Leaving and removing
Together
A shared journal stays shared until someone leaves, the owner removes people or stops sharing, or the journal is deleted. Here's what each does, and for whom.
What you can do depends on whose journal it is. If someone shared it with you, you can leave it. If it’s yours, you decide who stays in it, and you can delete it for everyone.
Leave a journal
Section titled “Leave a journal”- In the journals list, swipe left on the journal and tap Leave. Or touch and hold it and tap Leave Journal. After tapping Edit at the top of the list, the red minus button does the same.
- Balanced asks Leave this journal? Tap Leave Journal to confirm, or Cancel to keep it.
The journal disappears from this device and your other devices. The owner keeps it with all its data, including the changes you made that have already synced. If you’re offline when you leave, Balanced tells iCloud once you’re back online.
Changed your mind? Ask the owner to invite you again.
Remove people or stop sharing
Section titled “Remove people or stop sharing”If the journal is yours, tap Share in the journal, or touch and hold it in the journals list and tap Share. Apple’s sharing screen shows everyone you’ve invited. There you can:
- Remove a person. The journal disappears from that person’s devices. “Shared with” under the journal’s name counts one fewer.
- Stop sharing. The journal disappears from everyone else’s devices. You keep it as an ordinary journal, without a “Shared with” line. You can share it again later, with new invitations; the old links no longer work.
Delete a shared journal
Section titled “Delete a shared journal”Swipe left on your journal and tap Delete, or tap Edit and then the red minus button. For a journal you’ve shared, Balanced asks Delete for everyone? first: This journal is shared. Deleting it removes it from everyone's devices. Tap Delete Journal to confirm.
A journal counts as shared as soon as you’ve invited someone, even if they haven’t joined yet. A journal you haven’t shared is deleted straight away, without a question.
Want to keep the journal for yourself and only end the sharing? Stop sharing instead of deleting.
When you lose access
Section titled “When you lose access”As soon as you can no longer open a shared journal, Balanced removes it from your devices:
| What happened | The owner | The people who joined |
|---|---|---|
| You leave | Keeps the journal. You’re no longer listed. | It’s removed from all your devices. The others keep it. |
| The owner removes you | Keeps the journal. You’re no longer listed. | It’s removed from all your devices. The others keep it. |
| The owner stops sharing | Keeps it as an ordinary journal. | It’s removed from everyone’s devices. |
| The owner deletes the journal | It’s deleted on all the owner’s devices. | It’s removed from everyone’s devices. |
Changes that hadn’t synced yet when you lost access, for example ones you made offline, are lost with the journal. Before you leave, check that ⚙︎ Settings shows Status Up to date, so your latest changes reach everyone.
The same happens on a device where you switch to another iCloud account: once you confirm Upload Journals to This iCloud Account in ⚙︎ Settings, the journals shared with you are removed from it. Your own journals are uploaded to the new account.