Apple Journal – A Look Back and Look Ahead

I wrote about my experience with Apple’s Journal app for iOS a few times, most recently back in January. My opinion of it was positive at the time though I admit I stopped using it on a regular basis by early spring. I recently started using it again, however, and am adding journal posts with far more frequency, sometimes multiple times a day. 

What changed? The best I can figure is I stopped thinking of it like a journal I had to write in and think of it more like a scrapbook. I still write a few paragraphs when I have to express my thoughts on life but I am increasingly adding photos of daily life with a short description, quotes I like, activities my family and I have going on, accomplishments of other family members I want to remember, and reflective thoughts on past events from the Photos app that Journal Suggestions surface. 

I find Journal Suggestions are as helpful as they were before but I found the Journal Suggestions that tie to Apple Music to be of particular interest. Journal will pull in music I have been listening to on my iPhone and suggest I add them to Journal and share my thoughts. This has been enlightening in some ways. Music is a core part of my family’s daily life but the music I listen to my iPhone is typically on my commute or when I am otherwise alone. It is music for me and me only and when I am confronted with the question of “why” I listened to the songs I did, I reflect on my mindset. What was going on with me in that moment? Was I nostalgic? Was I happy? Was I frustrated? I am often surprised to learn more about me and my relationship to music when I write about it in Journal.

There are some notable gaps in the music suggestions that are stark reminders Journal is an on-device experience and not an iCloud experience. I listen to music all day at work but that is happening on my desktop. Journal doesn’t know anything about this music. Likewise, the music playing at home on my Apple Music account through Alexa is missing as well. This I am thankful for as it would be a mess of content from everyone in the home. 

It is great building this running list of highly personal social media-like posts but recalling this content is still a challenge. iOS 18 will bring new search and sort options that is sorely needed. Right now, aside from filtering different types of journal entries, your history just gets lost in the stack.

Curiously, when I was dormant on my journaling, I did start using Apple Health’s “State of Mind” feature, effectively journaling my current mood and the causes of those moods. This proved useful at helping me learn what affects my mood and some trends in my life that I need to address. I thought it would be great if I could put those State of Mind updates in Journal and Apple thought the same thing because they are now coming in iOS 18. Perfect. 

Journal will also pick up goal tracking and widget support in iOS 18 that I will try out. I wasn’t looking for either of these features so my interest level is moderate. I think goal tracking could be helpful but could also add pressure having to journal more. I’m a bit curious to see how it works for me. 

These are decent year two updates for Journal which is about what I expected. I’m glad Apple is putting thoughtful, practical additions into Journal. It continues to prove its worth in my daily life. I will post another update later this fall when I have had time with iOS 18’s new features. 

Is anyone else using Journal? Using something else? I am wondering how it is working for you.