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DBT Diary Daily is a digital version of the standard Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) diary card used in therapy. It lets you track your emotions, urges, target behaviors, and DBT skill usage every day — then export clean PDF reports to share with your therapist.

The app follows the standard Linehan diary card format that therapists already recognize, so you can replace paper cards without any disruption to your therapy program.

Completely. All your data is stored locally on your device and never leaves it. The app makes zero network requests — there are no servers, no accounts, no analytics, and no tracking of any kind. You can read our full Privacy Policy for details.

Open the app and you'll see today's diary card entry. It has four sections:

Emotions & Urges — Slide each emotion to rate its intensity from 0 (not present) to 5 (extreme).

Target Behaviors — Toggle whether you engaged in behaviors you want to decrease or increase, with optional intensity.

Skills Used — Expand each DBT module and rate how effectively you used each skill on the 0–5 scale.

Notes — Add any context about your day that you want to discuss in therapy.

The card auto-saves as you go. Most people finish in under 3 minutes.

Go to the Weekly Summary view and tap the export button. You can choose a single day or a full week. The app generates a clean PDF formatted to match the standard paper diary card layout, then opens the iOS share sheet so you can send it via email, Messages, AirDrop, or save it to Files.

Yes. Go to Settings to add, remove, or rename your emotion labels and target behaviors. You can also show or hide individual DBT skills to match your specific therapy program. Your therapist may have particular behaviors or emotions they want you to focus on — you can configure the app to match.

All 30 standard DBT skills across the four modules:

Mindfulness: Wise Mind, Observe, Describe, Participate, Non-Judgmentally, One-Mindfully, Effectiveness

Distress Tolerance: TIPP, Distract with Wise Mind ACCEPTS, Self-Soothe with 5 Senses, IMPROVE the Moment, Pros and Cons, Radical Acceptance

Emotion Regulation: ABC PLEASE, Check the Facts, Opposite Action, Problem Solving, Cope Ahead, Identifying Emotions

Interpersonal Effectiveness: DEAR MAN, GIVE, FAST

Each skill includes a brief description and, where applicable, an acronym breakdown to jog your memory.

The app uses the standard DBT scales:

For emotions and urges: 0 = Not present, 1 = Slight, 2 = Mild, 3 = Moderate, 4 = Strong, 5 = Extreme.

For skill effectiveness: 0 = Didn't think about it, 1 = Thought about it but didn't use, 2 = Tried but wasn't successful, 3 = Tried and somewhat successful, 4 = Used effectively, 5 = Used effectively without much effort.

Go to Settings and toggle on App Lock. The app will use Face ID or Touch ID (depending on your device) to protect your data every time you open it. If biometric authentication isn't available, the system falls back to your device passcode.

In Settings, toggle on Daily Reminder and choose your preferred time. Most people set it for the evening so they can fill in their card before bed. The app will ask for notification permission when you first enable this.

Free includes the full daily diary card, 7 days of history, single-day PDF export, Face ID lock, and daily reminders.

Pro ($4.99, one-time purchase) adds unlimited history, weekly and custom date range PDF exports, weekly trend charts, custom emotions and behaviors, and JSON data backup.

We chose a one-time purchase instead of a subscription because subscriptions feel wrong for a mental health tool. You pay once, you own it.

Pro users can export all their data as a JSON file through Settings → Export Data. This creates a complete backup you can save to iCloud Drive, email to yourself, or store anywhere you'd like.

All data is permanently deleted. Since everything is stored locally on your device, there is no server backup to restore from. We recommend exporting a data backup before deleting the app.

DBT Diary Daily requires iOS 17.0 or later. This covers iPhone and iPad. The app uses SwiftData and Swift Charts, which require iOS 17.

Email us at [email protected] with a description of what happened, what you expected to happen, and your device model and iOS version. Screenshots are always helpful. We take every report seriously.

Not in the current version. You share your diary card with your therapist by exporting a PDF and sending it to them. Direct therapist access (via a shared portal or link) is on our future roadmap.