Best Gratitude Journal Apps (2026): 7 Compared

Which gratitude journal app is best?

Gratitude apps differ mostly in structure. Some give you the same short template every day, some add affirmations and vision boards, and some are general journals where gratitude is one part of the practice. The right one depends on how much structure you want and whether you plan to write about anything else.

1. Five Minute Journal

Five Minute Journal is the app version of the best-known paper gratitude journal. Each morning you write three things you are grateful for, three things that would make the day great and a daily affirmation. Each evening you write three good things that happened and one thing that could have gone better.

Five Minute Journal is free to use with optional premium plans, and runs on iPhone and Android. Its strength is that there is never a decision about what to write. Its weakness is the same thing: after a few months the fixed prompts can turn into autopilot answers, which the research below suggests is where the benefit fades.

2. Presently

Presently is an open-source gratitude journal for Android with more than a million installs. It has no ads and no account. Entries stay on the device, can be locked with fingerprint or face unlock, and can be exported as a CSV file.

Presently is the best choice for Android users who want a private gratitude habit at zero cost. It does not run on iPhone and does not offer statistics, AI or coaching.

3. Reflectize

Reflectize is an AI journal that remembers who and what you mentioned, so gratitude entries build into something you can look back through rather than a list. The iOS and Android apps are close to release, with a waitlist running until then. Reflectize fits gratitude journaling for a specific reason. The most useful gratitude entries are about particular people and moments, and Reflectize keeps track of the people and events you mention. When you thank a friend in an entry, that friend becomes part of the context Reflectize can bring back later, for example by asking how a plan you made together turned out.

Reflectize also produces day summaries and insights, so you can see which people and activities keep showing up on your better days. It suits people who want gratitude to be part of a wider journal rather than a separate daily list. If you only want a three-line template, Five Minute Journal or Presently is simpler.

4. Gratitude by Hapjoy

Gratitude: Self-Care Journal by Hapjoy combines a gratitude journal with affirmations, a vision board, reminders and daily motivational content. It runs on iPhone and Android.

Gratitude by Hapjoy suits people who want a broader self-care app with gratitude at the center. People who want a quiet, minimal journal may find the extra content distracting.

5. Orca, formerly Happyfeed

Orca, previously called Happyfeed, asks you to record a few good moments each day and attach photos and locations. Its best feature is looking back: it resurfaces past moments from weeks, months and years ago.

Orca runs on iPhone and Android. It suits people who like the idea of a feed of good memories to scroll back through, more than people who want to write at length.

6. Day One

Day One is a full journaling app rather than a gratitude app, but it includes templates and prompts that work well for a weekly gratitude entry, and it is the strongest archive for keeping those entries for years with photos.

Day One runs on iPhone, Android, Mac, Windows and the web.

7. Apple Journal

Apple Journal runs on iPhone, iPad and Mac and suggests moments to write about based on your photos, places and activities. Those suggestions make it easy to find a specific moment to be grateful for, which is exactly what good gratitude entries need.

Apple Journal has no gratitude template or reminders designed for gratitude, so you bring the structure yourself. It is the easiest place to start for iPhone users.

Does gratitude journaling actually work?

Gratitude journaling has a real but small effect on well-being. A 2025 preregistered meta-analysis in PNAS, pooling 145 papers and nearly 25,000 participants across 28 countries, estimated the average effect at about g = 0.19, which counts as small but reliable.

The same analysis found that when gratitude exercises are compared with other structured reflective activities, rather than with doing nothing, most of the gratitude-specific advantage disappears. That suggests the benefit comes from deliberately paying attention to your life, which is why thoughtful entries matter more than the app or the streak.

Journaling of any kind is not a treatment for depression or anxiety. If you are struggling, findahelpline.com lists free support services in your country.

How often should you write in a gratitude journal?

Once or twice a week is a better starting point than every day for most people. The clearest evidence comes from a 2005 study by Sonja Lyubomirsky, Kennon Sheldon and David Schkade: people who counted their blessings once a week for six weeks reported higher well-being, while people who did it three times a week did not.

The researchers' explanation was that frequent repetition makes the exercise feel routine, so it stops producing the small jolt of noticing something good. Other studies used daily formats successfully. In Emmons and McCullough's 2003 research, one study used weekly entries over ten weeks and two others used daily entries over two to three weeks. Martin Seligman's 2005 "three good things" exercise ran daily for one week, with benefits measured months later.

The practical takeaway: daily can work for a short burst, and weekly works well over the long term. If a daily habit starts to feel like a chore, switch to weekly rather than quitting. Choose an app that lets you set a weekly reminder or turn daily prompts off.

What makes a gratitude entry effective?

Specific moments beat general categories. "My family" takes no attention to write. "My sister called on Tuesday just to check how my interview went" requires you to go back through the week and notice something, and that noticing is the useful part.

• Name one specific event, not a category.
• Write one sentence on why it mattered to you.
• Favor people over things. Gratitude about relationships tends to stay meaningful longer.
• Avoid repeating the same item within a month.
• Let hard days in. "Today was rough, and one thing that helped was..." is a valid entry.
• Reread old entries every few weeks, so the journal becomes something you use and not just a list you fill.

What should you write in a gratitude journal?

If you are stuck, use one of these ten prompts. Each one points you toward a specific moment rather than a general category.

• Who made this week slightly easier, and what exactly did they do?
• What went better than you expected in the last few days?
• What is something you use every day that you would miss immediately?
• Who taught you something recently, even by accident?
• What small moment this week would you like to remember in a year?
• What problem got solved, and who helped?
• What did your body let you do this week?
• Which conversation stayed with you, and why?
• What is something you have now that you once hoped for?
• Who would be glad to hear that you thought of them today?

Should you use a gratitude app or a general journal?

Use a dedicated gratitude app if gratitude is the only thing you want to write about and you like a fixed template. Five Minute Journal, Presently, Gratitude by Hapjoy and Orca are all built for that single habit.

Use a general journal if you also want to write about decisions, stress, relationships or plans. A general journal lets gratitude sit next to the rest of your week, which makes entries more honest and gives you a fuller picture when you look back. Day One, Apple Journal and Reflectize work this way, and Reflectize adds summaries and insights that show which people and activities come up on good days.

Can gratitude journaling make you feel worse?

It can, when it turns into pressure to feel positive. If you are going through a hard time, listing things to be grateful for can feel false, or can add guilt for not feeling better. That is a sign the format is wrong for the moment, not that you are doing it badly.

Two adjustments help. Allow entries that hold both sides, such as "this week was hard, and one thing that helped was...". And reduce the frequency, since the research points to weekly entries working at least as well as daily ones. If low mood lasts for weeks, talk to a doctor or use findahelpline.com to find free support in your country.

Which gratitude journal app remembers the people you are grateful for?

Reflectize is built for that. It remembers the people, plans and moments you write about, so gratitude entries connect over time and it can ask how things went with the person you mentioned. Five Minute Journal, Presently and Apple Journal record each entry on its own.

Is a gratitude app better than a paper gratitude journal?

Neither format has been shown to work better. A paper gratitude journal is private and distraction-free. An app is always with you, can remind you at the right time, and makes it easy to look back and search old entries. Choose the one you will actually open, and if you choose an app, check that you can export your entries.