What Is the iPhone Journal App
Something good happens — a walk that cleared your head, a meal worth remembering, a small win at work — and by the end of the week it has faded. You meant to write it down, but a blank page is a hard place to start. That is the problem Apple’s Journal app was built to solve.
Journal is a free diary app built into the iPhone. It arrived with iOS 17.2 in December 2023, and it was iPhone-only at launch. Since then it has grown: it now runs on iPad and Mac as well, and your entries can sync between your Apple devices through iCloud.
What makes Journal different from a plain notes app is that it does some of the remembering for you. Using on-device intelligence, it looks at the moments already on your phone — the photos you took this afternoon, the workout you finished this morning, the song you played on repeat — and turns them into writing prompts called journaling suggestions. Instead of staring at an empty page, you start from something real.
An entry can hold more than text: photos and videos, a voice note, a location. Entries appear in a timeline, newest first, and you can search, filter, and bookmark them. And because a diary is private, you can lock the app behind Face ID, Touch ID, or your passcode.
Before You Start
Journal is already on your iPhone if you are running iOS 17.2 or later, and it costs nothing — no subscription, no in-app purchase.
Step 1: Check your iPhone is running iOS 17.2 or later. Open Settings, tap General, then tap Software Update. Journal does not appear on older versions of iOS at all.
Step 2: Find the Journal app. Look for the icon on your home screen — a small open book on a dark background. If you cannot see it, swipe down and type Journal into the search box, or look in the App Library.
Step 3: Turn on iCloud sync if you use other Apple devices. By itself, Journal stores entries on your iPhone, and they are included in your normal device backup. If you also use an iPad or a Mac, open Settings, tap your name, tap iCloud, tap See All, and turn on Journal. Your entries then sync through iCloud and stay safe if you lose your phone.
Step 4: Keep the bar low. Journal works best when you do not aim for a long essay. A few honest sentences about an ordinary day are worth more than a polished paragraph you never write.
How to Create Your First Journal Entry
Writing an entry takes less than a minute. The writing screen is simple: a date at the top, a blank space for your words, and buttons for adding photos, audio, and locations.
Step 1: Open the Journal app. Tap the icon on your home screen. You will see your timeline of past entries, or an empty screen if this is your first time.
Step 2: Tap the plus button at the bottom of the screen. This opens the new entry screen. The app shows journaling suggestions — moments from your recent photos, workouts, music, and places — with a New Entry option at the top.
Step 3: Tap New Entry to start from a blank page. A blank entry opens, dated today, ready for you to type. If a suggestion catches your eye instead, tap it.
Step 4: Start typing in the text field. Write whatever comes to mind. If you get stuck, answer a simple question: what happened today, and what did you make of it?
Step 5: Check the date at the top of the entry. New entries are dated today by default. If you are writing about an earlier day, tap the three-dot menu and change the date, so the entry sits in the right place in your timeline.
Step 6: Tap Done in the top-right corner to save. Your entry appears at the top of your timeline. There is no separate save button to remember.
Step 7: Come back and edit if you want to. Entries are not set in stone. Open an entry, tap the three-dot menu, and choose Edit. Make your changes, tap Done, and the entry updates.
Tips for writing entries you will enjoy reading later
Be specific. “Had a good day” will mean nothing to you in a year. “Walked to the park after lunch, the light was low and gold, and the dog finally learned to wait at the gate” will bring the whole afternoon back.
How to Use Journaling Suggestions
Journaling suggestions are the feature that sets Journal apart from other diary apps. Instead of handing you a blank page, your iPhone looks at the moments already on your device and offers them back as prompts: a batch of photos from a day out, a workout you completed, a song you listened to, a place you visited. They are generated on your device, using your own data, and they are entirely optional.
Step 1: Tap the plus button to see your suggestions. When you start a new entry, Journal shows a list of suggestions above the New Entry option. Each one shows a photo, a place, or a short description of the moment.
Step 2: Scroll through the list and pick a moment that interests you. Suggestions are grouped by day, so recent moments come first. If nothing appeals to you, tap New Entry at the top instead.
Step 3: Tap a suggestion to start an entry about it. Journal creates an entry with the moment already attached — the photos, the location, or the workout details appear automatically. All you need to add is your own words about what it meant to you.
Step 4: Write your entry as normal. Say what happened, how it felt, or what you noticed. The attached photos remind you of the facts, so your writing can focus on your reaction to it. Tap Done to save.
Step 5: Dismiss a suggestion you do not want. If a suggestion is wrong or uninteresting, remove it from the list. Dismissing it does not delete the photos or workout it came from.
Step 6: Turn suggestions off if you prefer a blank page. Open Settings, tap Privacy and Security, then tap Journaling Suggestions, and turn the feature off. You can turn it back on at any time.
