURNAL COVERS "Allowed me and my mom to connect on a deeper level" - Cecilia "Allows me to vent in a constructive way" - Isabella Your everyday tool should be pretty and aesthetically pleasing. Choose the cover that lifts your spirits the most. Waffle can help you if you are: • A long-distance couple • A military family staying connected during deployment • Looking to make therapy sessions more effective by sharing your day-to-day events and feelings with your therapist • A mother and daughter communicating better in a non-confrontational way • Reuniting and staying connected with your childhood friends • Trying to stay off social media and focus on the relationships that matter most • Strengthening your faith through a prayer journal • Reconnecting after a long marriage • An engaged couple getting ready for married life • Offering emotional support to your best friend • Making parenting or co-parenting easier • Sharing your baby photos with context • Practicing gratitude in a group • Dealing with an eating disorder • Increasing sexual intimacy in your relationship • In a long-distance relationship, struggling with time differences • Looking to improve couple therapy • Looking to connect with your children A NEW FORM OF THERAPY "It's a therapy for us" - Mariah "Extra helpful for my therapy sessions" - Isabella "Honestly this app is helping us more than our marriage counseling did" - Holly We believe that shared journaling is a new form of therapy that can restore meaningful human connections—connections that are essential to our emotional health and well-being but are rapidly disappearing in our society. With Waffle Plus, you’ll be able to: • Add photos and videos to any entry • Record and attach voice memos • Unlock unlimited premium daily question decks • Choose from our entire collection of premium covers • Export your journal as a printable PDF Say hi at support@journal.com or visit wafflejournal.com. Terms: https://www.wafflejournal.com/terms Privacy policy: https://www.wafflejournal.com/privacy-policy

About

Echo Journal

This AI-powered companion transforms spoken thoughts into structured journal entries. It offers voice-to-text transcription, mood tracking, and personalized AI reflections to foster self-care and goal achievement.

Highlights
  • Voice-to-text journaling
  • AI-powered reflections
  • Mood and emotion tracking
  • Goal progress visualization
  • Multimedia memory timelines
  • Smart search functionality
  • Daily journaling reminders
Features
Read full description

Transform scattered thoughts into life with Echo Journal, your AI-powered wellness companion for daily journaling, goal-tracking, and self-care. Perfect for busy individuals, this free journaling app lets you effortlessly capture your thoughts through voice journaling, making it easy to document your mood, feelings, and experiences on the go. Speak your way to clarity! "Best Free Journal App for Voice Journaling" Why Users Choose Echo: Free Daily Journal: Unlimited entries & premium features for three months (longest in the industry) Effortless Voice-to-Text Journaling Speak naturally (up to one whole hour) & get perfect transcripts (95% accuracy) Pause/resume recordings during meetings or workouts Add photos to create multimedia memory timelines Build a journaling habit with a daily reminder to log your voice entries AI-Powered Life Reflections Get weekly/monthly/yearly reflections and visualize: - Emotional patterns & stress triggers for OCD, anxiety & self-discovery & correlations with sleep/exercise - Habit progress (meditation, exercise, sleep) - Relationship milestones & social connections - Career growth & learning achievements from personal goals - Custom word clouds of recurring themes Proven Wellness Results: - 63% users report better stress management - 73% better mood regulation after 30 days of daily journaling - 41% improved goal achievement rates - 89% stick with journaling vs. 23% industry average - 61% reduction in anxiety episodes with our psychology-based prompts Premium Features for Deep Transformation: - Smart Search - Find "that conversation about promotion" instantly with industry-leading search & sorting functionality - Personalized Reflections - AI-generated reflections from your entries every week - Advanced Data: Yearly reports - analyzing your entire year’s entries, spotting patterns, keyword clouds, goal progress and emotional clusters - Military-Grade Encryption - Your data is secure and can’t be accessed by anyone - the app is encrypted with Face ID How Professionals Use Echo: Executives: Track leadership development Students: Monitor study habits & GPA trends Therapists: Supplement treatment & wellness progress Special Offer for New Users First 3 months FREE ($3 per month after trial period - cancel anytime) "This journaling app has exceeded all my expectations. The voice-to-text feature is perfect for someone like me who is always on the go and doesn't have time to write things down." - Sarah M., Marketing Director "The AI-powered voice journaling feature is an absolute game-changer for me." - David R., Startup Founder “My go-to journal app – caught anxiety patterns my therapist missed!” – Jennifer K., 1,200+ day streak "Changed how I manage PTSD - more effective than 5 previous apps" - Mark T., Veteran Start your transformative journaling journey today and see how this powerful tool can help you manifest your dreams, overcome challenges, and embrace a life of wellness and positive intelligence Download Echo Journal Now → Transform Thoughts into Growth Privacy Policy: https://echojournal.ai/privacy-policy Terms Of Use: https://echojournal.ai/terms-of-use

