Comparison

Diary with Lock vs DiaryMate

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

Head to head
About

Diary with Lock

Securely record daily thoughts, feelings, and memories with a customizable, password-protected digital journal. Enhance entries with photos, audio, and a mood tracker to understand your emotional journey. Offers prompts and themes for inspiration and organization.

Highlights
  • Password and Face ID protection
  • Multimedia entries (photos, audio)
  • Mood tracking calendar
  • Customizable themes and fonts
  • Journal prompts
  • Tagging for organization
  • Cloud backup
Features
Read full description

Diary with Lock: Daily Diary - your free, no-ads online diary! Easily capture your daily moments, track your feelings, and organize your thoughts with our secure, password-protected diary. Create your own space with fun personalized styles. Whether you want to release stress or celebrate your wins, Daily Diary is always here to listen! WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT FROM DIARY: - Personalized diary with various fonts, colors, stickers, and layouts - Protection for your diary with PIN & Face ID - Multimedia options with photo and audio to enrich your diary - 70+ backgrounds and themes to fit your diary styles - Mood calendar to track and visualize mood changes alongside your diary entries - Tags for easy categorization and searching of diary entries - Journal prompts on various topics to spark your diary - Custom notifications to keep your diary habit - Cloud backup to safeguard your memories # DIARY WITH PASSWORD Your privacy is our top priority! With Daily Diary, You can protect your diary with various security options, including PIN & Face ID, ensuring your diary is just for your eyes. # DESIGN YOUR OWN DIARY Customize your diary experience! Enjoy unlimited text input options with a variety of fonts, colors, and styles (like bold or italic). Also, with exciting stickers and fun emojis, you can add a little extra fun to your every diary page. # MOOD JOURNEY IN YOUR DIARY Add your mood to your diary entries and see how it changes over time with our mood calendar. This helps you understand your feelings better and take care of your mental health. # DIARY MORE THAN WORDS Your diary is more than just writing! Include photos and audio clips in your diary to fully capture your life and relive those cherished memories whenever you want. # 70+ DIARY THEMES & BACKGROUNDS With 70+ constantly updated themes and backgrounds, your diary can reflect your unique style! From playful patterns to serene landscapes, customize your diary to suit your vibe. # VARIOUS DIARY PROMPTS Spark your diary inspiration with a range of curated prompts! Covering all aspects of life, including gratitude, mental health (like journaling for mental health), emotions, motivation, health, confidence, creativity, and more, these prompts will enrich your diary experience. # TAG YOUR DIARY Stay organized with diary tags! Easily categorize your diary with tags like #Love, #Food, and #Trip, so you can quickly search for specific entries when you want to revisit those cherished memories. # BUILD A DIARY HABIT Never miss a moment! Set reminders to make your diary a daily habit, making it easy to capture your thoughts and experiences every day. # BACKUP YOUR DIARY Secure your precious memories! With our Cloud backup, your diary data is securely stored and always ready for you. You can easily switch devices without the risk of losing your diary. Ready to start your diary journey? With our diary app, you can easily capture your thoughts, feelings, and memories. No matter where you are, your diary is right by your side. Download now and make your diary a special part of your life.

