On social media there is fuss originated around Apple’s Diary app. This would share your name and location with other iPhone users without asking. Remarkable for a company where privacy is of paramount importance. The fuss is therefore unjustified.
It is true that your iPhone shares your presence with other iPhone users by default. But not in the way you might initially think. This data is only shared with people in your contact list and anonymously. We explain how it works.
Diary app from Apple
Since iOS 17.2, you can use the Diary app to capture special moments and memories in a memorable way. The new app can be used exclusively on an iPhone and is not yet available for iPad or Mac.
You can use the Diary application for iPhone to write about your experiences and discover meaningful insights. Perfect for capturing special moments, so that you can reflect on them again at a later time. Diary is ideal for keeping track of what you are grateful for so that you can reflect on it. Research shows that this benefits your well-being.
Using on-device machine learning, users receive personal suggestions for inspiration. Based on recent activities including photos, people, places, and workouts, these suggestions make it easier to start writing. Scheduled notifications can also help you really make it a habit.
Suggestions for diary
Your iPhone will generate suggestions for the Diary app in several ways. You can expect suggestions for the topics below;
- Activity: workouts and exercise
- Media: podcasts and music that you listen to
- Contacts: People with whom you call and send messages
- Photos: Library, memories and shared photos
- Key Locations: Places where you regularly spend time
Share name and location with others
You can also expect suggestions of moments when you were together with other iPhone users. Both devices can communicate with each other and notify each other that they were nearby. This is only used to give you better suggestions afterwards in the Diary app. It is like this:
By default, Apple has enabled the ‘Discoverable by Others’ feature to detect the number of nearby devices using Bluetooth. The iPhone then checks whether one of these devices belongs to a contact in your contact list. iPhone doesn’t store which of these specific contacts were near you, but it does use this information to improve and prioritize Diary suggestions.
An example: You organize a board game evening at your home with people in your contacts. Discoverability allows the Diary app to prioritize suggestions for this event. This is because the system knows from the number of visitors that there was something special that evening instead of an ordinary evening at home with your family.
The Diary app will never suggest that a specific person was near you at a certain time. You only get suggestions that there was something special at that moment, which you have to fill in yourself.
Disable detectable by others
Would you rather not have your iPhone anonymously compare data with other iPhones in the area? Then open Settings on your iPhone â–¸ Privacy and security â–¸ disable ‘Discoverable by others’, you can also disable other options under ‘Suggestions for diary keeping’.