# Once 2 vs Fresh Diary

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Fresh Diary at 100% against Once 2's 61%. Fresh Diary also leads on update cadence (every 6 days vs every 3 months) and rating (4.9 vs 4.6). Once 2's advantage is device support (4 vs 2). On price, ratings volume, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. Once 2 sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month and Fresh Diary sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

Fresh Diary holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.6. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 60 and 31 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 61% of Once 2's written reviews are positive against 100% of Fresh Diary's.

Once 2 ships an update every 3 months, Fresh Diary every 6 days. The most recent releases landed on October 30, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | Once 2 | Fresh Diary |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | [4.6 (60 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/once-2-immersive-diary-book/id1633788837/reviews) | **[4.9 (31 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/fresh-diary-pure-diarynotes/id6443731752/reviews)** |
| Number of ratings | **60** | 31 |
| Positive reviews | 60.6% of reviews | **100.0% of reviews** |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | **Every 6 days** |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Size | 39 MB | 13 MB |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | **13.0** |
| Devices | **iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac** | iPhone, iPod |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [实 许](https://appshunter.io/developer/681075194) | [峰峰 李](https://appshunter.io/developer/1648860305) |

## What reviewers say

### Once 2

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/once-2-immersive-diary-book/id1633788837)

This app provides an elegant and private space to record life's moments, ideas, and emotions. It offers a rich writing experience with customizable themes, photo insertion, and automatic location and weather tagging. Entries can be organized with books and tags, searched, and exported or shared.

**Highlights:** Exquisite book-like reading experience, Elegant themes and custom fonts, Immersive full-screen writing, Rich text editing with photo insertion, Automatic weather, temperature, and location tagging, Organize with books, tags, and calendar view, Passcode protection and PDF export

**Features:** Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (4)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Once Pro 1x | $0.99 | per month |
| Once Pro 12x | $9.99 | per year |
| Legacy Version Support | Free | one-time |
| Once Pro ∞ | $29.99 | one-time |

**What reviewers like**

- 👍 Nice interface and design
- 📖 Book-like writing experience
- ✍️ Comfortable for journaling
- ✨ Minimalist and clean
- 🖼️ Ability to insert photos

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Frequent crashes and freezes
- 🐌 Slow performance and lag
- 🗑️ Loss of unsaved work
- 🔄 Poor syncing across devices
- 💸 Paid features for basic functionality (passcode)

**Reported bugs**

- App crashes when editing
- App freezes when typing
- Entries lost after crashing
- Syncing issues between devices
- Cursor jumps randomly during typing

**Requested features**

- Arrow navigation for pages
- Pen functionality for iPad
- Voice recording feature
- More colorful icons
- Ability to add multiple photos at once


### Fresh Diary

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/fresh-diary-pure-diarynotes/id6443731752)

A minimalist and private journaling app with a powerful rich text editor. Track your moods, visualize your entries on a map, and set yearly goals. Securely sync across devices and export your memories.

**Highlights:** Rich text editor, Diary footprints on map, Mood statistics, Calendar view, Year goals, Cloud synchronization, Bulk export

**Features:** macOS Compatibility

**In-app purchases (3)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 月度会员 | $0.99 | per month |
| 年度会员 | $6.99 | per year |
| Lifetime Membership | $1.99 | one-time |


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Once 2 free?

Once 2 is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Is Fresh Diary free?

Fresh Diary is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Which has better reviews, Once 2 or Fresh Diary?

Fresh Diary is rated higher. Once 2 averages 4.6 out of 5 from 60 ratings, while Fresh Diary averages 4.9 from 31 ratings.

### Do Once 2 or Fresh Diary have ads?

Neither Once 2 nor Fresh Diary shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, Once 2 or Fresh Diary?

Once 2 ships an update every 3 months, and Fresh Diary every 6 days. Most recently, Once 2 was updated on October 30, 2026 and Fresh Diary on October 24, 2026.

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*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*