It depends on how you feel about tracking: Diary Journal declares data used to track you. The sensitive items are location. In total the label lists 5 data types; 25% of encrypted notes apps we checked declare tracking.
Diary Journal privacy in one look
- 1Collects nothing
- 2Not linked
- 3Linked
- 4Tracks you
Built only from the developer's App Store label. It describes disclosure, not tested behaviour.
Diary Journal's developer reports using usage data to track you across other companies' apps and websites.
Did Diary Journal ask for something?
Pick the permission prompt you saw. We compare it with what Diary Journal's developer declared.
Diary Journal lists Location on its label. Choose While Using and turn off Precise Location if the feature works without it.
User Content is not on Diary Journal's label. That can be fine: data used only on your iPhone does not have to be declared. If the data would need to leave the phone for the feature to work, ask why it is missing.
Contacts is not on Diary Journal's label. That can be fine: data used only on your iPhone does not have to be declared. If the data would need to leave the phone for the feature to work, ask why it is missing.
Diary Journal declares data used to track you, so expect the “Allow to track?” prompt. Tap Ask App Not to Track; the app must keep working without it.
Health & Fitness is not on Diary Journal's label. That can be fine: data used only on your iPhone does not have to be declared. If the data would need to leave the phone for the feature to work, ask why it is missing.
A permission is what the app can reach on your iPhone; the label is what the developer says leaves it. They answer different questions.
What Diary Journal collects, explained
| Data type | What it covers | Where to limit it |
|---|---|---|
| LocationSensitiveNot linked to you | Where your phone is, either precisely (street level) or approximately (city or area). | Settings › Privacy & Security › Location Services: choose Never or While Using, and turn off Precise Location if the app does not need it. |
| Contact InfoLinked to you | Your name, email address, phone number or postal address. | Use Sign in with Apple with Hide My Email where offered, and check the app's account and marketing preferences. |
| IdentifiersLinked to you | An account ID, screen name, customer number or a device-level ID such as the advertising identifier. | Settings › Privacy & Security › Tracking: turn off Allow Apps to Request to Track, or tap Ask App Not to Track when prompted. |
| Usage DataUsed to track youLinked to you | What you tap, open and view inside the app, plus which ads you have seen. | There is no single iOS switch. Look for an analytics or personalised-ads toggle in the app's own settings. |
| DiagnosticsNot linked to you | Crash logs, launch times, hang rates and energy use. | Settings › Privacy & Security › Analytics & Improvements › Share With App Developers controls what Apple passes on; the app's own crash reporting is separate. |
What Diary Journal's label means for you
Diary Journal's label has 1 type under “Data Used to Track You”, 3 types under “Data Linked to You”, 2 types under “Data Not Linked to You”. A data type can appear in more than one section when it is used for different purposes — for example, identifiers used for both analytics and advertising.
Tracking is the declaration that most separates apps. It means usage data from Diary Journal can be combined with data from other companies to target or measure ads, or shared with data brokers. On iOS 14.5 and later, the app must ask your permission before tracking you through the advertising identifier; answering “Ask App Not to Track” blocks that identifier and tells the developer you have declined.
The items that deserve the most attention are location. Location history reveals home, work and routines. Precise location deserves the most scrutiny.
Notes apps quietly collect some of your most personal writing. 'Encrypted' can mean encrypted in transit, at rest on the server, or end-to-end — only the last keeps the developer out. Find which kind of encryption the developer documents, and whether a lost password means lost notes.
Among the 146 encrypted notes apps in our snapshot with a label, 25% declare tracking, 40% collect data linked to you and 40% say they collect nothing. Diary Journal lists 5 data types, more than the average of 1.8 for this group.
Lifestyle apps cover family, home and personal organisation, and often combine location, contacts and photos in one place.
Settings to check for Diary Journal
- 1
Tracking
Settings › Privacy & Security › Tracking. If “Allow Apps to Request to Track” is off, apps cannot ask, and they are told to treat you as having declined. You can also turn it off for this app alone.
- 2
Location
Settings › Privacy & Security › Location Services › Diary Journal. Choose While Using or Never, and switch off Precise Location if a city-level answer is enough.
- 3
Sign-in
When creating an account, Sign in with Apple can give the app a relay address from Hide My Email instead of your real one.
- 4
Lock the app
On iOS 18 and later, touch and hold the icon and choose Require Face ID. Anyone who picks up your unlocked phone then needs your face, fingerprint or passcode to open it.
- 5
Notifications
Settings › Notifications › Diary Journal › Show Previews: When Unlocked keeps message and account details off the Lock Screen.
Does Diary Journal track you?
Usage data. Apple defines tracking as linking data from this app with data from other companies' apps, websites or offline sources for targeted advertising or ad measurement, or sharing it with a data broker.
Does Diary Journal track you? Full answer and how to stop it →
Lock Diary Journal behind Face ID
- Find Diary Journal on your Home Screen or in App Library.
- Touch and hold the icon until the quick-actions menu opens.
- Tap Require Face ID (or Require Touch ID / Require Passcode, depending on your iPhone).
- Tap Require Face ID again to confirm. Diary Journal now asks for authentication every time it opens.
The lock is an iPhone feature, so it works whether or not Diary Journal has a passcode of its own. It does not change what the app sends to its developer.
About Diary Journal
| Developer | Abhishek Kumar |
| App Store category | Lifestyle (also Productivity) |
| Latest version | 2.0.2, released December 2023 |
| First released | September 2014 |
| Requires | iOS 14.0 or later |
| Size | 56 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ |
| Languages | 21 (CS, NL, EN, FR, DE, HU, ID, IT…) |
| Bundle ID | com.pixelcrater.diaro |
The current version shipped in December 2023, 2 years before our snapshot. Apps that are not updated may not support newer iOS privacy controls, and an abandoned app will not get security fixes.
What the label cannot tell you
- A label is self-reported. Apple publishes the developer's answers and can reject apps that misrepresent them, but it does not independently verify what Diary Journal sends.
- It does not say where data is stored, how long it is kept, whether it is encrypted, or which companies receive it. The privacy policy covers those points.
- Optional data counts: if a feature lets you add something (a profile photo, a phone number), the type is listed even if you never use the feature.
- Data handled only on your iPhone is not 'collected', so a no-collection label is compatible with an app that reads your files locally.
- Third-party sign-in, payment processors and SDKs are supposed to be included, but a label can lag behind a new version.
The question to ask Diary Journal's developer: Who holds the encryption key for my notes?
Diary Journal vs similar encrypted notes apps
- 국민 메모장 솜노트 - SomNote
- Diary Journal (this app)
- Notepad Notes and Notes Widget
- BundleNote
- Safe Notes Privacy Protector
- NembaNotes
- MyNotes
- Biometric Notes
Fewer types is not automatically safer: a cloud backup app has to collect your files to work. Compare like with like.
Look up any of our apps in seconds, or put two labels side by side.
Apps similar to Diary Journal
All lifestyle → Who tracks you? A–Z → Apps that collect location → Privacy label decoder →
Your Diary Journal privacy checklist
Done. You have applied every control the label points to.
True or false?
- Right.Not quite.
True: it lists usage data under Data Used to Track You.
- Right.Not quite.
Labels are self-reported by developers. Apple can reject or remove apps that misrepresent practices, but it does not audit each label.
- Right.Not quite.
True: Location appears on its label, in the Not Linked to You section.
- Right.Not quite.
It is collected and sent; the developer says it is de-identified rather than tied to your account or device.
- Right.Not quite.
Apple's rules require apps to work the same whether or not you allow tracking.