Most iPhone users have no idea that iOS has a built-in system that quietly tracks your best moments — workouts completed, songs you loved, places you visited, photos you took — and can surface them as prompts when you sit down to journal.
It's called Journaling Suggestions, and it's one of the most underrated features in iOS. Even better: it works with third-party journal apps, not just Apple's own Journal app.
Here's everything you need to know.
What Are Journaling Suggestions?
Introduced in iOS 17.2, Journaling Suggestions is a system-level feature that aggregates meaningful moments from your day — all processed on-device, with your privacy intact.
It can surface suggestions based on:
- Photos and Live Photos you captured
- Music you listened to on Apple Music
- Workouts logged in Apple Fitness
- Significant locations you visited
- People you spent time with (based on contacts)
- Podcasts you listened to
- State of Mind check-ins
Think of it as your iPhone's memory — it notices the things worth remembering so you don't have to.
Does It Work with Third-Party Apps?
Yes — and this is what most people miss.
Apple opened the Journaling Suggestions API to third-party developers, which means apps beyond Apple's own Journal app can tap into these suggestions. When a journal app integrates this API, you can import a suggestion directly into a new entry: the photo, the workout data, the song — already there, waiting for you to add your words.
Apps that currently support Journaling Suggestions include Day One and Picnic Moment.
How to Set It Up
Step 1: Enable Journaling Suggestions on your iPhone
Go to Settings → Privacy & Security → Journaling Suggestions
Here you can toggle which data categories are included in your suggestions:
- Workouts
- Photos
- Music
- Locations
- Contacts
- Podcasts
- State of Mind
Turn on what feels right for you. Everything is processed on-device — Apple doesn't see your suggestions.
Step 2: Open your journal app
In Picnic Moment, tap the Suggestions button when creating a new entry. You'll see a visual picker showing your recent moments — a hike from Tuesday, the album you had on repeat, the coffee shop you worked from.
Tap any suggestion to add it as the foundation of your entry, then write around it.
Step 3: Write
The hardest part of journaling is starting with a blank page. Journaling Suggestions solves that — your entry already has context, and you just fill in the feeling.
Privacy: What Does Apple See?
Nothing. Journaling Suggestions is built on Apple's on-device intelligence — the same technology behind features like Siri and photo recognition. Your suggestions are generated locally on your iPhone and never sent to Apple's servers.
When you use the Journaling Suggestions picker in a third-party app, only the data you explicitly choose to add to an entry is shared with that app. Everything else stays on your device.
You can review and adjust exactly what's included at any time: Settings → Privacy & Security → Journaling Suggestions.
Getting Started
If you've never tried journaling because staring at a blank page felt too hard — Journaling Suggestions is the fix. Your iPhone already knows what happened. You just add the meaning.
Picnic Moment supports Journaling Suggestions alongside photos, Live Photos, music, mood, location, and more — all in one beautifully designed entry.