Both are mood journals, but they come from two different ideas. The comparison below is based on the official declarations on each app's own store pages.
Riley is a creative emotion journal where you draw a mood orb and enrich it with notes, photos and voice memos. Pixmood does the same job in one tap: you pick a color, the check-in takes five seconds, and a mosaic grows across the year. The most concrete difference is data. Riley's Google Play Data Safety section declares that the app may share financial info, app activity and device identifiers with third parties. Pixmood has no server for user data, so your journal never leaves your phone. If you want a long, expressive journal, Riley is a strong choice. If you want fast, quiet tracking that stays on your device, Pixmood is.
Every line about the competitor was read from Riley's own Google Play and App Store pages: the store description, the Data Safety declaration, the in-app purchase range and the technical requirements. User reviews were not used as a source, because reviews cannot be verified and change over time. Store pages get updated, so the date they were read is listed below. If you spot something wrong or out of date, tell us and we will fix it.
Store data read on: 2026-08-02
Every cell in the Riley column comes from a declaration on that app's own store page.
One tap: one of five moods, optional note and tag
Draw a mood orb, journal note, photos and voice memos
On your device only. No server or network layer for user data
Play Data Safety declaration: may collect data including personal info and financial info
None. There is no server copy to share
Play declaration: financial info, app activity and device identifiers may be shared with third parties
No. No sign-up, no email, no login
The store description states no account is needed
None in any version, not even an ad SDK inside the app
No ad declaration on the store page
The free core always stays open. Pro is optional: weekly, monthly or yearly, with a 7 day free trial on the yearly plan
In-app purchase range declared on the Play page: TRY 75.99 - 2,799.99 per item
iOS 15.0, so iPhone 6s and newer
iOS 17.0, so iPhone XS and newer
Yes, optional, entirely on device
The store description mentions sleep and wellness logs
All 365 days as a mosaic on one screen
Spiral and calendar views
Yes, with one-tap check-in from the widget
No widget mentioned in the store description
Riley asks for a rich entry: you draw the orb, pick from the emotion wheel, write a note, optionally add a photo and audio. The result is lovely, but it needs a few minutes every day. Pixmood sits at the opposite end: you tap a color and you are done. That is a deliberate choice, because most mood journals get abandoned around week three, and the reason is usually not lack of interest but how long each entry takes. A habit kept short is a habit kept.
This is where the two differ most concretely. Riley's store description leads with privacy and says no account is needed. The Google Play Data Safety section on that same page declares that the app may collect data including personal info and financial info, and may share financial info, app activity and device identifiers with third parties. Developers fill in that declaration themselves and Google requires it. On the Pixmood side there is no copy to share, because there is no server for user data: your journal sits in a local database on your device and does not leave.
Riley requires iOS 17; Pixmood runs on iOS 15. In practice that means still-common models like the iPhone 8, iPhone X and iPhone 7 cannot install Riley but can install Pixmood. In markets where older iPhones are widespread, that gap is not small.
Pixmood lets you leave a note of up to 1000 characters on a day. Being fast does not mean getting in the way of people who want to write: leave a one word tag, or a paragraph about your day.
This is not a scoreboard, it is a choice. Riley has real strengths we do not have, and if that is what you want, it is the right app:
The core of Pixmood is free and contains no ads: daily check-in, week and month mosaic, streaks, voice notes, cycle tracking, the home screen widget and share cards all cost nothing. Pixmood Pro is an optional subscription that unlocks the year mosaic, all themes, detailed insights and the yearly Wrapped recap. The free core always stays open.
You can start without an account by picking a single color. If you do not like it, deleting the app leaves nothing behind anywhere, because nothing ever went anywhere.
Riley is a product of its developer and is not affiliated with Pixmood. This page is a customer-facing comparison; product names are used for identification only. The information here was read from the store pages on the date above and may have changed since; check the relevant store page for current details.
