Comparison

Private Notes. vs Secret Diary

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

Head to head
About

Private Notes.

Securely store your personal thoughts, ideas, and text with a passcode or biometric authentication. This app offers intuitive text editing tools and a straightforward interface for organizing timestamped notes.

Highlights
  • Biometric and passcode security
  • Intuitive copy/paste/cut
  • Text formatting (underline, bold, italic)
  • Timestamped notes
  • Straightforward user interface
Features
Read full description

Have personal notes you would like to keep secret? Look no further. With this app you can safely secure personal thoughts, ideas or any text with with Apple’s touch/Face ID or a passcode. FEATURES: -Intuitive copy/paste/cut functions are at your disposal. -Underline, embolden or change any word in italic. -Straight forward user interface allows you to quickly organize your timestamped notes.

About

Secret Diary

Securely record your daily life and protect your privacy with this easy-to-use digital journal. Customize entries with beautiful fonts and quickly find past notes using content search. It offers password protection for exclusive access.

Highlights
  • Password protection
  • Secure diary entries
  • Customizable fonts
  • Content search
  • User-friendly interface
  • Privacy protection
Features
Read full description

Secret Diary is a private journal for iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Write personal notes, daily reflections, travel memories, study logs, or work journals in a calm SwiftUI interface designed for long-term writing. Your diary stays local on your device. Secret Diary does not upload your diary text or password to external servers. A local password lock helps protect private writing, and the data management tools let you export readable JSON backups when you want to keep your own copy. Free features: 1. Fast daily writing: create and edit diary entries (up to 30 entries; upgrade to Pro to unlock unlimited). 2. Local search: find entries by keyword, date, weekday, Markdown text, and Pinyin initials. 3. On This Day: rediscover entries written on the same date in previous years. 4. Writing reminders: receive local notifications at the time you choose. 5. Reminder styles: choose discreet, gentle, concise, or encouraging reminder copy. 6. Writing statistics: review diary count, word count, recent activity, and streaks. 7. Typography options: customize reading and writing fonts across diary content. 8. Keyboard shortcuts: use faster workflows on iPad and Mac. 9. Data control: export, import, merge, and delete local diary data with clear safeguards. Pro features: 1. Unlimited diaries: lift the 30-entry limit to write and save as many entries as you want. 2. Markdown preview: view rendered headings, lists, links, images, and formatting. Secret Diary is built for people who want a private, offline-first place to write and revisit their own memories. --- Subscription Information: Subscription payments will be charged to your iTunes account upon confirmation of purchase. Subscriptions automatically renew unless auto-renewal is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current subscription period. --- Privacy Policy: https://secretdiary.gewill.org/en/privacy Terms Of Use: https://secretdiary.gewill.org/en/terms Contact: 531sunlight@gmail.com

Screenshots

Private Notes.3 screens
Secret Diary4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Secret Diary at 70% against Private Notes.'s 14%. Secret Diary also leads on ads (none vs shown). Private Notes.'s advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 3) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 15). On price, update cadence 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. Secret Diary sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Private Notes. asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Private Notes. ships an update every 2 months, Secret Diary every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and November 7, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Private Notes. versus Secret Diary: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPrivate Notes.Secret Diary
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews14.3% of reviews70.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings—1 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 months — betterEvery 3 months
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationAd-supported — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better
Requires iOS12.0 — better15
Further details — not scored
Size16 MB66 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperWALABOK LLC伟 葛

Customer experience

Private Notes.

Written reviews7 reviews
Positive14.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative85.7%

Secret Diary

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews10 reviews
Positive70.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative30.0%

In-app purchases

None

Private Notes.

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

Secret Diary

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly Premium$0.991 Month
  • Yearly Premium7 Days trial$3.991 Year
One-time1
  • Lifetime Premium$5.99

Questions

Is Private Notes. free?
Private Notes. is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Secret Diary free?
Secret Diary is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Private Notes. or Secret Diary have ads?
Private Notes. shows ads; Secret Diary does not.
Which is updated more often, Private Notes. or Secret Diary?
Private Notes. ships an update every 2 months, and Secret Diary every 3 months. Most recently, Private Notes. was updated on November 3, 2026 and Secret Diary on November 7, 2026.

Other comparisons