Screenshots

Waffle4 screens
Echo Journal4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Echo Journal at 96% against Waffle's 46%. Echo Journal also leads on rating (4.8 vs 4.6). Waffle's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and ratings volume (11K vs 26). On price, 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

Both are free to download. Waffle sells 17 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per 7 days and Echo Journal sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Echo Journal holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Waffle has 11K ratings behind it against 26, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 46% of Waffle's written reviews are positive against 96% of Echo Journal's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Waffle ships an update weekly, Echo Journal every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
Waffle versus Echo Journal: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterWaffleEcho Journal
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (11K ratings)4.8 (26 ratings) — better
Positive reviews46.2% of reviews96.4% of reviews — better
Number of ratings11K — better26
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#161 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS15.1 — better16.0
Further details — not scored
Size143 MB62 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPoppy AI, Inc.MightyByte

Customer experience

Waffle

All ratings10,583 ratings
Positive89.1%
Neutral6.1%
Negative4.8%
Written reviews312 reviews
Positive46.2%
Neutral11.5%
Negative42.3%

Echo Journal

All ratings26 ratings
Positive96.2%
Neutral0.0%
Negative3.8%
Written reviews28 reviews
Positive96.4%
Neutral0.0%
Negative3.6%

User reviews

Waffle

From 11K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🤗 Excellent for shared journaling with friends/family
  • 🎨 Beautiful and intuitive user interface
  • 🤝 Helps strengthen long-distance relationships
  • 📝 Convenient way to record daily thoughts and memories
  • 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Great for family/group journaling

Room to improve

  • 💰 Overly expensive subscription model
  • 🔒 Lack of privacy/control over shared journals
  • 🐛 Frequent app crashes and bugs
  • 🗓️ Inability to backdate journal entries
  • 📢 Lack of notification/comment features for shared journals

Echo Journal

From 26 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🗣️ Voice-to-text journaling for busy individuals
  • 🗓️ Detailed monthly and yearly summaries with insights
  • 📸 Ability to add photos to entries
  • 🔍 Powerful search functionality to find past entries
  • 💪 Helps with personal growth and positive intelligence

Bugs and requests

Waffle

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • App crashes when trying to open old journal entries
  • Issues with uploading and viewing photos/videos
  • Inability to create new journals or add collaborators

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add ability to comment on journal entries
  • Implement a more flexible pricing structure (e.g., monthly option)
  • Allow customization of journal covers and layouts
  • Improve stability and fix reported bugs
  • Add time zone support for shared journals

Echo Journal

No bugs or feature requests surfaced in reviews.

In-app purchases

17 purchases

Waffle

Subscriptions16
  • Waffle Weekly$9.997 Days
  • Waffle Monthly Plus$14.991 Month
  • Waffle Monthly Plus$19.991 Month
Show 13 more
  • Waffle Unlimited$39.991 Year
  • 1 Plus Journal7 Days trial$39.991 Year
  • Waffle Unlimited7 Days trial$39.991 Year
  • Waffle Unlimited Plus7 Days trial$49.991 Year
  • 1 Plus Journal7 Days trial$49.991 Year
  • Waffle Unlimited7 Days trial$59.991 Year
  • 1 Plus Journal7 Days trial$74.991 Year
  • Waffle Unlimited$74.991 Year
  • Waffle Unlimited7 Days trial$89.991 Year
  • 2 Plus Journals7 Days trial$89.991 Year
  • Unlimited Plus Journals7 Days trial$129.001 Year
  • 2 Plus Journals7 Days trial$129.991 Year
  • Unlimited Plus7 Days trial$199.991 Year
One-time1
  • Lifetime Unlimited$199.99
2 purchases

Echo Journal

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly Premium Access - $2.99$2.991 Month
  • Annual Premium Access - $29.99$29.991 Year

Questions

Is Waffle free?
Waffle is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Echo Journal free?
Echo Journal is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Waffle or Echo Journal?
Echo Journal is rated higher. Waffle averages 4.6 out of 5 from 11K ratings, while Echo Journal averages 4.8 from 26 ratings.
Do Waffle or Echo Journal have ads?
Echo Journal shows ads; Waffle does not.
Which is updated more often, Waffle or Echo Journal?
Waffle ships an update weekly, and Echo Journal every 3 weeks. Most recently, Waffle was updated on November 1, 2026 and Echo Journal on October 24, 2026.

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