Key operations
- The Diary app feature on the iPhone does not broadcast full names or exact locations, contrary to claims on social media.
- The Visible to Others setting improves queries, but can be turned off manually in the privacy settings.
- Apple’s new Journal app, while basic, doesn’t worry about privacy when it comes to sharing data.
Over the past month, I’ve regularly come across various posts on social media, each claiming that the iPhone’s Diary app—first introduced with the release of iOS 17.2—broadcasts your full name and exact location. I’ve seen headlines on TikTok videos claiming that it’s a privacy nightmare for women and that all iPhone users should turn off the feature immediately. Is the iPhone’s Visible to Others setting really as bad as people say?
In short: No, it’s not, but I understand why people would be concerned.
Below, I’ll walk you through the purpose of the feature and what it actually does, along with steps you can take to turn it off for added peace of mind.
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Apple’s new Journal app makes its debut with iOS 17.2. I’ve been using it for a few weeks now and it’s pretty easy. But that’s not a bad thing here.
What is “Visible to Others” on iPhone?
The Diary app uses it to provide better writing prompts
When Apple released iOS 17.2, the iPhone software update included a brand new Journal app. The app is designed as a simple app that you can use to record your thoughts on a regular basis. To encourage users to routinely create new entries, Apple has developed a new Suggestions API that uses various indicators, such as your location, recent music or podcasts you’ve listened to, or photos you’ve taken, to create queries in the Journal app.
The way the API is structured, all the information included in the proposal is not actually visible to the Diary app until you decide to create an entry based on the query. Third-party logging apps can use the same API and won’t see any information included in the suggestion unless you intentionally act on them.
Part of that suggestion mechanism is that your iPhone routinely checks your location, and in this particular case uses Bluetooth to check nearby devices and see if any of them belong to someone whose data is in your Contacts app. The Journal application then records that you were in the same location as the people in your contact list, but not with whom you were.
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Does the Diary app share your data?
TL;DR: Nope
Let’s say you’re going to a concert with a few of your friends, and you have a contact card in the Contacts app for each person in your group.
At some point during the concert, your iPhone will note that you were near friends — but won’t identify them — at the concert venue. The next morning, or maybe later that week, if you open the Diary app, you’ll likely see a suggestion that uses the location of the concert venue as a query. He knows you were there and that others were there (but, again, he won’t say who those people were), so it might suggest that event as something to write about.
Your iPhone (and the iPhones around you) knows when you’re with or near someone you know — but not who that person is — and then uses that information to make better suggestions for writing prompts in the Diary app.
More succinctly: Your iPhone (and the iPhones around you) knows when you’re with or near someone you know — but not who that person is — and then uses that information to make better suggestions for writing queries in the Diary app. It does not broadcast or share your full name or exact location, nor does it do so for your contacts, as many social media posts would have you believe.
Apple has a privacy page that details the Journal app’s suggestion feature and each setting. You can read it in its entirety here.
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How to turn off “Discover others”
Turn it off in the settings on your iPhone
If you’re still not sure how the feature works, you can turn it off with just a few taps on your iPhone’s screen.
- Open Settings app on your iPhone.
- To go Privacy and security > Suggestions for journaling.
- Turn on the switch next to it Others may discover according to Off position.
This will also turn off the Prefer Suggestions with Others setting, which means you’ll no longer receive any suggestions based on when your iPhone detects that you’re around people you know. While you’re on this screen, take a few extra seconds to go through the other Diary app suggestion settings to make sure you’re only getting the suggestions you want.