As part of iOS 17, Apple has added a new preinstalled app. Journal will use on-device machine learning to create a catalog of activities and events that you can then write about. With journaling having many benefits, Apple is trying to lure us into good mental health habits, alongside the physical health benefits it leads us to by closing our Apple Watch Activity Rings.
Journal will collect data such as workouts, photos, contact history and other activities that are on your phone. You can then write journal entries about those events as a way of reflecting on events.
Apple says all the data processing to support the automatic population of Journal happen on your iPhone and that the data its fully encrypted. The data can be synched, presumably to other Apple devices, over iCloud with end-to-end encryption. Apple says it won’t be able to access your Journal data.
Although iOS is well along the beta testing path – the fifth public beta was recently released, Journal is still not available there. It’s likely Journal will not be part of the initial iOS 17.0 release but will come later.
Anthony is the founder of Australian Apple News. He is a long-time Apple user and former editor of Australian Macworld. He has contributed to many technology magazines and newspapers as well as appearing regularly on radio and occasionally on TV.