Learnings/thoughts on Apple's new journaling app & what does that mean for Twos? (3 min read)
by campak · 15 things on Twos
- Apple is wanting to help people be mindful and remember things and experiences. Instead of having to pull things from your head, Apple instead will prompt you with things it thinks is worth remembering or processing…
- iPhone can create personalized suggestions for moments to write about
- music (integration with Apple Music)
- photos you took that day
- contacts you interacted with
- podcasts you listened to that day
- workouts
- locations you visited
- Looks like there's ability to add voice notes if you don't like typing or are in a hurry.
- Start writing from scratch or use reflection prompts to make it easier
- You can mark important days as important, so that you can go back and review the day in the future.
- Can schedule notifications to remind you to write
- Apple has seemed to embrace the "don't make me think" ideology for their apps, but this one takes a different turn. This app wants you to think. And, if that's a little hard, they give nice guardrails and training wheels for guiding how to think and process.
Far too often digital technology leads us to being reactive and mindless, so it's really cool to see apps out there that challenge the digital status quo.
What Apple has done really well with this app is how beautiful and simple it is. For those who are more visual, they have the beautiful artwork and imagery from the day's journey. For those who need to process more mentally through writing, they have a simple interface for writing and getting those thoughts out of your head. They even have voice notes! That's handy.
I don't know the science, but I do know that journaling is healthy for your mind and soul. At least, it's been that way for me.
Things I'm intrigued about how Apple handles is user retention. What brings them back besides notifications? There's the reward of journaling, what it does to your mind. How are they going to get the common user to doing this daily? I don't know, but what I do know is that Apple usually does a ton of research and puts so much care and attention into their apps, that this one will succeed.
Now, what about Twos?
At first glance, Apple's new Journal app and Twos do not seem that related, but getting to the core of it, they have the same target focus of the app: helping people be mindful and remember things.
Twos could grow even better by learning and putting their own spin on similar features found in this app. For example, having the ability to record a voice audio note would be so cool. Then, listening back on old audio recordings would be sweet. Or, what if Twos was able to securely analyze the photos I took today and surface that photo? What if Twos could use AI to create journal promptings based on the events and notes from today?
It's fun to dream about what Twos could become. I love using this app daily and am excited to see future iterations. While Apple is creating an app that can be somewhat of a competitor, I think they're just setting the stage for the reality of how much we need digital mindfulness and ability to remember the things that matter most.
Twos ✌️, Cam Pak