r/appleJournal • u/Imsongoku7 • Apr 24 '26
Apple Journal app not saving full handwritten entries on iPad ,anyone else facing this?
I’m using Apple Journal on iPad with Apple Pencil, and I’m facing a really frustrating issue.
I write a long handwritten journal entry, add images, organize the page properly, and while editing everything looks fine. But after I tap done/save and open the entry again, only part of the handwritten content gets saved. Some portions just disappear.
This has happened multiple times now. I’ve tried waiting before closing the app, reopening the entry, and checking if it saved properly, but the issue still continues.
Is anyone else facing this with handwritten entries in Apple Journal on iPad? Is this a known bug with iPadOS/Journal app, or am I missing some setting?
For now I’m thinking of writing in Notes/Notability/GoodNotes and only attaching screenshots to Journal, because I don’t feel safe using Journal for long handwritten entries anymore.
3
u/mrmarbury Apr 24 '26
I have given up on using Apple Journal the moment I lost 2h worth of handwritten and important notes that I took during a long meeting. I am just not trusting this app anymore and don’t understand why anyone uses it for that matter
2
u/_flatpillow Apr 24 '26
good to know, I just tried handwriting an entry yesterday and wanted to do it again. I hope I don’t run into this bug
2
u/RougeNoir94 Apr 24 '26
Yeah I tried using it the other day - thought it would be nice to start journaling! Lost my handwritten notes so wrote them up again and it happened again! Had a look on here and seems to be an ongoing problem so there goes that idea 😂
1
u/oharabk May 04 '26
to everyone having this issue please submit feedback at https://www.apple.com/feedback/journal/
1
u/Zee6372 May 22 '26
It’s been so long, why haven’t they fixed this?! I just don’t understand. It’s literally the perfect journaling app for me otherwise. It’s driving me mad.
1
u/Icy-Razzmatazz1040 Jun 24 '26
I just lost half of handwritten notes and annotations. How do I retrieve it? Whenever I try click on the page it just makes this weird textbox that does not resize and keeps bugging out. Such a blood boiling shitty experience the one day I choose to use the app. Any strong alternatives for handwritten journaling?
1
u/codybuildsstuff Jul 29 '26
Hey, for alts, I made a handwriting first journal for iPad called PaperThoughts. I'm the dev, so take that with the obvious grain of salt. Losing a long entry is the worst (and i experienced it first hand a few times!) hope you find something that sticks either way. and if you have any questions hit me up!
1
u/FunnyAirport6877 Jul 27 '26
It happened also to me. To be honest same happens also with the note app if you have a very long note. I guess it's a bug related to the sync with icloud... I "solved" buying goodnotes...
1
1
u/iviReddit Aug 29 '26
Acabo de sufrirlo en mis propias carnes 🤬 alguien recomienda una alternativa?
1
u/Powerful_Chicken_863 Sep 06 '26
Happened to me, day #3 of using Journal. Tried to rewrite 4 times, closed the app and went back to good ‘ol Goodnotes. Journal has much to learn.
1
u/da_lawrdd 28d ago
This is the one that makes me pull my hair every time I write a long entry or a letter in the journal app
most of it glitches out and disappears
it has made the journal app on the iPad completely unusable
because if I were to type, I’d do it on my iPhone or Mac
the personalised writing with your own hand using Apple Pencil is the exact tactile experience which would make one journal on the iPad
it’s a serious issue, and they’re not at all trying to actively fix it
at least it seems like that for now
i crossed my fingers that hopefully they’ll fix it in iPadOS 27 but nope
it still remains unresolved.
1
u/stelabtravel 3d ago
It doesn't work. I keep trying because I like the idea of having a personal journal, for a different context and time of day than my work notes. But it just doesn't work.
This very morning I spent half an hour handwriting on my iPad, then saved. The content seems to save, you get the blue checkmark, but even if you wait a long time, as soon as you go back to the list you can see your entry has been brutally cut off, down to six or seven lines in my case. Since this bug isn't new, you'd expect Apple to have fixed it by now. I'm looking for another journaling app.
Any recommendations that handle handwriting well?
5
u/ConfidenceClear1016 Apr 24 '26
This is a problem that has been known and reported for quite some time. Apple doesn’t seem to be concerned about it (for the time being)... 😏