AppTierList › All lists › Reflective Journaling
Best Reflective Journaling Apps for iPhone (2026)
Reflectly - Journal & AI Diary is the top-ranked of 15 reflective journaling apps on iPhone, at S tier with 4.6/5 from 81,686 ratings.
- 1
Free + IAP · ★ 4.6 · 81,686 ratings · score 95 - 2
Free · ★ 4.8 · 334,200 ratings · score 94 - 3
Free + IAP · ★ 4.8 · 17,603 ratings · score 92 - 4
Free + IAP · ★ 4.7 · 3,135 ratings · score 89 - 5
Free download · ★ 4.8 · 1,930 ratings · score 89
What belongs in this list
Write a short regular reflection on the day to understand thoughts and experiences.
Not here: A blank notes app alone; A mood tracker alone; A memory journal for keeping events alone; A meditation or self-help article library alone; A general chatbot alone
How we pick
For this list we ask the App Store the same searches a person would, in several countries, and keep every app it returns. A model reads each app's listing and rejects the ones that only mention the use case. Every app that stays is scored out of 100 from four parts, each 0 to 100 and averaged with no weights: its App Store rating, how many people rated it, where the App Store itself ranks it for this list's searches, and how recently its current version shipped. An app showing Apple's Editors' Choice badge gets a fifth part of 100, which can only lift its score. Tiers follow fixed score bands: S from 90, A from 80, B from 70, C from 60, D from 50, F below. The list's leader is S if it scores 80 or more. On a list of 20 or more ranked apps, a tier from S to D takes in new apps only up to a quarter of the top 40: an app pushed out of a full tier falls to the next tier with room, and F takes the rest. An app already in a tier keeps its place while the tier is at most 2 apps over a quarter; past that, only the apps over that margin go down, lowest score first. Equal scores share a tier, and no app has a better tier than an app ranked above it. An app keeps its tier until its score passes the band edge by more than 1 point, or a full tier or the order above moves it. Only the top 40 of a list get a tier. Read the full method →
Compare every app
- 1Free + IAP · ★ 4.6 · 81,686 ratings · score 95 · best in class
- 2Free · ★ 4.8 · 334,200 ratings · score 94 · best in class
- 3Free + IAP · ★ 4.8 · 17,603 ratings · score 92 · best in class
- 4Free + IAP · ★ 4.7 · 3,135 ratings · score 89 · excellent
- 5Free download · ★ 4.8 · 1,930 ratings · score 89 · excellent
- 6
Free + IAP · ★ 4.8 · 6,906 ratings · score 84 · excellent - 7
Free download · ★ 4.9 · 9,863 ratings · score 82 · excellent - 8
Free + IAP · ★ 4.6 · 6,528 ratings · score 80 · good - 9
Free + IAP · ★ 4.8 · 5,152 ratings · score 79 · good - 10
Free download · ★ 4.9 · 3,347 ratings · score 69 · situational · provisional - 11
Free download · ★ 4.7 · 6,638 ratings · score 68 · situational · provisional - 12
Free download · ★ 4.8 · 2,835 ratings · score 68 · situational · provisional - 13
Free + IAP · ★ 4.6 · 3,044 ratings · score 64 · situational · provisional - 14
$4.99 · ★ 4.5 · 2,003 ratings · score 39 · avoid · provisional - 15
Free download · ★ 3.7 · 13 ratings · score 34 · avoid · provisional
Questions people ask
- What is the best reflective journaling app for iPhone?
- Reflectly - Journal & AI Diary, S tier, ranked #1 of 15, rated 4.6 by 81,686 people.
- Which reflective journaling apps are free?
- 14 of 15 are free to download: Reflectly - Journal & AI Diary (S), Journal (S), 5 Minute Journal・Daily Diary (S), Clearful - Journal & Diary (A) and more. 7 of them sell in-app purchases. 1 reports no in-app purchases.
- Which reflective journaling app has the best App Store rating?
- Rosebud: AI Journal & Diary at 4.9 from 3,347 ratings.
- How many reflective journaling apps reach S or A tier?
- 7 of 15. Tiers follow fixed score bands: S from 90, A from 80, B from 70, C from 60, D from 50, F below. The list's leader is S if it scores 80 or more. On a list of 20 or more ranked apps, a tier from S to D takes in new apps only up to a quarter of the top 40: an app pushed out of a full tier falls to the next tier with room, and F takes the rest. An app already in a tier keeps its place while the tier is at most 2 apps over a quarter; past that, only the apps over that margin go down, lowest score first. Equal scores share a tier, and no app has a better tier than an app ranked above it. An app keeps its tier until its score passes the band edge by more than 1 point, or a full tier or the order above moves it. Only the top 40 of a list get a tier.