Comparison

Nostalgia Notes vs Dear Past Me

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

Head to head
About

Nostalgia Notes

Easily create, update, and delete diary entries. Review past entries sorted by day, week, month, or year. Track your progress with enriched statistical data to stay motivated.

Highlights
  • Diary creation
  • Update diary entries
  • Delete diary entries
  • Review past entries
  • Sort entries by date
  • Statistical data tracking
Features
Read full description

Main Features 1.Diary creation Simple to create a diary. 2.Update Diary You can update the contents of your diary. 3.Delete Diary You can easily delete your diary by swiping it. 4.Review You can look back on the past in various axes by displaying diaries sorted by daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly. Statistics As you continue to keep a diary, the statistical data will be enriched, motivating you to continue.

About

Dear Past Me

Features
Read full description

Reflection Diary helps you record everyday moments and naturally reconnect with your past self. A diary can take on new meaning when you return to it after some time has passed. โ€œI remember thinking this.โ€ โ€œI had forgotten how important that day was.โ€ โ€œI can see how much has changed.โ€ Reflection Diary brings those discoveries back through random entries, reminders, and widgets. โ–  Simple diary writing Start writing with just a title and your thoughts. You can create an entry for today or choose an earlier date to capture something you did not have time to write down before. โ–  Rediscover past entries The Home screen presents an entry from your past at random. There is no need to search through a timeline. Each visit gives you a natural opportunity to revisit something you once wrote. Premium lets you customize the date range, tags, and refresh interval used for random entries. โ–  Home Screen widgets Display past entries on your Home Screen. Reconnect with an earlier moment without opening the app whenever you glance at your device. โ–  Daily reminders Receive a reminder containing a past entry at a time you choose. You can control whether reminders are enabled, when they arrive, and whether they use sound. โ–  Organize with tags and a calendar Create your own tags to organize entries by work, hobbies, family, travel, or anything else that matters to you. The calendar makes it easy to browse entries by date. The Free plan supports up to 3 custom tags. Premium supports up to 20. โ–  Sync across devices Sign in with Apple or Google to use cloud sync. Sync is off by default and begins only after you enable it in Settings. The Free plan can sync up to 100 diary entries. Premium removes the cloud entry limit. Entries stored locally on your device are unlimited on both plans. โ–  Share entries as images Turn an entry into a clean, readable image that you can save to your device or share with another app. Choose from multiple designs and aspect ratios to create an image that suits where you want to use it. โ–  Make it your own Customize an avatar by choosing different facial features and clothing. Use Light Mode, Dark Mode, or follow your deviceโ€™s system appearance. Reflection Diary is available in Japanese, English, and Korean. โ–  Designed with privacy in mind Your diary is stored locally by default. You can write and revisit entries without creating an account. Diary data is stored in the cloud only after you sign in and explicitly enable sync. Diary text, titles, and tag names are not sent for usage analytics or diagnostic reporting. โ–  Premium Premium includes: โ€ข Cloud sync without an entry limit โ€ข Up to 20 custom tags โ€ข Custom date range, tag filters, and refresh interval for random entries Premium is available as an auto-renewing monthly or annual subscription. The price and subscription period are shown before purchase. Previous purchases can be restored from Settings. Write today for the person you will become. Keep it simple, and make reflection part of your everyday life. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Nostalgia Notes3 screens
Dear Past Me4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Dear Past Me at none against Nostalgia Notes's shown. Dear Past Me also leads on iOS requirement (15.1 vs 17.0). On price, update cadence, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price ยท Rating ยท Positive reviews ยท Number of ratings ยท Update frequency ยท Ads ยท In-app purchases ยท Monetization ยท Best chart rank ยท Devices ยท Requires iOS

CostPrice ยท In-app purchases ยท Ads ยท Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Nostalgia Notes ships an update every 4 days, Dear Past Me every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 7, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences ยท 6 level
Nostalgia Notes versus Dear Past Me: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterNostalgia NotesDear Past Me
PriceFreeFree
Positive reviews50.0% of reviewsโ€”
Update frequencyEvery 4 days โ€” betterEvery 5 days
AdsYesNo โ€” better
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationAd-supportedโ€”
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod โ€” better
Requires iOS17.015.1 โ€” better
Further details โ€” not scored
Size6 MB39 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMasaaki KishimotoRyota Koda

In-app purchases

None

Nostalgia Notes

No in-app purchases

None

Dear Past Me

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Nostalgia Notes free?
Nostalgia Notes is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Dear Past Me free?
Dear Past Me is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Nostalgia Notes or Dear Past Me have ads?
Nostalgia Notes shows ads; Dear Past Me does not.
Which is updated more often, Nostalgia Notes or Dear Past Me?
Nostalgia Notes ships an update every 4 days, and Dear Past Me every 5 days. Most recently, Nostalgia Notes was updated on October 7, 2026 and Dear Past Me on October 25, 2026.

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