Best Journal Apps & Games

250+ iOS apps & games curated and reviewed

4.7 avg rating
20 free apps & games
Updated August 2026

Out of 250+ journal apps and games on iOS, 20 are free and the rest sit in the paid tier. This page sorts them so you can compare both sides before you commit.

Compare top Journal Apps & Games (August 2026)

#AppPriceRatingAdsIn-App PurchasesUpdated
1JournalJournalFree4.8★ (231K)NoNoAug 2026
2Day One: Daily Journal & DiaryDay One: Daily Journal & DiaryFree4.8★ (118K)NoYesAug 2026
3Diary With PasswordDiary With PasswordFree4.7★ (27K)NoYesAug 2026
4DailyBean - simplest journalDailyBean - simplest journalFree4.8★ (70K)YesYesAug 2026
5Planner & Journal - ZinniaPlanner & Journal - ZinniaFree4.6★ (55K)YesYesAug 2026
6Notebook - Diary & Journal AppNotebook - Diary & Journal AppFree4.7★ (14K)YesYesAug 2026
7My Diary - Journal with LockMy Diary - Journal with LockFree4.7★ (28K)YesYesAug 2026
8stoic. journal & mental healthstoic. journal & mental healthFree4.8★ (35K)NoYesAug 2026

Top Picks for Journal

Journal#1

Journal by Apple

Reflect on life’s moments
Editor's Choice
💪 Health & Fitness
4.8😊(231K ratings)
Free
Journal screenshot 1
Journal screenshot 2
Journal screenshot 3
Journal screenshot 4
Journal screenshot 5
Journal screenshot 6

Capture and reflect on life's moments with rich media like photos, videos, and audio. Intelligent suggestions and prompts help you start writing, while multiple journals and goal tracking support a consistent practice. Sync across devices for seamless access.

What We Love

  • 🚀 Journaling made easy
  • 🔒 Private and secure
  • 👍 Organized and intuitive
  • 👍 Helpful suggestions and prompts

Room to Improve

  • 🐛 Cursor jumps around while typing
  • 🐛 Occasional crashes and freezes
  • 🔍 Lack of search and filtering options
Day One: Daily Journal & Diary#2

Day One: Daily Journal & Diary by Bloom Built Inc

Private Gratitude Journaling
Strong Contender
💪 Health & Fitness
4.8😊(118K ratings)
FreeIn-App Purchases
#91in Health & Fitness
Day One: Daily Journal & Diary screenshot 1
Day One: Daily Journal & Diary screenshot 2
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Day One: Daily Journal & Diary screenshot 4
Day One: Daily Journal & Diary screenshot 5
Day One: Daily Journal & Diary screenshot 6

Record your life with a private digital journal. Securely save text, photos, audio, and video. Features include reminders, prompts, and automatic data import to help you stay consistent and reminisce.

What We Love

  • 💻 Excellent journaling app
  • 🗓️ Ability to create multiple journals
  • 🎨 Customizable journal templates
  • 🔍 Powerful search and filtering

Room to Improve

  • 🔒 Subscription model for premium features
  • 🗓️ Issues with syncing and data loss
  • 🖌️ Limited customization options
Diary With Password#3

Diary With Password by 帆 杨

No Ads Journal Diary Notebook
Worth Considering
📊 Productivity
4.7😊(27K ratings)
FreeIn-App Purchases
Diary With Password screenshot 1
Diary With Password screenshot 2
Diary With Password screenshot 3
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Diary With Password screenshot 6

This app provides a private digital space to record daily thoughts, emotions, and life events. It offers robust security features like password and biometric locks, alongside tools for organizing, searching, and exporting your entries. Enjoy a customizable and ad-free journaling experience.

What We Love

  • 💻 Simple and easy to use
  • 🔒 Password protection
  • 📝 Customizable fonts and layout
  • ⏱️ Time stamp feature

Room to Improve

  • 🔍 Difficulty finding/accessing past entries
  • 🖼️ No image/media support
  • 🔄 Lack of syncing across devices

More Journal apps to explore

4
DailyBean - simplest journal
DailyBean - simplest journal
DailyBean - simplest journal
Mood tracker, daily log, diary
Free

This app provides a simple and enjoyable way to log daily experiences and moods. Customize your journal with themes and icons, and gain insights into your patterns with analysis reports. Easily integrate health data and special moments.

