Free journal app: talk for a minute instead of typing
VitaMood is a free journal app for iPhone and Android that you speak into. You talk for up to a minute about your day, your phone writes it down, and the entry is saved in your history. The free plan includes voice entries, transcription on your phone and your full history, with 5 AI summaries a week that add a mood score, tags and a one-line summary.
Updated
Most journal and diary apps are free to download and then limit something: photos, devices, sync or AI. This page sets out what VitaMood gives you for free, and what the free versions of four other well-known journal apps include: Day One, Apple's Journal app, Journey and Diarium. Every detail about another app was checked on 10 October 2026 against that app's own website, help pages or store listing. Where no source settled a point, the table says "Not stated".
The short answer
- You want to talk instead of type: VitaMood. One minute of speech becomes a written entry, transcribed on your phone.
- You want long written entries with unlimited journals: Day One. Its free Basic plan has unlimited text entries, on one device.
- You use an iPhone and want a free journal with nothing to buy: Apple's Journal app.
- You want to write on Windows, Mac, Android and the web: Journey or Diarium.
- You want to pay once instead of subscribing: Diarium, whose Pro version is a one-time purchase per platform.
What "free" means in a journal app
A journal app can be free in three different ways. Some are free with no paid tier at all. Some are free with a paid tier that adds features, which is the most common model. And some are free to download but give only a trial of the main feature.
When you compare free journal apps, check these five things before you write your first entry:
- Entries: is the number of entries limited?
- Devices and sync: can you read your journal on a second phone or a computer without paying?
- Media: are photos, audio or video limited?
- Export: can you take your entries with you if you change app? VitaMood exports the week as a PDF and the journal as CSV or JSON with Pro, and anyone can import the JSON.
- Where entries are kept: on your phone, in your own cloud account, or on the company's servers?
A journal is a record you build over years, so the last two matter more than they seem on day one.
VitaMood: the free journal app you talk to
VitaMood is a journal built around speaking. Each evening the app asks "How was today?". You answer out loud for up to a minute, in any of 26 languages. Talking for a minute takes a minute. Writing the same amount takes longer, and on a tired evening it often does not happen at all.
Your phone turns the recording into text using its own speech recogniser. For a language the phone cannot transcribe, VitaMood offers to download a speech model, so transcription still runs on the phone. The recording never leaves your phone.
Each entry is saved on your phone with the date and the text of what you said. The History screen shows every check-in, by day, in a calendar coloured by mood.
What the free plan includes
- Spoken entries of up to a minute, as many as you like
- Transcription on your phone
- Your full history of entries, by day
- 5 AI summaries a week. Each adds a mood score from 1 to 10, up to four tags and a one-line summary of what you said
- No ads
The weekly count resets every Monday at 00:00 UTC. When you have used all 5, your entries are still recorded, transcribed and kept. Only the summary waits until the next week.
What needs VitaMood Pro
- 5 AI summaries a day
- Your mood next to your sleep, HRV (heart rate variability), resting heart rate, steps, workouts, active energy and respiratory rate from Apple Health or Health Connect, plus mindful minutes and time in daylight from Apple Health
- Daily targets you set, and a weekly report
VitaMood Pro is a monthly or annual subscription with a 7-day free trial for new subscribers on both plans. The app and the store show the price before you subscribe.
What VitaMood is not
VitaMood is not a long-form writing app. An entry is one spoken minute, not pages of text, and it holds no photos. Entries stay on your phone and in your own iCloud or Google backup, so a new phone gets them back, but there is no live sync between devices. If you want to write long entries with photos on several devices, one of the apps below suits you better.
Day One
Day One is a long-running journal app with a free plan called Basic and paid plans called Silver and Gold.
- Free (Basic): unlimited text entries and journals, daily prompts, search, end-to-end encryption and web access (Day One's pricing page).
- Free limits: 1 photo per entry, no video, no audio, 1 device and no sync between devices (Day One's pricing page).
- Silver adds: up to 30 photos per entry, video, audio recording with transcription, unlimited devices and sync (Day One's pricing page).
- AI: Daily Chat, entry summaries and title suggestions are part of Gold, with daily usage limits (Day One's pricing page).
- Health data: works with the Health app to record mindful minutes (App Store listing).
- Platforms and languages: iPhone, iPad, Mac, Android, Windows and the web. 26 languages on the App Store.
Day One suits you if you write long entries on one device and want unlimited journals for free.
Apple's Journal app
Journal is Apple's own journal app for iPhone, iPad and Mac.
- Cost: free, with no in-app purchases listed on the App Store.
- Voice: you can record your voice into an entry, and it is transcribed automatically (App Store listing).
- Mood and health: you can log your state of mind, which is saved to the Health app, and writing time is saved as mindful minutes (App Store listing).
- AI: suggestions for what to write use on-device intelligence (App Store listing).
- Storage: entries sync and back up through iCloud, and the app can be locked with a passcode, Touch ID or Face ID (App Store listing).
- Platforms: iPhone, iPad and Mac. Not available on Android.
Journal suits you if you only use Apple devices and want a free journal with voice entries and nothing to buy.
Journey
Journey is a journal and diary app that runs on most platforms.
- Free version: free to download (App Store listing).
- Paid: Membership subscriptions, a Lifetime Membership and Premium, listed as in-app purchases on the App Store.
- Mood: you can track how your mood changes across entries (App Store listing).
- Health data: step count and distance from HealthKit (App Store listing).
- Voice: you can attach audio files. Not stated whether it transcribes them.
