Best Daylio alternatives in 2026 (no paywall) | Natus
The best Daylio alternatives right now are Apple Journal if you want free and private, Diarium if you want to pay once instead of subscribing, Journey if you want photos and media in your entries, and Natus if what you wanted was never the chart but understanding yourself. Most people leaving Daylio are leaving over their own history sitting behind the paid plan, entries that did not survive a phone change, and ads inside a paid subscription.
What Daylio users say in their own reviews
Verbatim from public 1 and 2 star App Store reviews. Daylio is rated 4.8 on the App Store overall, so plenty of people are happy. These are the ones who were not.
MONTHS OF DATA RANDOMLY LOST ???????1 star review
I closed my app out once and everything is GONE. This has never happened with another app before. I was using it to track not mood but important health stuff I’m so upset 😭
Really sad, account with lifetime subscription lost, price is absolutely absurd for a diary app1 star review
I had this app for YEARS. I had my whole life written into this app. I think I had a 800 day streak or something like that. I had bought the lifetime offer that was available at the time and was super happy with the app. Then I had to switch phones and no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t transfer the data. And now you have to pay $40 a year? No thanks. I’m very disappointed and really sad I lost all my entries :(
Locks your data2 star review
Just found out after 1 month of daily tracking, that I CANNOT SEE MY DATA. My own records are locked behind a paywall. I was enjoying the app and considering Premium, but really disappointed. I was using this data for MEDICAL TRACKING and foolishly trusted Daylio to hold onto it.
Adware1 star review
This app is a conduit for ads. I’ve paid for a premium subscription and they still show me ads! What’s the point of doing this? It’s entirely stupid and shortsighted. Plus, over 200MB for a journaling app?! Ridiculous.
Not "in-app purchases"1 star review
I really wish app descriptions were required to be honest about their costs - this is NOT an app with "in-app purchases" available, it's an app that requires a PAID SUBSCRIPTION to use after five days.
The options
Daylio
Best for: fast mood and activity tracking with almost no writing
The lowest effort daily check-in here: tap a mood, add activities, add a note if you want. The complaints above are about the business model, not the idea. Charts and your own history sit behind the paid plan, and long time users describe entries that did not survive a phone change. If you stay, export a backup you can open without the app.
Apple Journal
Best for: free, private, already on your iPhone
Nothing to buy and nothing to subscribe to. It is plain writing: no mood chart, no activity tracking, and nothing that reads your entries back to you. Good as a simple place to write, not as your only archive.
Diarium
Best for: paying once instead of a monthly subscription
One purchase, no subscription, and it can import your Daylio entries directly, which makes it the smoothest move on this list. It carries photos, audio, mood ratings and tags. It is lighter than Daylio on charts, so check that first if the stats were what you used.
Journey
Best for: photos, video and audio inside your entries
A fuller journal with media, checklists and its own mood tracking, plus encryption on paid plans. It is subscription based and its App Store rating sits below Daylio's, so try before you commit a year to it.
Natus(this is us)
Best for: understanding the patterns behind the moods you log
Natus is not a bigger mood tracker. It builds a First Reading from your name and birth details, then reads what you wrote back to you each Sunday in your own words. If you kept tapping a mood hoping it would eventually add up to something, that reading is the part Daylio never gave you.
If the paywall is the problem
Daylio's free tier covers the basics: a mood, some activities, a note. The statistics, the charts and the patterns you were probably there for sit behind the paid plan, and one review above is from a user who found their own month of records blocked. If that is your reason for leaving, Diarium charges once and Apple Journal charges nothing at all.
If you lost entries or could not move them
Several reviews describe a phone change where the old entries did not come across, including a lifetime subscriber who lost years of writing. Whatever you switch to, open Daylio, export a backup, and confirm it opens before you delete anything. Diarium imports straight from Daylio, which makes it the simplest move here.
If you just want a mood log
If Daylio is working for you, there is no reason to move. It is fast, it is genuinely simple, and its 4.8 rating reflects a lot of people who use it daily. The switch is only worth it if one of the problems above is the one you are living with.
If the mood chart was never the point
Daylio is good at showing you the shape of your moods over time. It has little to say about why they look that way. If you kept logging moods hoping the pattern would eventually explain itself, that is the gap Natus is built for. It starts from a reading of how you operate, so the entries have somewhere to land.
Common questions
- Is there a free alternative to Daylio?
- Apple Journal is free and already on your iPhone. Natus is free for your First Reading, Preview, private journal, and first Sunday letter. Diarium is a one-time purchase rather than a subscription, so you stop paying monthly to reach your own entries.
- Can I move my Daylio entries to another app?
- Diarium imports from Daylio directly. Daylio can also export, and the reviews above are a good reason to do it either way: open the export and check your entries are all there before you delete anything.
- Why are people leaving Daylio if it is rated 4.8?
- The rating is real and most people are happy. Reading the 1 and 2 star reviews, the same three things repeat: the statistics and your own history sit behind the paid plan, entries that did not come across on a new phone, and ads that still appear after paying.
- What is the difference between Daylio and Natus?
- Daylio records what your mood was. Natus starts from a reading of how you operate, built from your name and birth details, and then reads your week back to you every Sunday. One tracks the mood, the other tries to explain the pattern underneath it.