6 Best Gratitude Journal Apps for iPhone in 2026

The best gratitude journal app for iPhone depends on what you want from it. Gratitude Plus suits you if you want a public feed and circles with friends, Five Minute Journal if you like a set routine in the morning and evening and Gratitude: Self-Care Journal if you also want affirmations and vision boards. We built Graceup, one of the six apps below, so we put it where it fits and say what the other apps do better.

Gratitude journal apps compared in one table

All facts come from each app’s US App Store page, its description or its official site. Prices are from the US App Store, in US dollars, and were checked on November 5, 2026.

App	Yearly price	Public community	Private groups	Affirmations	Widgets	Platforms
Gratitude Plus	$39.99	Yes, a public feed	Yes, Gratitude Circles	Yes	Yes	iPhone, iPad, Android
Gratitude: Self-Care Journal	$29.99	Not described	Not described	Yes, hundreds	Not described	iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Android
Five Minute Journal	$19.99 to $39.99	Not described	Not described	Not described (daily quotes)	Yes, with Premium	iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Android
Orca (formerly Happyfeed)	$39.99	No, posts are never public	Yes, Pods	Not described	Yes	iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Android, web
With Gratitude	Free, no in-app purchases listed	Community bubbles	Yes, private bubbles	Not described	Yes	iPhone
Graceup	$29.99	Yes, the Explore feed	Yes	Yes, more than 2,500	Yes	iPhone, iPad, Android

“Not described” means the app’s official pages don’t mention the feature. It doesn’t prove the app lacks it. Some apps list several yearly prices in the App Store, for older offers or trials, so we give the price from the description or the range from the list.

How to choose a gratitude journal app

Start with who you want to share your entries with. Some apps keep everything private, some let you share with a few people and two of them also have a public feed. If sharing with friends matters most, our comparison of gratitude apps to use with friends explains how their groups work.

Then think about how much you want to write. Five Minute Journal asks for entries twice a day, while Graceup asks for one good thing. If you also want affirmations, photos or a vision board, check the table above, because only some of the apps have them.

You don’t need an app to keep a gratitude journal. A notebook works too, and our guide on how to start a gratitude journal covers both. The studies in our article on the benefits of gratitude journaling tested writing down good things, not any particular app.

Gratitude Plus, for a public feed and circles with friends

Gratitude Plus has both a public feed and private groups. Its App Store description lists a private journal, Gratitude Circles with your partner, family or friends and a public feed where you can send messages of encouragement to people around the world. It also has affirmations, quotes, mood tracking and insights such as your most frequent words. Its release notes mention home screen and lock screen widgets and streak repairs.

The description says Gratitude Plus is free to use and gives the subscription prices as $10.99 a month and $39.99 a year. The in-app purchase list also shows yearly plans for $34.99 and $49.99 and a family plan for $89.99. The app has a 4.9 rating from about 21,000 ratings.

Gratitude Plus suits you if you want circles, a public feed and mood tracking in the same app.

Gratitude: Self-Care Journal, for affirmations and vision boards

Gratitude: Self-Care Journal, made by Hapjoy, combines a gratitude journal with affirmations and vision boards. You can add photos to entries, record entries with your voice, keep a streak and pick from hundreds of prompts. The app has hundreds of affirmations you can read or listen to, and you can write your own, add music and record them in your voice. Version 6.0, from October 2026, added guided courses.

The description calls the app “completely private” and doesn’t describe any community or shared groups. The US App Store lists an Annual Pro plan for $29.99 and a monthly plan for $4.99. With a 4.9 rating from about 45,000 ratings, it has the most ratings of the six apps.

This app suits you if you want a private journal with affirmations and vision boards and don’t plan to share entries. If affirmations matter more to you than the journal, see our comparison of daily affirmations apps. We compare Gratitude with Graceup point by point in Graceup vs the Gratitude app.

