Momento: Private Journal Diary Reviews

by Norsedoc

I downloaded and started using Momento years ago. Suddenly they changed their service. If I want to continue password protection and posting pictures to an event, I need to upgrade to the paid version. I have no problem with app developers making money, but allowing me to get years worth of entries before suddenly removing the password protection is playing dirty. Now I have to pay them or the entries that they allowed me to believe were private will all be more easily accessed by others, and it is less useful because the photos are more restricted. If that were the deal from the start, I may or may not have chosen their app. Changing their rules after I entered years worth of memories is not ok. What will they change next? I can’t trust this company so now I need to start moving the entries to a more reliable platform. If that sounds ok to you, then by all means download Momento.

by SergeP

I used Momento for years and it was great when it first came out. Since then the developers have fallen behind and dropped the ball on several i]key user requests and issues. There’s still no iPad or Mac sync support. About two years ago I became frustrated and decided to leave this app - and I was as subscriber - and moved to DayOne. Everything this app can do and more, it works on my Mac, iPad and phone. I didn’t want to leave this app - o had several years of journal entries that I ended up exporting and adding to my DayOne journal. I’m writing this review now because I was curious to see if this app had finally caught up - but no - it has not. It’s been over two years since I dropped this app and still no updates or prof]guess on sync or an iPad app. So glad I switched and didn’t wait around for Momento to meet my needs.

by Soulbow

I used to use this as a travel and life journal, but each update makes the product worse. I don’t have faith in the product team behind Momento to pay for a premium version. They’re too focused on profit and not on making a good product.

- It stopped working offline, making it useless as a travel journal while abroad without cell phone service. This wasn’t a problem with the original version back in 2012.

- It won’t always save long posts. For whatever reason, posts seem like they get cut off after about 500 words.

- Every time I upgrade my iPhone, I am unable to get saved journal entries from a previous phone. Supposedly I can export things or use iCloud, but that has not been successful yet. I don’t want an export in plain text. I want all the text and posts back in Momento so I can scroll through them.

- Despite paying for Momento years ago, basic functionality was removed so I would pay for a premium version. When I installed Momento it said I would have features from before 2017 since I was an early supporter of Momento. One of those features was the ability to add a passcode to restrict app access. That feature has been removed until I subscribe. This is the last straw, and I won’t be using this app again.

Thanks for a progressively worse experience over these past seven years. I won’t be back.

by YoItzDoobie

I loved Momento so much I subscribed to the premium version. I’ve had it for a few years. Then in 2020 I did an update and all my entries were gone. It was as if I never used Momento (Yes I did premium restore purchases it tells me they are restored and I have zero entries or timeline activity) I didn’t really use Momento regularly but I chose to pay for it because I loved the recap feature. Where Momento would say look at your entry from this time last year. I mostly enjoy journaling to be able to reflect once I’ve long forgot about it. I wanted a digital journal since I move fairly often. But no luck. I have all the hard copy journals I wrote as a child but the one using the cloud is gone. Don’t do it unless you like that sort of disappointment.

by MomentoUserSince2010

I was APPALLED to learn that the new and “improved” this app does not have any type of password security what-so-ever to protect journal entries... unless you *pay* for that as a premium feature.
Password protection is a basic feature and should not be considered a premium feature under any circumstance. I’m not talking facial recognition or even fingerprint scan — a password, for goodness sakes.
I’m extremely disappointed that the developers went that route, in a sense rendering the new app useless unless you pay the $2.99/mo to “upgrade” and get password protection. What a load of BS. I’ve used the “classic” this app for 9 years and it is no longer supported. Losing features like password protection with the mandatory “upgrade” to this new version is a horrible experience for your long-time users. I will avoid this developer in the future and will be taking my business elsewhere.

by CLSlinki

I’ve used and loved Momento for more than ten years; so much so that it has grown to more than 80GB of data, pictures and more. I put down every restaurant, hotel, street signs, special occasions and so much more. It’s my memory for my husband and I. I rely on it but then came the new phone and I cannot get the data to transfer. I’ve read every article and it’s just so big. I knew it would take a long time but after almost nine hours I see 80GB of storage used on my phone but nothing when I open Momento . And what’s worse, I can’t get any help. I’ve sent almost daily requests to support and no one responds. I’m devastated beyond words if all that data is lost and very upset that as a Premium Subscriber there’s no one to help. So don’t get too attached or you too will end up heartbroken.😢😡

by D'Armond

I started using this app (what is now “this app Classic”) in 2013 to keep a journal of a vacation. Loved it! I don’t use the social media feeds or other features. I love looking back at those entries and remembering those experiences.

I’m on another vacation now, and wanted to do the same. Photo import is no longer working on the old version, so I took a look at the current version. For an app that I use very infrequently it’s not worth a subscription. If I’d been paying all this time for Classic I’d have paid over $112, which is not justified.

