The Sharing of Location Data with Apple's Journal App: A Balanced View

Apple's journal app has built-in suggestions that will help generate topics for you to write about, ranging from the music you listen to to places you've visited to photos you've taken and more. One might assume that this feature would be a privacy nightmare, but in reality, it operates in a way that minimizes potential concerns.

The location data shared with people around you is limited to those in your contact list and is only used in a non-actionable way. This means that there is no identifying information shared with anyone outside of your contact list, and those in your contact list are not alerted to your presence or vice versa. The feature, called "discoverable by others," uses a technique called multi-person detection to infer when multiple people from your contact list are nearby. This is typically used to detect parties or large gatherings that take place outside of your normal day-to-day interactions.

For instance, if you frequently visit your parents' house for daily or weekly visits, the app will not generate an alert for these routine occurrences. However, if it detects that you were at your parents' house for a few hours on a Saturday night and multiple family members were present, including your brothers, cousins, aunts, and uncles, you may receive a notification prompting you to write about your night out. This alert does not include any identifying information, ensuring that only the specific writing prompt is shared with those in your contact list.

The discoverable by others feature serves as a tool to encourage users to reflect on their experiences and share their thoughts through writing prompts. While it may seem invasive at first, this feature operates within established boundaries that protect user privacy.

If you prefer not to have this feature enabled, disabling it is a straightforward process. To do so, open the settings app, scroll down to Privacy, and then tap Journaling Suggestions. From there, toggle off Discoverable by Others. This simple step will prevent any location data from being shared with those outside your contact list.

So, should you leave this feature enabled or disable it? The decision ultimately depends on individual preferences regarding privacy and technology usage. Some users may find the potential for discovering new writing prompts beneficial, while others may prefer to maintain a higher level of control over their personal information. By understanding how this feature operates, you can make an informed decision that suits your needs.

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"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enApple's journal app shares your location with people around you well kind of I know what you're thinking but it is not the Privacy nightmare that you may expect it to be here's what it's actually doing and how to disable it if you should so choose Apple's journal app has built-in suggestions that will help generate topics for you to write about these range from the music you listen to to places you visited to photos you've taken and more did you catch that middle one places you visited technically and we are talking very technically here this does share your location with people around you but a it only applies to those in your contact list and B it only does so in a non-actionable way eg it doesn't say oh blah blah is here do you want to write about it your phone uses a feature called discoverable by others to detect when multiple people from your contact are nearby it does this to infer a party or other large Gathering something outside your normal day-to-day interactions here's an example I run to my parents house pretty frequently maybe I'm going out to the chicken coop we've got a bunch of extra eggs so I just run them over to my parents house pretty normal daily weekly occurrences but if it detects that I was over there for a few hours on a Saturday night and my brothers cousins aunts and uncles were all there I will probably get a notification when I get home prompting me to write about my night out here's an alert I got when I got home from my weekend literally there was a bunch of family there and it noticed that was something unusual and maybe I want to write about it but there's no identifying information here again to be crystal clear no information is shared with anyone outside of your contact list and those in your contact list are not alerted to your presence or vice versa they will only get an alert for a higher priority writing prompt inside of the journal app now that you know what this does and how it works there still may be some people that would like to disable it all together to disable the feature it's dead simple to do so here's how on your iPhone open the settings app scroll down and tap privacy then tap journaling suggestions scroll down and toggle off discoverable by others that's it now that you know how this works are you going to leave it on or are you going to turn it off and do you think Apple made a mistake by leaving this enabled by default let me know Down Below in the comments also be sure you're subscribed with notifications turned on to see more great iPhone tipsApple's journal app shares your location with people around you well kind of I know what you're thinking but it is not the Privacy nightmare that you may expect it to be here's what it's actually doing and how to disable it if you should so choose Apple's journal app has built-in suggestions that will help generate topics for you to write about these range from the music you listen to to places you visited to photos you've taken and more did you catch that middle one places you visited technically and we are talking very technically here this does share your location with people around you but a it only applies to those in your contact list and B it only does so in a non-actionable way eg it doesn't say oh blah blah is here do you want to write about it your phone uses a feature called discoverable by others to detect when multiple people from your contact are nearby it does this to infer a party or other large Gathering something outside your normal day-to-day interactions here's an example I run to my parents house pretty frequently maybe I'm going out to the chicken coop we've got a bunch of extra eggs so I just run them over to my parents house pretty normal daily weekly occurrences but if it detects that I was over there for a few hours on a Saturday night and my brothers cousins aunts and uncles were all there I will probably get a notification when I get home prompting me to write about my night out here's an alert I got when I got home from my weekend literally there was a bunch of family there and it noticed that was something unusual and maybe I want to write about it but there's no identifying information here again to be crystal clear no information is shared with anyone outside of your contact list and those in your contact list are not alerted to your presence or vice versa they will only get an alert for a higher priority writing prompt inside of the journal app now that you know what this does and how it works there still may be some people that would like to disable it all together to disable the feature it's dead simple to do so here's how on your iPhone open the settings app scroll down and tap privacy then tap journaling suggestions scroll down and toggle off discoverable by others that's it now that you know how this works are you going to leave it on or are you going to turn it off and do you think Apple made a mistake by leaving this enabled by default let me know Down Below in the comments also be sure you're subscribed with notifications turned on to see more great iPhone tips\n"