Comparison

memono Journal vs Private Notes.

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

Head to head
About

memono Journal

Create rich multimedia journal entries with text, photos, audio, and location data. Organize notes with color categories, set reminders, and share them easily. Secure your entries with a lock and fingerprint access.

Highlights
  • Multimedia notes (text, photos, audio)
  • Location tagging
  • Color-coded organization
  • Reminders and notifications
  • Secure lock with Touch ID
  • iCloud synchronization
  • Note sharing
Features
Read full description

Multimedia journal and notes application for iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and Apple Watch. ** SAE Alumni Award 2015 WINNER ** TEXT Add a title and text to your note. Phone numbers, addresses, web links and email addresses can be used interactive from inside memono. PHOTOS Take a photo with the camera or choose one from the photo library and add it to your note. View the photo fullscreen and zoom into it. Save multiple images per note. PHOTO FILTERS Choose from many different photo filter effects and apply them to your photo. Remove the filter effects at any time to reuse the original photo. AUDIO RECORDING Record a voice message for every note. LOCATION Add a location to your note or let memono do it automatically. DATE The date will be added automatically to each note and can also be edited. COLOR CATEGORIES Assign different colors to your notes to organize them. SHARE NOTE Share your note via email, SMS, Twitter, Facebook, Sina Weibo or save a custom designed memono note to your photo library. REMINDER ALERT Set a reminder alert for each note and receive a notification. ICLOUD Use iCloud to synchronize your notes across all your devices and to save a backup in iCloud. LOCK Lock your memono app by defining a touch pattern gesture to protect your notes and keep them private. Use Touch ID to unlock memono with your fingerprint. SEARCH & SPOTLIGHT SEARCH Notes can be filtered by doing a text search. 3D TOUCH Quick actions, peek and pop. APPLE WATCH Use Apple Watch to create a note. View your notes on Apple Watch. Receive notifications from memono on Apple Watch. memono Pro is offered as a one-time purchase or as a subscription either 3-montly or yearly. You can cancel subscriptions at any time through your App Store account settings. Subscriptions automatically renew if they are not canceled within 24 hours of the end of the current period. Subscriptions can be managed by the user and auto-renewal can be turned off in the user's account settings after purchase. For more information, see our privacy policy and our terms and conditions. http://appinghouse.com/memono-privacy.html http://appinghouse.com/memono-terms.html

About

Private Notes.

Securely store your personal thoughts, ideas, and text with a passcode or biometric authentication. This app offers intuitive text editing tools and a straightforward interface for organizing timestamped notes.

Highlights
  • Biometric and passcode security
  • Intuitive copy/paste/cut
  • Text formatting (underline, bold, italic)
  • Timestamped notes
  • Straightforward user interface
Features
Read full description

Have personal notes you would like to keep secret? Look no further. With this app you can safely secure personal thoughts, ideas or any text with with Apple’s touch/Face ID or a passcode. FEATURES: -Intuitive copy/paste/cut functions are at your disposal. -Underline, embolden or change any word in italic. -Straight forward user interface allows you to quickly organize your timestamped notes.

Screenshots

memono Journal4 screens
Private Notes.3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: memono Journal at 85% against Private Notes.'s 14%. memono Journal also leads on ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (monthly vs every 2 months). Private Notes.'s advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 3) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 17.0). On price 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. memono Journal sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per 3 months. Private Notes. asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

memono Journal ships an update monthly, Private Notes. every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
memono Journal versus Private Notes.: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
Parametermemono JournalPrivate Notes.
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (301 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews85.2% of reviews — better14.3% of reviews
Number of ratings301 — better—
Update frequencyMonthly — betterEvery 2 months
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesAd-supported — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple WatchiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS17.012.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size50 MB16 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDennis EbbinghausWALABOK LLC

Customer experience

memono Journal

All ratings301 ratings
Positive88.0%
Neutral7.6%
Negative4.3%
Written reviews900 reviews
Positive85.2%
Neutral6.8%
Negative8.0%

Private Notes.

Written reviews7 reviews
Positive14.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative85.7%

Bugs and requests

memono Journal

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Photos disappearing after saving
  • Syncing issues between devices
  • Crashes and freezes on certain devices

Requested features

4 requests
  • Ability to change font size and style
  • Option to add multiple photos per note
  • Folder/category organization
  • Improved search and sorting functionality

Private Notes.

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

3 purchases

memono Journal

Subscriptions2
  • 3 months$2.993 Months
  • 1 Year$4.991 Year
One-time1
  • One-time purchase$9.99
None

Private Notes.

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is memono Journal free?
memono Journal is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Private Notes. free?
Private Notes. is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do memono Journal or Private Notes. have ads?
Private Notes. shows ads; memono Journal does not.
Which is updated more often, memono Journal or Private Notes.?
memono Journal ships an update monthly, and Private Notes. every 2 months. Most recently, memono Journal was updated on November 6, 2026 and Private Notes. on November 3, 2026.

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