Record in secondsFully customizable icons and blocksDecorate with themes
🌟 Lifestyle
(70K)
free with in-app purchases
5
Planner & Journal - Zinnia
Planner & Journal - Zinnia
Planner & Journal - Zinnia
Notebook & Creative Diary
Free

This app offers a creative digital journaling and planning experience with a vast library of stickers, templates, and tools. It supports natural handwriting, doodling, and integrates with digital calendars for enhanced productivity and self-care tracking. New content and features are added monthly.

Customizable digital studioMonthly content additionsCalendar and habit trackers
🌟 Lifestyle
(55K)
free with in-app purchases
6
Notebook - Diary & Journal App
Notebook - Diary & Journal App
Notebook - Diary & Journal App
A diary that flips like a book
Free

This app offers a natural journaling experience by organizing daily notes on a single page, allowing you to flip through your entries like a physical book. It prioritizes simplicity, security with passcode locks, and seamless iCloud synchronization for easy access across devices.

Realistic page-turning effectOne page per day organizationiCloud sync and backup
📊 Productivity
(14K)
free with in-app purchases
7
My Diary - Journal with Lock
My Diary - Journal with Lock
My Diary - Journal with Lock
Journaling Diary with password
Free

This app offers a secure and personalized digital journal for recording daily thoughts, memories, and emotions. Enhance entries with photos, themes, and mood tracking. It's designed to support mental well-being by providing a private space for self-reflection and emotional processing.

Password-protected diaryAdd photos and drawingsCustomizable themes and backgrounds
🌟 Lifestyle
(28K)
free with in-app purchases
8
stoic. journal & mental health
stoic. journal & mental health
stoic. journal & mental health
AI journaling, Gratitude diary
Free

This app guides users through daily preparation and reflection to improve mental well-being. It offers journaling prompts, habit tracking, mood monitoring, and various mental health tools like meditation and breathing exercises. Users can also journal via voice notes or pictures.

Morning preparation & evening reflectionGuided journaling with promptsMood and habit tracking
💪 Health & Fitness
(35K)
freemium
9
Gratitude: Self-Care Journal
Gratitude: Self-Care Journal
Gratitude: Self-Care Journal
Affirmations and Vision Board
Free

This self-care app helps improve mental health with a private gratitude journal, positive affirmations, and vision boards. It offers daily motivation, prompts, and the ability to record voice entries and add photos to your journal.

Gratitude journal with photo and voice entryHundreds of positive affirmationsCreate multiple vision boards
💪 Health & Fitness
(45K)
free with in-app purchases
10
Digital Planner – Task Journal
Digital Planner – Task Journal
Digital Planner – Task Journal
Routine List & Notes Tracker
Free

This app combines a daily planner with creative tools to organize your life and express your imagination. Create habit trackers, to-do lists, and reading lists, all while using colorful templates, stickers, and brushes. It also features AI art generation to add unique visuals to your pages.

Habit trackersTo-do listsReading and movie lists
📊 Productivity
(14K)
free with in-app purchases
11
Daylio Journal - Mood Tracker
Daylio Journal - Mood Tracker
Daylio Journal - Mood Tracker
Private Diary, Health, Habits
Free

This app helps you track your moods and activities to understand your well-being. It offers a private micro-diary experience without requiring extensive typing, allowing you to identify happiness triggers and build positive habits.

Mood tracking with icons and emojisActivity loggingPrivate journaling without typing
🌟 Lifestyle
(61K)
free with in-app purchases
12
Mininote - Cute note and diary
Mininote - Cute note and diary
Mininote - Cute note and diary
Daily Notes and Journalings
Free

This app serves as a portable electronic notebook and mood tracking diary, allowing users to record daily thoughts and emotions. It offers powerful note editing, custom emoticons, and a calendar view for mood overviews. Security features like password protection and iCloud backup are included.

Mood diary recordingCustom emoticon drawingPowerful note editing
🌟 Lifestyle
(21K)
freemium
13
Reflectly - Journal & AI Diary
Reflectly - Journal & AI Diary
Reflectly - Journal & AI Diary
Self-Care Mood Tracker & CBT
Free

This AI-powered journaling app helps you track your mood, process thoughts, and improve mental well-being. It offers personalized prompts and insights based on your entries to encourage self-care and mindfulness.

