.png)
Apple doesn’t release new apps often, so when they announced their own Journal app at WWDC this year, it made a splash. With iOS 17.2, Apple is finally ready to release the Journal app to the public. Once you update, you’ll find the Journal app sitting on your Home Screen, waiting for you to get started.
It’s great that Apple is building its own take on journaling right on the iPhone. We know journaling can help reduce stress and anxiety, but not everyone has the time to spend their mornings journaling (though, if you’re interested in it, I personally recommend the Julia Cameron’s Morning Pages method). If you're short on time, a simple journaling app is all you need.
How Apple’s Journal app works
Apple takes a simplistic approach to journaling, and I've enjoyed using the app for what it is. In short, it’s a simple list of entries. You can create a new blank entry, and it will be logged with the date and time. From there, add some text, locations, photos, or record some audio. Things do get more interesting once you start using Apple’s suggestions and prompts—or "reflections," as Apple calls them. Apple will ask you what the best part of your week was, or to reflect on the last time you made something. These prompts get you thinking about elements of your day you might not ordinarily think to write about.
And once you give Apple permission to access your photos, music, and fitness data, their suggestions get deeper. If you're on a day trip, Apple will pool in your location and all the best photos from your travels, and will ask you to journal about it. It can be a great way to note something that might get lost otherwise. It will also suggest places you went and workouts you completed, just to round out the day.
Limitations of Apple's Journal app
Journal is not without its limitations, however. Yes, this is only the first version of the app, and Apple is sure to add more features going forward. Still, the app misses out on features that have become standard for popular journaling apps.
The biggest issue is that at launch, the app is iPhone only, with no option for iPad or Mac. In my testing, there have been many times when I’ve wanted to continue writing more in-depth about a subject on my Mac. Hopefully, this will be rectified in a year.
Intentionally, Journal is a simple app. You scroll through a list of your entries, in a reverse chronological order. You can bookmark entires, and the app will filter them for you based on photos, reflections, bookmarks, workouts, or places. That’s all there is to it. There is no calendar view, no tagging, no exporting—hell, there’s not even a Search field in sight. And, unlike some competitors, the Journal app doesn’t offer mood tracking.
When you’re starting out, these issues might seem minor. But as you amass hundreds of entries, they'll stand out like a sore thumb.
Journal is a great gateway app
Let me digress a bit and talk about board game culture. In the wonderful world of tabletop games, we are obsessed with the notion of the gateway game: something simple, yet exciting, that’s just complex enough to hook a player, without being so overwhelming that the new player will run away. A perfect gateway game can make a lifelong gamer out of an unsuspecting citizen.
And Apple has made the best gateway Journal app yet. It’s not perfect, but it’s not complicated. It has some glaring issues, and lacks features you’d expect in a journaling app (like cross-device support and a calendar view). But all that almost doesn’t matter here because Journal is great at what it aims to do, which is to help a large population try journaling, hopefully turning it into a sustainable, frequent hobby.
Sadly, right now, that’s all it is. I hope Journal serves as a way for new users to get started, and that Apple brings out an Export option soon enough. That way, when users start running into walls, they can export their data to a better app like Day One or Journey, and can continue to build their daily journaling habit.
If you are in favor of a simple journal app that’s already on your iPhone, I say go for it. How you journal doesn’t matter much—the fact that you are journaling is enough.
The best alternatives to Apple Journal
Journal is a great gateway app, but if you’re serious about journaling, you should start off with a more feature-rich app to boot; something that will support your journaling for years to come.
Day One: If you’re all-in on the Apple ecosystem, Day One is the best journaling app for you, bar none. Yes, it’s paid, and it might seem silly to spend $35 a year for a journaling app. But you get a beautiful, fast, and feature-rich journaling experience for that price. All your data is stored securely in iCloud, and is easy to import and export.
Journey: If you need to use this data on a PC, Journey might be the right option for you. It’s available on the web, and has mood tracking, shared journals, automation support, and more. A premium membership costs $50/year.
Five Minute Journal: Consider this to be an elevated version of the Journal app. Five Minute Journal is a simple, timeline-based Journal app, but it also offers some important features like a calendar view, password protection, streams, and import and export. This can be another great gateway journaling app for you.
Daylio: This is an easy-to-use mood and activity tracker that can help you quickly journal in short bursts. Use this app to check in with your moods, note down what you did, and how it made you feel. If you find the task of writing down your thoughts and feelings daunting, Daylio's unique approach might help you get started.
from LifeHacker https://ift.tt/QxoeuJr
0 comments:
Post a Comment