Regular journaling has been proven to have a positive impact on mental health. The iPad is the perfect device for digital journaling — something I hope Apple also realizes soon so they can bring their Journal app to the iPad. But until it does, there’s no shortage of journaling apps available on the iPad. That’s why I’ve tested and compiled a list of the best journaling apps for iPad, making the most of the screen real estate and accessories like a Smart Keyboard or Apple Pencil.
1. Day One – Best Overall Journaling App on iPad
Day One has been a consistent top recommendation in the journaling space, and for good reason. It offers a simple, clean UI with a feature-rich experience, making it one of the best journaling apps available on the iPad. It supports text entries, photos, audio recordings, and even location tagging. You can organize your journal using tags and categories for easy access.
One of the most important aspects of Day One is its focus on privacy. All syncs are end-to-end encrypted, ensuring your personal data stays secure. There’s also an option to password-protect your app, and you can easily export your data if you want to switch apps or devices.
However, the iPad experience is slightly lacking in terms of handwriting support. Handwritten notes are saved as drawings rather than transcribed into text, and with no OCR support, these entries remain non-indexable.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Secure and private (end-to-end encryption available) | Features like cross-device syncing, handwritten notes, multiple photos per entry, etc., are only available with a subscription |
| Minimalist interface | Handwriting with Apple Pencil is not a great experience |
| Supports multimedia entries (photos, audio, video, drawings) | |
| Advanced search and tagging for easy organization |
Pricing: Free, Starts at $5.99
2. Bears Gratitude – Best Gratitude Journaling app on iPad
Bears Gratitude is a unique journaling app for iPad with a beautiful UI that stands out due to its hand-drawn artwork. If you’re tired of the minimalist trend and want an app with personality, it is a great option. Designed specifically for gratitude journaling, this app encourages mindfulness and reflection. It even won an Apple Design Award, reinforcing its thoughtful design and user experience.
However, the app isn’t feature-rich. It focuses solely on gratitude journaling, offering articles, artworks, and inspiration aligned with that goal. You can only create text entries, with no support for images or audio other than the cute hand-drawn images the app offers. It also lacks an app password, which makes it a no-go for many users. If you want these features, you’ll be better off sticking to one of the other iPad apps on this list to journal.
But the warm interface of the app, without any harsher features like streaks, has led to many users finding it a judgment-free zone for journaling. You can journal how often you’d like without any constant pressure from the app. It also features thoughtfully considered touchpoints in the form of self-rewards to encourage self-reflection.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Beautiful and unique UI with handdrawn artwork | Limited features beyond gratitude journaling |
| Encourages mindfulness and gratitude with in-app resources | No support for images or audio |
| Get reminders for journaling | No password protection or encryption |
Pricing: Free, $2.99
3. Zinnia – Best app for Creative Digital Planning & Journaling on iPad
Zinnia is a beautifully designed app that blends journaling with digital planning, offering a rich, customizable experience. For users who want a seamless experience of writing with both Apple Pencil and typing, this app does it. The app supports Apple Pencil for handwriting and sketching, and you can insert photos, text, and doodles across pages.
It also has a wide range of frames, stickers, washi tapes, and decorative elements, making it perfect for bullet journaling, vision boards, or scrapbooking. You can also add images from your library. Placing and moving everything around the journal is also easy. Zinnia simply shines when it comes to creativity and personal expression. The hundreds of templates it offers also feature prompts to help you journal, but they are only available with a premium subscription. The number of pages you can add to a journal is also limited in the free version.
There are also traditional features you want from a journal. You can protect it with a password, sync to iCloud, get notifications, or export PDFs. Overall, it’s a beautifully designed journaling app for iPad that doesn’t skip on functionality.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Highly customizable with creative tools and templates | Not ideal for long-form journaling |
| Excellent Apple Pencil support | |
| Great for planning and journaling |
Pricing: Free, Starts at $3.99
4. Daylio – Best for Mood & Activity Tracking
Daylio is more than the average journaling apps you’ll find on the iPad — it’s a comprehensive mood and activity tracker. The entire premise of the app is based around it and you can even customize the color palette for moods and activities to your preferences.
