Maybe because there was a (albeit skewed) Poll attached, and then folks following to see the rationale for the answers?
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Apple's Journal App
- Thread starter FireFish
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needs a Mac companion app before it can become useful
I'm underwhelmed, especially by the fact that there's no way to use it on a Mac. Not much use to me to peck out anything of consequence on my iPhone.
But if Notes and other Apple apps are any indication, it may follow the Apple trajectory of an under-baked initial release followed by strong and steady development until it's a worthy contender. Remember, Notes used to ship with a fake handwriting font and basically nothing else. Now it's got formatting, folders, hashtags, checklists and even collaboration. Not that Journal would need this exact feature set, but Apple is generally pretty decent at not outright abandoning products the way some other platforms (Google) do.
But if Notes and other Apple apps are any indication, it may follow the Apple trajectory of an under-baked initial release followed by strong and steady development until it's a worthy contender. Remember, Notes used to ship with a fake handwriting font and basically nothing else. Now it's got formatting, folders, hashtags, checklists and even collaboration. Not that Journal would need this exact feature set, but Apple is generally pretty decent at not outright abandoning products the way some other platforms (Google) do.
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I'm extremely underwhelmed and frankly surprised that Apple, who doesn't pivot into these native-app projects lightly, has taken on the journal challenge and released such a lackluster app.
DayOne is so much more sophisticated and feature packed, it's almost laughable.
Obviously Apple has tighter access towards integrating Journal within the iOS ecosystem, considering that DayOne is limited to use of the developer access Apple allows app developers to integrate their app in iOS. We all know by now that Journal has some extra settings that DayOne could never adopt, merely because Journal is a native Apple app and DayOne isn't. But beyond that, it's baffling how many key features that any serious journal user would expect are blatantly missing from Journal. Exporting is just one of the dozens that comes to mind.
And that’s what subsequent releases are for. No app starts right out of the gate with all the features it will eventually have.
Not sure why you bothered quoting my entire post, just to disregard the majority of it. Like I said, Apple has a history of testing the waters with a minimum viable product and then iterating consistently until it's a solid contender. Again, look at Notes. Hell, look at the iPhone itself, which launched without video recording, or an App Store or even copy/paste.
So, maybe chill with the angry bold text statements a bit, leave off of Journal and use DayOne and come back to Journal later if you care to. It's not costing like it's costing you money or anything.
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I hope they have an iPad / Mac client to easily be able to view content easier than the phone app.
We’re gonna need this. I log 5-6 journals each days & it begins to be too long to swipe down to see old ones.
I hope they’ll also adopt Year/Month/Day bottom tabs on Photo. That’s such a great way to browse through history.
Have to say it’s one of my most used app on iPhone currently. Who would have thought?
Yeah, it is addicting to add more content to it. I hope Apple does to this app what they did with the Reminders and Notes app. Those apps replaced paid subscriptions like the Things and Evernote apps as they became more powerful and even better than the paid alternatives.
I was excited about this Journal feature,
until the app is only available on the iPhone, the worst
devise to type or to "journal" on.
My point is the phone screen is small, typing is a nuisance and
too many things happen on a phone that interrupts typing,
while the iPad is perfect for this feature.
hopefully this might happen soon?
until the app is only available on the iPhone, the worst
devise to type or to "journal" on. My point is the phone screen is small, typing is a nuisance and
too many things happen on a phone that interrupts typing,
while the iPad is perfect for this feature.
hopefully this might happen soon?
I was excited about this Journal feature,
until the app is only available on the iPhone, the worst
My point is the phone screen is small, typing is a nuisance and
too many things happen on a phone that interrupts typing,
while the iPad is perfect for this feature.
hopefully this might happen soon?
Almost certainly (at least if they are serious about it). But probably not before iOS 18 is released in September.
You can understand why they might have made this decision not to do that at the outset: the iPhone is the source of much of the locational and other data that feeds the Journaling Suggestion API. So, many of the journaling prompts that show up on the phone version of the app would not show up on an iPad version, since (for most iPads) it would have no way of “knowing” where you’ve been, who you’ve spoken to, etc. That would lead to a markedly inferior experience for iPad-only users.
I think once the app is established, they will port it to the iPad and Mac.
After using the Journal app for a couple of weeks, here are some thoughts:
- I often find myself wanting to share content from my iPad to the app, but unfortunately, there's no iPad support yet.
- It would be helpful to have search functionality and tagging options for better organization.
- Integrating music playback directly within the app, rather than redirecting to the Music app, would enhance the user experience. Even a 30-second preview would suffice.
- Seamless integration with Apple Music and Apple TV apps would be convenient, eliminating the need to use the share menu.
- Adding multiple songs to an entry would be a valuable feature.
- Improvements to the previews of Apple Music and Apple TV content, perhaps by prioritizing artwork, would enhance the visual experience.
Despite these suggestions, I appreciate the app's simplicity. It's possible that some of these limitations are intentional for the user's benefit.
- I often find myself wanting to share content from my iPad to the app, but unfortunately, there's no iPad support yet.
- It would be helpful to have search functionality and tagging options for better organization.
- Integrating music playback directly within the app, rather than redirecting to the Music app, would enhance the user experience. Even a 30-second preview would suffice.
- Seamless integration with Apple Music and Apple TV apps would be convenient, eliminating the need to use the share menu.
- Adding multiple songs to an entry would be a valuable feature.
- Improvements to the previews of Apple Music and Apple TV content, perhaps by prioritizing artwork, would enhance the visual experience.
Despite these suggestions, I appreciate the app's simplicity. It's possible that some of these limitations are intentional for the user's benefit.
In a Moment you can play a song right there in Journal. Sadly this doesn’t work for songs you shared or added from Music.
Are you still using Diarium? How is that going? I find the Apple approach useless as it is currently not available on Mac or iPad and I refuse to pay a subscription.
Yes I am still using it as I am running it alongside the apple one, still unsure about which one to go with.
I think Diarium is going to be the one that I will use, not having any problems with it and it is a one time purchase and cross platform.
I think Diarium is going to be the one that I will use, not having any problems with it and it is a one time purchase and cross platform.