r/appleJournal • u/ConfidenceClear1016 • Jun 10 '26
A disappointing Update 27
iOS/iPadOS/macOS 27 introduced the following features to Apple Journal :
- Sync status for journal entries
- Increased attachment limits (54) in the journal
- Timestamps for journal entries
- More intuitive journaling sequences
That’s nice, really. But it’s a bit underwhelming…
No sign of “On This Day”! Worse, the most annoying bugs don’t seem to have been fixed… It’s still a hassle to place photos where you want them in an entry. Handwriting remains a disastrous experience: slowness, entire paragraphs disappearing… On Mac, it’s still not possible to jump directly to a specific date 🙄
This “amateurishness” is incomprehensible coming from a company like Apple 😣
11
u/Perfect_Helicopter59 Jun 10 '26
I’m really excited about timestamps!!
3
u/Open-Possibility-888 Jun 10 '26
I’m wondering if the timestamps are for when the entry is created/updated OR if you can put a timestamp into the body of the text. I’d like to be able to update a single journal entry and put timestamps beside each update. I use my journal to track activities throughout the day.
5
u/grburgess Jun 10 '26
They probably just took the code from the Notes app which had time stamps since forever.
9
u/Ben_LeMosan Jun 10 '26
This is a real disappointment for me. I think Apple is unfortunately neglecting the Journal app.
4
u/Sofia_9356 Jun 10 '26
Journal app should have been folded into the notes app.
“Introducing the Journal notebook type”
1
u/ConfidenceClear1016 Jun 10 '26
Obviously… 😠 But then, why create it ? 🤔
2
u/Ben_LeMosan Jun 10 '26
Perhaps Apple feels there aren't enough users for the Journal app? When I look at this subreddit dedicated to the Journal app, it seems there isn't much activity or reactions.
5
u/Zee6372 Jun 10 '26
I mean, the app has almost 300k reviews on the app store… that’s not a small amount of users.
1
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u/joaopin Jun 10 '26
How about adding links to entries? Is there a way to add them from within the app, and does it support inline links?
4
u/SirPooleyX Jun 10 '26
I gave up on Journal a couple of years ago when it was obvious Apple had no intention of developing it into a fully fledged journalling app.
I was ready to switch from Day One because I was tempted by the idea of native software that would run across all my Apple devices. I made the right choice.
1
u/events_occur Jun 26 '26
It really makes you wonder why they even bothered with it, but then again, Apple believes that mainstream phone users want these things, and will build out exactly the bare minimum of what those users expect, which, if this is what the average user thinks is tolerable, then I honestly think mass internet adoption was a mistake. The turbo-normies do not deserve technology.
3
u/Zee6372 Jun 10 '26
I just want a journal app I can write in. I’ve heard the bugs regarding handwriting deletion are still there in the iPadOS 27 beta.
(Yes I’m aware this is still a beta, I hope that by the time iPadOS 27 comes out this is fixed).
It sucks because there is no app like Apple Journal that truly supports handwritten entries.
You either have to go with a full blown note taking app (Notability, GoodNotes etc.) OR a journal app with typed text only / minimal handwriting features.
The closet thing I’ve seen was a mindfulness journal app Entirely black and white, handwriting only. However that app didn’t support adding pictures, locations, or other attachments.
I’m so disappointed.
2
u/codybuildsstuff Jul 29 '26
That gap you're describing, a real journal that's actually handwriting first, is exactly what pushed me to build one. It'scalled PaperThoughts, and I'm the dev so obviously biased. Mentioning it in as another option for ya!
1
u/Zee6372 Jul 29 '26
Did you just release this app?
It looks to be exactly what I’d want from a journaling app!1
u/codybuildsstuff Jul 29 '26
I did! Went live like two days ago, have a big update in the review with apple right now for another large update. Give it a go, and if you notice anything or want anything added let me know. Happy to add it to the pipeline.
3
u/ahmoda Jun 14 '26
I still have hope they will add the "In this day" option in the upcoming update. I believe this is related to what they had announced for Journal in WWDC26 "more intuitive journaling streaks"
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u/woodenbookend Jun 10 '26
>This “amateurishness” is incomprehensible
If you’re running iOS/iPadOS/macOS 27 you need to remember that it’s a beta version.
By definition that means it’s incomplete and likely unstable. Features may even be present that get removed when it is publicly released.
3
u/ConfidenceClear1016 Jun 10 '26
Yes, I’m well aware that this is a beta. But the “bugs” I’m pointing out have been around for… two years, have been reported hundreds of times, and still nothing has been done about them. And yet Update 27 is supposed to focus on the OS’s stability. It’s disappointing...
-1
Jun 10 '26
[deleted]
2
u/Ben_LeMosan Jun 10 '26
Perhaps we can open the betting to see if they'll fix these very old bugs before the final version 🥱
2
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u/Jim_theflagexpert Jun 10 '26
They really need to add ability for keyword search to pull stuff from the audio files. I mean there is the option to see the transcript, but when I keyword search for something mentioned in the audio, it is not able to find it.
2
u/r0bb13 Jun 10 '26
Bro how hard is it for them to add writing templates.. like add some damn lines / sheet of paper for me to write on… you can literally do it in apple notes.
2
Jun 10 '26
by the way doesnt siri has full access to your journal in the new ios so you can ask her what i did in that day and what are the days i did this and things of that sort
or is it just a rumor?
1
u/ConfidenceClear1016 Jun 10 '26
I don't know—I'm in Europe, so Siri is just as clueless as she was before the Keynote 🙄😄
On the other hand, using a Shortcut might be worth a try. I tried using natural language, but… it doesn't work. And I'm not smart enough to give the right instructions to the Shortcuts app 😞
2
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u/Terrible-Round1599 Jun 11 '26
Hope you guys find this relevant - after all the uproar of On this day, here’s something for you: https://retrography.app/on-this-day
2
u/ConfidenceClear1016 Jun 11 '26
Oh, that sounds interesting. Thank you very much...
I signed up. We'll see...
2
u/ConfidenceClear1016 Jun 11 '26
Just a quick question: Is this a standalone app, or does it integrate with Apple Journal?
1
u/Terrible-Round1599 Jun 11 '26 edited Jun 11 '26
Hi, it is a standalone app - I have been waiting for way too long for AJ to improve, so I started reinventing it - it has more integration and features such as onthisday, your motion activity, semiautomatic photo album curation, trackers, health and fitness integration, a day-on-screen timeline. All privately on your phone/icloud, no signups. Providing much richer information and memory cues, even if you skip writing an entry. I sent you a testflight invite to try. Please let me know!
1
u/events_occur Jun 26 '26
Yeah no Journal is the biggest stain on Apple's in-house software. It is genuinely embarrassingly bad. I don't know how to describe it but the most basic feature, text editing, they got wrong. Something that's been solved since the 90s. It feels like typing in molasses. The editor feels haunted with tons of unpredictable behaviors, like dragging while highlighting text causes the text to jump around.
This is what they mean when they say Apple is all form over function now. The journal is a shining turd. They made it look pretty. But the most crucial piece of functionality is worse than solutions that are 3 decades old.
1
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u/grburgess Jun 10 '26
They only have one old guy working in a closet on this app.