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Ask HN: Is no one bothered that Apple silently installed Journal app on iPhones?

by tsycho on 1/18/24, 9:56 PM with 22 comments

I noticed a new app (Journal) on my home screen, and was very confused since I didn't remember installing it. After some googling, it seems that Apple installed it silently as part of the upgrade to iOS 17.2.1.

Yes, I can just delete it (and have done so). But is no one bothered by this breach? More and more, I am finding Apple to be such a greedy, hypocritical company and am getting disgusted by their PR image.

Do others feel similarly?

I predict some of you will comment "why not stop using iPhones", so I'll address that in advance. It's not easy to move away if you have already bought a bunch of devices and software that all work together. Moving to Android will take significant time, money and effort, and hence the threshold to do so tends to be high. It takes time for the aggregate of annoyances to catch up to that, but I feel like I am nearing my limits, and will seriously consider alternatives on my next phone refresh cycle.

  • by grok29 on 1/18/24, 10:15 PM

    Silently? It was announced and loudly advertised as a new feature of iOS 17. They showed it on stage in their keynote, put it on their website, in press releases, and put it in the release notes of the specific release.

    It's hard to know how much less silent this could have been.

    It's also hard to know how Apple adding features to the OS can be considered either greedy or a 'breach'.

    > but I feel like I am nearing my limits

    For them adding nice new functionality they promised to the device?

  • by sp332 on 1/18/24, 10:14 PM

    Androids are much worse. You get Samsung or OnePlus etc installing new apps with OS versions as well. And sometimes they're baked in to the system partition so you can only disable them.

  • by skygazer on 1/19/24, 3:11 AM

    Look, I actually get it. He just feels about journaling apps the way I felt about U2’s Songs of Innocence album appearing uninvited on my phone one day. It was a nice gesture and all, but I think we all are free to feel irrational irritation from time to time. This one is way easier to remove than a gifted U2 album, thankfully. OP can maybe turn off updates until he’s able to mentally prepare for hostile OS additions, and can still receive security updates. Maybe journaling about it will diffuse some of that angst.

  • by stray on 1/18/24, 10:05 PM

    So you can delete it? Cool. So there's no problem, then.

  • by tyrionbean on 1/19/24, 7:24 AM

    It was literally announced to huge fanfare in all of the tech press, and even some of the mainstream press, that Apple was releasing a Journaling app as part of the new iOS. People were going on and on about "wellness" and all the rest of it. It's like complaining that they "silently installed" their timer app on your phone, or their stock market app (which I have never seen anyone use). It was about as silent as a declaration of intent in front of the world media, months and months before it happened.

  • by dotcoma on 1/19/24, 1:19 AM

    Uninstall, and it’s done.

    A minor annoyance, imho.

    Yeah, move over to Android and then tell us…

  • by anupamchugh on 1/19/24, 11:59 AM

    I’m more curious how the journal suggestions API will play out and change our relationship with third party apps.

  • by joegibbs on 1/18/24, 10:22 PM

    I don't see anything wrong with this. Every update adds a bunch of new code and features to your phone that you don't even get to look at, does it matter if they add something which you can see?

  • by dave4420 on 1/18/24, 10:10 PM

    What’s the problem with Apple including another app as part of iOS?

  • by ndjshe3838 on 1/18/24, 10:46 PM

    Why?

    Your phone already comes with lots of apps you didn’t install

    How is that any different at all?

    Of all the things to complain about Apple this seems like the minor-est

  • by wvenable on 1/19/24, 5:57 PM

    How is it different from Calculator or Notes? It's a new feature. I don't see the problem.

  • by tmaly on 1/19/24, 4:22 AM

    It didn’t bother me one bit.

    I used Obsidian app for my notes so I’ll just ignore the Journal app.

  • by coolThingsFirst on 1/18/24, 10:31 PM

    The problem is we have Notes app why is Journal needed?

  • by bell-cot on 1/18/24, 10:27 PM

    If you just ignore the new Journal app, does it do anything worth caring about?

    If Apple had added FreeCell, Minesweeper, Solitaire, and Tetris "classic games" apps to iOS 17.2.1, would you have been bothered?

    Apple has been a for-profit corporation for a bit under 50 years now. My assumption is that they've always had "capitalist ethics". But years ago, when Apple was a relatively small player in the market, it was much easier for most people to sweep their misbehavior under a "always side with the scrappy underdog" rug.

  • by TotoHorner on 1/18/24, 10:01 PM

    > I am finding Apple to be such a greedy, hypocritical company and am getting disgusted by their PR image

    I definitely agree with this but don't have too many issues with them installing the Journal app to be honest. I actually like the app personally, but totally agree with your sentiment.