I generally try to avoid rumors on this blog, but there is one new rumor that is going around that has caught my attention. The rumor is that Apple supposedly plans to introduce a new journaling app alongside iOS 17 that will likely be announced at their upcoming Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC). The app is similar to other journal based apps in the App Store like, perhaps most notably, Day One.

Based on the reporting from The Verge, “Apple’s ideas for the app include having it pull usage data from the user’s iPhone to make suggestions about what they might like to journal about. It might spot when someone’s daily activity has changed and suggest writing about specific events like a workout. There’s even mention of an “All Day People Discovery” feature that could recognize friends and colleagues that users regularly spend time with.”.

Upon first hearing this rumor, I didn’t think a journal made a ton of sense for Apple to do. However thinking more about it, it actually does. An Apple Journal app could become the ultimate repository for all your Apple device usage history. Imagine for a moment the Journal app taping into the Health app to see your Sleep Schedule, so I t can prompt you to start a journal upon waking up. Any Apple Fitness+ workouts you complete can be viewed in the Journal, allowing you to track how often you workout in general or do a certain workout type. If there’s a new song you hear, you can directly add that song to the Journal. Apple News integration could be a thing here too, Apple could push a popular article from the News app for a given day or allow you to share an article directly to the Journal to reflect on later. Even Wallet integration could occur here. Imagine being able to pin a movie ticket from your Wallet directly to the Journal app so you can keep it, virtually, forever. The same could apply to Photos. Imagine pinning a photo you took that day to reflect on later.

A journal app could become the ultimate repository to see how everyone uses their Apple device. Combined with some of the rumored features like the “All Day People Discovery” thing, it could even allow you to share full journals or maybe just entries with friends by using the Find My app or integrating into iMessage.

This all sounds like an excellent way for Apple users to track what they do on their Apple device and an equally good way for Apple to market their services and other apps to users. This type of app would work great on Apples core devices- iPhone, iPad, and Mac- getting it onto other devices like HomePod, Apple TV, and Apple Watch could be a lot more difficult. Of those platforms, Apple Watch is probably the platform that Apple would actively work to bring this app to. It may let users quickly track their mood or provide a journal reminder.

I went from uncertain about an Apple Journal app to pretty positive. If this app turns out to be real, we’ll just be weeks away from seeing exactly how far Apple takes it and what the overall goal or mission of this new service is. I do hope that this is a free app and not subscription based. That is one of the major complaints I have with Day One and many of its competitors. I’d even take a one-time purchase, however those types of apps are becoming a rarity and are not generally something Apple does.