Secret Diary vs Écrin
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- Password protection
- Secure diary entries
- Customizable fonts
- Content search
- User-friendly interface
- Privacy protection
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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
Écrin
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Your private life deserves a space of its own. Écrin brings your photos, videos, documents and notes together in a protected personal space on iPhone and iPad. Organize what matters, keep control of your files and choose the right plan during setup. FREE WITH ADS • Add, view and edit your personal photos, videos, documents and notes without an item limit imposed by Écrin. • Organize photos and Live Photos into albums, find your favorites and keep documents and notes in their own folders. • View documents, write notes, take photos and record videos directly in the app. • Protect access with a passcode and, if you wish, Face ID or Touch ID on compatible devices. Free: banners in lists and album grids, including Imports, and occasional full-screen ads on returning to a main list after viewing. Open content stays ad-free. Ad choices and reporting are in Settings. Declining tracking does not block Free access. No personal content is sent to advertisers. YOUR FILES REMAIN YOURS Export your own content as a ZIP archive, with or without a password, to a location you choose. Keep your album and folder organization, stored original files and available metadata. Exporting, deleting and restoring your personal files from an existing backup remain available without a subscription or time limit. Restoration requires the backup’s passcode or password. Exporting shared content depends on the permissions granted by its owner. PREMIUM: NO ADS, WITH ADVANCED FEATURES • Use Écrin without ads. • Create encrypted backups manually or automatically on your device, in your iCloud, or both. Check each copy’s status separately. • Access your private space on compatible devices with iCloud synchronization. • Share albums by invitation and manage participants and export permissions without giving access to the rest of your space. • Use a separate decoy space and an access-attempt log. FAMILY: PREMIUM FOR YOUR LOVED ONES The Family plan includes all Premium features and lets you share the subscription with up to five other members through Apple Family Sharing. Everyone keeps a private space: sharing a subscription does not automatically share content. MAKE IT YOUR OWN Choose a theme, light or dark mode, an alternative app icon and a list or thumbnail view. Écrin follows your device language or your choice in Settings. No Écrin account is required. SUBSCRIPTIONS Premium and Family are available monthly or annually. A 14-day free trial is available to eligible customers under the terms shown before purchase. Backup creation, synchronization, sharing, the decoy space and access-attempt log require an active subscription. Screenshots may show Premium features. After expiry, your personal content remains usable in the free plan. Albums you shared become private, and you leave received shares when a connection allows access rights to be updated. Payment is charged to your Apple Account when you confirm your purchase. Subscriptions renew automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel your subscription in your Apple Account settings. Prices and offers are shown before purchase. Unlimited items do not include additional storage: capacity depends on your device and iCloud account. iCloud transfers require a connection; timing depends on the network and Apple services. Privacy: https://operating-sys.app/en/apps/ecrin/privacy/ Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: Secret Diary at none against Écrin's shown. Secret Diary also leads on device support (4 vs 2) and iOS requirement (15 vs 17.0). Écrin's advantage is update cadence (every 5 days vs every 3 months). On price 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
Both are free to download. Secret Diary sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Écrin sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Secret Diary ships an update every 3 months, Écrin every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Secret Diary | Écrin |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 70.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 1 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Every 5 days — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 66 MB | 39 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | 伟 葛 | Regis PORTE |
In-app purchases
Secret Diary
- Lifetime Premium$2.99
Écrin
- Écrin Premium Monthly14 Days trial$2.991 Month
- Écrin Family Monthly14 Days trial$3.991 Month
- Écrin Premium Annual14 Days trial$19.991 Year
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- Écrin Family Annual14 Days trial$24.991 Year
Questions
Is Secret Diary free?
Is Écrin free?
Do Secret Diary or Écrin have ads?
Which is updated more often, Secret Diary or Écrin?
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