Comparison

Diary, Journal, Notes vs Card Diary

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

Head to head
About

Diary, Journal, Notes

Record daily activities, thoughts, and memories securely. Organize entries with tags, locations, and folders. Sync across devices and export your data easily. Features include mood tracking, photo attachments, and a calendar view.

Highlights
  • Secure PIN and fingerprint lock
  • Customizable themes and 30+ languages
  • Powerful search and filtering
  • Mood tracker and Atlas view
  • Backup, restore, import, and export options
  • Cloud sync via Dropbox
  • Attach unlimited photos
Features
Read full description

Diaro is a multi-platform diary, journal, notes app designed to record your activities, daily events, appointments, experiences, thoughts, feelings, secrets and ideas throughout the day and sync data across all your devices & PC. It helps you organize your daily diary/journal entries or notes from the past in the easiest way. Preserve your special memories, store personal moments & memories or keep track of your life with help of Diaro. DIARO FEATURES SECURE & PRIVATE Lock & Protect your private diary entries with a PIN, Security code or fingerprint. Protect Privacy with data encryption & passcode THEMES & LANGUAGES Personalize UI with different UI colors & Themes. Multilingual UI(30+ languages), adapted for phones, tablets and web. Simple and intuitive interface SEARCH & ORGANIZE Powerful search and filter functions. Organize diary / journal entries using folders, tags, locations and find records by keyword, filter them by date, tags, folder or even location MOOD TRACKER ,ATLAS & THROWBACK Daily Diary Mood tracker, On this day diary memories / daily diary throwback, Weather info & beautiful Atlas view BACKUP & RESTORE Backup diary entries for easy recovery & restore easily IMPORT & EXPORT Export to PDF, Docx or Txt and print or share them via Diaro App or Diaro Online (PDF, DOCX, CSV & TXT). Import data from other popular diary apps : Journey, Evernote, Catch Notes, Flava, Google Keep, Momento, Day One apps SYNC Using Dropbox you can seamlessly sync between the Diaro app on all of your devices and Diaro Online using any web browser STATISTICS Detailed interesting statistics about your diary entries and mood OTHER FEATURES • Automatic Geotagging for new diary entries • Calendar view for easy navigation & overview of daily entries • Attach & store unlimited amount of photos in your diary • Cloud storage & Sync (via Dropbox) • Share diary entries and photos via Email, SMS, Twitter, Whatsapp etc. • Quickly create a new diary entry from the notification bar icon or widget • Multi-window mode (if supported by device) • Swipe between your diary entries • Speak to write, voice to text DIARO ONLINE You can access your Diaro diary entries online on any device using your web browser ABOUT DIARO Trusted by millions of users worldwide, Diaro is the smart, intuitive and most secure way to keep a personal diary. Download now for free and keep your secret diary, diet diary logs, travel diary with stories, sleep journal, photos and maps , wish lists, daily expenses, autobiography or daily life diary notes, securely. You can organize your receipts, invoices, or use it as a homework tracker or assignment planner, organizer, notebook or as simple note-taking app. Keep A Beautiful, Orderly, and Private Journal Of Your Thoughts and Days With Diaro! Find the FAQs in the Help & Support or contact us at support@diaroapp.com DIARO PRO FEATURES Diaro PRO membership is an auto-renewing subscription. Pricing: US$5.99/year. Price may vary by location and are clearly displayed in the app. • Sync your diary across all your devices and Diaro Online using your Dropbox account • Export to PDF & other formats • Ad-Free Premium Experience • Priority Customer Support + Payment will be charged to your iTunes account at confirmation of purchase. + Your subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period. + Your account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period, and identify the cost of the renewal. + You can manage your subscription and switch off auto-renewal by accessing your Account Settings after purchase. + Any unused portion of a free trial period, if offered, will be forfeited if you purchase a subscription to that publication, where applicable. Privacy policy: https://www.diaroapp.com/privacy-policy Terms of use: https://www.diaroapp.com/terms

About

Card Diary

This app offers a simple and beautiful way to journal your daily experiences. Easily record thoughts, emotions, and memories with text or photos, making each day feel meaningful. Customize your entries with backgrounds, fonts, and tags.

Highlights
  • Decorate cards with photos or colors
  • Record multiple diaries per day
  • Calendar view
  • Add photos and videos
  • Track weather and emotions
  • Tag entries and add locations
  • Automatic iCloud backup and sync
Features
Read full description

◆ "App of The Day" in over 100 countries. ◆ Over 1.7 million App Store downloads. ◆ App Store recommendation "Best New App". Card Diary makes journaling a simple, mindful and highly rewarding activity. -- APP OF THE DAY Make every day meaningful. -- Apple Editors’ Notes For concise diary entries -- App Store [FEATURED] "Card Diary" is a simple and easy Diary Journal App. "Card Diary" has the concept of "putting a day on a card". Write today's journal. One line of text or one picture is fine. "Card Diary" makes your day meaningful and special. Record your day easily and beautifully. You can make a pretty diary even if you use only one picture or one line of text. We believe that your every day is very meaningful. We hope that Card Diary will help motivate you to find meaning in every day. This is a simple, clean diary app. You can set a background for each month, using a photo or choosing from 20 colors, 15 pastels and 5 monotones. Then make each day special by choosing between two types of card: photo or text-based. Love, happiness, joy, sad or angry... You can write all your emotions and memories on the card. Try using it as a variety of diaries. (Photo journal, butler journal, reading journal, movie journal, love journal, etc.) ◆ Features ◆ - Decorate your cards. (Photo/Color) - Write multiple diaries per day. - Calendar view provided. - Photos and videos. - Weather and emotions. - Locations and tags. - Favorites. - Automatic backup. (iCloud) - Multi-device synchronization. (iCloud) - Manual backup and restore. - App lock. (Password, Touch ID, Face ID) - File export: TXT and PDF (print). - Various fonts. - Various font styles. (bold, align, color, etc.) - Timestamps and dividers. - Optimized UI for iPhone and iPad. - Dark mode. ◆ Feedback ◆ - Instagram : @carddiary.app - Facebook Messenger : @carddiary.me - Line ID : dreamkitcorp - WeChat ID : dreamkitcorp - Privacy Policy : https://carddiary.me/PrivacyPolicy.html - Terms of Use : https://carddiary.me/TermsOfUses.html