I saw under in-app purchases that there’s an option to just pay $1.99 for multiple photos, but it seems this is not actually available. That was a frustrating bait-and-switch. You just lost a customer.

by Thealphamare

I purchased a subscription for ONE reason…automated imports of Facebook posts. Didn’t work. Seeking help on the website revealed this is a known issue. Then I notice that ALL my former posts (from years ago when I first downloaded Momento) were gone. JUST. GONE. As though they never were. All I had was my full feed from IG, and IG only, NOTHING else.

I did not attempt to contact support. All this within first hour of purchase…waaay too much trouble already. No thank you. I requested a refund and will be sticking with Day One, which has tons more useful features. Only thing this app beat Day One on was smooth native integration of social media feeds…when that feature actually works…which it doesn’t…

by BAd DeTeCtIvE

I don’t often write my entries until I am home at the end of the day. Trying to add a location for where I was earlier in the day is next to impossible as I only have the option to add locations close to my home and from there the options are limited to a few streets.

What’s worse, when posting a photo Momento doesn’t grab the metadata from the location where the photo was taken which is just frustrating. There’s no way to go back and add it later. I feel like this should be a basic feature for any journaling app. Automatically adding the location of a photo is huge, especially for travelers. Almost all other apps do this.

I wish I had known about this issue before I purchased the yearly subscription. I would of payed the extra $15 and started 2019 with Day One or another comparable journal app.

by Street Owl

The update made the date and time editing so fussy. If I want to change the time from 1:30pm to 11:10 am, then I have to click on time 3 times in order to get the correct time entry. First, I click time to change hour, then i will have to click again to change the minutes and then same goes for am/pm. In other words, it is not intuitive.
Also, app closes if you leave it untouched for a few mins. Like I copy my entries to a real journal and when I am doing that and Momento stays idle for a minute or so, it will close and then I have to open it again and click on the date entries that I need to copy from. It does not stay at where I left it off. How annoying.

by ILL-J

I had been using the older version (paid app) and I never had problem with it. However, it kept telling me to upgrade for further updates, and after a while, I decided to give it a try it.

I give one extra star for the beautiful interface, but that’s about it. There is no significant changes to Momento , and it is certainly not worth the money (even though it’s comparatively cheaper).

It features neither an iPad app nor a mac app, meaning there is no syncing between two or more devices. It really gets annoying using my iPhone 6 to type long entries, as I sometimes would like to sit down and write with my keyboard. Something I would expect from a subscription app. They even say that it is technically difficult to do so, and they have no concrete plan to make an iPad or Mac app. Now I am wondering why I paid for the subscription service in the first place.

Day One seems to have all the features I need. I still like the interface on this app better than that on Day One, but this app lost its value when it became the subscription app.

by Van_block

I have been testing a bunch of different journaling apps to see which one I like best and this app seems to be the one best suited for me...almost.

I gave it 3 stars for now based on the following essential elements Momento lacks.

1. No text formatting

The biggest thing that it lacks for me (and I’m surprised to see that it isn’t a main focus for the developers, maybe they can shed some light on why it isn’t?) is that there is ZERO text formatting.

It may not seem like a big deal but not being able to use bold or italics, underline a title, or even use bullet points is a major downfall of what is otherwise a great journaling app.

2. Not being able to export to PDF

With this only being available as an app, being able to print my entries out to compile as a book at the end of the year would be a major benefit but that currently isn’t possible.

3. No desktop app

I do not always like using my phone to write a journal entry. Oftentimes, it would be much easier to use my laptop, especially when I’m at home.

Other apps, Penzu for example, have that capability but I do not like the interface nearly as much as this app.

That is what keeps it at a 3 star rating for now and is why I will keep testing other apps.

by Ging Raye

Love Momento , the idea behind it, how easy it is to capture my day with pictures and write about it...BUT, I do most of my photo stuff on my iPad, not my iPhone - it’s just easier when working with pictures and especially when writing. My iPads are in keyboard cases, so it’s like typing on a laptop. You know what a pain it can be to type on an iPhone. So please, please, please make an iPad friendly version of your app. It will not go into landscape mode on an iPad, and that is just a pain. While I like Momento so much more than Card Diary - because I can use multiple pictures, not just one from my day - I hate, hate, hate having to do it on my iPhone, or try to do it on my iPad while looking sideways since it is only presented in portrait mode on my iPad...I know this would make a HUGE difference for a lot of users, so please consider doing so. Thank you so much!