You can log your mood and daily activities, add short notes, photos, or voice memos, and even create longer journal entries in the app. For long-form journaling, it even has built-in templates to provide inspiration.
The app also provides detailed statistics to help you track your mood and activities over time, making it an excellent tool for self-reflection. It also prioritizes privacy with password protection. Additionally, you can export your data as a PDF or CSV file for further analysis or record-keeping. However, many features, including PDF exports and PIN lock, are only available with the premium subscription.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Supports notes, photos, and voice memos | Not the best option out there for deep, text-heavy journaling |
| Provides stats for your moods and activities over time | Many essential features are behind the paywall |
| Offers templates for longer journal entries | No support for handwriting or drawing with Apple Pencil |
| Can export data as PDF or CSV |
Pricing: Free, Starts at $4.99
5. Notability – Best for Bullet Journaling on iPad
While Notability is primarily a note-taking app, it has templates for journaling, making it an excellent choice for bullet journaling. If you prefer using your Apple Pencil for journaling, Notability is a great option. You can also add images, audio and even get audio transcriptions.
Since it’s not exactly a journaling app, you’ll need to put in a little effort to streamline your experience — a workaround of sorts. Here’s one: To keep your private thoughts secure, you can create a dedicated “journal” subject in the app, lock it, and create different notes for each entry. This way, your journal will remain locked without you needing to repeat the process for each entry. You can even create separate journals for every year.
However, keep in mind that Notability lacks features found in traditional journaling apps — it doesn’t provide prompts, mood tracking, or notifications to encourage journaling. If you’re trying to build a journaling habit, this may not be the best choice. But if you’re already into journaling and want a digital alternative to pen and paper, Notability is a great choice. The interface also isn’t optimized for keyboard input.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Excellent for bullet journaling with Apple Pencil | Lacks traditional journaling features (no prompts, mood tracking, or notifications) |
| Supports handwriting, drawings, and typed text | Handwriting search is only available with Notability Plus |
| Can lock specific journals for privacy |
Pricing: Free, Starts at $4.99
6. Stoic – Best for Guided Reflection & Mindfulness
Stoic is one of those journaling apps that wants to be more than just your journal on the iPad. It is designed to support mindfulness, day planning, and reflection. But, its minimalist design approach keeps it from becoming overwhelming. It includes separate morning and evening journaling flows to help you focus on planning and reflecting, respectively. The app also provides inspirational quotes and prompts to help guide your journaling.
You can add text, photos, voice recordings, or drawings, though drawings are stored as images rather than transcribed text. Stoic also tracks trends based on your activity, encouraging consistency. Additionally, it offers meditation and sleep exercises, but most of them are locked behind a paywall.
Still, a lot of basic options are available for free. However, if you’re looking for an app that won’t have any learning curve, Stoic cannot be that. I’d recommend going with one of the other iPad apps to journal for that. But if you’re comfortable with spending a little time to get the hang of it, it might just be the best decision you make in your life.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Guided journaling with structured morning and evening flows | Has a learning curve |
| Supports text, photos, voice recordings, and drawings | Many features (meditation, sleep exercises) are locked behind a subscription |
| Provides quotes and prompts for inspiration | No OCR support for handwritten entries |
| Tracks trends to promote habit-building |
Pricing: Free, Starts at $6.99
7. Bubbles’ Journal – Best Scrapbook-Style Journaling App on iPad
Scrapbook: Bubbles’ Journal is a password-protected and encrypted journaling companion that makes journaling fun and engaging. It offers a creative canvas for writing, drawing, and adding photos, stickers, washi tapes, and other decorative elements. If you enjoy scrapbook-style journaling, this is one of the apps on iPad that has it all.
