After a slew of iOS 17 details leaked last week, a new report claims that Apple is working on a brand new app for the upcoming iPhone operating system: a logging app. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Day One competitor “is designed to help users keep track of their daily lives.”
The report claims that the new app, named Jurassic, “will allow users to compile their daily activities as part of its efforts in the mental and physical health technology market.” The app will offer much tighter integration with the rest of Apple’s apps, with the ability to analyze behavior to determine what a typical day looks like, including health, location, text messages, calls phone calls, calendar events and “if a certain day included anything outside of the norm,” according to the report.
This would give the app a major advantage over current logging apps, which can only access certain parts of the phone. The Journal says the app “is configured to work with all iPhone hardware that ships with Apple’s upcoming operating system, iOS 17.” It’s unclear if there will be a Mac component like the Freeform app that launched in iOS 16.2 and macOS 13.1.
Journaling apps have long been a staple for iPhone users, with Penzu, Day One, 1SE and other popular apps racking up millions of downloads. Apple’s push into the log space is sure to irritate app makers, who often accuse Apple of “Sherlocking” popular app categories. The term was popularized after Apple released its own Sherlock 3 search application to compete with the similar Watson application in Mac OS X.
Some journaling apps charge subscriptions for additional features. For example, Day One charges $35 per year to remove limits on logs, photos, videos, and other features.
WWDC kicks off on Monday, June 5 with a keynote showcasing the latest releases of iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, and more, including the planned launch of its new AR headset. It’s unclear from the report if this new logging app will be a feature of the headset.
