Apple’s Journal App Is Easy, Free, and Already on Your Phone Leave a comment

You may tweak this by way of the Settings. You may have the choice to both flip Journaling Options off fully or choose and select which of them you need to carry on together with Exercise (your exercises and workout routines), Media (podcasts and music you take heed to) Contact (folks you message and name), Images (library, reminiscences, and shared images) and Vital Places (locations the place you spend time). Since I do not care to put in writing about my telephone calls or texts or my places, I turned off Contacts and Vital Places.

Journal can be included throughout the share sheet in all apps. So, when you’re scrolling by way of content material exterior the app, you possibly can faucet the Share button and choose Journal to ship content material proper into the app. You may also write about new music you found on Spotify, a humorous meme from Twitter, or an fascinating TikTok.

What About Notes?

If I had been utilizing The Alignment System to explain the distinction between Notes and Journal, I might categorize the Notes app as Chaotic Good and the Journal app as Lawful Good. I nonetheless use my Notes app for fleeting ideas: story concepts, grocery lists, passwords, packing checklists, electronic mail addresses, and recipes. Should you had been to scroll by way of every entry, you’d discover a very wide selection of issues. There isn’t any rhyme or cause to it. However the Journal app is strictly reserved for my reminiscences and ideas. There is a sense of order while you scroll by way of it.

Not like the Notes app, the Journal app is passcode-protected. Depending on the iPhone model you’ve got, you possibly can both use a numerical passcode, Contact ID, or Face ID. So, you do not have to fret about folks studying your deepest, darkest secrets and techniques.

Nevertheless, there are some Notes-specific options I want Apple would’ve integrated into Journal. For starters, it might be good if there was a search bar to search for entries. As a substitute, you possibly can solely search primarily based on classes: Images, Movies, Reflections, Locations, and Bookmarked (you will must bookmark entries for them to look right here manually). I can think about it’s going to turn into pretty irritating over time as you rack up entries.

I additionally want Apple would’ve prolonged the app to the remainder of its gadgets. Like I stated earlier than, it is solely obtainable on iPhone. Seeing as how it is a text-based app at its core, I typically discover myself wanting to take a seat down and kind out longer journal entries on my MacBook or my iPad utilizing the Magic Keyboard. It feels limiting, particularly on days after I’m making an attempt to be on my telephone much less. You can retailer your journal entries in iCloud, although. That means, when you change telephones, you will nonetheless have entry to all of them.

A Push within the Proper Route

I want I might say the Journal app remodeled me into somebody who now loves to journal. It hasn’t. But when there’s something I’ve taken away from utilizing it, it is that I haven’t got to place a lot stress on myself to be a great journaler. I used to assume every entry needed to be insanely lengthy and full of a great deal of emotion. By providing the power to doc your ideas, emotions, and reminiscences utilizing a bunch of several types of content material, I really feel glad after I’ve logged an entry no matter how a lot I’ve written.

Over time, journaling 3 times per week started to really feel extra like a chore than a soothing exercise. As soon as per week or each time I really feel like I would like to precise overwhelming ideas appears positive. Regardless, it is weirdly comforting to know it is proper there on my telephone each time I would like it.

Should you’re already within the behavior of journaling utilizing a bodily pocket book, or repeatedly use one other journaling app, I would not change, until you actually need to incorporate content material out of your telephone otherwise you typically battle with determining what to put in writing about. But it surely’s simple and intuitive to make use of. You may categorical your self with TikToks and songs, not simply written emotions. And when you’re ever caught, it gives you prompts, so, you will at all times have one thing to put in writing about. Should you, like me, by no means journaled as a result of it felt overwhelming, it is a good place to start out.