Comparison

Opal vs Hello Haven

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

Head to head
About

Opal

This private journaling app uses AI to help you understand your thoughts and emotions. It offers guided prompts, ambient soundscapes, and the ability to write, speak, or add photos to your entries. AI tools analyze your writing to reveal patterns and insights, all while prioritizing your privacy with on-device storage.

Highlights
  • AI-powered pattern analysis
  • Guided journaling journeys
  • Voice and image entry support
  • Multiple journal organization
  • On-device privacy controls
  • Prompt-based or blank page entries
Read full description

Opal is a guided journal and diary to delve deeper: why you react the way you do, what you actually want, what your dreams keep trying to show you. Pick a guide from a large free library, follow a ten day series, or open a blank page and write whatever is on your mind. A FREE LIBRARY OF GUIDES Browse guides on finding clarity, purpose and direction, relationships, attachment styles, limiting beliefs, Stoic philosophy, gratitude, and more. Each guide walks you through a sequence of questions, with an example answer beside every prompt so you always have somewhere to begin. TEN DAY SERIES When you want a longer practice, start a series. Shadow Work spends ten days with the parts of yourself you usually avoid, from the inner critic to the golden shadow. Deep Manifest helps you name the desire underneath the goals you keep setting. The Dreaming Life teaches you to record your dreams and follow the figures and images that keep returning. A new day appears on your home screen each morning, and each one builds on what you wrote before. GUIDED AUDIO JOURNALING Some pages open with a short recorded practice. Press play, close your eyes, and let a memory or an image surface. When the audio ends, write about what came up and where you felt it in your body. Ambient soundscapes are there too, for when you want rain or low tones behind your writing. WRITE YOUR WAY Type, talk, or write by hand. Voice entries are saved as tapes you can replay, each with a transcript you can read back. Add photos to any entry, and keep separate journals for the different threads of your life. CONNECT DOTS ACROSS TIME Opal reads across your entries and shows you what it finds: recurring themes, emotional patterns, relationship dynamics, dream symbols. Each week, month, and year it assembles a reflection drawn from your own words, shows you the passages it relied on, and keeps it in your archive. You can also ask your journal a question and get an answer grounded in what you actually wrote. PRIVATE BY DESIGN Your writing is stored on your device. No account required, no cloud sync by default, no data sold. Lock Opal with a password. When you use an AI feature, names, places, and other identifying details are masked on your phone before anything is sent, and you decide how much context is shared. Your entries are never used to train AI models. Export or delete them whenever you like. ENDORSED BY THERAPISTS "Opal encourages deep self-expression and deep self-acceptance while also giving tools for change." Leanne Domash, Ph.D., Psychologist and Author Opal is free to download, with a free library of guides. Opal Premium unlocks [premium features]. Start with one prompt tonight. Questions: opaljournal@gmail.com Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Hello Haven

This AI assistant acts as your second brain, organizing your life and taking action on your behalf. It helps manage schedules, to-do lists, and information through various communication methods, offering personalized suggestions and reminders. Your privacy is paramount, with data remaining yours and never sold or used for model training.

Highlights
  • AI-powered organization
  • Personalized information management
  • Multi-channel communication
  • Context-aware suggestions
  • Privacy-focused data handling
  • Schedule and to-do management
Features
Read full description

Meet Haven, the AI that actually knows you. Your life is full and fast. A packed schedule, a running to-do list, a hundred tabs open at any moment, and a brain that was never meant to hold all of it. Haven helps you carry it. Haven is your second brain. It holds everything important to you, organizes it, distills it, and takes action on your behalf, so you spend less time managing information and more time living. Reach Haven however works for you. Call and talk it through. Text. Email. Message in the app. One conversation, everywhere. Haven knows your life. Send a photo of your fridge and get a dinner idea that fits what you have and how you eat. Get your day organized around what matters, at the right time for each thing. Haven remembers your family's schedules and the details you shouldn't have to. Haven looks out for you. It checks in, surfaces what matters before you ask, and quietly handles the noise. Your life stays yours. Privacy is the foundation. Your data belongs to you, full stop. We never sell it, and it is never used to train the models behind Haven. Built for busy parents, solo founders, empty nesters, and anyone who wants a calmer, more present life. Download Hello Haven.

Screenshots

Opal4 screens
Hello Haven4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Opal at 5.0 against Hello Haven's 4.3. Opal also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 76%). Hello Haven's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 18.1). On price, ratings volume, update cadence and ads 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. Opal sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $7.99 per month. Hello Haven asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Opal holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.3. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 37 and 29 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 100% of Opal's written reviews are positive against 76% of Hello Haven's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Opal ships an update every 8 days, Hello Haven weekly. Both last shipped on October 24, 2026.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Opal versus Hello Haven: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterOpalHello Haven
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (37 ratings) — better4.3 (29 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews — better76.2% of reviews
Number of ratings37 — better29
Update frequencyEvery 8 daysWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree — betterAd-supported
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS18.115.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size359 MB39 MB
Age rating4+17+
DeveloperDarby TarlowHello Haven, Inc.

Customer experience

Opal

All ratings37 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews9 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Hello Haven

All ratings29 ratings
Positive79.3%
Neutral3.4%
Negative17.2%
Written reviews21 reviews
Positive76.2%
Neutral4.8%
Negative19.0%

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Opal

Subscriptions1
  • Premium Monthly7 Days trial$7.991 Month
None

Hello Haven

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Opal free?
Opal is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Hello Haven free?
Hello Haven is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Opal or Hello Haven?
Opal is rated higher. Opal averages 5.0 out of 5 from 37 ratings, while Hello Haven averages 4.3 from 29 ratings.
Do Opal or Hello Haven have ads?
Neither Opal nor Hello Haven shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Opal or Hello Haven?
Opal ships an update every 8 days, and Hello Haven weekly. Most recently, Opal was updated on October 24, 2026 and Hello Haven on October 24, 2026.

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