Apple’s native Journal app, first introduced in 2023 with iOS 17.2, is set to make its way to the iPad and Mac later this year, the company confirmed during its WWDC 2025 keynote. The expansion comes alongside the launch of iPadOS 26 and macOS Tahoe 26, which will bring a host of new features to Apple’s ecosystem.
The journaling app, designed to help users document their thoughts and daily experiences, will now take full advantage of the hardware and interface capabilities of the iPad and Mac. Until now, the app has been limited to the iPhone, but the move to bring it to more devices is seen as a natural progression.
Enhanced experience across devices
On the iPad, Journal will gain support for the Apple Pencil, allowing users to include handwritten notes, sketches, and drawings within their entries. Additionally, users will be able to insert photos, audio clips, and other media to enrich their daily logs. The larger screen real estate and multitasking capabilities of the iPad are expected to enhance the journaling experience significantly.
Mac users, meanwhile, will benefit from the familiarity and efficiency of a physical keyboard, offering a more seamless way to type entries compared to the iPhone’s on-screen keyboard. Apple also highlighted that the app will support multiple journals for different themes or life events, all of which will be synchronised across Apple devices via iCloud.
Privacy, organisation and personalisation
Journal entries will be end-to-end encrypted and securely stored on iCloud, ensuring privacy and peace of mind. To safeguard content further, entries can be locked using Touch ID or Face ID, depending on the device in use.
The app also introduces features aimed at helping users revisit their memories, such as a location-based map view of entries, the ability to bookmark moments, and advanced filters to search through past logs using criteria like photos, locations, and fitness activities.
Powered by on-device machine learning, Journal provides intelligent prompts tailored to each user’s recent activity — including places visited, music played, and photos taken — to encourage meaningful and consistent journaling habits.
Launch timeline
The updated Journal app will become available on iPad and Mac with the rollout of iPadOS 26 and macOS Tahoe 26, both scheduled for public release later this year. With its arrival across Apple’s wider product range, the app is expected to become a more central part of users’ digital lives, encouraging reflection and creativity on a broader scale.
