According to the latest patent, US20240264719, Apple is working on drastically improving its relatively new Journal app. Just like it’s the case with most of Apple’s products, apps, and features, the Journal app will also get integrated with Apple Intelligence, which will allow for all sorts of new possibilities.
Apple released the Journal app last year with iOS 17 to mixed responses from users. While some praised its simplicity, others criticized the lack of options and the app’s absence from iPadOS. However, it seems Apple is addressing these criticisms, as the new patent promises a significant set of improvements.
The first part of the document highlights some features of the Journal app that are already available, such as adding photos to journal entries and answering generic questions from the app. However, the second part introduces some innovative features that will likely be powered by Apple Intelligence.
First, we may start seeing push notifications that ask if we want to add certain events or activities to the Journal. For example, the Photos app might recognize that you’ve taken an unusual number of photos in a particular location and send a signal to the Journal app to suggest creating an entry for that activity.
Next, the document reveals a new entry structure. It appears users will be able to create timeline-like entries, incorporating multiple images and other media between chunks of text, rather than only using images as an entry cover, as is currently the case.
Users will also be able to generate prompts for their journal entries. So, if you’re unsure what to write about today, you can ask the AI to prompt you with related questions, like “How was your run?” or “How was the food at that restaurant?”
The document also showcases what appears to be a Journal widget that can be placed on your Home Screen. I believe this will likely serve as a shortcut for creating entries, rather than displaying existing ones and memories, due to privacy considerations.
Finally, although it wasn’t explicitly mentioned in the document, some of the figure images seem to depict a tablet, suggesting that the Journal app might soon be available on iPads as well.
We don’t know when (or if) Apple will release all the improvements for the Journal app, but it’s reasonable to assume they’ll come soon and become another part of the whole Apple Intelligence ecosystem.