- Encryption: end-to-end encryption is only available with Journey Cloud Sync (App Store listing).
- Platforms and languages: Android, iPhone, Mac, Windows, the web and Chrome OS (Journey's website). 15 languages on the App Store.
Journey suits you if you switch between a phone and a computer and want one journal on all of them.
Diarium
Diarium is a diary app with no subscription.
- Free version: free on most platforms (Diarium's website).
- Pro: a one-time purchase per platform that adds cloud sync, unlimited attachments, Word export, widgets and integrations (Diarium's website).
- Voice: you can attach audio recordings and use dictation to write (Diarium's website). Not stated whether recordings are transcribed.
- Health data: integrations with Apple Health on iPhone and Health Connect on Android, listed with the Pro features (Diarium's website).
- Account and storage: no account is needed. With Pro you can sync through your own OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox, iCloud or WebDAV (Diarium's website).
- Platforms and languages: Windows, Android, iPhone, iPad and Mac. 36 languages on the App Store.
Diarium suits you if you would rather pay once than subscribe and want to keep your journal in your own cloud storage.
Free journal apps compared
| VitaMood | Day One | Journal (Apple) | Journey | Diarium | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| How you make an entry | Talk for up to a minute | Write | Write or record | Write | Write or dictate |
| Speech turned into text, free | Yes, on your phone | No, with Silver | Yes | Not stated | Dictation |
| AI on the free plan | 5 summaries a week | No, with Gold | On-device suggestions | Not stated | Not stated |
| Mood | Mood score on every summary | Not stated | State of mind | Yes | With tags |
| Sync on the free plan | No, phone only | No, 1 device | iCloud | Not stated | No, with Pro |
| Android | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| Languages | 26 | 26 | 1 | 15 | 36 |
Which free journal app to choose
The first question is whether you will actually write. If you have downloaded a journal app before, written a few entries and stopped, the barrier was probably the writing itself. A spoken entry removes it: you can check in while you cook, walk or sit on the edge of the bed.
The second question is what you want back from the journal. If you want a place to think on the page, a writing app such as Day One or Diarium is the better tool. If you want to see how your days have gone over months, a short entry every day with a mood score is easier to look back on than a few long entries.
The third question is where your entries live. VitaMood keeps entries on your phone and sends only the text of an entry to write its summary. Day One offers end-to-end encryption. Apple's Journal syncs through iCloud. Diarium lets you choose your own cloud storage.
Why a voice journal is easier to keep
Journalling advice usually says the same thing: write a little every day. The hard part is the every day. A voice journal makes each entry smaller. You do not need a keyboard, a quiet desk or the right words. You talk the way you would tell a friend about your day, and the app does the writing.
VitaMood keeps each entry to a minute on purpose. The recording stops at 60 seconds. A minute is long enough to say what happened and how it felt, and short enough to do every evening.
Spoken entries also carry details you would leave out when typing: who you saw, what went wrong at work, how badly you slept. With VitaMood's summaries those details become tags such as work, family, sleep or stress, so a month later you can see which days had what.
What to say in a one-minute entry
If you are not sure what to say, try one of these:
- What was the best part of today, and the hardest?
- How did you sleep, and how did it show during the day?
- Who did you spend time with?
- What took up most of your energy?
- What would you like tomorrow to look like?
You do not need to answer all of them. One honest sentence is a better entry than none.
Privacy
The recording is saved and transcribed on your phone and is never uploaded. To write the summary, the app sends the transcript text and its language code to our server in Belgium, which passes it to Google's Gemini API. We do not store the transcript or the summary on our servers, and Google does not use them to improve its products. Your entries are kept on your phone and left out of phone backups. The full details are in the Privacy Policy.
A wellness journal, not therapy
VitaMood helps you notice patterns in your mood and health data. It does not diagnose or treat any condition and it is not a substitute for a doctor or therapist. If you are in crisis, contact your local emergency number.
Questions
Is VitaMood a free journal app?
Yes. Spoken entries, transcription on your phone and your history are free, with 5 AI summaries a week. VitaMood Pro, a monthly or annual subscription with a 7-day free trial, adds 5 summaries a day, health insights and a weekly report.
Can I use VitaMood as a free diary app?
Yes. Each evening you talk for up to a minute and the entry is saved by date. The History screen shows every entry in a calendar coloured by mood.
Does VitaMood upload my voice?
No. The recording is saved on your phone and transcribed on your phone. Only the transcript text is sent, to write your summary.
Can I type an entry instead of speaking?
No. Every entry starts as up to a minute of speech. You can correct the text of an entry afterwards in your history. If you prefer to type, a writing app such as Day One or Diarium suits you better.
Are my entries backed up?
No. Entries are kept on your phone and in your own iCloud or Google backup, and they are not stored on our servers.
Which languages can I speak in?
26: English, German, Spanish, French, Portuguese (Brazil), Arabic, Russian, Chinese (Simplified), Polish, Ukrainian, Romanian, Turkish, Italian, Dutch, Czech, Greek, Hungarian, Slovak, Japanese, Serbian, Uzbek, Korean, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Hebrew and Swedish.
Does VitaMood work on Android?
Yes. VitaMood is on Google Play for Android and on the App Store for iPhone.
See how VitaMood works, compare mood tracker apps or compare AI journal apps.
Details of other apps checked on against Day One's pricing page and App Store listing; the App Store listing of Apple's Journal app; Journey's website and App Store listing; and Diarium's website and App Store listing. Day One, Journey and Diarium are trademarks of their owners. VitaMood is not affiliated with any of them.