Comparison

Big Yellow Diary vs Unpack

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

Head to head
About

Big Yellow Diary

Features
Read full description

Why keep a diary? My answer is, because some information may seem unimportant at the time, but later you might need it and forget it. For example, today I plan to visit a friend's house. I’ve been there before, but I just can't remember the exact address. Another example is, there’s someone around me who said something, how can I judge if it’s true or not? One way is to compare it with what they’ve said before and see if there are any contradictions. Without a diary, there's no way to make such a comparison.

About

Unpack

Capture your life's moments with this journaling app. Log thoughts, track moods, save photos, and organize memories using tags. It offers a flexible, unstructured approach to documenting your experiences, making it easy to revisit your past.

Highlights
  • Quick journaling for thoughts and moods
  • Tag entries for automatic collection building
  • Photo journaling for visual memories
  • Flexible use as diary, planner, or tracker
  • Unstructured writing with no minimum length
  • Effortless life capturing and meaningful revisiting
Read full description

A journaling app to capture life as it happens — track moods, write notes, save photos, and organize your memories with tags. Key features: • Quick journaling for thoughts, moods, and moments • Tag entries to build collections automatically • Photo journaling to capture memories visually • Flexible: use as a diary, planner, or life tracker • No rigid structure — write as little or as much as you want Unpack is built for the moments you don’t want to lose — big or small, planned or spontaneous. Jot down a quick thought, log your mood, save a photo, or outline what’s next. Everything goes in as easily as it comes to you. Instead of forcing your life into rigid entries, you can tag anything you add. Over time, those tags turn into living collections: your trips, ideas, routines, phases, and memories automatically organized and easy to revisit. Use it as a journal, a mood tracker, a planning space, or all of the above. However you use it, the goal is simple: make capturing your life effortless, and make coming back to it meaningful. No pressure to write long entries. No complicated structure. Just capture, tag, and let your story take shape. -- Privacy Policy: https://and.notion.site/Unpack-Privacy-Policy-341eb9a83adb80388687f064070e877c EULA: http://www.apple.com/legal/itunes/appstore/dev/stdeula

Screenshots

Big Yellow Diary4 screens
Unpack4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is iOS requirement: Big Yellow Diary at 17.0 against Unpack's 26. On price, update cadence, ads 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. Big Yellow Diary sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Unpack sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Big Yellow Diary ships an update every 6 days, Unpack weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 25, 2026 and October 18, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
Big Yellow Diary versus Unpack: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBig Yellow DiaryUnpack
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings—2 — better
Update frequencyEvery 6 days — betterWeekly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
Monetization—Free with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS17.0 — better26
Further details — not scored
Size5 MB12 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developer山 黄Andriy Gordiyenko

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Big Yellow Diary

One-time1
  • Plus version$1.99
2 purchases

Unpack

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly$2.991 Month
  • Annual$24.991 Year

Questions

Is Big Yellow Diary free?
Big Yellow Diary is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Unpack free?
Unpack is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Big Yellow Diary or Unpack have ads?
Neither Big Yellow Diary nor Unpack shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Big Yellow Diary or Unpack?
Big Yellow Diary ships an update every 6 days, and Unpack weekly. Most recently, Big Yellow Diary was updated on October 25, 2026 and Unpack on October 18, 2026.

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