by Steve Likes This

I’ve been using Momento for years and even pay the premium which is the most expensive. But I cannot find any customer support email anywhere and a lot of the frequently asked questions answers are from 2018. The exporting data feature does not work it does not allow me to choose a custom date and when I go to export it it only does one day it is clearly a glitch I hope you guys fix this! My data is getting a lot bigger because I am unable to export and get rid of anything. please fix this issue so I might have to look into another app like Evernote

by FoxZia38

For years, I have been searching for a journal / diary that could video tape of myself. I like to type but I prefer to see myself express my thoughts and feelings. I like to have twitter and Facebook feed added to the journal but they are too much. I prefer to choose which posts I want saved in the journal. It would be nice if this app could add Momento online, computer, and / or Mac ( I have not buy Mac or iPad yet) because viewing on iPhone is sometime annoying and small. I wouldn’t mind paying a little extra if app is added to online. I have another journal app that I’d like to transfer to this app and then cancel that journal subscription, please.

by Jeju1230

In my research, this didn't come up as one of top apps to try, just happened upon it. And was glad I did! It's easy to use, not too many bells and whistles to get bogged down with. Even if u can't put multiple pix on one entry, u can put more than one pic per day which works out just fine for me.

Only complaints - not being able to sync between devices, and the orientation doesn't change which makes typing in the landscape position a bit awkward. Otherwise have enjoyed it so far!

Haven't tried exporting it yet to see what it looks like in PDF form.

by GinAusten

Update 11/25: Instagram feed mostly works again, and it’s great to see my social media recorded along with my offline journal entries. I can now go back and reflect on news, images, and other details I’ve posted elsewhere. Very grateful for the update (no responses from my tickets though, so don’t expect much in terms for customer service).

Original review: Paid a subscription to give thanks to the developer as it had been a great product for years. But lately the ‘premium’ support is a farce. Submitted two tickets regarding authentication issues when syncing with Instagram but it’s been months without a response.

by Acaciagold

I originally downloaded Momento just for overseas trips, and I was only using it for that reason. But then I realized what an opportunity I was missing. Momento makes journaling/recording/record keeping so easy. Even though I am a writer, sometimes I just don’t have the time or energy to write out everything, so I just do a quick video update and put it in Momento . You can take pics and vids of parties and get-togethers. You don’t have to junk up your phone space or organize anything- just use the Momento and it’s automatically stored by date. Also, it’s the reason I now feel free to throw away birthday cards etc . Usually, I’m too sentimental to throw them away and they just clutter things, but now I can just capture them and store them in my this app. LOVE it.

by Ron5

I’ve had this app for several years now. I’ve downloaded a bunch of other apps since then. Yet I’m still gravitated back to this app. It makes journaling simple and fun to do. It’s the best, underrated journaling app out there. It auto-journals from my other social media accounts and does it a very beautiful way. Sometimes, there are issues with feed connections but I can live with it. I hope more people will discover Momento so the developers can keep improving this. If there are apps worth paying for, this is one of them. Wish: feed to Google Photos please!

by Lana24k

I’ve been using Momento for at least 2 years and it’s my only go-to app that continues to meet me needs without fail. It’s simplicity and efficiency are my biggest needs, because I don’t like many other apps that require you to memorize features for functions, such as double-tapping, triple-tapping, swiping left or right, to access functions such as delete, save, edit, etc.
I can easily update and include forgotten notes and adjust so it fits in with the correct date and time if needed.
I use this also as a dream diary, and never run out of space to document my lucid dreams.
Overall a great little app.

by Nevenera

I was not prompted to do this review I came here after I realized what an awesome app this is. I have never been able to keep a diary before. I did not want to carry one around for fear I would lose it or leave it somewhere where someone could read it. And I never really felt safe with online diaries. This is great as a journal, a memory maker, a todo list reminder. A chronicle of day trips, movie reviews, health journal and more. I love Momento and felt the need to come here and say it. It is well designed, easy to use and I love the way you can use tags to organize your thoughts and find them easily after.

by CraftyBek

As a memory keeper & family storyteller Momento has been essential in helping me to remember the stories that I never want to forget. I’ve used Momento since 2012 to record funny things my kids have said or done, special moments, and important things that I know will fade over time. The ability to pair photos with these memories has been priceless and have enabled me to scrapbook things that happened years ago that I totally forgot about. And being able to open Momento and scroll through memories that happened “on this day” is fantastic and brings me so much joy. Thanks for making and maintaining this awesome app!

by Elisa The First

I used to journal with another app, which automatically added my pictures throughout the day and noted my locations and times. Momento went away (major bummer) so I began to hunt for another (developers: If you want to add this feature that would be sublime.)

I tried several different apps and none were as easy and as suitable for journaling that includes photos as Momento is. As a professionally trained photographer, it’s nice to find something that I can use to journal my thoughts on the pictures I take or events I experience.

I highly recommend Momento for those of you looking to use photos with your journal. It’s also become the means for tracking my reading and reviews, so if you’re looking for something like that, check Momento out.

I did purchase the upgrade so I could attach more than one pic to an entry, as well as use some of the other features, and I’m glad I did.