It also follows a rather unique approach. Unlike traditional journaling apps, Bubbles gradually introduces features based on your behavior, ensuring you don’t feel overwhelmed. It also provides beautiful themes, easy organization, and the ability to export your entries. Overall, it’s one of the best iPad apps for all your journal needs.
The only (and the biggest) caveat? It’s not free. No basic features are available with the free version. You can try it once, but after that, you’ll need to purchase it if you want to continue.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Creative, scrapbook-style journaling | No free version beyond the basic one-time trial |
| Supports drawing and decorative elements | |
| Quick switching between typing and drawing | |
| Password-protected and encrypted for privacy |
Pricing: Starts at $2.99
8. Penjo – Best Journaling App on iPad for Apple Pencil users
Penjo is a clean, minimalist journaling app that focuses on handwriting. Designed with simplicity in mind, it mimics the feel of pen and paper and works seamlessly with the Apple Pencil. The app is ideal for users who want to jot down thoughts quickly in their own handwriting without distractions. The app also has an advanced search tool for handwriting.
It also syncs your Apple Calendar in the app, making it a great option for people who want to use it as a planner as well. On devices that support Apple Intelligence, the app has also added Image Playground to the journal itself, so you can add anything to your journal. You can also add photos from your gallery. The app also has widgets, themes, and a monthly habit-tracking calendar.
However, some essential features, like password protection, are available only with the paid plan. It also lacks other features like journaling prompts, reminders, etc. Overall, anyone who finds peace in handwritten journaling and doesn’t want the clutter of features will find Penjo a calming choice.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Great for handwritten entries with Apple Pencil | Even essential features are behind a paywall |
| Simple, distraction-free interface | Limited journaling features |
| Optimized for both handwritten and text entries | |
| The subscription is cheap |
Pricing: Free, Starts at $1.99
9. Diarium – Best Cross-Platform Journaling App
Diarium is a powerful cross-platform journaling app which you can use not only on your iPad but also Windows, Android, Mac and iPhone. The interface is clean yet packed with functionality.
You can add multiple types of media to your entries, including audio recordings, inked drawings, files, and multiple photos. If typing isn’t your thing, Diarium supports speech-to-text dictation for quick voice entries. You can even rate each entry if you want to keep track of your mood across days.
It offers integrations with various apps and can pull data from fitness apps, social media apps, calendars, and more. You can sync your data using multiple cloud services like OneDrive, Dropbox, Google Drive, etc. You also get other traditional options like daily journaling reminders. It’s an excellent solution for personal logging.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Supports multiple media types and speech-to-text | No in-app guided prompts or templates |
| Multiple app integrations | |
| Flexible export options |
Pricing: Free, Starts at $9.99
10. My Diary – Best for Aesthetic yet Functional Journaling
If you’re looking for a journaling app that feels cozy, expressive, and safe, My Diary is a strong contender. This free app combines journaling with mood tracking and tons of customization options, making it ideal for anyone who wants to reflect on their emotions and decorate their entries with photos, themes, and stickers.
You can write about your day, add drawings or pictures, track your mood, and even analyze mood trends over time. But it doesn’t just bring aesthetic parts of journaling to the table. The app also offers tons of functionality. It has journaling guides for beginners and features like dark mode, font effects, and a lock feature to keep your entries private.
Most of the features are also free, with only some additional features like some backgrounds, themes, etc. behind the paywall. Whether you’re writing a travel diary, personal notes, or emotional reflections, My Diary helps make the process enjoyable and visually engaging.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Highly customizable: themes, stickers, fonts, backgrounds | Sync and export options are limited compared to more advanced apps |
| Built-in mood tracker with visual stats | |
| Supports photo and drawing attachments | |
| Password-protected for privacy |
Pricing: Free, Starts at $2.99
Those are some of the best journaling apps on iPad, in my opinion. Each of these apps excels in different areas since the best app to journal with would vary depending on your needs. Whether you want a dedicated journaling experience, a canvas to adapt to your needs, or something in between, there’s something here for everyone.
