I use my iPhone to write down my thoughts and feelings all the time, mostly in the Notes app. Recently, Apple introduced the Journal app, to provide a space to reflect on your day, and I tried it out, but it just wasn’t for me. I prefer to use the Notes app, maybe because I’m just so used to it already.
There’s nothing wrong with Journal, it’s a perfectly fine app. I have friends and family who use it daily. I’m just personally not interested in journaling on my phone. You would think I could just ignore the app, right? 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 absent-mindedly signed up for Journaling Suggestions, as I sometimes do when I’m quickly skipping through pop-ups when I want to try something out.
Now 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. Because I don’t want to journal anything, I’d prefer Journal not to have access to this personal information, and I certainly don’t want to receive any additional 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 Journaling 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 in iOS 17, and the best iPhone options out there in 2024.