Apple has entered the journaling space with its latest app, simply called Journal. It’s iPhone-only for now, which means it isn’t a realistic option for me, but that doesn’t mean I can’t benefit from its introduction.

Journaling suggestions come from various apps on your phone.

Alongside Journal, Apple also released journaling suggestions based on various activities that you perform: songs you listen to, places you go, people you spend time with, photos you take, and more. Your phone collects this data all the time and stores it privately out of reach of any other apps.

But with journaling suggestions, users have the option to make this information available to third-party journaling apps, including my app of choice, Everlog. They can only access the information you explicitly choose to save, so your private data is safe and secure.

This is honestly the best of all possible worlds for me. I’ve written hundreds of entries in Everlog and have no intention of switching away from it. At the same time, using activity data from my phone as a starting point for journal entries is an intriguing idea. I’m happy that I can stick with the app I love while getting the benefits of Apple’s foray into journaling.

What that practically looks like for me right now is basically a feed of my various daily activities mixed in with my daily journal entries. It’s a fascinating way to get a deeper look at my life and record things I have no chance of remembering, like particular podcast episodes I listened to and my workout routine.

A few of my Everlog entries that include journaling suggestions.

In the past, I’ve tended to shy away from adding photos and other attachments to Everlog entries. That choice was mostly meant to avoid the mental overhead of going through my phone every day to pick out what I want to save. Now, my phone can just do that for me! This unlocks some really exciting possibilities.

The Journal app and its suggestions are still early in their development. I have changes I’d like to see to the system, like the ability to access journaling suggestions on my iPad and the inclusion of TV app viewing data. (How cool would it be if I could build my own TV-logging system in Everlog?) And I expect we’ll see the Journal app eventually grow beyond the iPhone and its current barebones text editor.

But for a 1.0, Apple’s first step into journaling is an impressive one. I hope that more people than ever will give journaling a try with the new Journal app on their home screens. And if anyone gets the urge to go further with their practice, more mature apps like Everlog will be ready and waiting with access to all the same suggestions that Apple’s own app has.

Props to Apple for this release and for sharing their journaling tools with others. Props to Wessley Roche, developer of Everlog, and other third-party journal app developers for being on top of this new technology. It’s a great time to be a journaler on Apple’s platforms, and I couldn’t be happier about it.

For full details on the Journal app, I recommend checking out the excellent MacStories review from Niléane, who’s been journaling in Day One for over eight years.