Write It Out: How to Use Apple’s Journal App in iOS 17

Writing about your personal experiences and special moments can be a helpful way to not only keep track of your day but to also examine your life and enhance your overall well-being. With the update to iOS 17.2, Apple has added a journaling app that can help you reflect on your personal experiences in order to give voice to your feelings.

Journal allows you to write about the events of your day as either a free-flowing reflection or prompt-guided exercise. Beyond just writing in your journal, you can add photos and videos, audio recordings, favorite locations, news articles, songs, or podcasts. Scheduled notifications can even remind you to journal on a regular basis.

Once you start your journal, you can browse through past entries, bookmark specific ones, and filter them based on certain details. You’re also able to protect your journal from prying eyes by using a second layer of authentication, such as a passcode, Face ID, or Touch ID. Any journal entries stored in iCloud also receive end-to-end encryption so no one else can access them.

The Journal app is automatically installed with iOS 17.2, which is compatible with the iPhone XR and later models. To make sure you’re running this latest update on your iPhone, go to Settings > General > Software Update. Tap the Update Now button to download and install the newest version. Then you’re ready to create and develop your own journal on your iPhone.

How to Start Writing in the Journal App

After your iPhone has been updated, you’ll find the icon for the Journal app on your Home Screen. It’s the one that displays the pages of a journal. Launch the app, and the welcome screen briefly explains how the app works and how to use it. Tap Continue, then tap the plus (+) icon to enter your first journal entry.

(Credit: Lance Whitney/Apple)

You are then asked if you’d like to turn on Journaling Suggestions to receive suggestions based on everyday moments. Tap Turn On Journaling Suggestions to enable this feature or Not Now to ignore it. You may want to use suggestions to kick things off, and then disable them when you’re comfortable writing in a more extemporaneous and unassisted manner.

(Credit: Lance Whitney/Apple)

Assuming you’ve enabled suggestions, the next screen displays two tabs—Suggestions and Recent. The one for Recommended highlights moments from your photo library, music library, and places you’ve traveled, and includes questions designed to help you reflect on yourself and your life. Tap the Recent tab to see items sorted by date instead.

Write an Entry Based on a Suggestion

Write your journal entry. Tap the microphone icon below the keyboard if you’d rather dictate your entry. When done, tap the circle icon at the top to set the date of the entry. Here, you can also delete the entry if you don’t wish to keep it. When ready to save it, tap Done, and the entry then appears in your journal.

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Add Content to an Entry

Don’t forget that you can add photos, videos, audio, and other content to enhance a journal entry. To try this, tap a suggestion that appeals to you. Write your entry. When finished, tap one of the icons on the bottom toolbar. The first icon displays the screen of suggestions. The second icon takes you to your photo library. The third one allows you to take a new photo or video. The fourth lets you record an audio clip. And the fifth allows you to add a location. Select one or more pieces of content to add to your entry. When finished, tap Done.

(Credit: Lance Whitney/Apple)

Write Your Own Entry

Instead of creating a journal entry based on a suggestion, you can simply write one based on your own thoughts or feelings about a new event or activity. For this, tap the plus icon at the Journal’s Home screen and then tap the button for New Entry at the top. Write your journal entry. When finished, tap Done to save the entry.

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View and Filter Your Entries

By default, the Home Screen shows all your journal entries, but you can filter the list to see only specific ones. Tap the three-line icon at the top right and you’re able to see only entries that include photos, recorded audio, reflections, or places.

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Manage Your Journal Entries

To manage a specific entry, tap its ellipsis icon in the lower-right corner. From the pop-up menu, tap Edit to revise the entry. After editing the entry, tap Done to resave it. Back at the menu, tap Bookmark to highlight the entry. Tap the three-line icon at the top and you can then view only bookmarked entries. At the menu, tap Delete to remove the entry.

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Manage the Suggestions for Your Journal

You’re also able to manage the type of suggestions that the Journal app uses to help you write your entries. For this, head to Settings > Privacy & Security > Journal Suggestions. In the section for Include Suggestions From, turn off the switches for any suggestions you don’t want to see—Activity, Media, Contacts, Photos, or Significant Locations. Tap the link for Clear History to remove any existing suggestions that appear in the app.

By default, the Journal app uses not only your own personal content but moments that you share with other people. Even further, the app allows users of nearby devices to detect your phone to improve and prioritize their own suggestions. For privacy reasons, you may want to disable both of these options, but especially the latter one. To do that, turn off the switches for Prefer Suggestions with Others and Discoverable by Others. Note that disabling Discoverable by Others automatically disables Prefer Suggestions with Others.

(Credit: Lance Whitney/Apple)

Manage the Settings for Your Journal

You can control key settings for your journal and journal entries. For this, go to Settings > Journal. In the section for Allow Journal to Access, tap the setting for Location to set when and how the Journal app has access to your current location. Next, tap the setting for Photos to determine how and when photos can be included in an entry. Keep the switches on for Microphone and Camera if you wish to use audio recordings and new photos to enhance an entry. Siri & Search displays options for using Siri with the journal. The setting for Notifications controls the types of notifications you’ll see for the journal.

(Credit: Lance Whitney/Apple)

Turn off the switch for Skip Journaling Suggestions if you no longer wish to receive suggestions for entries. Tap the setting for Lock Journal to protect your journal entries with your passcode, Touch ID, or Face ID. Select the setting for Journaling Schedule to change the scheduled days and times for writing a journal entry. Finally, turn on the switch for Save to Photos to save any new photos you take when creating an entry.

(Lance Whitney/Apple)