Photo a Day App for iPhone: Seven Options, Fairly Compared

The best photo a day app for iPhone depends on what you want at the end of the year. If you want a timelapse of your face, pick a selfie app with alignment such as Selfie A Day or Dayloop; if you want moving moments, 1 Second Everyday; if you want words with your pictures, Day One. We are the team that makes Smile Until, one of the apps below, so read our entry with that in mind.

All facts about other apps come from their own App Store pages (checked October 2026). Prices and requirements change, so open the link before you decide.

What do you actually want to keep?

Most people who search for a photo a day app have one of four things in mind, and the apps are built very differently for each.

A face timelapse needs the same angle every day. The good apps give you a ghost overlay of yesterday's picture and export a video. A video diary is about motion and sound, a second or two of each day stitched together. A journal with photos is about writing, with pictures attached. A small daily moment cares less about the final product and more about the few seconds you spend in the app each day.

Decide which one you want first. It saves a lot of trial downloads.

The seven apps at a glance

App	What you capture	Price (US store)	Needs	Good fit for
1 Second Everyday	A one-second video clip	Free, Pro at $9.99 a month or $49.99 a year	iOS 18	A yearly video of your life
Selfie A Day	A selfie, aligned with a grid or ghost overlay	Free, Pro from $2.99	iOS 13	A classic face timelapse
Dayloop	A selfie or full body photo, aligned for you	Free, with weekly and yearly plans	iOS 26	Progress photos and timelapse
Day One	Written entries with photos and video	Free, paid Silver and Gold plans	iOS 18	Journaling with pictures
BeReal	Front and back camera at once, at a random time	Free	iOS 17	Sharing a daily photo with friends
Just Smile	A photo taken when it sees you smile	Free	iOS 17	A simple smile camera with a calendar
Smile Until	A selfie taken when it sees you smile, or a library photo that made you smile	Free, no ads	iOS 17	Ten seconds a day, kept private

1 Second Everyday

This is the best known name in the category. Each day you add a one-second clip, and the app builds a film you can watch at the end of the month or year. The free version covers the basic idea. Its App Store page lists Pro features like several clips a day, clips up to ten seconds, music and unlimited backup (checked October 2026). If you like sound and motion more than still photos, start here.

Selfie A Day

A long-running app for the classic "watch my face change" project. It offers a grid and a ghost overlay to line up your face, daily reminders at a set or random time, importing older photos, Face ID lock for albums and Dropbox sync, then exports a timelapse video. Its page shows a 4.7 rating from about 4,100 reviews (checked October 2026). People in r/selfieaday have recommended it for its overlay for years.

Dayloop

A newer timelapse app that aligns your face or full body automatically, so you do not have to line things up by hand. Its description says photos are stored on your device and not uploaded. It needs iOS 26, which leaves out older iPhones. Its App Store privacy label lists identifiers and usage data used for tracking, so read its privacy policy if that matters to you (checked October 2026).

Day One

Day One is a full journal. Photos sit inside written entries, and the app offers end-to-end encrypted sync, printed books and, on its paid Gold plan, AI features. It is more than a photo a day app. If you know you want to write a few lines each day, it is a strong choice. If you only want a picture, it may feel like more app than you need.

BeReal

BeReal sends everyone a notification at a random time each day, then gives you about two minutes to take a photo with both cameras. Posts go to your friends. It is a social app first, and that is the point of it. If you want a private record, look at the others in this list.

Just Smile

Just Smile takes the photo when it sees you smile, with no button to press, and keeps a smile calendar so you can look back. Its privacy label says the developer does not collect data (checked October 2026). It is small and simple, and it is the closest app to ours in idea.

Smile Until

This is ours. You open the app, the front camera is already waiting, and a sun ring fills as it sees a real smile, then takes the photo by itself. On a day you would rather not take a selfie, Memory Lane shows three to five of your own photos, picked on your iPhone from the things you said you like (family, pets, travel, sunsets and so on). Tap "This made me smile" on one, and the day counts too.

Each day with at least one moment is lit in a journal, shown as a sun arc for the month and a calendar you can scroll back through. A day without a moment stays open, and you can relight it later with one more smile once today is lit, up to three a day and with no deadline. We explain the reasoning in a habit tracker without streaks.

What it does not do: there is no timelapse video export and no journal text. If either of those matters most to you, the apps above will serve you better.

Which one should you pick?

If you want	Try
A video of your year	1 Second Everyday
A face timelapse with manual alignment	Selfie A Day
Automatic alignment and a newer iPhone	Dayloop
Writing with your photos	Day One
Friends to see your day	BeReal
A quick daily smile, nothing to write	Just Smile or Smile Until

If privacy is a deciding factor, we wrote a separate guide on what to check in a private photo journal app, including how to read the App Store privacy label.

A note on Smile Until

We built Smile Until for people who like the idea of a photo a day but drop off after a week, usually because it starts to feel like a chore. It is free, has no ads and no account, needs iOS 17, and is in English. Your selfies are stored inside the app and Memory Lane points to photos in your library without copying them. It will not make you a timelapse, and if that is the goal, Selfie A Day or Dayloop is the better tool. Common questions are answered in Smile Until questions.