You are being secretly tracked by your iPhone with little-known setting – here’s how to turn it off

Apple is secretly tracking users through a feature that was turned on by default during a previous iOS 17 update.

When the Journal app released in December 2023, a privacy setting was automatically switched to on.

It allows people to interact with your iPhone when they are nearby.

To turn yours off, go to the Privacy & Security tab in the settings folder. Then click on the Journal app. It should say ‘Discoverable by Others’. Turn it off.

But users who deleted the Journaling app have just realized that Discoverable by Others is still toggled as on even if they have deleted the app.

Discoverable by Others was activated with the iOS 17.2 release, but Apple fans have just spotted it – and many have been left in shock.

‘This feature allows your iPhone to interact with nearby iPhones. If you are close to another iPhone user, the Journal app will suggest you record your encounter with that person,’ an iPhone user shared on X. 

Personally, I believe this is a privacy concern.

The feature uses Bluetooth to detect nearby devices to provide users with prompts of for their journal entry.

‘Journal makes it easy to preserve rich and powerful memories, and practice gratitude by intelligently curating information that is personal to the user, right from their iPhone,’ Bob Borchers, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, said last year.

‘And we’re making it possible for other journaling apps to offer the same personalized suggestions while maintaining the highest level of privacy.’

The feature can be turned off by going to Settings > Privacy & Security > Journaling Suggestions

Discoverable by Others was activated with the iOS 17.2 release from earlier this year, but Apple fans have just spotted it – and many have been left in shock

However, Apple has claimed that the information is stored on an iPhone but not shared with the tech giant

Apple’s Journal app also sparked outrage among users when it launched last year after finding it exploited users’ photos, workout data, recent music listening history and location data to craft so-called journal entries. 

These capabilities sparked privacy concerns and fears over the data that may be shared without people’s knowledge. 

Ruby Media Group CEO Kristen Ruby shared skepticism on X: ‘I can’t believe no one thinks this Apple Journal is a big deal. Forget ChatGPT. This is on-device machine learning. From your LIFE. Hello, wake up.’ 

The tech expert also reflected on how AI-generated prompts change the nature of journaling and self-reflection by inserting machine learning between a person’s brain and their pen.

‘AI will prompt you with what to write based on reviewing your digital history on your device,’ Ruby wrote.

‘The sacred bond between pen and paper and your brain no longer exists when there is another entity involved. This forever changes the concept of self-reflection when AI is prompting you on what to reflect on.’

‘I am so freaked out by the new Apple Journaling feature,’ Ruby shared. 

However, Apple has reassured that Journal is ‘built with privacy at its core.’

‘All Journal entries are end-to-end encrypted when stored in iCloud, so that no one but the user can access them,’ it explained.

‘Journaling suggestions are created on the device, and users can choose which suggested moments are shared with the Journal app and added to their Journal entries.’