Dawnary vs HeartNote Diary
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Dawnary
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Dawnary is a diary app that pursues healing and convenience, providing you with a private writing space free from distractions. Key Features: Immersive Writing Experience • Minimalist interface design, focused on content creation • Support for inserting images to enrich your records • Full-screen image viewing with zoom and swipe browsing • Auto-save, no need to worry about losing your work Multi-language Support • Support for Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, English, Japanese, and Korean • Fully localized interface with automatic date and time adaptation • Adjustable font size for more comfortable reading Sharing & Sync • Generate beautiful share images with one tap, support download and sharing • Optional iCloud backup for multi-device synchronization • Location information recording to enhance diary context Privacy & Security • Complete local storage, data is completely private • Support for fully offline use • No collection of any user data Design Philosophy Dawnary follows the core philosophy of "quick recording" and "instant healing," providing users who prefer minimalism with the lowest psychological threshold for text recording.
HeartNote Diary
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HeartNote is an offline-first private journaling app focused on privacy, security, and a calm writing experience. Your entries, photos, audio, video, files, and doodles are stored locally on your device by default. No account is required, and your data is not forced into the cloud. HeartNote helps you capture everyday life in richer ways. In addition to plain text, you can write with images, image groups, video, audio, files, and doodles. The editor supports mixed media layouts, flexible block reordering, and Markdown text, so writing feels natural and expressive. HeartNote also helps you organize and revisit your memories with: Timeline and calendar views Notebooks, tags, weather, and mood metadata Search and filters Media library for browsing attachments On This Day, trends, and review insights Time Capsule reminders for future reflection For privacy and protection, HeartNote supports app lock, PIN, biometric unlock, and local backup and restore, so your journal stays under your control. This version also adds: Multi-year diary Notebook-based journal export Direct journal creation from a selected calendar date Export a single entry as a shareable journal card If you want a journaling app that stays private, works offline, and supports rich content, HeartNote is built for long-term personal use.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Dawnary at every 4 days against HeartNote Diary's every 3 weeks. HeartNote Diary's advantage is iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Dawnary ships an update every 4 days, HeartNote Diary every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 17, 2026 and September 22, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Dawnary | HeartNote Diary |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | Every 4 days — better | Every 3 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 48 MB | 55 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Xiaoliang Zhang | 俐 王 |
In-app purchases
Dawnary
No in-app purchases
HeartNote Diary
No in-app purchases









