Benefit of Mood Trackers: Best Mood Tracking Apps of 2021

Tracking and measuring one’s mood is an activity many of us are familiar with. Perhaps we put colored dots on our calendars to mark when we have a bad day or maybe we journal about our days and how our moods affected them. Even as children we were aware of our moods and felt the urge to analyze them. Some of us may have even purchased mood rings as children as a means to measure our moods. While the validity of mood rings is questionable at best, tracking your mood is a highly beneficial and common practice. 

Why do people use mood tracking apps?

People choose to track their moods for a variety of reasons such as monitoring their mood or to identify external factors that may be influencing their mood. Additionally, understanding one’s emotional state has been an increasingly popular practice. A majority of people will use mood tracking apps in conjunction or as supporting tools with more professional treatments, such as therapy (Islam & Choudhury, 2020; Stark, 2020; Van Ameringen et al., 2017).

What makes the aspect of tracking your mood in an app so attractive to people? Not only is it generally easier, faster, and more convenient, people typically feel more “safe” and comfortable to report their mood to an app rather than a clinician or therapist (Van Ameringen et al., 2017). This may allow people to be more open and honest about their moods and what external factors may have influenced them. For example, someone may feel embarrassed to tell someone about a time they got upset or distressed over a trivial issue. However, it is important to note that mood tracking apps are tools meant to support one’s professional treatment or for casual tracking, not as a replacement for professional help (Stark, 2020). 

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As mentioned above, the reason why someone would get a mood tracking app is varied quite a bit. However, it is generally to improve one’s awareness of emotions, analyze one’s mood, or keep a note of mood changes during a period of time. Whether self-prescribed or recommended by a healthcare professional, researchers have determined 5 main reasons why people use mood tracking apps (Meiners, 2019).

1) Self-discipline

• This one may seem a little more obvious for food tracking apps or workout tracking apps, however, it extends to any type of tracking app. Emotional granularity, or the ability to get super specific about your moods, is the first step to being able to manage them. Tracking bad moods and their triggers helps an individual learn about what makes them tick. This can help them prepare for future situations.

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2) Self-healing

• As discussed previously, mood tracking apps are often used to support professional treatment or interventions. This is helpful for both the patient and the clinician or therapist. For example, it may be helpful for the therapist to know and track how their patient’s mood changes during their treatment and it can be useful for the patient to also observe their changes in mood. Therapists often assign mood tracking as “homework.”  

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3) Self-design

• This may sound quite abstract, but the concept is simple. Self-design refers to using something to fulfill one’s life purpose or to help one reach an optimal life. For example, someone may use a fitness tracker to help them reach their fitness goals. While mood tracking apps themselves are not the sole reason for one reaching their desired state, they can certainly aid in the process. 

4) Self-association

• Another abstract-sounding term is self-association. This refers to the motivation of inspiring or connecting with others. In this context, using a mood tracking app can motivate people to connect with others and build a sense of community. For example, those using fitness tracking apps may connect with other users to help motivate each other and to conjure up friendly competition. Those using mood-tracking apps may connect with other users to provide support and offer a place to talk.

5) Self-entertainment

• This one may not be a surprise to many of us. In general, apps are designed to capture your attention and keep you coming back. There is something about keeping a “streak” on a tracking app that motivates and entertains us to keep using the app. Much like how many language learning apps will give in-game rewards for earning a streak, it can be extremely gratifying and entertaining to view one’s progress in a mood tracking app and look backwards months or even years and see how you felt in different times and about different aspects of your life. 

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What makes a good mood tracking app?

The use of mood tracking apps, and other healthcare apps, have broken barriers and created accessible healthcare and/or support (Bush et al., 2019). Especially amidst a pandemic, mental health apps have become wildly popular amongst the youth and elderly alike. However, there is some debate about what makes mental health, particularly mood tracking apps, legitimate and effective. 

A survey distributed by Stawarz and colleagues (2019) asked 81 people what they looked for in mood tracking apps and other mental health apps. More specifically, which features they found to be important and credible. 32% of respondents reported that professional input and the ability to self-monitor were very important. When asked about specific features, 40% of respondents said mood tracking was very important and another 59% responded that guided activities in addition to mood tracking were important features they looked for.

So, that is a pretty good idea of what users look for in a good mood tracking app, but what do professionals think comprises a good mood tracking app? While each professional may differ on opinions and criteria, the general consensus is the app is based in CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy), addresses anxiety and low mood, includes customization, enables a tracking or report system of symptoms or mood, curates specific activities based on mood, consists of a simple interface, establishes efficacy, and provides credible information (Bush et al., 2019).

This is not an exhaustive list as there is some debate on whether or not mood tracking and other mental health apps are effective and legitimate. Some mental health professionals detest the idea of these apps while others welcome them with open arms. However, mental health apps have been improving and increasing their validity as useful tools of support.

Why should I get a mood tracking app?

As discussed above, there are so many reasons why people get mood tracking apps

Some of the best mood tracking apps

1.  LIFE Intelligence

• LIFE is one of the most science-backed mood trackers. After choosing a mood you’ll find mood management exercises based on CBT to feel better immediately, whether anxious, frustrated, or envious. The app’s unique rotatable mood wheel goes beyond the basic emotions of happiness, anger, and sadness, and delves into moods such as distracted, pensive, contemptuous, and vigilant. Packed with CBT-based activities and information, all with professional citations, LIFE ticks all the boxes of what users and mental health professionals are looking for in an app. Best of all, it’s mood tracking features and many mood management exercises are totally free.

2.  Daylio

• This adorable app allows users to track multiple things at once, such as sleep patterns, hobbies, and chores. Utilizing cute emojis to rate your mood from rad to awful, Daylio is a simple way to keep an eye on your mood and goals. Additionally, it offers a color-coordinated calendar and statistics report so you can monitor your mood with a simple glance. While it may not be as CBT and research-based as other apps, Daylio is a charming way to get started on your mood-tracking journey.

3.  MindDoc

• MindDoc begins with some initial questions about your mood before moving into exercises to help with mindfulness, self-confidence, and dealing with the pandemic. MindDoc provides an overall mood assessment after 14 days, which can be a bit daunting if you are looking for advice right away. The subscription can be a bit expensive so try out some alternatives before committing to it fully.

4.  Breeze

• Greeted by an adorable cloud, Breeze lets you track your mood with the help of emojis. Breeze offers a large range of moods such as nostalgic, aesthetic, and triumphant. With a subscription, it provides custom activities, courses about anxiety and imposter syndrome, and self-reporting tests such as the Beck Depression Inventory and Emotional Intelligence Self-Assessment. These tests are a good determinant of whether or not you should consider professional help, however, they are not diagnostic tools. 

While they cannot diagnose or treat a mental disorder, mood tracking apps can help when feelings of anxiety and depression are present (Costello & Floegel, 2020). Mood tracking apps can help you understand your emotions, honor them, cope with them, and monitor them. Even if mood tracking apps aren’t your thing, it can’t hurt to try one out (Costello & Floegel, 2020; Meiners, 2019).

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