Comparison

My Diary With Lock vs Ember

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

Head to head
About

My Diary With Lock

This app provides a secure and private space to record daily thoughts, moods, and memories. It offers password protection, mood tracking with emotion icons, and a calendar view to revisit past entries. Customize your journal with various artistic styles.

Highlights
  • Password and Face ID protection
  • Mood tracking with emotion icons
  • Quick notes with photos and emojis
  • Calendar view for browsing entries
  • Customizable fonts, backgrounds, and covers
Features
Read full description

The cute diary app specially designed for you, with mood tracking and password protection features. Whether it’s daily moods, memorable moments, or deep reflections, everything is safely stored here. Private & Secure Your diary is protected with a password lock and Face ID. Everything you write stays private and visible only to you. Mood Diary Record your moods using adorable emotion icons inspired by Plutchik’s Wheel of Emotions, allowing you to record moods in a soothing and easy way. Quick Notes Capture your feelings anytime with photos, text, and emojis. Calendar View Browse your diary by day or month and easily revisit memories from any specific date. Personalized Journal Customize artistic fonts, font size, background letter styles, and diary covers to create your own exclusive journal. If you have suggestions or feedback, please contact us in the app!

About

Ember

Features
Read full description

Ember is a diary for the things you wouldn't say out loud yet. The day you almost quit. The walk that fixed you. The sentence your mother said in 2007 that you still think about. It's not a notebook for productivity or a journal for habits. It's a place to write the way you'd write to yourself at three in the morning, when nobody is watching and the sentences don't have to be good. The page is plain on purpose. Fraunces or Lora for the writing, set at a size that doesn't make you squint. A title field that doesn't ask much. A small line for the weather, the mood, the song that was playing. Voice memos when typing feels like too much. Photos when a photo says it faster. A drawing layer for the days a doodle is the whole entry. Each morning, one prompt, if you want one. Ignore it if you don't. Everything you write stays on this iPhone, encrypted with AES-GCM the moment you tap save. There is no Ember server. No account to make. No analytics looking over your shoulder. We couldn't read your entries if we tried — we built it that way on purpose. Ember is free to download with everything unlocked. One small banner supports development — remove it anytime with a single one-time purchase. No subscription, no auto-renewal, no popups asking you to upgrade in eighteen months. Export to Markdown or PDF whenever you like, and take what you wrote with you. The diary is yours; we're just the room it sits in. Write something today. Even one line.

Screenshots

My Diary With Lock4 screens
Ember4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: My Diary With Lock at none against Ember's shown. My Diary With Lock also leads on device support (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (14.0 vs 17.4). Ember's advantage is update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 3 months). On price and in-app purchases 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. My Diary With Lock sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month and Ember sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

My Diary With Lock ships an update every 3 months, Ember every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 23, 2026 and October 7, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
My Diary With Lock versus Ember: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMy Diary With LockEmber
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (1.9K ratings) — better—
Positive reviews91.1% of reviews—
Number of ratings1.9K — better—
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsEvery 3 weeks — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS14.0 — better17.4
Further details — not scored
Size33 MB12 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMEETFIRE LIMITED丽佳 施

Bugs and requests

My Diary With Lock

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Submitted diary entries sometimes reset font settings
  • Occasional data loss when switching devices

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add more journal cover options
  • Implement backup and restore functionality
  • Improve font customization options
  • Introduce a dark mode theme

Ember

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

3 purchases

My Diary With Lock

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly VIP$1.991 Month
  • Yearly VIP$7.991 Year
One-time1
  • Lifetime VIP$9.99
1 purchases

Ember

One-time1
  • Ember Pro$0.99

Questions

Is My Diary With Lock free?
My Diary With Lock is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Ember free?
Ember is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do My Diary With Lock or Ember have ads?
Ember shows ads; My Diary With Lock does not.
Which is updated more often, My Diary With Lock or Ember?
My Diary With Lock ships an update every 3 months, and Ember every 3 weeks. Most recently, My Diary With Lock was updated on October 23, 2026 and Ember on October 7, 2026.

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