10 Best Journal Apps for iPhone and Android

Journaling is a fantastic way to reflect on your life and gain a deeper understanding of your thoughts, emotions, and experiences. Digital journals have replaced the days of handwriting, making it quick and intuitive to take notes. Whether you're looking to stay focused, boost creativity, or maintain a positive attitude, there are plenty of journal apps available for your smartphone. We have compiled a list of the 10 best journal apps for Android and iPhone after testing them as, well, journalists! So, let's dive in!

1. Journey

Journey is our top pick for journal apps, thanks to its intuitive design and user-friendly interface. With features like Journal Coach and Instagram-style Stories, it provides an engaging journaling experience. You can write unlimited entries, attach media, and even track your mood on a daily basis. The Journey tab displays the number of journal entries you've made each day, while the Calendar view shows if you've missed a day. Journey also offers resources in the Coach program to help you learn how to journal and maintain the habit. Additional features like different themes, desktop access, and email support can be unlocked with a premium subscription.

Pros:

  • Daily reminder and password protection
  • Fonts
  • Auto-sync with the cloud
  • Media and file attachment

Cons:

  • Formatting options missing in free plan
  • Some guides in Coach require premium access

Premium: $3.99/month

Download it for Android and iPhone

2. My Diary

If you're a beginner and want to have fun journaling, My Diary is the perfect app for you. It has a beautiful, creative design that makes it feel like a personalized diary. You can quickly write entries with just one tap, choose background and font colors, and add photos and stickers to personalize your journal. My Diary also allows you to record your mood every day and track it on a weekly and monthly basis. It supports basic text formatting features and offers a reminder feature, app lock, and data syncing using the cloud.

Pros:

  • Creative personalized diary
  • Daily reminder and password lock
  • Supports stickers and fonts
  • Basic text formatting
  • Export options

Cons:

  • Auto-sync missing in free plan
  • HTML text formatting not supported
  • Can only export text, not photos and stickers

Premium: $2.99/month

Download it for Android and iPhone

3. Day One

Day One's UI is similar to Journey, allowing geolocation-based entries and sharing with a calendar view. However, its journaling system works differently. It allows you to create journal entries for different purposes and activities, making it unique. For example, you can use the “Today I” template to write a to-do list or the “Day Summary” template to summarize your day. You can even create your own templates if needed. Day One offers features like multiple reminders, text formatting, daily writing prompts, a clean UI, and the ability to export to multiple file formats.

Pros:

  • Set multiple reminders
  • Text formatting
  • Daily writing prompts
  • Clean UI
  • Export to multiple file formats

Cons:

  • No template support for Android
  • No way to track mood

Premium: $2.92/month

Download it for Android and iPhone

4. Journal It

Journal It makes journaling a breeze with its simple black and white design that resembles writing in a diary. It also functions as a note-taking app with a user interface similar to Google Keep. The bullet journal feature allows you to plan your days and tasks, and save journaling ideas for later. You can customize your journal, create pre and custom templates, track habits with goal setting, and even view an intuitive timeline of your entries.

Pros:

  • Customizable journal
  • Pre and custom templates
  • Habit tracker
  • Detailed mood detection and statistics
  • Quick entries with built-in tags
  • Intuitive timeline view of entries

Cons:

  • Video journals not supported
  • Non-intuitive UI

Premium: $3.35/month

Download it for Android and iPhone

5. Daylio

Daylio allows you to keep a journal even if you're not comfortable writing. It uses emojis to note your mood and record daily activities. You can choose from a range of emojis, write a short note, or attach a photo to add some flair to your journal. Different types of daily activities like social, hobbies, sleep, food, health, and chores can be recorded. Daylio displays a mood chart and activity schedule if used regularly, which further motivates you to continue logging in.

Pros:

  • Minimalist and simple interface
  • Customize moods and activities groups
  • Ability to change emoji colors
  • Goal setting in activities

Cons:

  • No automatic backups and password protection in free plan

Premium: $2.99/month

Download it for Android and iPhone

6. Grid Diary

Grid Diary is perfect for those days when you can't find the words to write about your day. It provides a grid of questions for you to answer at the end of the day. These questions focus on health, happiness, mood, gratitude, and goals to guide you on the path of self-discovery. You can even add your own questions. Grid Diary also features a quote of the day to motivate you and allows you to keep track of your answers and entries in the Calendar and Explore tabs.

Pros:

  • Clean, intuitive interface
  • Daily reminder
  • Sync data with Health app on iPhone

Cons:

  • No password protection in free plan
  • No basic style and HTML text formatting in free plan
  • Limited template access

Premium: $2.99/month

Download it for Android and iPhone

7. Diaro

Diaro is a simple journal app for those who prefer fewer features. It allows you to give your entry a title, write a summary, attach media, and rate your mood. Diaro also supports location-based journaling similar to Journey and Day One. You can organize entries into folders, view entries by date in the calendar, customize the theme, lock entries, and even change the font type.

Pros:

  • Set multiple reminders
  • Add multiple photos
  • Sort entries into folders
  • Cloud sync
  • Templates

Cons:

  • Cannot export entries
  • UI not user-friendly

Premium: $5.99/year

Download it for Android and iPhone

8. Daybook

Daybook is a simple and colorful journaling app with basic diary features. It offers multiple ways to compose a journal entry and stands out from other apps by connecting with Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa. Daybook also includes a speech-to-text option, allowing you to talk instead of writing when you lack motivation. Other features include a daily reminder, password protection, and a calendar view.

Pros:

  • Speech-to-text functionality
  • Virtual assistant support
  • Multi-color UI themes

Cons:

  • Lacks formatting and styling options
  • Assistant support is unstable
  • No support for tags in the free plan

Premium: $3.49/month

Download it for Android and iPhone

9. Gratitude Journal Affirmations

Gratitude Journal Affirmations is a simple app that encourages you to feel grateful for what you already have in life. Its straightforward interface prompts you to share what you are grateful for each day. You can shuffle through different gratitude questions and write answers to each one. The app also allows you to add a picture, change the background color, and edit the publication date. Affirmations and Daily Zen are included to further inspire gratitude journaling.

Pros:

  • User-friendly interface
  • Inspiring resources
  • Multiple reminders

Cons:

  • No auto backups in the free plan
  • Supports only one image per journal entry

Premium: $4.99/month

Download it for Android and iPhone

10. Penzu

Penzu is a digital journal that resembles Windows Notepad in terms of simplicity. You can write your thoughts on a digital white paper, format your text, and insert pictures to enhance your writing. All your journal entries are stored in a notebook, which can be locked with a password. Penzu also offers multiple email reminders, the ability to add more than one image per entry, and customizable themes.

Pros:

  • Minimalist journal approach
  • Multiple email reminders
  • Add more than one image per entry

Cons:

  • Doesn't support multiple books in free plan
  • Auto-sync occasionally crashes
  • Tags feature is missing in free plan

Premium: $4.99/month

Download it for Android and iPhone

Journaling on Mobile

The best journal apps are the ones that help you capture your thoughts and feelings as they happen. They can be a great way to track moods, set goals, and discover what triggers certain emotions. We hope this list helps you find a journal app that suits your needs.