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An iPhone or iPad with iOS or iPadOS 17 or later. The Apple Watch app needs watchOS 10 or later and a paired iPhone with Secret Diary. There's no account to create and nothing to pay: download the app and start writing. The journal is free; Premium is optional.

Open the Today tab. Add a photo if you like, choose how you feel, and write a few lines. Stuck? Tap Use prompt on today's writing prompt. With Premium you can also browse every prompt and start from a template. Past days live in the Calendar and Journal tabs, and your stats and year in pixels are in Insights.

Open the Insights tab. Your year summary (entries, photos and best streak), your year in pixels and your favourites are free. Mood trends, deeper insights, earlier years and Year Wrapped need Premium. Everything is worked out on your device; nothing is uploaded.

Go to Settings › iCloud & Backup › Remove Sample Entries. Only the examples are removed; your own entries stay.

Yes, for free. Turn on Settings › Journal › Daily Reminder, choose a time, and allow notifications when iOS asks. Reminders never include what you wrote. If they stop arriving, check iOS Settings › Notifications › Secret Diary.

Touch and hold an empty area of your Home Screen or Lock Screen, tap Edit then Add Widget, and search for Secret Diary. Widgets are free. They show your streak, today's mood and the week at a glance, never what you wrote or the photos you added. While Decoy Mode is on, they show nothing about your journal.

Yes, for free. Secret Diary adds four actions to Siri and the Shortcuts app: Add Entry, Log Mood, Today and Get Streak. Ask Siri, or open Shortcuts and search for Secret Diary to use them in your own shortcuts and automations.

The watch app is free. Open Secret Diary on your watch to log a mood with one tap, or dictate or scribble a quick note. Each check-in waits on your watch and is added to that day's entry in your iPhone journal the next time your watch and iPhone connect: the mood becomes the day's mood unless you've edited that day's entry on your iPhone since, and a note goes after anything you've already written. Your words are never replaced.

Your iPhone sends back only your streak and the last week's moods, never your entries. If the app isn't on your watch yet, open the Watch app on your iPhone, scroll to Available Apps and tap Install next to Secret Diary.

The lock is always on. When Secret Diary opens, it asks for Face ID or Touch ID, with your device passcode as the fallback, and it hides your entries in the app switcher. The lock is free. When you switch away and come back, it asks again once the Auto-Lock time you choose has passed. Set it in Settings › Privacy & Security › Auto-Lock.

Face ID data never leaves Apple's Secure Enclave. The app only learns whether you unlocked it.

1. On the lock screen, tap Use Device Passcode and enter the passcode you use to unlock your iPhone.
2. If iOS says Face ID is unavailable after too many attempts, lock your iPhone, unlock it with your passcode, then open Secret Diary again.
3. Check that Face ID is allowed for the app in iOS Settings › Face ID & Passcode › Other Apps, or in iOS Settings › Secret Diary.
4. You can also set a 6-digit backup passcode for the app in Settings › Privacy & Security › Set Backup Passcode.

Still stuck? Contact support before deleting the app. Deleting it erases any journal that isn't synced to iCloud or saved in a backup.

Decoy Mode is part of Premium.

1. Turn on Settings › Privacy & Security › Decoy Mode.
2. Choose a four-digit secret code and enter it again to confirm. There's no default code, and easy-to-guess codes like 1234 or 1111 are rejected.
3. Pick a disguise in Settings › Privacy & Security › Decoy Mode: a working calculator (the default), a notes screen or a weather screen. Try the Disguise shows it straight away.

From then on, the disguise appears whenever the app opens or comes back, and the Home Screen icon changes to match it (calculator, notes or weather; iOS shows a short notice when it changes). To reach your journal:

• Calculator: type your code, then press =.
• Notes: open any note and type your code at the end.
• Weather: type your code into the search field.

Face ID still guards the journal after the code. If Premium ends, Decoy Mode stays on and keeps protecting your diary until you turn it off; turning it on again needs Premium.

Your code is stored only in your device's secure Keychain. We can't see it or reset it, and there's deliberately no "forgot code" button, because anyone holding your phone could press it.

• Try the codes you're likely to have chosen. On the calculator, enter the digits, then press =.
• After five wrong tries, the disguise ignores codes for 30 seconds. Wait, then try again.
• If you still can't get in, email support before you delete anything. Deleting the app erases any journal that isn't synced to iCloud or saved in a backup.

No. There's no Secret Diary server and no account. Your journal is stored on your device and, if you turn on sync, in your private iCloud, which only your Apple Account can open. The app contains no analytics or tracking code. The Privacy Policy has the details.

iCloud Sync is part of Premium and is off until you turn it on. Use the switch at Settings › iCloud & Backup › iCloud Sync on each device; the change takes effect the next time you open the app. With sync on, your journal is kept in your own private iCloud and appears on every iPhone and iPad signed in to the same Apple Account with sync turned on. With it off, entries stay only on the device you wrote them on, and turning it off doesn't delete what's already in iCloud.

If Premium ends, sync pauses. Each device keeps the journal it has, nothing is deleted from iCloud, and sync picks up again when Premium is active.

If sync seems stuck, check that iCloud is on for Secret Diary in iOS Settings › your name › iCloud, that you have free iCloud storage, and that both devices use the same Apple Account. Large photo libraries can take a while on the first sync.