Five Minute Journal, for a morning and evening routine

Five Minute Journal, by Intelligent Change, follows the format of the paper Five Minute Journal. It guides you through a short entry in the morning and another in the evening, with daily quotes, weekly challenges, reminders and streaks. It works on iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch, and you can export entries to PDF.

Photos and video, custom questions, mood tracking, the On this Day feature and the widget are part of Premium. The US App Store lists yearly plans between $19.99 and $39.99 and monthly plans for $4.99 and $9.99. The app has a 4.8 rating from about 17,600 ratings.

Five Minute Journal suits you if you like a fixed structure and want to write twice a day.

Orca (formerly Happyfeed), for photos, video and private Pods

Orca is the new name of Happyfeed. Its App Store page calls it a gratitude journal that focuses on photos, short videos and sharing. Posts are private by default and, according to the description, never posted publicly. You can share selected memories with friends, a partner or family in private groups called Pods.

You can post on any number of days for free. Orca Plus costs $39.99 a year or $3.99 a month and adds up to ten good things a day, up to four photos per post, 30-second videos, search and export to PDF or CSV. Orca needs an account, has a web version and has a 4.8 rating from about 4,100 ratings.

Orca suits you if photos and video matter more to you than text, or if you want to share with family who live far away.

With Gratitude, a free app for sharing with friends

With Gratitude lets you create private “bubbles” to share your lists with close friends and family. Its release notes also describe home screen widgets and community bubbles, where you can practice gratitude with a wider group. The App Store page lists no in-app purchases, and the description calls the app “simple, free”.

With Gratitude is only for iPhone. Its last update came out on June 6, 2025, and it has a 4.8 rating from 417 ratings.

With Gratitude suits you if you want to share with friends on iPhone and don’t want to pay anything.

Graceup, for one good thing a day with a small group

We built Graceup for people who want to write one good thing a day in about 30 seconds. Each day the app asks you one question, counts your streak and drops your entry into a jar that opens on the first day of the next month. You can share a moment with a private group or read the public Explore feed, where your name is never shown. Graceup also has more than 2,500 affirmations in 19 categories, reminders and widgets.

The free plan includes one entry a day, groups, the Explore feed and 20 affirmations a day. Premium costs $29.99 a year or $6.99 a month, with a seven-day free trial, and adds unlimited entries, photos, monthly recaps and On this day. Your journal stays on your phone and in your own iCloud or Google Drive, and there’s no email login.

Graceup is new and doesn’t have any App Store ratings yet. It doesn’t have a mood tracker, vision boards or an Apple Watch app, and photos need Premium. It suits you if you want a short daily entry, a small group of friends and affirmations in the same app.

Gratitude Plus vs Graceup

Gratitude Plus and Graceup are the two apps in this list with both a public feed and private groups, and both have affirmations and widgets. Gratitude Plus has about 21,000 ratings and adds mood tracking and insights that Graceup doesn’t have.

Graceup costs less: $29.99 a year instead of $39.99, and $6.99 a month instead of $10.99. On the free plan, Graceup lists exactly what you get, including groups and 20 affirmations a day, while the Gratitude Plus description doesn’t say which features are free. Pick Gratitude Plus if you want mood tracking and an app that many people have already rated. Pick Graceup if you want a lower yearly price and a quick daily entry.

Is Presently on iPhone?

We didn’t find Presently on iPhone. When we searched the US App Store for “presently” on November 5, 2026, the gratitude journal didn’t appear, only other apps with the same name. Presently on Google Play describes itself as “100% free and ad free” and keeps entries on your device.

Free gratitude journal apps for iPhone

If you’re on iPhone and want a free app, With Gratitude lists no in-app purchases. Orca and Graceup are free to use every day, with an optional subscription.

How to try a few gratitude journal apps

If you want to try a few apps, give each one a week and look at which one you still open without a reminder. Our gratitude journal prompts help on days when you don’t know what to write.

We built Graceup as a gratitude journal for iPhone and Android that takes about 30 seconds a day. You write one good thing, keep your streak and can share moments with a small private group.

Photo: sarah b on Unsplash