There’s a section on Apple’s macOS 26 preview site that reads “Calm in the brainstorm.” The tagline introduces the revamped version of Spotlight, but there’s another Mac experience that it’s more applicable to for me.
From iPhone-only to every Apple device
Rewind the clock back to December 2023 when Apple shipped iOS 17.2 with the brand new Journal app. iPhone users were somewhat critical of the new software due to its lack of features, and, well, it was only on the iPhone.
Six months later, Apple shipped a significant set of new features in iOS 18, but the experience was still limited to the iPhone.
A year later, Apple announced that iPadOS 26 and macOS 26 betas included its Journal app for the first time.
For me, Day One was my digital journal of choice with its cross-platform availability and rich set of features, but at some point I opted out of renewing my subscription.
When the M4 iPad Pro with a nano-texture display arrived, I moved to a handwritten journal using Apple Pencil Pro and the Notes app. I liked the analog feel with the benefits of digital backup and sync, but the iPad was my only input device.
The Mac made it click
Since July, though, I’ve switched to actually using the Journal app for the first time. Prior to this summer, I had a single entry made on the iPhone to test it.
The trick for me was having Journal on the Mac. In fact, when I briefly downgraded back to macOS [insert version before Apple unified each OS to 26], missing the Journal app is what drove me back to Tahoe.
Since I started really using the Journal app on my Mac, I’ve logged more than 11,000 words across 33 days. Now back to that “calm in the brainstorm” tagline: the biggest impact for me has been having a built-in, secure place to brain-dump throughout the day. I’m on my Mac more than any other Apple product. It’s the place I write the most.
Initially, I wasn’t sure that switching from a handwritten, full screen app to just another Mac app surrounded by other tools would have the same effect. I definitely think my brain processes reflection differently when handwriting. I’m certainly slower in that way. But the Journal app on the Mac has been wonderful. It’s both a tool for reflection and a place to log my stream of consciousness thoughts with rapid pace. Plus it syncs with the iPhone and iPad version.
iPhone still has the advantage
There is a catch, at least for the Mac version, though. Journal on iPhone is the most feature-rich version still. Features like photo suggestions and recent workout data attachments appear on the iPhone, but the Mac version lacks a lot of it.
My workaround has been occasionally sprucing up an entry with data suggestions from the iPhone app. The changes sync between devices. The iPad benefits from photo suggestions too.
You can enable entry notifications, automatically attach location, manually add photos, and even opt for the date as the title instead of needing to name each entry. Adding media like photos feels a lot like using Apple’s old iWeb or Photo Journals in iCloud experiences.
Instead of posting on the web, of course, you’re writing for an audience of one (you) and everything is secured behind Touch ID or Face ID. The app even lets you adjust the time between unlocking and automatically locking again.
The Journal app is still in beta. We’re up to the fifth developer beta version and second public beta version of macOS Tahoe 26 for now. This software will likely ship to compatible Macs as soon as next month. Journal still has a number of bugs to work out, especially around longer entries and entries that include photos.
The app has crashed a few times, text sometimes disappears while writing and reappears when paused, and I’ve experienced bugs with scrolling getting stuck between launches. That’s all par for the course with a beta version of macOS. The beta bugs are rare enough that I’ve gone into overdrive with journaling thanks to the new Mac app.
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