About

DiaryMate

Read full description

Under the evening light of a quiet living room, wrap today up into one diary page — together with a character. DiaryMate is a character diary app: drop a line about your day whenever it happens, then sit down at night to look back and shape it into a page. On days when writing feels hard, a short conversation with a character is enough to turn today into words. SIT AT YOUR DESK BY DAY, MAKE A PAGE AT NIGHT Throughout the day, sit at your desk and jot down whatever comes to mind, handing it to a character (free, as many as you like). Not sure what to write? Turn over today’s card for a small prompt, or start from a sentence opener. No AI is called here — the character just answers back with a short line. To go deeper on one, tap "Deepen" (Premium; 7-day free trial). At night, tap "Make a page," and the character looks back over what you dropped, offering a short question or two. Answering is optional. On the free plan, this conversation runs on the app’s own built-in character script (up to two exchanges) — no AI involved, and today still comes together into one paper diary page. With Premium, the same conversation runs on AI for up to four exchanges — tap "More" to keep it going. Even after a page is made, you can keep adding with "Add a note +" and have it folded into the same page, free. HOW A DAY FLOWS 1. By day, drop short fragments at your desk 2. If you want, go deeper on one with "Deepen" 3. At night, look back over what you dropped and choose "Make a page" 4. Talk it through with the character 5. The draft becomes one finished paper page. Add a note later if you like (Premium: AI rewrite) The room shifts with the time of day. A DAY, WRITTEN WITH CHARACTERS YOU CHOOSE Serena (Listener), Luna (Sharp tongue), Haku (Quiet observer), Milo (Mood maker), Arcana (Appraiser), Mr. Kurosawa (Slow company) — pick up to four of the six to talk with. Among the ones you pick, the day's host rotates day by day. Once a page is wrapped up, your companions each add a short line of their own. A BOOK THAT BECOMES YOUR STORY Every finished page joins your book — free to read, always. Pages gather into monthly chapters you turn like a real book. With Premium, bind a chapter: a title and short synopsis in your own voice, from only what you wrote. New here? A sample book shows what half a year becomes. Export your book as a PDF anytime, free. GOOD FOR MOMENTS LIKE Putting today into words before telling anyone else. Wanting to keep a diary but freezing up in front of a blank page. Settling your thoughts a little before sleep. IN JAPANESE OR ENGLISH The interface and conversations are fully bilingual — switch languages anytime. BUILT TO FEEL SAFE AND QUIET Your fragments, conversations, and finished pages are stored only on your device, and you can delete them anytime. Content reaches an external AI only for Premium subscribers (including the 7-day free trial), at the moment they choose "Make a page," "More," "Deepen," or "Bind" on a chapter — never otherwise. On the free plan, nothing you write ever leaves your device, and everything works without a network connection. If a Premium conversation can’t reach the AI, the app says so plainly on screen instead of a stock reply. FREE IS ENOUGH TO START Unlimited fragments and added notes, a nightly wrap-up conversation on the app’s own character script (two exchanges), and every page you’ve written to read back — all free, always, with zero AI calls. Premium (¥600/month in the Japan store, 7-day free trial; local pricing shown before purchase) brings the AI: up to four exchanges when making a page, unlimited "Deepen", AI rewrite and copy of a finished page, and binding chapters into your story. No task manager, no calendar, no social features — no sharing, following, or comments. Just you and a character, for a quiet moment. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://diarymate-ten.vercel.app/legal/privacy-en.html

Screenshots

Diary with Lock4 screens
DiaryMate4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Diary with Lock at none against DiaryMate's 1. Diary with Lock also leads on iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.0). DiaryMate's advantage is update cadence (every 2 days vs every 2 weeks). On price, ads 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. DiaryMate sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $3.99 per month. Diary with Lock asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Diary with Lock ships an update every 2 weeks, DiaryMate every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 27, 2026 and October 23, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Diary with Lock versus DiaryMate: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDiary with LockDiaryMate
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (997 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews96.1% of reviews—
Number of ratings997 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksEvery 2 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPod
Requires iOS13.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size150 MB22 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSimple HealthShigeharu Miyamoto

Bugs and requests

Diary with Lock

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Login screen freezes
  • Incompatible with older devices

Requested features

4 requests
  • More background and font options
  • Ability to move photos freely
  • Draw own drawings
  • Additional background themes

DiaryMate

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Diary with Lock

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

DiaryMate

Subscriptions1
  • Premium7 Days trial$3.991 Month

Questions

Is Diary with Lock free?
Diary with Lock is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is DiaryMate free?
DiaryMate is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Diary with Lock or DiaryMate have ads?
Neither Diary with Lock nor DiaryMate shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Diary with Lock or DiaryMate?
Diary with Lock ships an update every 2 weeks, and DiaryMate every 2 days. Most recently, Diary with Lock was updated on October 27, 2026 and DiaryMate on October 23, 2026.

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