Apple’s latest iPhone software update included a “creepy-sounding setting” — and users are urging others to turn it off.
The default setting, called “Visible to Others,” tricks iPhone users into thinking their name and location are being shared without their consent.
However, this is not the case, The Wall Street Journal reported.
As part of the iOS 17.2 release on December 11, 2023, Apple launched the Journal app, which it advertises as personal journaling software “designed to help users remember and write about the moment — like new places they’ve visited, photos they’ve taken recorded, the songs they played, the exercises they completed and more.”
Along with the new app is a new Journaling Suggestions API, or API, which recommends topics to write about based on things your phone knows about you.
Although the Diary app asks users to turn the feature on or off at their discretion when they first open the app — suggestions that Apple insists it never shares with the company — users are finding that even when they choose “no,” the feature is still on, The Journal reported earlier.
By going to Settings > Privacy & Security > Logging Suggestions, the “Discoverable by Others” feature under “Logging Suggestions” will be enabled by default – even if users have never turned on suggestions.
Users who discovered this faulty feature took to social media to speculate why the setting would be turned on by default through the Settings app, even when selected otherwise in the Diary app.
Many believe that Apple is sharing full names and locations with other users or corporations and are warning other users to “protect” and “stay safe” by turning off this feature.
However, the landing page for Apple’s journaling and privacy suggestions on its legal website insists that “if you choose to share your suggestions with the Journal app, you are in control of your entries.”
For users whose iPhones are password-locked, “all Journal entries are end-to-end encrypted when stored in iCloud, so even Apple can’t read them,” the website adds.
Another pointed to Yahoo! News stating that the “Visible to Others” feature “records the number of devices in your vicinity, as well as any saved contacts within Bluetooth range.
However, it does not store any details about contacts or people near you on your phone, nor does it reveal your information to anyone else.”
Similar to AirDrop, iPhone users can share their Journal with nearby users who also have Bluetooth enabled — but not without prior approval.
For added security, users can also turn off Logging’s ability to use the number of nearby devices and contacts to create write prompts via Settings > Privacy & Security > Logging Suggestions. Then tap “Prefer suggestions with others.”
Turning off this feature, as well as the “Others can discover” feature, will make journaling suggestions less accurate and specific when querying, according to Yahoo.
Apple representatives did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.