Dreamy, by Alex Morral, is what a lot of people picture when they imagine a dream journal app: clean, calm, quick to open, and private by default. It has a 4.7 rating from 250 reviews on the US App Store and a full redesign released in early 2026. We make Dreamlock, so weigh our view accordingly. The two apps agree on privacy and disagree on what happens after you capture the dream.
Who should pick which?
Pick Dreamy if you enjoy writing your dreams yourself and want a good-looking place to do it. That means mood, dream type and your own interpretation on each entry, photos, drawings and voice notes attached, and statistics that include moon-phase correlations. PRO is modestly priced.
Pick Dreamlock if you don't want to write at all. Speak the dream with your eyes closed and by morning it's a clean retelling with a title, a painting, the symbols, the mood, and an interpretation.
What does Dreamy do well?
Per its listing and website: quick entries with title, notes, mood and type; calendar and search; photos, voice notes and drawings attached to a dream; and visual statistics for dream frequency, mood trends, moon phases and sleep duration. It has an optional Face ID or Touch ID lock, reminders, and JSON backup for export and import. It's a tidy, considered piece of work. Its App Store privacy label lists only purchase history and diagnostics, not linked to your identity.
Is Dreamy free?
It's free to download, and Dreamy PRO costs $3.99 a month or $14.99 a year. The listing says PRO adds drawings, a daily reminder, export and import, and screen customization. At $14.99 a year, it's one of the cheaper paid tiers in the category.
Dreamlock's free tier gives you unlimited dream capture, three fully interpreted dream cards a week and ten questions, with no time limit. Dreamlock Plus is $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.
Which is more private, Dreamy or Dreamlock?
Both take privacy seriously, in different shapes. Dreamy's label shows only purchase and diagnostic data, not linked to you, and it locks with Face ID. Dreamlock also locks with Face ID and has no accounts. Your voice is recorded and transcribed on the phone and never leaves it. The dream's text goes to our servers over an encrypted connection just long enough to write the card, and it isn't stored there or used for training or ads. If you'd rather no dream text ever touched a server, a journal-only app like Dreamy is the closer fit. See our privacy policy for the details.
Side by side
| Dreamy | Dreamlock | |
|---|---|---|
| Capture | Typed entries; attach voice notes, photos, drawings | One-tap voice note, transcribed on the phone |
| Interpretation | Your own, per entry | Traditions (attributed), psychology, one question |
| Patterns | Frequency, mood, moon phase, sleep-duration stats | Personal symbol index; ask questions of your dreams |
| Lock | Optional Face ID / Touch ID | Face ID / passcode; hidden in the app switcher |
| Price | Free; PRO $3.99/month or $14.99/year | Free (3 interpreted cards a week); Plus $4.99/month or $39.99/year |
The honest bottom line
If you like writing and reflecting on your own, Dreamy is lovely and cheap to upgrade. If mornings are too foggy for writing, or you want each dream read back to you with care, that's Dreamlock. If your dreams run dark, our guide to nightmares is a calm place to start. For every other option, see the best dream journal apps for iPhone.
Competitor details checked 27 September 2026 against the Dreamy App Store listing and dreamy.app. Dreamlock details come from our own product fact sheet.