As a writer and journalist, I should be excited at the prospect of an application that invites me to reflect on my day and write down my thoughts and feelings. But that’s not how I feel about the new Journal app on my iPhone.
There’s nothing wrong with Journal — it’s a perfectly fine app. I have friends and family who use it every day. I’m just personally not interested in journaling on my phone. And that should be the end of it, right? I don’t want to use the app, so I don’t … but unfortunately, it’s not that easy.
I tried Journal one time, just to see what the hype was about, and then never used it again. But because I used Journal once, I inadvertently signed up for Journal suggestions.
I get suggestions from the Journal app nearly every day now, in the form of notifications, asking me to reflect on whatever I just did, whether it’s a doctor’s appointment, a long bicycle ride or a trip to the grocery store. It knows what I do because I gave it access, without really thinking about it, to my location, photos, contacts and more.
Journal knows what I do, where I go and who I do it with. But because I don’t want to journal anything, I’d prefer Journal not have access to this personal information. And I definitely don’t want to receive any notifications.
Fortunately, there’s an easy way to stop Journal from bugging you ever again. I’ll show you two ways to do it: disable Journal suggestions, and stop Journal notifications. Here’s what you need to know.
While you’re here, check out how to fix all the most annoying features and settings on iOS 17. And the best iPhone options out there in 2024.
At the bottom, you may notice that one setting still may be toggled on. If you want to prevent other people from discovering your phone, in order to tag you in their own journal entries, toggle off Discoverable by Others.
This will both prevent Journal from having access to your data, and stop the app from sending you notifications.
How to stop getting notifications for Journal Suggestions
Now, if you want to use Journal and don’t mind the app having access to your data, you can still keep Journaling Suggestions on, but turn off notifications so that you’re not bombarded with reminders to jot down your thoughts and feelings.
Go to Settings > Journal > Journaling Suggestions > Suggestion Notification Settings and simply toggle off Allow Notifications.