Screenshots

Diary, Journal, Notes4 screens
Card Diary4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Card Diary at none against Diary, Journal, Notes's shown. Card Diary also leads on review sentiment (80% vs 70%). Diary, Journal, Notes's advantage is ratings volume (4.5K vs 1.3K). On price, rating, update cadence and in-app purchases 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. Diary, Journal, Notes sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $8.99 per year and Card Diary sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Diary, Journal, Notes against 4.7 for Card Diary. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 4.5K and 1.3K respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 70% of Diary, Journal, Notes's written reviews are positive against 80% of Card Diary's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Diary, Journal, Notes ships an update weekly, Card Diary every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and October 29, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Diary, Journal, Notes versus Card Diary: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDiary, Journal, NotesCard Diary
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (4.5K ratings)4.7 (1.3K ratings) — better
Positive reviews70.1% of reviews80.4% of reviews — better
Number of ratings4.5K — better1.3K
Update frequencyWeeklyEvery 5 days — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemiumFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS14.0 — better14.7
Further details — not scored
Size56 MB421 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAbhishek KumarDreamkit Co., Ltd.

Customer experience

Diary, Journal, Notes

All ratings4,483 ratings
Positive93.3%
Neutral3.4%
Negative3.3%
Written reviews345 reviews
Positive70.1%
Neutral7.8%
Negative22.0%

Card Diary

All ratings1,325 ratings
Positive93.7%
Neutral3.8%
Negative2.4%
Written reviews828 reviews
Positive80.4%
Neutral7.2%
Negative12.3%

User reviews

Diary, Journal, Notes

From 4.5K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Consistent for years
  • 🚀 Excellent app
  • 🚀 Great app and great support
  • 👍 Love this app
  • 👍 Fantastic replacement to a physical diary

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Suddenly become useless
  • 🐛 Terrible app
  • 🐛 Doesn't work anymore
  • 🐛 Horrible, don't work
  • 🐛 PIN protection doesn't work

Card Diary

From 1.3K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Simple and easy to use
  • 🚀 Smooth and fast performance
  • 💎 Beautiful and minimalist design
  • 📸 Ability to add photos and videos
  • 🔒 Secure with password/Touch ID protection

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional crashes and bugs
  • 🔍 Limited search and filtering options
  • 🖍️ Lack of rich text formatting options
  • 🗓️ Difficulty navigating between months/years
  • 💰 Some key features locked behind paywall

Bugs and requests

Diary, Journal, Notes

Reported bugs

6 issues
  • Reminders broken on iOS
  • Crashes after activating Touch ID
  • Stuck on blue logo page after Touch ID stopped working
  • Sync issues between devices
  • Entries disappearing or not saving properly
Show 1 more
  • Inability to export entries as PDF

Requested features

5 requests
  • 💡 Add bold, underline, italics formatting
  • 💡 Add ability to add captions to images
  • 💡 Add ability to customize moods
  • 💡 Add Face ID, iCloud sync, and additional fonts
  • 💡 Add ability to format text, add bullet points, link to calendars

Card Diary

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Entries not saving properly or disappearing after updates
  • Calendar view not displaying entries correctly on certain dates
  • Issues with iCloud sync causing data loss or inconsistencies

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add ability to rearrange photo order in entries
  • Implement a 'On This Day' feature to view past entries
  • Allow syncing across multiple devices with a user account
  • Introduce more customization options for fonts, colors, etc.
  • Integrate with other services like Dropbox for backup/export

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Diary, Journal, Notes

Subscriptions1
  • Diaro Pro 1 Year$8.991 Year
One-time1
  • Diaro PRO$39.99
5 purchases

Card Diary

Subscriptions2
  • 1 Month3 Days trial$0.991 Month
  • 1 Year3 Days trial$5.991 Year
One-time3
  • Lifetime$9.99
  • Thanks Coffee$12.99
  • Thanks Beer$12.99

Questions

Is Diary, Journal, Notes free?
Diary, Journal, Notes is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Card Diary free?
Card Diary is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Diary, Journal, Notes or Card Diary?
Card Diary is rated higher. Diary, Journal, Notes averages 4.7 out of 5 from 4.5K ratings, while Card Diary averages 4.7 from 1.3K ratings.
Do Diary, Journal, Notes or Card Diary have ads?
Diary, Journal, Notes shows ads; Card Diary does not.
Which is updated more often, Diary, Journal, Notes or Card Diary?
Diary, Journal, Notes ships an update weekly, and Card Diary every 5 days. Most recently, Diary, Journal, Notes was updated on November 1, 2026 and Card Diary on October 29, 2026.

Other comparisons