Apple’s Journal app, introduced in iOS 17.2, provides a private, on-device journaling experience that uses intelligent suggestions to help you capture and reflect on your daily life. Unlike third-party journaling apps, Journal integrates deeply with your iPhone’s existing data sources — Photos, Music, Workouts, Locations, and more — to surface personalised prompts and automatically enrich your entries with relevant context.
This guide covers everything you need to know about setting up, using, and customising the Journal app on your iPhone, including writing entries, using suggestions, managing privacy settings, locking your journal, and building a consistent journaling habit.
What Is the Apple Journal App?
Journal is a first-party Apple app designed for personal reflection and daily recording. Its key features include:
- Intelligent Suggestions — the app analyses your recent activity (photos taken, music listened to, workouts completed, places visited) and surfaces contextual prompts to inspire journal entries.
- Rich Media Entries — entries can include text, photos, videos, voice recordings, and location data.
- On-Device Processing — all suggestion analysis happens locally on your iPhone using the Journaling Suggestions framework. Your data is not sent to Apple’s servers for processing.
- End-to-End Encryption — journal entries synced via iCloud are protected with end-to-end encryption, meaning only your devices can read them.
- Locked Access — you can require Face ID, Touch ID, or passcode authentication to open the app.
How to Set Up the Journal App
Journal comes pre-installed on iPhones running iOS 17.2 or later. If you have removed it, you can reinstall it from the App Store.
- Open the Journal app from your Home Screen.
- On first launch, the app presents a welcome screen explaining its features. Tap Continue.
- You are asked whether to enable Journaling Suggestions. Tap Turn On to allow the app to surface personalised prompts based on your activity, or Skip to use the app without suggestions.
- Choose whether to enable notifications for journaling reminders.
The app is now ready to use. Your journal is empty by default — you create entries by tapping the + button at the bottom of the screen.
Creating Your First Journal Entry
Writing a Text Entry
- Tap the + button at the bottom of the Journal screen.
- You see two options: New Entry (a blank entry) and a list of Suggestions based on your recent activity.
- Tap New Entry to start with a blank canvas.
- Type your thoughts, reflections, or notes.
- Tap Done to save the entry.
Adding Photos and Videos
While composing an entry, tap the photo icon in the toolbar to attach images or videos from your Photo Library. You can add multiple media items to a single entry, and they appear inline within your text.
Adding a Voice Recording
Tap the microphone icon to record an audio memo directly within your entry. This is useful for capturing thoughts on the go when typing is inconvenient. Voice recordings are stored locally and included in your encrypted journal backup.
Adding a Location
Tap the location icon to tag your entry with your current location. The location appears as a tappable label within the entry that opens Apple Maps when selected.
Using Journaling Suggestions
Journaling Suggestions are the app’s most distinctive feature. When you tap the + button, the app displays a curated list of recent moments from your life, such as:
- Photos — groups of photos taken at a specific location or event.
- Workouts — recent exercises logged in the Fitness app or Apple Watch.
- Music — albums or playlists you have been listening to in Apple Music.
- Podcasts — episodes you have listened to recently.
- Places — notable locations you have visited.
- Contacts — interactions with people you have called, messaged, or shared content with.
Tapping a suggestion pre-populates your entry with the relevant context (photos, location, workout data, or album artwork), and you can add your own text around it.
Customising Which Suggestions Appear
You can control which data sources contribute to suggestions:
- Open Settings > Journal.
- Tap Journaling Suggestions.
- Toggle individual sources on or off: Workouts, Music, Photos, Significant Locations, Podcasts, and Contacts.
Disabling a source removes it from the suggestion engine without affecting the underlying data in other apps.
Locking Your Journal with Face ID or Passcode
Given the personal nature of journal entries, protecting access is essential:
- Open Settings > Journal.
- Toggle on Lock Journal.
- Select your preferred authentication method: Face ID, Touch ID, or Passcode.
- Choose the lock timing: Immediately, After 1 Minute, After 5 Minutes, or After 15 Minutes.
When locked, the app requires authentication every time you open it, preventing casual access by anyone who picks up your unlocked iPhone.
Setting Up Journaling Reminders
Consistency is the biggest challenge in journaling. The Journal app includes a scheduling feature to remind you to write:
- Open Settings > Journal.
- Tap Journaling Schedule.
- Toggle on Schedule.
- Select the days of the week you want to be reminded.
- Set your preferred reminder time.
The notification appears at your chosen time with a prompt to open the app. Tapping it takes you directly to the new entry screen with suggestions ready.
Browsing and Searching Your Journal
The Journal app displays entries in a reverse-chronological timeline. You can:
- Scroll through the timeline to browse past entries.
- Filter entries by tapping the filter icon and selecting criteria such as photos, voice recordings, locations, or bookmarked entries.
- Bookmark important entries by tapping the bookmark icon on any entry, making them easy to find later.
- Search for specific text within your entries using the search bar at the top of the journal.
Editing and Deleting Entries
Editing an Entry
Tap any entry to open it, then tap the three-dot menu (…) and select Edit. You can modify the text, add or remove media, and update the location. Tap Done to save your changes.
Deleting an Entry
Tap the three-dot menu on any entry and select Delete. Confirm the deletion when prompted. Deleted entries cannot be recovered, so exercise caution.
Privacy and Data Security
Apple has designed the Journal app with privacy as a foundational principle:
- On-device processing — the Journaling Suggestions framework processes your activity data entirely on your iPhone. No data is sent to Apple for suggestion generation.
- End-to-end encryption — if you use iCloud to sync your journal across devices, entries are encrypted with keys that only your devices possess. Apple cannot read your journal entries.
- No third-party access — the Journaling Suggestions API allows third-party apps to contribute suggestions (e.g., a meditation app suggesting you journal after a session), but third-party apps cannot read your journal entries.
- Local storage — if you disable iCloud sync, your journal exists only on your iPhone.
Tips for Building a Journaling Habit
- Start small — write just one or two sentences per day. A short entry is infinitely better than no entry.
- Use suggestions as starting points — when you are unsure what to write about, let the app’s suggestions guide you. A photo from yesterday or a workout you completed can spark meaningful reflection.
- Pair journaling with an existing habit — write immediately after your morning coffee, during your commute, or before bed.
- Use voice recordings — if typing feels like a chore, speak your thoughts instead. You can always transcribe them later.
- Review past entries periodically — scrolling through old entries reinforces the habit and helps you notice patterns in your mood, productivity, and experiences.
- Do not aim for perfection — your journal is private. Write freely without worrying about grammar, structure, or literary quality.
The Apple Journal app transforms the often-overlooked practice of daily reflection into a seamless, privacy-respecting experience that meets you where you already are — with the photos you have taken, the music you have listened to, and the places you have been.