Journaling Note vs YesterYears
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Journaling Note
Easily record daily thoughts, feelings, and experiences with this journaling app. Review past entries through a calendar or a chronological list view to organize your thoughts.
- Daily thought recording
- Feelings and experiences log
- Calendar view for past entries
- Chronological list view
- Topic and content flexibility
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This journaling app is a handy tool for easily recording your daily thoughts, feelings, and experiences. You can write down any topic and content you wish, and you can also select from a calendar to review past entries. It also has a list view function in date order, making it easy to look back and organize.
YesterYears
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YesterYears – Diary, where every year's today reappears One sentence a day. Light as a habit. Have you ever felt this way? You want to keep a diary, but you get stuck on "how much," "what to write," and "will I stick with it" — so you start and never pick it up again. You try to find what you wrote on this day last year, only to scroll endlessly through your timeline, with no "on this day" moment. Diary apps keep piling on features — social feeds, check‑ins, leaderboards — distracting you from the quiet act of writing just one sentence. YesterYears makes recording light enough, and looking back deep enough. Open the app, write a line, close it — like scribbling a note in a notebook. - Anchor by month‑day, look back vertically Your entries from different years meet on the same page. The current year is highlighted, with past years listed below. Swipe left or right to move through any of the 365 days around today. Record today, and see what you wrote on this day in years past. - Calendar overview A two‑month view shows records for two months at a glance. Days with entries are marked with a dot; tap to go directly to that day's detail page. - Light, not a burden One sentence per day — even one word. Customizable character limit (50–200). No formatting pressure, no templates. Over 365 writing prompts in both Chinese and English lower the barrier to start. Entries save automatically as you type — no manual submission needed. - Local first, privacy first Data is stored locally on your device by default — no upload, no analysis. Optional iCloud sync lets you continue across devices. Export all entries as JSON. No account system, no third‑party tracking, no ads, no subscription gimmicks. - Restrained design A warm paper‑like background stays soft in both light and dark modes. Clay‑toned accents, serif fonts for body and dates. Card layout, gentle shadows, continuous rounded corners — quiet and low‑pressure, making you want to come back every day. - Widgets and quick writing Home Screen widgets (small and medium) let you start writing with one tap. Quick‑write via notifications, widgets, or deep‑link overlay — write and close without interrupting your current context. Daily reminders can be customized to fit your routine. - Multi‑platform, one habit Supports iOS (iPhone / iPad), macOS, and visionOS. With iCloud sync, it's natural to write on desktop and jot on mobile. Open, write one line, close — just like a line in your notebook. A year later, you'll smile at the person you are today. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://mooyu.cc/onewordprivacy.html
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: YesterYears at none against Journaling Note's shown. YesterYears also leads on update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 3 months). On price, in-app purchases, 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
Both are free to download. Journaling Note sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and YesterYears sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $1.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Journaling Note ships an update every 3 months, YesterYears every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 30, 2026 and October 8, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Journaling Note | YesterYears |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Positive reviews | 0.0% of reviews | — |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 — better | 18.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 4 MB | 3 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Haruki Sugaya | 化军 徐 |
In-app purchases
Journaling Note
- Remove Ads$3.99
YesterYears
- YesterYears Pro7 Days trial$1.991 Month









