Comparison

Five Year Diary vs LayerYear

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

Head to head
About

Five Year Diary

Features
Read full description

Write today, and the same day from last year and the year before appear on the very same page. Gonen Diary is a five-year diary that shows five years of one date on a single page. A few lines are enough, so it is easy to keep going, and a year from now you get to meet yourself again. [Who it is for] - You want an easy five-year diary on your iPhone or iPad - Paper diaries never lasted more than a few days - You want to look back at what you were doing on this day last year - You keep short daily notes, such as a parenting or gratitude journal - You want a privacy-minded diary with no sign-up [No account, no network] - No registration and no email address - Your diary stays on this device only. Nothing is sent to a server - Even if a service goes down or you are offline, your diary stays readable [Meet last year's today] - The same date from five years is lined up on one page - While you write today, you can see last year's you right below - Open a past day from the calendar and the earlier years of that date appear with it - The longer you keep going, the thicker the page gets [Mood in one emoji] - Pick your mood from five emoji (optional; you can write without choosing) - Last year's mood for the same day shows up alongside the text [One photo a day] - Keep one photo per day (free) - Add a photo to today's entry or to a past day you are filling in - Photos stay on the device only. They are shrunk before saving and location data is removed - Last year's photo for the same day appears right under the text [Made for iPad too] - On iPad, the left side is where you write today and the right side lists the same day from earlier years - Text is a little larger (three text sizes to choose from) [Quiet, never pushy] - No streak counts and no "days in a row" badges - Days you skip are simply left alone (no "missed" marks) - Only the total number of entries is shown, quietly - No prompts forced on you and no character limit - No ads [Search and look back] - Search your diary by word (Search tab) - The calendar marks the days you wrote - An optional gentle reminder at your writing time (on or off) [Keeping your diary safe] - Every time you write, a backup copy is made on the device so you can restore it - Export (backup) and import are free. Your diary is always yours to take out (export covers text only, not photos) - Protect the app with Face ID, Touch ID or the device passcode - Nothing is sent to AI [Why a five-year diary works] Because one book shows the same date across five years, you never need to write a lot. Even a few lines turn into "this day last year" a year later. Seasonal events, your children growing, small changes at work and at home, shifts in health and mood: things you cannot notice in a single day appear across the years. [How to use it] 1. Write a few lines in the evening or morning 2. The same date from last year and the year before appears below 3. On days you want a photo, add just one 4. To find an entry, search by word 5. Export a backup of the diary you care about [About paying] - Writing, reading, searching, photos, export and import are all free - The only thing a one-time in-app purchase adds is exporting to PDF (save, print, share) - There are no monthly payments [FAQ] Q. Do I have to write every day? A. No. Days you skip are simply left as they are, with no missed marks. Q. Can I move my diary to a new phone? A. Export and import are free, so your diary can always go with you. Q. Can anyone else see my diary? A. It stays on your device and is never sent anywhere. You can also lock the app with Face ID and the like. Available in Japanese, English, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Korean, Vietnamese and Chinese (Traditional and Simplified). You can switch in Settings at any time. Dark mode is supported. A year from now, open this day and meet today's you. That is Gonen Diary.

About

LayerYear

This app lets you create a visual journal by lining up the same date across multiple years. It automatically populates your entries with photos, locations, and weather, allowing you to scroll through a timeline of your past. You can also create video montages of your memories.

Highlights
  • Yearly date comparison
  • Automatic photo and location import
  • Timeline scrolling
  • Route mapping
  • Timeline video creation
  • Habit tracking
  • iCloud sync
Read full description

A journal you can start writing right away, with no sign-up. Open the app, jot down a line and your mood, and today is saved. Your photos, places and weather fill in on their own, and as the years add up, the same date lines up across all of them. Your daily routines live right alongside. Writing your journal is free. Keep today Write a short note, add a mood, and tag it. Photos from your library appear on the day they were taken. Keep up daily routines Turn the habits you want to keep — taking medicine, a workout, learning a few words — into routines for the days you choose. Check them off right from Today, and get a reminder if one isn't done by the time you set. Your 7-day and 30-day completion rates and streaks show how consistent you've been. When you're sick or traveling, rest for today or pause for a while. See your years side by side Scroll a timeline where each year sits on its own row. Open any day to read what you wrote and look through its photos. Retrace where you went Days with location show a map of your route and the countries and cities you passed through, worked out on your device from boundary data built into the app. Make a timeline video Turn a stretch of your journal into a short video of your photos and the places they came from, then save it to your library. Expenses Turn on Expenses in Bits & Bobs to note what you spent right on each day's page. Enter amounts in the currency you paid in, and see totals per currency alongside totals converted to your main currency. Steps Turn on Steps in Bits & Bobs → Logs to see your daily step counts from Apple Health alongside your journal. Each day’s steps appear on its page and in the timeline, and you can look back at daily averages by period and at the same date in earlier years. Steps are only read on your iPhone to show them, never saved or sent anywhere. Create a Places Video Make a video where the fog lifts from each place you've been, then save or share it. Places you return to grow deeper in color, and it ends on a world map of everywhere you've gone. Yours alone There is no LayerYear account, and no server that stores your records. Your records stay on your device and sync through your own iCloud. Photo access is required, but you can allow only the photos you choose instead of your whole library. Location access is optional. Available in 11 languages, in light and dark. Subscription LayerYear Subscription is an optional monthly or yearly auto-renewing subscription. It unlocks subscriber-only screen themes and record colors, and supports the developer. Writing and revisiting your journal stays free without it. The same subscription also works in the Mac app with your Apple Account. Payment is charged to your Apple Account. The subscription renews automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel it in your App Store account settings. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://layeryear.com/en/privacy

Screenshots

Five Year Diary4 screens
LayerYear4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: LayerYear at every 3 days against Five Year Diary's every 9 days. Five Year Diary's advantage is iOS requirement (15.0 vs 26.0). 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Five Year Diary sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and LayerYear sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $1.00 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Five Year Diary ships an update every 9 days, LayerYear every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Five Year Diary versus LayerYear: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterFive Year DiaryLayerYear
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings—1 — better
Update frequencyEvery 9 daysEvery 3 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
Monetization—Freemium
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, Mac
Requires iOS15.0 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size34 MB51 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperAKIHIRO MATSUYAMABAMSEM

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Five Year Diary

One-time1
  • Unlock PDF Export$0.99
2 purchases

LayerYear

Subscriptions2
  • LayerYear Monthly$1.001 Month
  • LayerYear Yearly$10.001 Year

Questions

Is Five Year Diary free?
Five Year Diary is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is LayerYear free?
LayerYear is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Five Year Diary or LayerYear have ads?
Neither Five Year Diary nor LayerYear shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Five Year Diary or LayerYear?
Five Year Diary ships an update every 9 days, and LayerYear every 3 days. Most recently, Five Year Diary was updated on October 24, 2026 and LayerYear on October 25, 2026.

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