Keeping a gratitude journal can result in higher levels of alertness, enthusiasm, determination, optimism, and energy. Those are values we can all be grateful for.

Traditionally, gratitude journals are kept using pen and paper notebooks. However, there are also several well-crafted digital gratitude journals for iOS. These allow you to cultivate a habit of recording what you're most thankful for in life.

Here are the best gratitude journal apps for iPhone and iPad.

1. Grateful

Grateful is a terrific gratitude journal option with features that let you truly make it your own. You'll start each entry with prompts like "what are you grateful for?" and "what made you laugh?" today. This is a helpful way to begin journaling if you're new to it.

Grateful's standout features:

  • Set reminders to write an entry each day.
  • Customize the entry prompts from built-in options or create your own.
  • Add notes, include photos, and use tags for all entries.
  • Sort entries by date, tag, prompt, or random.

With an intuitive and attractive interface, customizable features, and helpful prompts, Grateful is a really solid journaling app for iPhone and iPad. You can try Grateful for free with 15 journal entries and if you like it, check out the subscription plan. Among other perks, this lets you back up your journal to cloud storage.

Download: Grateful (Free, subscription available)

2. Gratitude Happiness Journal

Another excellent iPhone app in this sphere is Gratitude Happiness Journal. Similar to Grateful, you can use prompts for helping sparking your entry for the day. You can also write a letter of gratitude or simply jot down what you're thankful for. It's all up to you!

Gratitude Happiness Journal's best features:

  • Tap to write in your Journal, type a daily Affirmation, or receive a Daily Zen quote that you can share.
  • Set reminders for your journal entries, affirmations, and daily quotes.
  • Use a passcode lock to make sure your thoughts remain private.
  • Add a pastel color to your journal entry and include a photo.

Gratitude Happiness Journal gives you a day or month view of your journal. Plus, you can see how consistently you journal with writing streaks. The app provides most of its features for free, which is awesome. But if you'd like to add a search function, export options, or the ability to add more than one photo to an entry, look into the subscription plan.

Download: Gratitude Happiness Journal (Free, subscription available)

3. Reflectly

Reflectly is a neat gratitude journal that walks you through sharing how you feel. This is a great way to get started if you're new to journaling. Start by rating your day, move onto your main activity, and then finish with how you felt throughout your day. Reflectly calls your entries "stories."

Reflectly's top features:

  • Follow the helpful questions to create your stories.
  • Edit your stories, add notes, and include photos.
  • Sort and filter your stores by date range, activity, or feeling.
  • Create six stories to unlock your writing stats.

With Reflectly, you get a gorgeous interface that you can customize with your favorite color, reminders for morning and evening, and a passcode lock to keep your feelings to yourself. If you're interested in additional features like unlimited text, new daily questions, and personalized insights, take a look at the subscription plan.

Download: Reflectly (Free, subscription available)

4. 365 Gratitude Journal

With the 365 Gratitude Journal app, you get more than a simple journal. You'll read inspiring quotes and stories, get help from the happiness coach Joy, can share with a community, and capture quick moments with the Gratitude Jar.

365 Gratitude Journal's prominent features:

  • Add your mood for the day, read an inspirational story, and follow the prompt to express your thoughts.
  • Fill your Gratitude Jar by entering moments as they happen.
  • Join the Gratitude Game to earn points, win medallions, and unlock rewards.
  • Set up daily reminders, create a passcode, and take an assessment to learn more about yourself.

If you're looking for a gratitude journal that goes beyond just daily entries, 365 Gratitude Journal is the app for you. To access the library of meditations, sync with your other devices, unlock Coach Joy, and more, you'll need to subscribe.

Download: 365 Gratitude Journal (Free, subscription available)

5. Happyfeed

Another gratitude app for iPhone and iPad to look at is Happyfeed. This journal lets you add up to three entries per day and can give you a hint for something to write about if needed. Plus, you can add an emoji to sum up the mood for your day.

Happyfeed's major features:

  • Add photos and locations to your entries to remember what makes you grateful.
  • Look back at your entries, edit them, and share them with others if you like.
  • Set daily reminders to keep up with your journaling.
  • Create a private group, called a Pod, to share your progress and chosen moments.

Happyfeed makes keeping a gratitude journal easy with a simplistic interface, the ability to add photos of what you're grateful for, and a quick way to view your past entries. Happyfeed is free, with a subscription option available to get the in-app calendar, use offline mode, create more entries per day, and more.

Download: Happyfeed (Free, subscription available)

The Benefits of a Gratitude Journal App

Even as we weather the rainy days and storms in our life, keeping a gratitude journal can help remind us to focus more on the sunshine days and lemonade moments. It can also help reduce depression, daily stress, and encourage a sense of empathy for others.

If you want to try something different, check out some tools for bullet journals, as well as these journal apps for boosting mental health.