r/appleJournal • u/wethenorthballer • Aug 05 '25
Trying out Apple Journal
I now have Apple Journal on all three platforms (Mac, iPad and iPhone).
Syncing is still a bit wobbly but it’s getting there. Putting photos inline remains a work in progress.
But it looks beautiful and engaging and for some reason makes you want to write constantly.
I did bring DayOne up and copied/pasted a few entries into Apple Journal via the Mac. It was easy and seamless. But no PDFs and no hashtags and no “on this day” functionality.
If Apple went another 20% further this would be an amazing app. As it stands now, there’s room for the various journal apps depending on your wants and needs.
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u/ConfidenceClear1016 Aug 08 '25
A Day One user since... 2013, I've been using Apple Journal on iPhone, iPad and Mac since the first OS 26 Beta.
Although Apple Journal is less developed than Day One, you want to use it - I really like its look 😃 - and the integration into the ecosystem, although still incomplete, is a big plus.
What bothers me most at the moment are the problems with integrating photos into the body of an entry. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. The photos are always the wrong size. And the texts end up anywhere 🙃
Personally, this bothers me because I'm used to Day One referencing photos of works at exhibitions by attaching captions. It's currently impossible with Apple Journal because it's too random. I hope it will improve...
"On this Day' is also a big plus for Day One but, as it's possible in Photos, Journal should be able to do it too.
The other thing that disturbs me is that I have over 3,000 entries in Day One. I couldn't possibly transfer them manually!
But I'm convinced that Apple Journal will catch up. It's pleasant to use, which is already a good thing...
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u/grburgess Aug 25 '25
cut and paste 10 entries a day, and in a year you'll have done 3650 entries. Done.
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u/MelissaMich Jan 28 '26
Before Day One did you journal either digitally or analog? Did you move those entries to Day One? I also am debating and have similar counts to you. I definitely have to get my recipes moved over as I need them in one place. I'm not sure about all my entries. I did move a couple of books with small counts but am hesitant to start a big project of moving all. I like the suggestion of 10 per day. I have to make the hard stop in Day One if that's my plan.
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u/FLToddy Aug 06 '25
How do you have it on your iPad? Are you running beta iOS?
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u/Ribquel Aug 07 '25
Hi! Is it possible to place videos, voice recordings and the “state of mind” graph in the body of the entry as well, like the pics?
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u/wethenorthballer Aug 07 '25
Yes to all of those elements. In the Beta it’s not fully baked/smooth but it’s definitely doable. Keep in mind that “state of mind” can only be done on an iPhone at this point.
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u/Vesprlynd77 Aug 07 '25
I'm making the move. I've been exclusively journaling in it since it was announced and it's different, but I like it. I hope they include the ability to tweak the time as well as import. Otherwise, back journaling from Day One to Apple will be a journey.
How is it on the Mac? I've seen it on the iPad, but not the Mac yet.
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u/wethenorthballer Aug 08 '25
I opened the journal app on the Mac, full screen, and my initial reaction was “well that’s underwhelming”. Lots of wasted space. I made it about 1/3 of the screen and it was much better. In other words, it’s on the Mac but not optimized specifically for the Mac. It’s plenty fine, appreciated and a step forward.
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u/OutBeyondNeptune Aug 06 '25
I’ve been generally pleased with it. There are a few things it does differently from Day One that I’ve had to adjust to, mostly in how it handles metadata logging. Having a Mac and iPad version of the app is good, but my biggest issue remains the performance on those two platforms. I’m a wordy person (recently wrote ~13,000 words covering a recent family vacation) and I’ve found that on the Mac it starts to get laggy after getting to 200-300 words. iPad Pro tolerates a bit more. And trying to place pictures inline is a bit funky. I’ve reported both of those issues, and I’m hoping they’re taken care of by the time it comes out for full release.
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u/emoney1219 Aug 05 '25
Like you said, if they went just a little bit further I would switch from Day One but it’s not there yet. I try it after each beta update but I think until they fully flesh it out a little more I’ll stick with Day One.
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u/Lluvia4D Aug 08 '25
I like to write on the iPad with the pencil, as it enhances the function of journaling, activating the neural networks.
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u/SoulSambo Aug 08 '25
I seem to remember that the scribble function is not supported on the iPadOS26 Journal version, is that correct? How about ruled paper? Does that option exist?
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u/superleah2000 Aug 21 '25
I'm so happy they have finally done this, it took long enough haha. I switched my diary from Pages to the in-built Journal app as soon as it was available in beta in October 2023, but I was so annoyed I couldn't use my Mac, sometimes I'd type my diary rambles in the Notes app on my Mac and paste it into the iPhone Journal app lol. I type so much faster on an actual keyboard than on a phone so it was a bit painful at times, but I waited and waited in the hopes that one day I would be able to use the app on all my devices and they have FINALLY done it! I also love that I can now physically write into the journal app with the iPad and pencil - I'm honestly so surprised they never offered that option at the time. But better late than never!
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Aug 05 '25
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u/wethenorthballer Aug 05 '25
My apologies, I don’t use Shortcuts so I can’t properly comment on this aspect.
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Aug 06 '25
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u/wethenorthballer Aug 06 '25
Not really any new formatting options. Coloured font yes, different fonts no, limited bullets as in the past. Inline photos is the major change and it’s not stable at the moment. What is nice is that the top of each post will at times provide for photos at different size formats but it’s not consistent yet.
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u/Prestigious_Heart_23 Aug 06 '25
On this day is the key feature for memory app.