# Diary, Journal, Notes vs Colored Note

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Colored Note at none against Diary, Journal, Notes's 2. Colored Note also leads on ads (none vs shown). Diary, Journal, Notes's advantage is review sentiment (70% vs 54%) and iOS requirement (14.0 vs 18.0). On price, rating, ratings volume and update cadence there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. Diary, Journal, Notes sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $8.99 per year. Colored Note asks for nothing beyond the download.

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Diary, Journal, Notes against 4.7 for Colored Note. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 4.5K and 5K respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 70% of Diary, Journal, Notes's written reviews are positive against 54% of Colored Note's.

Diary, Journal, Notes ships an update weekly, Colored Note every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on September 23, 2026 and September 22, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | Diary, Journal, Notes | Colored Note |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | [4.7 (4.5K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/diary-journal-notes-diaro/id882519460/reviews) | [4.7 (5K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/colored-note/id907913367/reviews) |
| Number of ratings | 4.5K | **5K** |
| Positive reviews | **70.1% of reviews** | 53.8% of reviews |
| In-app purchases | Yes | **No** |
| Ads | Yes | **No** |
| Update frequency | Weekly | **Every 5 days** |
| Monetization | Freemium | **Free** |
| Size | 56 MB | 32 MB |
| Requires iOS | **14.0** | 18.0 |
| Devices | **iPhone, iPad, iPod** | iPhone, iPad |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Abhishek Kumar](https://appshunter.io/developer/1652325499) | [Veniamin Gribkov](https://appshunter.io/developer/907913370) |

## 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


### Colored Note

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/colored-note/id907913367)

Capture your thoughts, ideas, and experiences with a versatile diary and notepad. Add photos, color-code entries, and organize with tags for easy retrieval. Share your notes with friends or keep them private with passcode protection.

**Highlights:** Add photos to notes, Color-code notes for organization, Assign tags for searching, Sort notes as desired, Share notes with friends, Secure notes with a passcode

**In-app purchases:** none

**What reviewers like**

- 👍 Easy to use
- 🎨 Variety of colors and fonts
- 📝 Helpful for note-taking
- 🌟 Great app overall

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Occasional crashes or data loss
- 🔍 Difficulty finding or organizing notes
- 🔒 Lack of security features (e.g., password protection)
- 🔧 Issues with recent updates

**Reported bugs**

- Notes disappearing or not saving properly
- Cursor jumping or text selection issues
- Glitches with recent app updates

**Requested features**

- Add checklist/to-do list functionality
- Improve note sorting and search options
- Implement password protection or biometric security
- Provide more font and customization options


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Diary, Journal, Notes free?

Diary, Journal, Notes is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Is Colored Note free?

Colored Note is free to download, with no in-app purchases.

### Which has better reviews, Diary, Journal, Notes or Colored Note?

Diary, Journal, Notes and Colored Note are both rated 4.7 out of 5 on the App Store, from 4.5K and 5K ratings respectively.

### Do Diary, Journal, Notes or Colored Note have ads?

Diary, Journal, Notes shows ads; Colored Note does not.

### Which is updated more often, Diary, Journal, Notes or Colored Note?

Diary, Journal, Notes ships an update weekly, and Colored Note every 5 days. Most recently, Diary, Journal, Notes was updated on September 23, 2026 and Colored Note on September 22, 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.*