AI-powered journalingMood tracking and analysisPersonalized prompts and insights
💪 Health & Fitness
(82K)
free with in-app purchases
14
5 Minute Journal・Daily Diary
5 Minute Journal・Daily Diary
5 Minute Journal・Daily Diary
Gratitude・Journal・Mood Tracker
Free

This app guides users through a daily gratitude journaling practice using principles of positive psychology. It helps cultivate a more positive outlook by focusing on what's good, with features like guided prompts, reminders, and secure entry protection. The app aims to improve overall well-being and mental health through consistent practice.

Guided journaling promptsDaily gratitude entriesMood tracking
💪 Health & Fitness
(18K)
free with in-app purchases
15
Prompted Journal - Shadow Work
Prompted Journal - Shadow Work
Prompted Journal - Shadow Work
Private journaling for therapy
Free

This app provides a guided journaling experience with over 190 prompts and "Dive Deeper" questions to encourage self-reflection and personal growth. It helps users establish a consistent self-care routine through daily reminders and offers privacy with no data storage required.

190+ journal prompts"Dive Deeper" questionsDaily reminders
🌟 Lifestyle
(6.9K)
free with in-app purchases
16
Journey - Diary, Journal
Journey - Diary, Journal
Journey - Diary, Journal
Daily Motivation & Journal
Free

This app helps you capture memories, express yourself through writing, and track your emotions. It offers tools for creating rich journal entries, collaborative journaling, and secure storage. Enhance your experience with templates, plugins, and reminders for a more mindful and organized life.

Capture memories with photos, videos, and audioRich text editor with formatting optionsMood tracking and emotional fluctuation analysis
🌟 Lifestyle
(5.1K)
freemium
17
Scrabble® GO – Fun with Words!
Scrabble® GO – Fun with Words!
Scrabble® GO – Fun with Words!
Play Word Games with Friends!
Free

Engage in a variety of word games, including classic Scrabble, word search, and solo puzzles. Play against friends or the computer, collect unique tiles, and use boosts to enhance your gameplay. Track your progress and level up to unlock more features.

Multiple word game modesMultiplayer and solo playCollectible and customizable tiles
🎮 Games
(311K)
free with in-app purchases
18
Reading Log: Parents & School
Reading Log: Parents & School
Reading Log: Parents & School
Book Tracker, Timer & Goals
Free

This app helps families track reading habits for children of all ages. It offers features like barcode scanning, reading timers, and family profiles to organize and celebrate reading progress without paper logs. Users can also import data from other platforms and generate reports.

Barcode scanner for quick book entryReading timer with automatic duration calculationOffline logging capabilities
📚 Education
(2)
freemium
19
Daily Journal: Diary with Lock
Daily Journal: Diary with Lock
Daily Journal: Diary with Lock
Your Private Secret Journaling
Free

This app serves as a private digital journal to record daily experiences, emotions, and memories. Secure your entries with password, fingerprint, or face ID, and enhance them with photos. Track your moods and use built-in reminders to cultivate a consistent journaling habit.

Password, fingerprint, and face ID securityAdd photos to journal entriesMood and emotion tracking
🌟 Lifestyle
(5.5K)
free with in-app purchases
20
Diarly: Diary, Private Journal
Diarly: Diary, Private Journal
Diarly: Diary, Private Journal
My Daily Notes & Mood Tracker
Free

This app helps you start and maintain a journaling habit with daily prompts, mood tracking, and the ability to add photos and other media. It also allows for creating topic-based notes and seamlessly integrates with other apps and services for a comprehensive personal record.

Daily prompts with enriched data (weather, location, health)Mood tracking and pattern analysisTopic-based note creation
💪 Health & Fitness
(1.4K)
freemium

FAQ about Journal

What are the best journal apps & games for iPhone?
Journal tops our journal apps & games ranking as of August 2026, with a 4.8-star average from 231K App Store ratings, and it's free to download.
Yes — 20 of the top journal apps & games we rank are free to download, including Journal and Day One: Daily Journal & Diary.
Journal has no ads and has no in-app purchases, according to its App Store listing as of August 2026.
We track 250+ journal apps & games on the iOS App Store as of August 2026, ranked by rating, recency, and analysis of real user reviews.
This app allows you to capture and reflect on your daily moments and special events. You can write entries, add photos, videos, audio recordings, and even your state of mind. It provides journaling suggestions and prompts to help you get started and maintain a consistent practice.
Key features include intelligent journaling suggestions based on your iPhone usage, the ability to illustrate entries with rich media, handwriting and sketching capabilities, organization into multiple journals, habit tracking with streaks and insights, and secure syncing across iPhone, iPad, and Mac via iCloud.

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