Dreams: Your dream journal is made by The Lost Project, a small team in Ticino, Switzerland. It's the quiet overachiever of the category. It has a 4.7 rating from 429 reviews, updates are still coming (a Liquid Glass redesign shipped on 10 September 2026), and it has the strictest privacy label of any dream journal we compared: "Data Not Collected." We make Dreamlock, so weigh our view accordingly. On privacy in the strictest sense, Dreams wins.
Who should pick which?
Pick Dreams if your rule is "nothing I dream ever leaves my devices." It's also a good pick if you want a thoughtful journal for writing, drawing, tagging recurring "signs" and practicing lucid dreaming across iPhone, iPad and Mac, and you'd rather pay once than subscribe.
Pick Dreamlock if you want to speak a dream with your eyes closed and find it retold, painted and interpreted by morning. You'd be comfortable with the dream's text, never your voice, being processed briefly on our servers to write that card.
Which is more private, Dreams or Dreamlock?
Dreams, if "private" means nothing leaves the device. Its developer declares that it collects no data, and its privacy policy says everything is stored locally, backed up only to your own iCloud if you turn that on.
Dreamlock is private in a different way. There are no accounts and no email. Dreams are recorded and transcribed on the phone, so your voice never leaves it, and the app locks with Face ID. To write the interpretation, though, the dream's text goes over an encrypted connection to our servers. It's processed just long enough to write the card, isn't stored there, and is never used for training or ads. That trade is how you get a painted, interpreted card each morning. If you'd rather not make it, Dreams is the honest recommendation. Our privacy policy has the details.
What does Dreams do well?
Per its listing, it's a careful, complete journal. You note your dreams and sleep, rate how well you remember them, and view stats. You mark recurring "signs" (people, places, objects, feelings) and it helps you spot them again. You can draw a dream with a finger or Apple Pencil, and link related dreams together. It has a distraction-free reading mode and rediscovers old dreams at random. Reality-check notifications help lucid dreamers, and it writes sleep length to Apple Health. A passcode or Touch ID locks it, and iCloud sync keeps your devices in step. It's in ten languages.
Is Dreams free?
Free to download. The US listing shows PRO Mode and Unlimited dreams at $13.99 each, and no auto-renewing subscription terms. For people tired of subscriptions, that's a real advantage.
Dreamlock's free tier includes unlimited dream capture, three fully interpreted dream cards a week and ten questions, with no time limit. Dreamlock Plus is a subscription: $4.99 a month or $39.99 a year, with a 7-day free trial on the annual plan. It interprets and paints every dream, and adds the personal symbol index, unlimited questions, a monthly dream report and iCloud sync.
Does Dreams interpret dreams?
No. It gives you a dedicated field for your own analysis and interpretation, which many journal-keepers prefer. Dreamlock does the reading for you, in three registers: what named traditions say (attributed, never as fact), what psychologists notice, and one question to sit with. It never predicts anything.
Side by side
| Dreams: Your dream journal | Dreamlock | |
|---|---|---|
| Capture | Typed notes, drawings, imported pictures | One-tap voice note, transcribed on the phone |
| Interpretation | Your own analysis field; recurring "signs" | Traditions (attributed), psychology, one question |
| Privacy label | Data Not Collected | Data Not Linked to You (voice stays on the phone; dream text isn't stored on our servers) |
| Storage | On device; optional iCloud sync | On the phone; optional encrypted iCloud sync (Plus) |
| Lock | Passcode or Touch ID | Face ID / passcode |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac | iPhone |
| Price | Free; PRO Mode $13.99, Unlimited dreams $13.99 | Free (3 interpreted cards a week); Plus $4.99/month or $39.99/year |
The honest bottom line
Dreams is the private, pay-once journal for people who want to do the thinking themselves, and it's very good at that. Dreamlock is for people who want the dream caught by voice and read back to them. If lucid dreaming is part of your reason for journaling, Dreams' reality checks and signs pair well with our lucid dreaming primer. For the rest of the field, see the best dream journal apps for iPhone.
Competitor details checked 27 September 2026 against the Dreams App Store listing and The Lost Project's privacy policy for Dreams. Dreamlock details come from our own product fact sheet.