Comparison

Journal 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

Journal

Securely record your thoughts, secrets, and private moments with this digital journal. Protect your entries with a password, Touch ID, or Face ID, and enrich them with photos and videos. Easily organize and search your memories.

Highlights
  • Password, Touch ID, Face ID lock
  • Add text, photos, and videos
  • Tagging for entries
  • Searchable diary
  • Export entries
  • iCloud sync
Read full description

Diary with Lock and Password is the perfect app for keeping your thoughts and secrets safe. With its easy-to-use interface and powerful security features, you can be sure that your diary is always protected from unauthorized access. Diary with password and lock app was designed to securely receive all your entries, be it photos, images, your secrets, thoughts and all your private moments. It is simple, beautiful and functional journal and diary application. It enables you to easily express your mind, emotions and thoughts without any form of hinderance whatsoever. The app enables you to put down yours thoughts, future plans with no fear of judgement or remorse. It is feature packed created just for your ultimate convenience. Features: * Lock your diary with a password, Touch ID, or Face ID: Only you will be able to access your diary, and you can choose the security method that works best for you. * Add multiple entries to your diary: You can add text, photos, and videos to your diary entries, and you can even add tags to make it easier to find specific entries later on. * Search your diary for specific entries: If you're looking for a specific entry, you can search your diary by keyword or tag. * Easy to use * View all your notes in one place * Easily Navigate your notes journal entries Keep your thoughts and secrets safe with Diary with Lock and Password! This easy-to-use app allows you to lock your diary with a password, Touch ID, or Face ID so that only you can access it. You can add text, photos, and videos to your diary entries, and you can even add tags to make it easier to find specific entries later on. Diary with Lock and Password also allows you to search your diary for specific entries, export your diary entries to a variety of formats, and sync your diary across multiple devices with iCloud support. Whether you're looking for a place to record your daily thoughts and experiences, or you need a safe place to store your deepest secrets, Diary with Lock and Password is the perfect app for you. Download it today and start keeping your diary! Please Note that this app is a paid app. You have to purchase it before you can have access to any of its features. Our Terms of use and Privacy policy for the app can be found below: Terms of use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy policy: https://sites.google.com/view/innermind/home

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

Journal4 screens
Secret Diary4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Secret Diary at none against Journal's 5. Secret Diary also leads on update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 4 months) and ratings volume (98 vs 1). Journal's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 4.7). On price, ads, 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. Journal sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Secret Diary asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Journal holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Secret Diary has 98 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Journal ships an update every 4 months, Secret Diary every 2 weeks. Both last shipped on November 3, 2026.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Journal versus Secret Diary: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterJournalSecret Diary
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better4.7 (98 ratings)
Positive reviews—85.0% of reviews
Number of ratings198 — better
Update frequencyEvery 4 monthsEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS13.0 — better14.0
Further details — not scored
Size52 MB66 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperOlufemi AdedireTrang Le Thi

Customer experience

Journal

All ratings1 ratings
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

Journal

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

5 purchases

Journal

Subscriptions4
  • Monthly: Journal Pro Monthly$1.991 Month
  • 3-Monthly: Journal Pro Quarter$2.993 Months
  • 6-Monthly:Journal Pro 6 months$3.996 Months
Show 1 more
  • Yearly: Journal Pro Annual$4.991 Year
One-time1
  • Journal Pro Lifetime Access$5.99
None

Secret Diary

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Journal free?
Journal 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, Journal or Secret Diary?
Journal is rated higher. Journal averages 5.0 out of 5 from 1 ratings, while Secret Diary averages 4.7 from 98 ratings.
Do Journal or Secret Diary have ads?
Neither Journal nor Secret Diary shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Journal or Secret Diary?
Journal ships an update every 4 months, and Secret Diary every 2 weeks. Most recently, Journal was updated on November 3, 2026 and Secret Diary on November 3, 2026.

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