Apple Rolls Out New Journal App as Part of Its iOS 17.2 Update for iPhone and iPad

Apple has released a new app called Journal as part of its latest iOS 17.2 update for iPhone and iPad. An additional update, watchOS 10.2, is also available for download.

According to Apple, Journal will help users reflect and practice gratitude through journaling, which has been shown to improve wellbeing.

Journal App of Apple

Unlike existing third-party journaling apps like Day One, Apple's Journal app distinguishes itself by leveraging on-device machine learning to offer personalized suggestions for journal entries based on activities in other apps.

The app is designed to help users capture and write about their everyday moments and special events, as it incorporates various media formats such as photos, videos, audio recordings, and locations to enrich the journaling experience.

Bob Borchers, Apple's vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, expressed excitement about the potential benefits of the Journal, saying, "Journal makes it easy to preserve rich and powerful memories, and practice gratitude by intelligently curating information that is personal to the user, right from their iPhone. And we're making it possible for other journaling apps to offer the same personalized suggestions while maintaining the highest level of privacy."

The release of Journal is accompanied by the Journaling Suggestions API, allowing third-party journaling apps to suggest moments for users to write about. This move aims to extend the advantages of digital journaling to a broader audience while prioritizing user privacy.

New iOS 17.2 of Apple

The new iOS 17.2 and iPadOS 17.2 were made available to users on December 11. The update encompasses a range of improvements and security fixes, addressing various vulnerabilities detected in the previous versions.

Among the critical updates is an enhancement in privacy measures, explicitly addressing an issue that could allow certain apps to access sensitive user data. That was rectified through improved private data redaction for log entries, ensuring a more robust protection of user information.

Another notable update pertains to the AVEVideoEncoder component, wherein an app could potentially disclose kernel memory. Apple responded to this concern by implementing improved redaction of sensitive information, a measure that strengthens the system's overall security.

The discovery of this vulnerability (CVE-2023-42884) was credited to an anonymous researcher. Security enhancements were also made in the Bluetooth module to counteract potential threats in which an attacker in a privileged network position might inject keystrokes by spoofing a keyboard.

Apple's response involved refining checks within the system to mitigate this risk. Marc Newlin of SkySafe reported the vulnerability (CVE-2023-45866).