Reteum and Apple Journal
Apple's Journal app is a good, free way to reflect on your day. Reteum is built for something slightly different: catching thoughts as they happen and finding them again later, the way your memory does.
What they share
- Both are for iPhone and both take text, photos and your voice.
- Both are private: Reteum's AI runs on the phone and, with iCloud on, your entries are end-to-end encrypted so only your devices can read them.
Where Apple Journal fits best
Journal comes with your iPhone and costs nothing. It suggests moments to write about from your day, such as photos, places and workouts, and keeps entries in a timeline. If you want a nudge to write a daily entry about how the day went, Journal does that well.
Where Reteum fits best
Reteum is for the many small things you want to keep: a line that came to you on the train, a photo of a receipt, a link, a PDF, a voice note after a meeting. It is built around finding them again.
- Search by meaning. An AI model on your iPhone understands what you mean, so "nervous before speaking" finds the entry where you wrote about stage fright.
- Photos and videos found by what they show. Search "beach" and the beach photos turn up, whatever the caption said.
- Old thoughts come back. Each time you open the app, something you saved before is waiting at the top.
- The Atlas. Everything is sorted into subjects on its own, with related thoughts linked together.
- Links and files. Save web links with previews and attach PDFs; the words inside count in search.
- Export. Everything as one zip file with a Markdown copy you can read anywhere.
Price
Apple Journal is free. Reteum is $24.99 a year after a 7-day free trial, sold and managed by Apple. Without a subscription you can still read your thoughts, open the Atlas and export.
Can you use both?
Yes. Many people will keep a reflective daily entry in Journal and use Reteum for everything they want to find again. If what you want is a second brain more than a diary, Reteum is the closer fit.
See how Reteum works For iPhone with iOS 26 · 7 days free