Comparison

Dive Diary vs Subsurface

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

Head to head
About

Dive Diary

This app serves as a digital logbook for scuba divers, allowing users to record their dives with a visually appealing, customizable interface. It supports unlimited photo and video attachments, cloud backup, and easy sharing of dive logs.

Highlights
  • Customizable logbook design
  • Unlimited photo/video attachments
  • Cloud backup and restore
  • Cross-device synchronization
  • Social media sharing
  • Import Suunto dive computer logs
  • Export logs to CSV
Features
Read full description

Dive Diary is a scuba diving log book application that looks like a real paper-based log book. Create your own stylish and emotional log book that is easy to use. Features • Full-view screen design and easy-to-use interface. • Provision of beautiful ocean scenery and moving fish images for designing your own log book. • You can attach an unlimited number of pictures/videos for each log. • You can very easily backup your log data to our server and restore it just with one touch. • You can keep same logs on all your iOS devices. • You can change the design of your logbook. Dive Diary support 6 color skins, 19 wallpapers, 17 diary inner pages. • You can share screenshot of your logbook to social network service like Facebook, Twitter and so on. • You can import logs in your dive computer through File Sharing of the iTunes. Currently, you can import only Suunto dive computer's logs that are exported as XML file through Suunto DM5. • You can export logs to a CSV format file.

About

Subsurface

This application allows divers to manage their dive logs on their mobile devices. It supports editing dive data and downloading new information from compatible dive computers. Optional cloud synchronization is available for seamless data transfer with desktop versions.

Highlights
  • Mobile dive log management
  • Edit dive data
  • Download from Bluetooth LE dive computers
  • Optional cloud synchronization
  • Open-source and free
Read full description

Subsurface-mobile is an iOS dive log application based on Subsurface, the best free open source dive log application available on Windows, Mac and Linux. Subsurface-mobile allows you to access your dive log on your tablet or phone, edit the data and even download new dive information from many Bluetooth LE enabled dive computers. Using a free Subsurface Cloud Storage account you can synchronize your dive data with the Subsurface desktop application (while significantly increasing the usefulness, the cloud account is not required to use Subsurface-mobile). To get support from the developers, please use the in-app menu entry "Ask for support" Please check out the Subsurface-mobile user manual: https://subsurface-divelog.org/documentation/subsurface-mobile-v3-user-manual (also available from within the app) Subsurface-mobile is free and open source. No ads, no commercial anything. And it comes with free cloud storage (if you decide to use that - it's optional). Your data aren't used for anything, nothing gets monetized.

Screenshots

Dive Diary4 screens
Subsurface4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Subsurface at 4.5 against Dive Diary's 4.0. Dive Diary's advantage is review sentiment (90% vs 63%) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 17). 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Subsurface holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 4.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 19 and 48 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 90% of Dive Diary's written reviews are positive against 63% of Subsurface's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 months. Both last shipped on September 18, 2026.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Dive Diary versus Subsurface: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDive DiarySubsurface
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.0 (19 ratings)4.5 (48 ratings) — better
Positive reviews90.0% of reviews — better63.3% of reviews
Number of ratings1948 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS13.0 — better17
Further details — not scored
Size25 MB52 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperGoanmook ChoiDirk Hohndel

Customer experience

Dive Diary

All ratings19 ratings
Positive78.9%
Neutral10.5%
Negative10.5%
Written reviews30 reviews
Positive90.0%
Neutral6.7%
Negative3.3%

Subsurface

All ratings48 ratings
Positive89.6%
Neutral2.1%
Negative8.3%
Written reviews30 reviews
Positive63.3%
Neutral6.7%
Negative30.0%

In-app purchases

None

Dive Diary

No in-app purchases

None

Subsurface

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Dive Diary free?
Dive Diary is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Subsurface free?
Subsurface is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Dive Diary or Subsurface?
Subsurface is rated higher. Dive Diary averages 4.0 out of 5 from 19 ratings, while Subsurface averages 4.5 from 48 ratings.
Do Dive Diary or Subsurface have ads?
Neither Dive Diary nor Subsurface shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Dive Diary or Subsurface?
Dive Diary ships an update every 2 months, and Subsurface every 2 months. Most recently, Dive Diary was updated on September 18, 2026 and Subsurface on September 18, 2026.

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