Apple Journal vs Diarium
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Diarium
Private journal with a one-time Pro purchase and your own cloud sync
Free plan · from $14.99 one-time
Where they differ
- Apple Journal is free. Diarium starts at $14.99 one-time purchase per platform.
- Only Diarium lists Windows and Android apps.
- Apple Journal is end-to-end encrypted, according to its own site.
- Diarium can be bought with a one-time purchase.
- Apple Journal also covers transcription.
- Diarium also covers templates.
In commonFree planiOSmacOSDaily notesMood tracking
At a glance
| Apple Journal | Diarium | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free | Free plan |
| Starts at | Free | $14.99 one-time purchase per platform |
| Free plan | The app is listed as free on the US App Store with no in-app purchases shown. Syncing between devices runs through iCloud with an Apple Account. | Free to use on Android, iPhone, iPad and Mac, without Pro features such as Cloud Sync, unlimited attachments, Word export, widgets, custom fonts, weather and integrations. Windows is a paid app. |
| Free trial | None listed | 7-day trial of all Pro features on Android, iOS and macOS before buying. |
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Apple | Timo Partl |
| Price read from | apps.apple.com | apps.apple.com |
| Checked | Oct 5, 2026 | Oct 5, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Apple Journal
- iPhone, iPad and Mac owners who want a journal at no cost
- People who like prompts drawn from their photos, workouts and outings
- Logging state of mind to the Health app alongside written entries
Diarium
- People who want to pay once instead of subscribing
- Journaling across Windows, Android, iPhone, iPad and Mac
- Keeping a journal on your own device and cloud storage with no account
- Pulling calendar, fitness and social activity into daily entries
Worth knowing
Apple Journal
- Listed only for iPhone, iPad and Mac; no Android, Windows or web version is offered.
- Apple says audio transcription is available in English only, excluding the Singapore and India locales.
- End-to-end encryption of entries stored in iCloud requires two-factor authentication and a device passcode.
- On Mac, journal entries are not included in iCloud backups; Apple points to Time Machine for a backup copy.
Diarium
- Pro is bought separately for each platform, and iOS and macOS count as separate purchases.
- Cloud Sync, unlimited attachments, Word export, widgets and integrations require Pro.
- There is no free version on Windows, where Diarium is a paid app listed at $19.99 in the Microsoft Store.
- By default the journal is stored only on the device, so without Cloud Sync you need to make your own backups.
Key features
Apple Journal
- Journaling suggestions
- Suggested moments group outings, photos, workouts and media into starting points for an entry, alongside writing and reflection prompts. Suggestions are created with on-device processing.
- Text, media and voice entries
- Entries hold formatted text, photos, videos, drawings and map locations. Voice recordings made in the app are transcribed automatically.
- Multiple journals and Places
- Separate journals can each have a custom name and icon. The Places view shows entries on a map by location, and entries can be searched, filtered and bookmarked.
- Insights and reminders
- Insights shows the current writing streak, the days journaled and other statistics. Scheduled and streak notifications remind you when it is time to write.
- State of mind logging
- A state of mind can be logged from within Journal and saved to the Health app, and writing time is saved to Health as Mindful Minutes.
- Lock, sync and export
- The journal can be locked with a passcode, Touch ID or Face ID. Entries sync through iCloud and can be printed or exported to PDF, singly or by date range.
Diarium
- Rich entries with attachments
- Entries support rich text formatting, tags and locations, plus photos, videos, audio recordings, PDFs and other files. Several entries can be created per day.
- Calendar, timeline and map views
- Look back through a calendar, a scrolling timeline, a map of places visited, an attachments gallery and an On this day page with optional notifications.
- Automatic feeds
- Connected services add context to a day: camera roll photos, calendar events, weather, Strava and Apple Health data, Microsoft To Do tasks and Last.fm scrobbles. Some feeds require Pro.
- Sync through your own cloud
- Pro syncs the journal across platforms using your OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox, iCloud or WebDAV storage. The uploaded data is compressed and encrypted.
- Import and export
- Migrates journals from Day One, Diaro, Journey, Daylio, Diarly, Daybook, Evernote and Apple Journal, and exports to Word, plain text, HTML or JSON.
- Lock without an account
- No login or sign-up is required and the app carries no ads. The journal can be protected with a password, PIN or biometrics such as Face ID and Windows Hello.
Plans
Apple Journal
Free$0
Every feature of the app on iPhone, iPad and Mac, including multiple journals, journaling suggestions, Insights and iCloud sync.
Diarium
Free$0
The app on Android, iPhone, iPad and Mac without Cloud Sync, unlimited attachments, Word export, widgets, custom fonts, weather or integrations.
Pro version (Android, iOS or macOS)$14.99
one-time purchase per platform
Unlocks Cloud Sync, unlimited attachments, Word export, connected feeds, custom fonts, widgets and weather. iOS and macOS count as separate platforms.
Diarium for Windows$19.99
one-time purchase (Microsoft Store)
A paid app that already includes Pro. The same app is also sold as a direct download on Gumroad for $30.
