Dont worry, the Apple Journal app isnt beaming your information to strangers
- its actually much more interesting

Date:
Wed, 27 Mar 2024 14:17:02 +0000

Description:
The Apple Journal app Discoverable by Others feature is enabled by default
but its not sharing your information with strangers - its actually making everyones suggestions better.

FULL STORY ======================================================================

The Apple Journal app has been garnering a lot of social media attention lately due to rampant speculation that the Discoverable by Others feature under Journaling Suggestions is sharing users' key information - such as
names and locations - with others using the Journal app.

The concern is fuelled by the fact that the Journalling Suggestions setting
is enabled by default - but rest assured, this is not the case. Your information is not being shared; in fact, the feature is actually responsible for some super smart recommendations.

These detailed, specific writing recommendations are what set the official Apple Journal app apart from other similar apps you might find in the App Store. It groups suggestions based on the places youve gone recently, any photos you take, or even the music you listen to (but only if you use Apple Music, not Spotify or Tidal). It also offers some more general
self-reflective prompts to get you started if youre feeling a little stuck.

You can essentially open the journaling app for the first time on your phone and get a whole trips worth of journal entries down in a few minutes thanks
to these suggestions. This even works if youre hosting a dinner party at
home, just having a little staycation, or going out to dinner to celebrate a friend's birthday. So, how does it all work?

Basically, the Journaling app isnt sending random people your journal
entries. Instead, the Discoverable by Others feature is actually there to
help the people around you who are also using the app. According to Joanna Stern at the Wall Street Journal , The phone can use Bluetooth to detect the number of devices nearby that are in your contacts. It doesnt store which of these specific contacts were around but instead may use this as context to improve and prioritize journaling suggestions, the spokeswoman said.

Take our example above about you hosting a dinner party at your place. Your phone will essentially use Bluetooth to detect that there are more people at your house than normal and will recognize it as a special event. Something about that evening, where several other people are around will trigger the understanding that this could be an event worth journaling about, and will then couple that with any photos you may take to make a personalized journal recommendation. Stern adds that the reason the feature is enabled by default is to allow more people to benefit from the app, whether they use Journal or not.

If youre still not happy about having the feature on and want to disable it, you can head over to your Privacy and Security settings and then scroll down until you see Journaling Suggestions. From there, you will have the option to disable the Discoverable by Others feature. Youre not likely to see any negative effects from this in terms of keeping your journaling
recommendations personal and accurate, either - its entirely optional.

Of course, this feature isnt going to save Apple Journal - which, in my opinion, is an entirely forgettable journalling app . I do hope that Apple continues to roll out new features and improvements to the app, as its a useful tool for self-reflection in theory; it just fails to set itself apart from the crowd enough. You might also like... Apples WWDC 2024 gets official date for iOS 18 news and more heres what to expect Apple says itll break new ground in generative AI heres what to expect iOS 18 tipped to debut Apples new generative AI and thats good news for Siri



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/computing/websites-apps/dont-worry-the-apple-journal -app-isnt-beaming-your-information-to-strangers-its-actually-much-more-interes ting


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