As you might guess, I’m into JOURNALING. I mean, you’re reading Jason Journals, yeah? My blog is my public journal on certain subjects. But I also have a private journal on personal topics. It’s a daily lifestyle habit I’ve come to love. I also love Apple tech, so you’d think I’d be all over its new Journal app, which debuted last year. But no. At least, not yet.
This year, though, WWDC24 revealed compelling new features. I have thoughts and feelings about this. Allow me to journal them for you.
Lots of new stuff is coming to the Journal app. I’ve not tried it yet because it’s been missing key things like search and export. The deal-breaker: the app is iPhone-only. I can’t use this on iPad?!
But with the new features slated, I see some promise and potential. I think Apple will continue to grow/invest in the Journal app over coming years like it has the Notes app. Eventually, I think I could rely on Journal for all my daily journaling. At least I hope I’ll be able to on Mac and iPad because:
- I can type all my thoughts out with my Mac’s excellent keyboard, yet there’s no Journal app.
- I can handwrite all my feelings out with my iPad’s super Apple Pencil, yet there’s no Journal app.
Well, here’s the compelling new stuff just for iPhone for now, my emphasis added in bold:
“an all-new insights view helps users keep track of their journaling goals, and the ability to search and sort entries makes it easy to enjoy past memories. Time spent journaling can be saved as mindful minutes in the Health app, and users can log their state of mind right in Journal. A Journal widget is now available for users to quickly start an entry from the Home Screen or Lock Screen, audio recordings are automatically transcribed, and users can export and print journal entries.“
Okay, wow, tons of new greatness:
- Track goals (there’s even a widget coming for journal entry Streaks)
- View stats
- Search entries
- Sort entries (there’s a calendar view coming)
- Log state of mind (wonderful simple addition, works with the Health app too)
- Quick entries via another new Journal widget
- Export entries
Summary
These all sound great; Journal app is growing up. But it either must come to the Mac for me to type entries, or it must come to iPad where I can handwrite them.
I’ll try Journal as-is now on iPhone only before its forthcoming features are here. But I’ll probably stick with Apple Notes for my journaling. Current mood: cautiously optimistic.
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