Is there a way to have Journal app on iPad? Have anyone maybe know or hear a rumor if that may come? Is weird that iPads can run Apple Intelligence and not Journal app.
Same reason it took so long for Calculator (14 years) and Weather (12 years) to come to iPad: Apple needed a compelling vision for the apps beyond just stretching out the phone apps (or enough people to ask for it).
1 Like
Itās a complete and utter mystery.
While I understand that the suggestions would be far better on iPhone (the computer thatās with most people most of the time) the writing experience is far better on the iPad and Mac.
Next WWDC will be the crucial time to understand better. Apple tends to throw something out there and then watch what happens, then they start planning what comes next, this usually takes 2 years to be realised on the OS. If anything happens.
A few reasons I can think of that would slow them down:
- All the data being analyzed by the Suggestions API works a little bit differently on iPad. Does podcast history sync? Thereās Fitness+ā¦ but does workout data sync? How to handle different location histories? I assume theyāre searching for the elegant solution here.
- Maybe they have some more home-run features for pencil they want to add so they can make the iPad journal truly pencil-first, which I think they might.
It definitely shouldāve come this year, though. Same for Mac!
Well they stretch Apple Sports ā¦ but I understand what you mean
That just means Eddy Cue wanted Sports on iPad (and I should have put ācompelling visionā in quotes or italics - Iām pretty sure Craig Federighi said something like that in an interview 
I think I heard that compelling vision ā¦ they make fancy excuses
Any ideas of a free journal app for o start? No need sync or anything. Donāt want to use Note app for that.
Obsidian, used without most of its bells and whistles, would make a great journaling app on the Mac. And it is free.
Iām not much of an iPad user, but I know Obsidian runs there. See this recent video if interested. Obsidian Mobile On iPad Pro M4 - YouTube
1 Like
Iām the author of DayBits. I designed it intentionally to be simple with a focus on simple entry. Entries synch via iCloud.
The project started as one to solve my own needs for a simple dedicated journaling tool. Iām fairly new to iOS development and always welcome any suggestions or recommendations.
I hope this is helpful.
Obsidian has had a ton of issues syncing on iCloud once you have more than a few files, so Iād avoid that for an iOS/iPadOS journal.
Bear is my favorite and has a free tier with no syncing. Other journaling/diary-specific apps are also available.
Iāve had no issues and I have thousands of notes in my primary vault. Iāve not heard of this being an issue elsewhere.
2 Likes
Didnāt OP asked for a Journal app on iPad? Did not mention syncing.
I want the iPad to be at least on par with the iPhone in all features. (Longstanding wish to have Watch app on the iPad and then I can have a cellular iPad and a watch and ditch the phone.) But journaling, on the device that has a specialized pencil for writing seems the most obvious.
2 Likes
I believe Day 1 is free on one device. $35 a year for cross device support.
There has been discussion on the topic going back a while now on the Obsidian forum and r/ObsidianMD about the app and iCloud. Iām not going to turn this into a derail any further, but the issues are well known enough for a reference in the official Obsidian docs (see below). Performance is reportedly better than it was, especially after iOS 18.
Why is my preferred syncing service not officially supported?
Unlike some note-taking apps that access one file at a time, Obsidian requires access to the entire vault for its features (e.g., updating links when renaming a file). This makes it difficult for some services to function reliably with Obsidian.
Why do I need to keep files āAvailable Offlineā?
If services like OneDrive or iCloud offload files (e.g., using Files On-Demand or Optimize Mac Storage), Obsidian canāt access them, causing sync issues. Mark your vault folder as Always keep on this device (OneDrive) or ensure Keep Downloaded is enabled (iCloud).
āSyncā doesnāt mean just among devices ā it can also refer to a single device accessing app cloud storage.
I donāt see your objections to Obsidianās sync performance as any different from the issues ANY app suffers trying to use services like iCloud Drive or OneDrive, for example. Sync is hard.
I use the NotePlan app which syncs to Appleās cloud, and between my Mac and my iPhone, using Appleās CloudKit service. CloudKit performs as well or better than any other sync service I have used on Windows or macOS.