There’s a section on Apple’s macOS 26 preview site that reads “Calm in the brainstorm.” The tagline introduces the revamped version of Spotlight, but there’s another Mac experience that it’s more applicable to for me.
From iPhone-only to every Apple device
Rewind the clock back to December 2023 when Apple shipped iOS 17.2 with the brand new Journal app. iPhone users were somewhat critical of the new software due to its lack of features, and, well, it was only on the iPhone.
Six months later, Apple shipped a significant set of new features in iOS 18, but the experience was still limited to the iPhone.
A year later, Apple announced that iPadOS 26 and macOS 26 betas included its Journal app for the first time.
For me, Day One was my digital journal of choice with its cross-platform availability and rich set of features, but at some point I opted out of renewing my subscription.
When the M4 iPad Pro with a nano-texture display arrived, I moved to a handwritten journal using Apple Pencil Pro and the Notes app. I liked the analog feel with the benefits of digital backup and sync, but the iPad was my only input device.
The Mac made it click
Since July, though, I’ve switched to actually using the Journal app for the first time. Prior to this summer, I had a single entry made on the iPhone to test it.
The trick for me was having Journal on the Mac. In fact, when I briefly downgraded back to macOS [insert version before Apple unified each OS to 26], missing the Journal app is what drove me back to Tahoe.
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