Apple has implemented a whole range of data sources in its Journal app, which has been allowing users to keep diaries with the help of an iPhone since last winter. With iOS 17.4, which has been available since the beginning of March, a function has now been activated that irritates some users: “recognizability by others”. As the Wall Street Journal reports, this happens fully automatically: there is no demand. If you don't want this, you have to switch off the feature manually.
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Journal ideas with tracking
The function is part of the so-called journaling suggestions. These basically serve to give users of the diary app ideas about what they should write about. These include simple text prompts like “Write about something in your life that is very important to you” – but also content that appears on the iPhone itself. This includes the music listened to, but also places visited, fitness activities and even calls made (via the CallKit API) and chats.
Journal also uses Bluetooth to track encounters with other people and then suggest writing about them. This is what Apple calls “People Nearby.” “Journaling suggestions may also use contextual information to determine which suggestions are more important or relevant to you,” the company writes. Apple emphasizes that the data will only be read out when it actually ends up in the diary.
Just suggestions, without further details
The encounter feature works in two directions: for it to work, both people must use it. Apparently only very few users have it active. This seems to be one reason why Apple has now turned it on by default with iOS 17.4. This leads to a lack of understanding among users. For example, you're wondering whether the iPhone could automatically remind nearby contacts that you're nearby and then write about the person.
However, when asked, Apple told the Wall Street Journal that it was all about “prioritizing” journaling suggestions. The app then prefers information about people who were in the area, but does not give names. The Apple spokeswoman told the newspaper that this was done so that users “receive this benefit regardless of whether their friends and the people around them use the Journal app or not.” Apple apparently wants to give journal use a boost. If you are not interested in the feature, you will find the corresponding switch under the privacy settings.
(bsc)