As parents and caregivers, staying informed about the latest updates to our children’s digital devices is crucial to ensuring their online privacy, safety, and well-being. With the recent release of iOS 17.3, you are likely not aware that a new app called “Journal” has made its way automatically onto our kiddos iPhones. This app, designed by Apple, serves as a digital diary, encouraging users to reflect and practice gratitude through journaling. While this can be a positive experience for adults, it’s important to understand the implications for youth and take steps to ensure their online activities remain safe and transparent.
According to Apple:
“Journal, a new iPhone app available today, helps users reflect and practice gratitude through journaling, which has been shown to improve wellbeing. With Journal, users can capture and write about everyday moments and special events in their lives, and include photos, videos, audio recordings, locations, and more to create rich memories.”.
However, there’s a crucial aspect that parents need to be aware of when it comes to their child’s use of this app.
When the iPhone is secured with a passcode, entries in the Journal app are encrypted. This provides a baseline level of security. However, children can also enhance this security by enabling secondary authentication, such as Face ID or Touch ID, making it even more challenging for parents to access the contents of the app.
The Journal app poses a potential challenge for parents who want to monitor their child’s digital activities. With heightened security measures, youth can use this app to hide pictures and videos, making it more difficult for parents to gain insight into their online world. So, what can parents do to address this concern?
- While you can delete the app from the phone, be aware that your child can easily re-download it and hide it in a folder, making it less visible.
- Turning off Face ID lock protection is an option, but keep in mind that your child may choose to re-enable it at any time. There are no parental controls to prevent this.
- Consider allowing only password lock protection and insist that your child provides you with the password. This allows for periodic spot checks, ensuring transparency.
- Our preferred option is to sit down with your child and explore the Journal app together. This not only fosters open communication but also helps you understand how your child is using the app.
It’s essential to remember that the iPhone and Android phones were originally designed for adults, not for youth. We always recommend that parents and caregivers should consider alternatives like minimalist phones such as the Sunbeam Orchid phone, the Wisephone, or the Ghost phone for tweens and younger teens (1). These devices offer more basic functionality and minimize the risks associated with full-fledged smartphones until your child demonstrates good digital literacy over time.
As our children navigate the onlife world, it’s our responsibility as parents and caregivers to stay informed and actively engage in their online experiences. The Journal app (much like the iPhone) while a tool for positive reflection, was designed for adults and not pre-teens and younger teens in our opinion.
As parents and caregivers, navigating the evolving landscape of our children’s onlife world is important for their well-being and safety. The recent introduction of the Journal app on iOS 17.3 underscores the importance of staying informed about the tools our children use.
While the Journal app promotes positive reflection through journaling for adults, its security features can pose challenges for parents aiming to monitor their child’s online activities. The encrypted nature of the app, coupled with the ability to use Face ID or Touch ID, can create barriers for parental oversight – thus the reason for this posting!
***Update*** 2024-03-01
We have been receiving several private messages about the attached image that is making its rounds on social media about Apple’s Journal App causing a moral panic. The message in this image is not the truth, the whole, and nothing but the truth. So, here’s the “Tea” on the “Discoverable By Others” setting in the Journal App.
In a bid to foster connection while respecting privacy, Apple has introduced a feature that allows iPhone users to acknowledge their proximity to one another without disclosing exact locations. Leveraging either Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, iPhones can detect nearby devices, displaying only a random hash. However, UPON MUTAL CONSENT, users can opt to link these hashes with their respective accounts, creating a consensually shared dictionary that remains solely on their devices, never transmitting to any external servers.
This functionality extends beyond mere detection, enabling the Journal app to suggest logging interactions with nearby iPhone users, but once again ONLY WITH MUTAL CONSENT of both users. For instance, attending a party with a friend or embarking on a hike and snapping photos prompts the Journal app to seamlessly incorporate these shared experiences into its suggestions. By maintaining anonymity while facilitating connection, this feature strikes a delicate balance between privacy and social engagement with those WHO YOU ALLOW in today’s onlife world. All this feature means is that if you are near another iPhone user, both iPhones will communicate you and the journal app will suggest to note down that you have been with that person.
Again, this function only allows others to know you are “nearby” and not your exact location.
For some users, this still may be too creepy so to turn this function off:
Click Settings > Click Privacy & Security > Click Journaling Suggestions > Turn Off “Significant Locations” > Turn Off “Discoverable by Others”
Digital Food For Thought
The White Hatter
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