1. Go to Settings › iCloud & Backup › Export Data.
2. Choose Full Backup and turn on Protect with a Password.
3. Pick a password of at least 8 characters that you'll remember, then save the file somewhere safe: the Files app, iCloud Drive or your computer.

Backups are free and include your entries, photos, voice notes, dreams and time capsules. We never see your backup password and can't recover it, so store it somewhere safe.

1. Install Secret Diary on the new iPhone or iPad and open it.
2. Go to Settings › iCloud & Backup › Import Backup and choose your backup file.
3. Enter the backup's password. Your entries are added to the journal, and anything already there is kept.

Password-protected backups can be restored on any device, as long as you know the password, with or without Premium. If you use iCloud Sync, you can skip this: turn sync on and your journal arrives by itself.

Yes, any time. Settings › iCloud & Backup › Export Data can create a full backup (a JSON file, free) or a folder of your photos (free), and with Premium a printable PDF photo book. You can review what's included before anything is created, and the file goes only where you send it.

Nothing you made is taken away, and the free journal keeps working. You can keep writing, and everything stays on your device.

• Voice notes, dreams and time capsules you made stay readable and are included in your backups. Making new ones needs Premium.
• Decoy Mode, if it's on, keeps protecting your diary until you turn it off. Turning it on again needs Premium.
• Premium themes, fonts and app icons switch back to the free look.
• iCloud Sync pauses. Each device keeps its copy, and nothing is deleted from iCloud.

Subscribe again, buy Lifetime or restore a purchase at any time to unlock Premium again.

Delete single entries from the entry itself, or everything at once with Settings › iCloud & Backup › Delete Journal Data. If iCloud Sync is on, deletions sync too. To remove the iCloud copy yourself, go to iOS Settings › your name › iCloud › Manage Storage. Deleting the app removes everything stored on that device.

Secret Diary is free to download, and the journal is free with no entry limit and no time limit. Free includes:

• Unlimited entries with a photo, mood, place and weather, plus favourites
• The Face ID, Touch ID or passcode lock, and the privacy cover in the app switcher
• Calendar, journal timeline and search, the daily prompt and the daily reminder
• On This Day, streaks, achievements, basic stats and your year in pixels
• Widgets, Apple Watch mood check-ins, and Siri and Shortcuts
• Password-protected backups and restore

Premium adds Decoy Mode, private iCloud sync, voice notes, the dream journal, time capsules, insights and Year Wrapped, seven more themes with two more journal fonts and alternate app icons, the full prompt library and templates, and the PDF photo book. It's $2.99 a month or $19.99 a year, each with a 7-day free trial for eligible new subscribers, or $49.99 once for Lifetime. There are no ads either way.

You don't need a trial to use the journal: it's free. The trial is for Premium. The monthly ($2.99) and yearly ($19.99) plans start with a 7-day free trial for eligible new subscribers, and every Premium feature unlocks straight away. When the trial ends, the plan you chose starts and renews automatically unless you cancel at least 24 hours before the trial ends. Lifetime ($49.99) is a one-time purchase and doesn't include a trial.

If you cancel during the trial, you won't be charged and the free journal keeps working. Prices are in US dollars; the App Store shows the price for your country.

Yes. Every Premium plan, Lifetime included, works with Family Sharing. Family members get Premium on their own devices with their own private journals; nobody can see anyone else's entries. Only the person who bought Premium can manage or cancel it.

Open Settings › Premium › Redeem Offer Code in Secret Diary, or tap Redeem Code on the Premium screen, and enter your code in Apple's sheet. Premium unlocks as soon as Apple confirms it.

1. Open Settings on your iPhone and tap your name.
2. Tap Subscriptions, then Secret Diary.
3. Tap Cancel Subscription (or Cancel Free Trial).

You can also tap Manage Subscription on the Premium card at the top of Settings in the app. You keep Premium until the end of the period you've paid for. After that, the free journal keeps working and your entries stay on your device (see what changes).

On a new or reinstalled device, sign in with the same Apple Account you bought with, then tap Restore on the Premium screen, or go to Settings › Premium › Restore Purchases. Your subscription or Lifetime purchase unlocks Premium again at no cost.

Restoring your purchase doesn't bring back entries. For that, use iCloud Sync or restore a backup.

Apple handles all payments and refunds for the App Store. Request one at reportaproblem.apple.com, sign in with your Apple Account, and choose the Secret Diary purchase.

Yes. Lifetime is a single payment that unlocks every Premium feature, including Premium features added in later updates. There's nothing to renew.

Yes. Switch between monthly and yearly in Settings › your name › Subscriptions › Secret Diary. The change takes effect when your current period ends. If you buy Lifetime while subscribed, cancel the subscription there so it doesn't renew.

Check iOS Settings › Secret Diary › Photos and choose Full Access or Limited Access with the photos you want to use. For the camera, allow access under iOS Settings › Secret Diary › Camera.

Voice notes are part of Premium. Allow Microphone and Speech Recognition in iOS Settings › Secret Diary. Transcription uses Apple's speech recognition, on your device where it's supported; some languages need a network connection.

Update to the latest version from the App Store, then restart your iPhone. If it keeps happening, contact support and mention your iOS version and what you were doing. Please don't delete the app first: without iCloud Sync or a backup, deleting it erases your journal.