Comparison

sense Diary vs the waterfall

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

Head to head
About

sense Diary

Record your mood and daily moments to rediscover the small joys of life. This app helps you track your feelings and everyday experiences, combating the sense of loss that can come from busy schedules. It's a personal space to reflect on your day, anytime and anywhere.

Highlights
  • Mood recording
  • Daily moment capture
  • Personal reflection
  • Minimalist design
  • User feedback integration
Features
Read full description

Hi, welcome to Sense. I’m happy to introduce this product to you. Sense is an app for recording your mood and the small moments of everyday life. You can capture interesting things from your day anytime, anywhere. “Today got a little colder.” “It’s my seventh month as a freelancer.” “I love walking. Today I wandered along an unfamiliar old street for three hours.” “I still have to work overtime tonight.” “Awesome — I’m going on a trip with my best friends this weekend.” ... So, how was your day today? “Hmm... just okay, I guess.” Busy lives can make us lose our sense of how we really spent the day. Little by little, it becomes harder to tell what today actually felt like. That’s also the reason I wanted to build this product: to help people rediscover the small moments in life, and recover from sense loss. Developer’s Note Sense Diary has always been developed in a minimalist solo-developer mode, and for the foreseeable future, it will probably remain a one-person project. There are still many features I want to build, and I’m sure there are things I’ve missed or that still need improvement. That’s why I truly look forward to hearing your feedback. It helps me understand who is using the app, how they are using it, and what more I can do to support you. So I’d love to explore this together with you, and see what Sense can eventually become. Feedback & Latest Updates WeChat Official Account: 今天很奇怪 Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

the waterfall

This app serves as a personal introspection companion, allowing users to record thoughts, ideas, and memories. It features guided questions for deeper self-reflection, supports Markdown for expressive text, and allows tagging and image association with entries. Data is stored locally and synced with iCloud for privacy.

Highlights
  • Guided self-reflection questions
  • Markdown support for text
  • Tagging and image association
  • Local data storage with iCloud sync
  • Pinning important memories
  • Record reading notes and movie reviews
Features
Read full description

Waterfall —— More than just a diary app, it's your personal introspection companion. Waterfall is committed to helping you think, remember, and discover the beauty in life. As a unique diary app, the charm of Waterfall lies in its potential to touch every detail of life. Here, you can record your thoughts and ideas. Furthermore, our question feature allows for deeper pondering — just hold down on a diary entry and prompt yourself with a question, like "What did you eat today?", "What are you thinking about?", or "Was there something today that made you happy?". Each question is a deep dive into your own self-reflection. Moreover, Waterfall is fully featured — it supports Markdown, making your text even more expressive. You can also associate tags and pictures with your memories, turning them into visual echoes. So, what exactly can Waterfall record? The answer is: almost everything. Apart from life's snippets, you can use it to log your reading notes, movie reviews, and even life goals. Pin important things to remind yourself to always keep up the enthusiasm for life. In the end, we hope that you enjoy your time with Waterfall, where each day, you can cherish the last moment of the day and reminisce about the day's experiences. Here, every day, you have your own waterfall. It's worth noting that Waterfall takes your privacy very seriously. All your data are stored locally and automatically synced with iCloud, visible only to you. At Waterfall, your privacy is always given the highest level of protection. May you have a beautiful day with Waterfall. Wishing you a waterfall day.

Screenshots

sense Diary3 screens
the waterfall4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is monetization model: sense Diary at free against the waterfall's free with in-app purchases. sense Diary also leads on update cadence (every 4 weeks vs every 3 months) and iOS requirement (15.6 vs 18.0). the waterfall's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 4.7). On price, ratings volume, ads and in-app purchases 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. sense Diary sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month and the waterfall sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

the waterfall holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 3 and 5 respectively.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

sense Diary ships an update every 4 weeks, the waterfall every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on September 18, 2026 and September 10, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
sense Diary versus the waterfall: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
Parametersense Diarythe waterfall
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (3 ratings)5.0 (5 ratings) — better
Positive reviews—88.0% of reviews
Number of ratings35 — better
Update frequencyEvery 4 weeks — betterEvery 3 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.6 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size79 MB6 MB
Age rating17+4+
Developer轶非 张文杰 李

Customer experience

sense Diary

All ratings3 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

the waterfall

All ratings5 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews25 reviews
Positive88.0%
Neutral4.0%
Negative8.0%

In-app purchases

3 purchases

sense Diary

Subscriptions3
  • make sense Lite$1.991 Month
  • make sense Daily$3.991 Month
  • make sense Deep$7.991 Month
1 purchases

the waterfall

One-time1
  • WATERFALL UPGRADE$7.99

Questions

Is sense Diary free?
sense Diary is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is the waterfall free?
the waterfall is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, sense Diary or the waterfall?
the waterfall is rated higher. sense Diary averages 4.7 out of 5 from 3 ratings, while the waterfall averages 5.0 from 5 ratings.
Do sense Diary or the waterfall have ads?
Neither sense Diary nor the waterfall shows ads.
Which is updated more often, sense Diary or the waterfall?
sense Diary ships an update every 4 weeks, and the waterfall every 3 months. Most recently, sense Diary was updated on September 18, 2026 and the waterfall on September 10, 2026.

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