Best Journal App for iPhone: Ratings and Honest Picks

On the iPhone home screen there are usually three journal apps, and two of them have not been opened since the first week.

Finding the best journal app for iPhone is less about features and more about which one survives that first week. Below are the ratings, rating counts and prices from App Store listings, captured August to September 2026. Let it be... is our own app, and I say so wherever it appears.

What is the best journal app for iPhone?

No single app wins for everyone. By App Store rating, Gratitude leads at 4.88, followed by Day One and Prompted Journal at 4.83 each. By rating count, Day One is the biggest in this set at 118,186. Choose by the reason journaling stopped working last time, then check the rating.

The honest caveat is that these ratings sit within a few hundredths of each other. The count behind a rating says more about how many people have actually used an app.

How do the iPhone journal apps compare?

On the App Store, most journal apps are free to download and rated 4.5 or higher. The gap between them is small, so the table below sorts by number of ratings, which shows how widely each app has been tried. All figures come from App Store listings captured August to September 2026.

The App Store listings we captured do not show in-app purchase ranges, so "free to download" is all this table can honestly say about price. Open each page and read the in-app purchases section before you pay for anything.

Which app is best for mood tracking on iPhone?

For mood tracking specifically, Daylio Journal is the one built around it: it is called a mood tracker in its own store name, holds 4.77 across 61,633 ratings on iOS, and is free to download. If a mood log is what you want, start there before looking at anything with more features.

Mood tracking works best when you can see it over weeks. Our guide on how to track your mood explains what to log and how to read the pattern back.

Which app is best for daily reflection?

For daily reflection, choose an app that asks you something, because a blank page is where most people stop. In this set, Prompted Journal (4.83, 6,904 ratings) and 5 Minute Journal (4.76, 17,559) say so in their names, and Day One (4.83, 118,186) has the longest record.

Reflection is a slower thing than logging. If that is your goal, read our notes on journaling apps for self-reflection, which covers what the good ones have in common.

Where does Let it be... fit?

Let it be... is ours, so weigh this section accordingly. Its App Store listing is called Let It Be: Guided Journal, is free to download, and went live on 2026-07-30. When we captured it, it had one rating (4.0). That is not a track record, and any app in the table above has far more evidence behind it.

What it is built for is guided journaling with mood tracking, for people whose problem is anxiety or a mind that will not settle. The Google Play listing says entries are stored on the device by default, that you can journal offline, and that you can lock the app with a fingerprint or face. I have not verified how those pieces behave on iOS, so check the App Store page for that. The listing also says journaling, mood tracking, breathing, gratitude and daily affirmations are free, with the full affirmation library, unlimited vision boards, all soundscapes and cloud backup in Pro. See the Let it be... page for the full picture.

If you want the safest pick on track record today, choose Day One or Gratitude. If you want a guided, quiet space and do not mind being early, try ours.

How do I choose a journal app on iPhone?

Choose by the thing that went wrong last time you tried to journal, then confirm with the rating count. Start from your reason, shortlist two apps, and give each one a week before you decide. The steps below keep it simple.

1. Name why you stopped before. Was it the blank page, the effort of typing, or a forgotten habit?
2. Match that to the app. Blank page, pick a prompt-led app. Typing effort, pick a mood tracker. Forgetting, pick one with reminders.
3. Check the rating count, not only the stars. A 4.8 from 118,186 people tells you more than a 4.8 from a few hundred.
4. Read the in-app purchases section. Know what sits behind the paywall before your entries live there.
5. Test it for seven days. Open it at the same time each day and see whether you still want to.

Is a free journal app enough?

For most people, yes. Every app in the table is free to download, so you can try two or three at no cost and keep the one you open. Paying only makes sense once you know which app you will still use in a month.

If you are still deciding between a journal and a plain notes page, see our guide to the digital journal app. For a wider look beyond the iPhone, read the best journaling app and the full comparison of journaling apps.

One last thing to check

Whatever you pick, open the privacy section of its App Store page and read what it collects. A journal holds your most honest writing, so the question of where it lives matters as much as the rating. I would rather you check than trust me, or anyone, on that.