Suggestions can come from your photos and videos, your workouts, the music and podcasts you listened to, places you visited, and contacts you spent time with. A suggestion often groups several related moments together, so one entry can capture the whole day.
How to Add Photos, Voice Recordings, and Locations to an Entry
Text alone does not always capture a moment. A photo brings back the light, a voice recording catches the exact words someone said, and a location pins the memory to a place on a map.
Step 1: Open the entry you want to add to, or start a new one. Tap the plus button for a new entry, or open an existing entry and tap the three-dot menu, then Edit, to add to it.
Step 2: Tap the photo icon above the keyboard. This opens your photo library. Pick a photo or video you already took, or tap the camera option to take a new one. The app will ask for permission to access your photos the first time.
Step 3: Check the photo appears in your entry. The photo is added alongside your text, and you can tap it to view it full screen. If you picked the wrong one, remove it and choose another.
Step 4: Tap the audio icon to record a voice note. The recording screen appears with a large record button. Tap it, speak as you normally would, and tap Stop when you are finished. In newer versions of iOS a written transcript appears alongside the recording.
Step 5: Tap the location icon to attach a place. Journal will suggest your current location, or a place connected to the moment you are writing about. A location makes it much easier to find an entry later — searching for a place name brings up everything you wrote there.
Step 6: Tap Done to save the entry with everything attached. Photos, voice notes, and locations are saved as part of the entry, so they travel with it if the entry syncs to your other devices.
A good rule is to attach what you would want to find again: a photo of the view or the people you were with, a voice note holding the words you would otherwise forget. One good photo beats ten similar ones.
How to Lock Your Journal with Face ID
A diary is private, and Journal treats it that way. You can lock the app so it cannot be opened without your face, your fingerprint, or your device passcode. Once the lock is on, anyone who picks up your unlocked phone still cannot read your entries.
Step 1: Open the Settings app on your iPhone. This is where the lock lives, not inside the Journal app. Scroll down until you find Journal. On newer versions of iOS it sits under the Apps section near the bottom of Settings.
Step 2: Tap Lock Journal. You will be asked to enter your device passcode — the same one you use to unlock your iPhone.
Step 3: Turn on the Lock switch. Toggle the switch next to Lock to the on position. From this point on, the Journal app will require authentication before it opens.
Step 4: Choose when the app should ask for your passcode. Tap Require Passcode and pick one: Immediately, After 1 minute, After 5 minutes, or After 15 minutes. Immediately is the most private choice — the app locks the moment you leave it.
Step 5: Test the lock. Close Settings, open Journal, then switch to another app and come back. You should see the Face ID prompt — or the passcode screen if Face ID does not recognise you — before your entries appear.
Step 6: Remember the passcode fallback. If Face ID fails, the app will offer your passcode instead. Anyone who knows your passcode can open your journal, so keep it private.
When the lock is on, your entries stay hidden behind the authentication screen, and the app’s content does not appear in search results or in widgets on your home screen. To turn the lock off, go back to Settings, open the Journal section, tap Lock Journal, and switch the Lock toggle off.
How to Set a Journaling Schedule and Reminders
Journaling is easy to love and easy to forget. A gentle reminder at the same time each day makes a real difference. Journal has a built-in schedule that sends a notification on the days and at the time you choose.
Step 1: Open Settings and go to the Journal section. As with the lock, the schedule lives in Settings. Scroll down, tap Apps if you are on a newer version of iOS, then tap Journal.
Step 2: Tap Journaling Schedule. This opens the schedule screen, where you can set the days of the week and the time you want to be reminded.
Step 3: Turn on the schedule. Toggle the switch at the top of the screen to the on position. If the switch is off, no reminders will be sent, no matter what days and times are shown below it.
Step 4: Choose the days you want to write. Tap the days of the week to select them. Daily reminders suit people who want to build a streak, but three or four days a week is plenty. Pick the days you are most likely to have a few quiet minutes.
Step 5: Choose a time that fits your day. Set it to a moment when you are usually free — for many people that is in the evening, after dinner, when the day is done. Others prefer first thing in the morning.
Step 6: Make sure notifications are allowed for Journal. A schedule is useless if the reminder never appears. Go to Settings, tap Notifications, find Journal in the list, and check that Allow Notifications is on.
Keep the reminder, but keep the writing short. When the notification appears, open the app and write two or three sentences — that is enough. If you miss a day, just write about today and move on.
How to Find Old Entries with Search and Filters
A journal becomes more valuable the longer you keep it, but only if you can find things in it again. Journal keeps every entry in a single timeline, newest first — but after a few months, scrolling is no longer enough. That is where search and filters come in, along with the calendar view in newer versions of iOS.
