iPhone’s Latest Update Brings A Safety Concern. Here’s How to Turn It Off.

If you own an iPhone, you may have noticed a new app that was installed with the iOS 17.2 update called ‘Journal’.

iPhone users have pointed out a safety issue in the settings and we need to talk about it immediately!

I have to admit that I do not tend to keep up with checking settings on my phone and devices.

I need to do a much better job for my safety and more importantly… my children’s safety.

The ‘Journal’ app is a great way to get into the habit of journaling your daily activities, and it offers many suggestions to get you started. Some suggestions will prompt you to write about your photos, daily activities, etc…

That’s all fine and dandy, but something isn’t so fine about what is automatically happening with the settings.

The problem is that when this is installed with the new update, it has some default settings you may want to know about.

If you click into the privacy settings of the ‘Journal’ app you will see that there is a spot that says “Discoverable by Others” and it is set to ON automatically!

When this setting is on it will allow others to detect that you are nearby, um… I’m sorry but that is a NOPE for me and mine!

According to Snopes:

Users who write their private entries in Journal can also receive suggestions associated with people who were nearby to them during the day. Two such settings are Prefer Suggestions with Others, which includes “moments you share with your contacts or large groups,” and Discoverable by Others, which is described as “[allowing] others to detect your are nearby to help prioritize their suggestions.” These two settings are also enabled by default.

While this is said to not be too invasive, I have teenage and young adult daughters and this is not ok with me. Please make sure to turn this setting off immediately if you don’t want to take any chances.

If you want to leave it on for yourself, that’s fine… you’re an adult. However, for the safety of your children, you should probably turn that off.

There is no reason that other people need to know when you or your loved ones are nearby. How can we be sure of exactly what information can be seen by others?

According to what I have read it will show your full name as well as your GEO location, not today stalkers! Better to be safe than to be sorry!