The recently added "Journal" app for iPhones running iOS 17 has been the subject of scary-sounding claims about potential privacy risks. Fortunately, there is no real need to worry.

If you have seen Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok posts/videos (which we do not share) regarding this setting, the specific setting "Discoverable by Others" allows anyone nearby to see your name and location They claim that anyone nearby can see your name and location. While that sounds understandably worrisome, the official description of this feature indicates that these claims are highly exaggerated.

The two settings we need to look at, however, are the "People Nearby" options. These are both part of the Journaling Suggestions option in the Privacy and Security section of the Settings app.

The description of "Detectable by other users" on the page is fairly brief, but you can find a more detailed explanation in Apple's Journaling Suggestions and Privacy guide linked to this menu page.

The guide says in part:

"Journaling Suggestions uses Bluetooth to detect the number of devices and contacts in your surroundings. This information is used to improve and prioritize suggestions. This information is stored on the device and is not shared with Apple."

"If you choose to disable discovery by other users and not include them in your contact count, then prioritizing suggestions with other users will also be disabled, and journaling suggestions will not be used to improve or prioritize suggestions by asking around It will no longer be able to detect how many devices or contacts are in the vicinity.

In summary, [Prioritize others Suggestions] can detect other devices around you to help you with your journaling suggestions, but it cannot see the details of these other devices. Switching "Discoverable by others" to on will allow you to use it as a potential source of journal prompts, but it will not expose your name or location to others in the vicinity either.

This is similar to how Apple's Find My network works. A lost iPhone or AirTag can ping a nearby Apple device to find out where it is, but the location of other devices is not revealed.

Still, this may be a little too invasive for your taste. If so, you can turn these settings off or disable journaling suggestions altogether. But rest assured, this is not an active risk to your safety, whether you are using the Journal app or not.

If the Journal app did not launch at all, it appeared in iOS 17.2 in December 2023. While you can write entries without prompting, Apple's app is powered in part by journaling suggestions that allow you to draw on your day's activities to help you find what to reflect on. Hopefully future updates, such as iOS 18 scheduled for later this year, will make the app smarter and more clearly explain its functionality.