Step 1: Open the Journal app to your timeline. Entries are listed in reverse chronological order, with the date and the first lines of each entry visible. Scrolling works fine for recent entries.
Step 2: Tap the search icon to look for a word or phrase. Type a word you remember from the entry — a person’s name, a place, a restaurant, a feeling — and Journal shows every entry that contains it. The more specific the word, the fewer results you will have to sort through.
Step 3: Search by place if you attached a location. Entries with a location attached can be found by typing the place name. This is one of the best reasons to add locations: a search for a city or a cafe name pulls up every visit you ever wrote about.
Step 4: Tap the filter button to narrow the timeline. At the top of the timeline there is a filter option that shows only certain kinds of entries — only entries you have bookmarked, or only entries that contain photos.
Step 5: Bookmark the entries that matter most. When you are reading an entry, tap the bookmark icon next to the date at the top of the screen. Bookmarked entries are easy to find again through the filter, so use them for the entries you will want to revisit.
Step 6: Use the calendar view to jump to a date. In newer versions of iOS, Journal includes a calendar that shows which days have entries, so you can tap a date and see what you wrote that day.
Search works best when your entries contain the words you will later look for. Including a person’s name, a place name, or a key detail makes the entry findable later. Journal does not use tags or folders; your words are the index.
How to Export and Delete Journal Entries
There will be times when you want an entry outside the app — to print it, to send it to someone, or to keep a copy somewhere safe — and times when you want an entry gone for good. Journal handles both, but one entry at a time.
Step 1: Open the entry you want to export. Find it in your timeline, or use search to locate it, then tap it to open it full screen.
Step 2: Tap the Share button. You will find it in the entry’s menu or toolbar, shown as a square with an arrow pointing up. This opens the standard iOS share sheet with all the usual options.
Step 3: Choose how you want to share or save it. From the share sheet you can send the entry to someone in Messages or Mail, save it to Files, or print it. You can also save it as a PDF from the print screen by pinching out on the preview.
Step 4: Remember that exports are one entry at a time. Journal does not offer a bulk export of your entire journal. To copy several entries, export each one separately. For most people the iCloud sync and backup described earlier is the safety net that matters.
Step 5: To delete an entry, open it and tap the three-dot menu. The menu at the top of the entry includes a Delete option. Tap it, and the app will ask you to confirm. Deleting is permanent.
Step 6: You can also delete from the timeline. Long-press an entry in the list and look for the Delete option in the menu that appears. This is quicker when you want to remove several entries. Confirm when asked, and the entry is removed on all devices that sync with it.
How to delete a whole journal
Newer versions of iOS let you keep more than one journal — one for daily life and one for travel, for example — and each can be managed separately. To remove an entire journal, open the journal list, long-press the journal, and choose the delete option. This is permanent, so export anything you want to keep first.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the Journal app free? Yes. Journal is built into iOS, it is free to download and use, and there are no subscriptions or in-app purchases. You need an iPhone running iOS 17.2 or later to use it.
Does Journal sync between my iPhone, iPad, and Mac? Yes, through iCloud. Journal launched as an iPhone-only app, but it later expanded to iPad and Mac, and your entries can sync across all three when Journal is turned on in your iCloud settings.
Are my journal entries private? Yes. Journaling suggestions are generated on your device from your own data, and your entries are stored on your device and in your iCloud account. You can also lock the app behind Face ID, Touch ID, or your device passcode.
Can I use Journal on Android or Windows? No. Journal is an Apple-only app, available on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. There is no Android version and no web version.
Can I write in more than one journal? Yes, in newer versions of iOS you can create multiple journals — one for everyday life and one for a trip, for example — and switch between them from the journal list.
What happens to my entries if I delete the Journal app? Deleting the app removes it from your phone, but your entries are tied to your iCloud data, not to the app itself. Reinstall Journal from the App Store and sign in with the same Apple account, and your entries should come back — provided iCloud sync was turned on.
Can I add handwriting or sketches to an entry? Yes, in newer versions of iOS Journal supports adding sketches and handwritten notes to entries, alongside photos, voice recordings, and locations.
Final Thoughts
The iPhone Journal app works because it removes the two biggest obstacles to keeping a diary: the blank page and the fear that nobody, including you, will ever read it again. Suggestions give you a place to start, search makes old entries easy to find, and the lock keeps the whole thing private. It is free, it is already on your phone, and it asks for very little of your time.
Start small. Write your first entry today — three sentences about something that happened, a photo from the afternoon, a voice note on the walk home. Turn on the lock so your writing stays yours, set a reminder for a time you are usually free, and let the habit build slowly.
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