Comparison

sDiary vs Diary

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

Head to head
About

sDiary

Features
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One day a page. One intention, a few moments, then seal it. sDiary is a slow, intentional journal. You write a single line for what the day is about, capture a handful of moments as text, photos, or voice, and then seal the page. Once a day is sealed it goes into your book: the long arc of every page you've written. No streaks. No engagement loops. No coach. No social. The day is yours, and so is the book. The flow. Morning. Set an intention. One sentence. Through the day. Add moments. Text, photo, or voice. Evening. Reflect. Seal the day. The page closes; tomorrow is a fresh one. Threads (Pro). The phrases that keep coming back across your sealed days, surfaced automatically. All computation happens on your device. No cloud, no third-party service. Trusted Reader (with Sync). Invite exactly one person you trust to read your sealed days. They see what you chose to share, when you chose to share it. Revoke any time. Year-Review. Every December 31, sDiary auto-opens a retrospective of the year: the intentions, the recurring threads, the sealed-day count. Free, Pro, and Sync. The base app is free, forever. Pro is a one-time unlock that opens Threads, voice moments, unlimited photos per day, full-history search, and Year-Reviews. Sapplify Sync is free with a Sapplify account and covers multi-device sync and the Trusted Reader feature, across every Sapplify app. Local-first, by default. Your days live in a SQLite database on your phone. Nothing leaves your device unless you turn on Sapplify Sync, and even then, only your own data, to your own account. Terms of Use: https://www.sapplify.com/terms/sdiary/ Sapplify Account Privacy: https://www.sapplify.com/policies/account/ Sapplify Account Terms: https://www.sapplify.com/terms/account/

About

Diary

Features
Read full description

One line a day. That's the whole idea. A private five-year micro diary that takes ten seconds a night โ€” and one day shows you what you wrote on this exact date one, two, five years ago. Write one short line about today, auto-dated. Tomorrow, another. A month from now you have a quiet calendar of your days; a year from now, today comes back to meet you. That's it. No prompts to answer, no streaks to keep, no guilt for a missed day โ€” a missed day just stays empty. ONE LINE A DAY - A single 280-character entry per day, dated for you - Editable the same day โ€” then it's part of the record - A beautiful, calm, paper-warm design with serif writing - Add a photo to any day's entry - Color themes, including a dark mode ON THIS DAY - YOUR MEMORY KEEPER - See the same date across every past year, stacked on one page - "One year ago... two years ago... five years ago..." - A five-year diary that quietly writes itself A WHOLE MONTH AT A GLANCE - A soft month calendar with a dot on every day you wrote - No charts, no percentages โ€” just your days A PRIVATE DIARY WITH LOCK - Optional Face ID / Touch ID app lock - An offline journal โ€” no account, no sign-in, no cloud - Nothing is ever uploaded; your words stay on your phone CALM BY DESIGN - One gentle daily reminder, at a time you choose โ€” never a streak, never a nag - No badges, no goals, no gamification - Just a quiet place for your daily journal YOURS TO KEEP - Look back through your entire diary, any time - Export your whole diary as a PDF or plain text, any time Whether you call it a one line a day journal, a micro journal, a memory keeper, or simply your diary โ€” this is the simplest way to remember your life, ten seconds at a time. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ โ€” Privacy Policy: https://kanac.github.io/syanac-legal/

Screenshots

sDiary4 screens
Diary4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Diary at every 4 days against sDiary's every 3 weeks. On price, ads, 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. sDiary sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month and Diary sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $11.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

sDiary ships an update every 3 weeks, Diary every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 10, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference ยท 5 level
sDiary versus Diary: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParametersDiaryDiary
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksEvery 4 days โ€” better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod โ€” betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.0 โ€” better16.4
Further details โ€” not scored
Size44 MB38 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAnthony Eli RaschAnthony Chui

In-app purchases

4 purchases

sDiary

Subscriptions2
  • Sapplify Sync Monthly1 Month trial$1.991 Month
  • Sapplify Sync Yearly1 Month trial$19.991 Year
One-time2
  • sDiary Pro - EarlyBird$7.99
  • sDiary Pro$14.99
3 purchases

Diary

Subscriptions2
  • Pro Monthly$11.991 Month
  • Pro Yearly$35.991 Year
One-time1
  • Pro Lifetime$59.99

Questions

Is sDiary free?
sDiary is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Diary free?
Diary is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do sDiary or Diary have ads?
Neither sDiary nor Diary shows ads.
Which is updated more often, sDiary or Diary?
sDiary ships an update every 3 weeks, and Diary every 4 days. Most recently, sDiary was updated on October 24, 2026 and Diary on October 10, 2026.

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