# Diary, Journal, Notes vs Card Diary

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.

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.

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.

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.

## The numbers

| Metric | Diary, Journal, Notes | Card Diary |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | [4.7 (4.5K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/diary-journal-notes-diaro/id882519460/reviews) | **[4.7 (1.3K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/card-diary-journal-diary/id1295506659/reviews)** |
| Number of ratings | **4.5K** | 1.3K |
| Positive reviews | 70.1% of reviews | **80.4% of reviews** |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Ads | Yes | **No** |
| Update frequency | Weekly | **Every 5 days** |
| Monetization | Freemium | Free with in-app purchases |
| Size | 56 MB | 421 MB |
| Requires iOS | **14.0** | 14.7 |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Abhishek Kumar](https://appshunter.io/developer/1652325499) | [Dreamkit Co., Ltd.](https://appshunter.io/developer/1295506658) |

## What reviewers say

### Diary, Journal, Notes

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/diary-journal-notes-diaro/id882519460)

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:** macOS Compatibility, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (2)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Diaro Pro 1 Year | $8.99 | per year |
| Diaro PRO | $39.99 | one-time |

**What reviewers like**

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

**What reviewers complain about**

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

**Reported bugs**

- 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

**Requested features**

- 💡 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

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/card-diary-journal-diary/id1295506659)

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:** macOS Compatibility, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (5)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1 Month | $0.99 | per month |
| 1 Year | $5.99 | per year |
| Lifetime | $9.99 | one-time |
| Thanks Coffee | $12.99 | one-time |
| Thanks Beer | $12.99 | one-time |

**What reviewers like**

- 👍 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

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 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

**Reported bugs**

- 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**

- 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


## Frequently asked 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.

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*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*