Apple Reportedly Developing Wellness-Oriented Journaling App

Apple is reportedly developing a wellness-oriented journaling app.

The iPhone app will help users record their daily activities and thoughts and aims to provide mental and physical benefits, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported Friday (April 21), citing company documents it had viewed.

Apple did not immediately reply to PYMNTS’ request for comment.

The app will be part of Apple’s other healthcare technology initiatives, such as those focused on the Apple Watch, according to the WSJ report.

It will be able to incorporate data from text messages and phone calls, will make personalized suggestions about topics for the user to write about, and will be loaded onto iPhones along with a new operating system, the report said.

The new iPhone journaling app could be announced at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in June, or later, per the report.

PYMNTS research has found that consumers are getting more comfortable with digital wearables that track vital signs and health signals and share them with apps and platforms that manage health.

Fifty-seven percent of United States consumers have engaged in preventative healthcare activity online, 31% have used sites or apps for mental health, and 43% have used some type of wearable health tech to automatically track, store and analyze health, according to “Connected Wellness: What’s Next in the Connected Economy,” a PYMNTS and CareCredit collaboration.

Beyond that, an expanding array of digital healthcare options have reshaped the way consumers obtain healthcare.

For example, each month in 2022, an average of 100 million consumers attended telehealth appointments, while 118 million logged online to schedule more appointments, check test results and make healthcare payments, according to “How Digital Has Changed the Consumer Healthcare Experience and Expectations,” another PYMNTS and CareCredit collaboration.

The report also found that 50% of consumers engaged with healthcare providers by using a mix of digital and physical channels, that digital healthcare options were most popular among financially struggling consumers, and that millennials and members of Generation Z use digital payment methods to pay their healthcare bills 70% more than other consumers.

As PYMNTS reported in July, Apple has highlighted how its devices are offering actionable health insights to users while also supporting the medical community by providing information for research and care.