Comparison

Diary Journal 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

Diary Journal Notes

This app allows you to capture life's moments, thoughts, and memories through digital journaling. It offers rich media integration, emotion tracking, and robust security features to keep your entries private. Discover self-awareness and personal growth by reflecting on your experiences.

Highlights
  • Digital journaling with typing or dictation
  • Automatic date and time stamps
  • Add photos, videos, and mood emojis
  • PIN, fingerprint, or facial recognition lock
  • Track emotions and identify patterns
  • Quick search for entries
Features
Read full description

Capture your life's moments, thoughts, and memories with OneDiary, the ultimate diary app designed to help you express yourself, reflect on your experiences, and organize your thoughts in a secure and private space. Key Features: - Digital Journaling: Write, type, or dictate your entries effortlessly. OneDiary offers a user-friendly and customizable interface that mimics the experience of writing in a physical diary. - Date & Time Stamps: Each entry is automatically timestamped, allowing you to easily track your journey through time and relive your past moments. - Rich Media Integration: Enrich your entries by adding photos, videos, and mood emojis. Visualize your memories and emotions in a whole new way. - Secure & Private: Your thoughts are your own. OneDiary provides top-notch security features, including PIN, fingerprint, or facial recognition locks, ensuring that your personal musings are for your eyes only. - Statistics & Emotion Tracking: Gain insight into your emotional well-being by tagging your entries with moods. Track your feelings over time and discover patterns in your emotions. - Quick Search: Instantly find specific entries with powerful search capabilities. Whether you're looking for a specific date, keyword, or emotion, MyDiary's search feature has you covered. Discover the power of self-discovery, mindfulness, and personal growth through OneDiary. Start your journaling journey today and unlock the incredible potential of reflecting on life's moments. Download now to embark on a path of self-expression and self-awareness with OneDiary! To unlock all content, the following auto-renewing subscription options are available: • 1 month: US$ 2.99/month; • 12 months: US$ 9.99/year. Payment will be charged to your Apple ID account at confirmation of purchase. Subscription automatically renews unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period. Subscriptions can be managed and canceled after purchase by going to your account settings in the App Store. Privacy Policy: https://sandstorm-software.com/privacy_policy.html Terms Of Use: https://sandstorm-software.com/tos.html

About

Secret Diary

Securely record your thoughts, daily events, and journeys with this private diary app. It offers robust security features like Face ID, Touch ID, or passcode lock, and allows for extensive personalization with themes, fonts, and backgrounds. All entries are stored locally for maximum privacy.

Highlights
  • Face ID, Touch ID, passcode lock
  • iCloud backup and restore
  • Unlimited editing options
  • Add photos, backgrounds, fonts
  • Personalize with artistic themes
  • Local data storage
Features
Read full description

Secret Diary is a free diary journal app with high security. Your data is safe with iCloud backup and restore. This app use Face ID, Touch ID, or passcode lock to protect the security of your secret thoughts, daily diary and journeys. To ensure privacy and security, all your entry will only be saved on your device and not sent to any servers. Secret Diary provide unlimited dairy editing options, adding photos, backgrounds, fonts, moods, etc. Also, you can personalize this app with multiple artistic and kawaii themes. Everything is free! This App will protect your memories securely. Please try and enjoy it!

Screenshots

Diary Journal Notes4 screens
Secret Diary4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Secret Diary at 4.7 against Diary Journal Notes's 4.0. Secret Diary also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 3) and ads (none vs shown). Diary Journal Notes's advantage is update cadence (daily vs every 2 weeks) and review sentiment (100% vs 85%). On price, device support and iOS requirement 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. Diary Journal Notes sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Secret Diary asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Secret Diary holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Secret Diary has 98 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 100% of Diary Journal Notes's written reviews are positive against 85% of Secret Diary's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Diary Journal Notes ships an update daily, Secret Diary every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 23, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Diary Journal Notes versus Secret Diary: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDiary Journal NotesSecret Diary
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.0 (2 ratings)4.7 (98 ratings) — better
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews — better85.0% of reviews
Number of ratings298 — better
Update frequencyDaily — betterEvery 2 weeks
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS14.014.0
Further details — not scored
Size79 MB66 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPixel Crater LtdTrang Le Thi

Customer experience

Diary Journal Notes

All ratings2 ratings
Positive50.0%
Neutral50.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Secret Diary

All ratings59 ratings
Positive86.4%
Neutral11.9%
Negative1.7%
Written reviews40 reviews
Positive85.0%
Neutral7.5%
Negative7.5%

Bugs and requests

Diary Journal Notes

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Secret Diary

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Cannot get back to previous background themes
  • Lock screen appears after entries are visible
  • App crashes when phone is on airplane mode
  • Difficulty entering or recovering passcode
  • Passcode not visible or functional at times

Requested features

5 requests
  • Allow autocorrect while typing
  • Ensure lock screen appears first
  • Recover passcode when forgotten
  • Add backup feature
  • Enable Face ID/Touch ID for login

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Diary Journal Notes

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly Premium$2.991 Month
  • Yearly Premium$9.991 Year
One-time1
  • Lifetime Premium$24.99
None

Secret Diary

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Diary Journal Notes free?
Diary Journal Notes is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Secret Diary free?
Secret Diary is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Diary Journal Notes or Secret Diary?
Secret Diary is rated higher. Diary Journal Notes averages 4.0 out of 5 from 2 ratings, while Secret Diary averages 4.7 from 98 ratings.
Do Diary Journal Notes or Secret Diary have ads?
Diary Journal Notes shows ads; Secret Diary does not.
Which is updated more often, Diary Journal Notes or Secret Diary?
Diary Journal Notes ships an update daily, and Secret Diary every 2 weeks. Most recently, Diary Journal Notes was updated on October 24, 2026 and Secret Diary on October 23, 2026.

Other comparisons