Apple Journal User Guide for Beginners (iPhone)

Orientation

The homepage of Apple Journal is very simple. When the app is new, without any entries, it has a big plus icon at the bottom of the screen. When you have some entries in the app, you have a list of them, and on the top right corner under the bar icon, you can filter the entries.

Creating new entries

To get started, tap the plus icon (bottom of the screen). The app suggest some reflections you can write on. You can also choose to create a New Entry (top of the screen). Each journal entry has a date that you can customise if you want. Go to the circled three-dots icon, then Custom Date. Select a date and tap Done to save it.

When you can start typing your journal entry, you can still access the reflections from within the app, on the keyboard toolbar (first icon, AI icon). Tapping the refresh icon changes the suggestion to something different. The app supports some basic formatting that you can bring up when you select a few words. Go to Format or the forward arrow first if you can’t see it. You can make your text Bold, Italic, Underline, and Strikethrough. You can also bring up the options by tapping your cursor.

Attachments

Apple Journal lets you add photos and videos either from the Photos library or by taking one with your camera. Tap the image icon to add a photo from Photos. Select the photos and videos you want to add, and tap Done to add them. To take a picture with your camera, go to the camera icon. You can also record audio (audiowave icon) and add location (compass icon). The app can only add thirteen attachments to your journal entries, and they all go to the top of your entry. When you’re finished with your journal entry, tap Done to save the changes.

Bookmarks

You can bookmark journal entries for easier access. On the homepage, go to the three-dots icon (bottom right corner of entry summary) and Bookmark. An even faster way would be to swipe the entry summary to the right. You can also bookmark entries from the workspace. Tap the ribbon icon on the top left corner of your screen.

Viewing your entries

Apple Journal lists your entries on the homepage. Tapping on an attachment opens it in a different window. You can swipe to the right and left to go through all the attachments for that entry. At the top right corner, you can delete the attachment (bin icon > Remove Attachment). Close (top left corner) to go back to the homepage.

You can filter the entries that appear on your screen. Go to the three-bar icon (top right corner) and pick the filter you want from the listed options. To edit a journal entry, go to the three-dots icon (bottom right corner of entry summary) and Edit. Sometimes simply tapping on an entry works, but it’s not always reliable. You can also swipe to the left and go to the pen icon to start editing your entry. The bin icon lets you delete (bin icon) the entry. Confirm (Delete Entry) the deletion, but be careful because this can’t be undone. You can also delete by going to the three-dots icon on the entry summary and Delete.

Settings

Apple Journal settings are in your iPhone settings under Journal.

Allow Journal to Access

The first part of the settings requires you to allow Apple Journal to access certain features of your phone. Location, Photos, Microphone, Camera, Face ID, Siri & Search, Notifications, Background App Refresh, and Mobile Data. For your Photos, you have Options for what the app can access from the photos to add to your entries. You can choose to include Location and Captions. You can also choose the default format for your photos and videos to be Automatic (the app chooses the best option), Current (the app keeps the original format of your photo or video), or Most Compatible (to convert all photos to JPG and videos to H.264 formats).

Journaling Suggestions

You can customise Suggestion Privacy Settings. You can get suggestions from the apps you turn on: Activity, Media, Contacts, Photos, and Significant Locations. You can Turn Off All the suggestions from these apps above their list. Clear History deletes the history of journaling suggestions.

When Discoverable by Others is turned on, you can also choose to Prefer Suggestions with Others. Basically, you’re allowing others’ journaling apps to know when you’re close to them so they can receive suggestions about you. Like wise, when you Prefer Suggestions with Others, the app gives you more suggestions that involve others. This information sharing does not feel secure.

You can pick your preferred Language and turn off suggestions when creating new entries (turn on Skip Journaling Suggestions). The app can Lock Journal if you turn that on. If you want to be reminded to journal to track your journaling habit, go to Journaling Schedule and turn on Schedule. Pick a Time, and days of the week when you want those alerts. You must allow notifications to use the scheduling feature in the app. Lastly, you can turn on Save to Photos if you want to save the photos and videos you take in Journal to your Photos library.