Mood tracking apps range from extremely simple (tap an emoji once a day) to fairly detailed (symptom tracking, correlations, exportable reports). The right one depends mostly on how much detail you actually want to log, and whether you want tracking bundled with journaling or kept separate.
Dear Diary pairs a quick daily mood log with private, password-protected journaling, aimed at people who want both a fast check-in and the option to add written context on the days that call for it. Entries are stored locally rather than depending on a cloud service.
Good for: people who want mood tracking and journaling in one simple app, rather than juggling two separate tools.
Daylio is built around fast, structured logging — a five-point mood scale, activity tags, and an optional short note or photo, rather than long-form writing. Over time it builds charts and statistics, including a "Year in Pixels" view and activity-mood correlations. It supports app-level locking via PIN, fingerprint, or Face ID. Premium is $4.99/month or $35.99/year and adds advanced stats, unlimited goals, and automatic backups.
Good for: people who want the fastest possible daily check-in and rich visual statistics over time. Limitation: it's intentionally light on written journaling — if you want to write in detail regularly, it's not built around that.
Bearable goes further than mood alone, letting you track symptoms, sleep, energy, medication, and custom health metrics alongside mood, with correlation reports designed to help identify triggers. It can connect to fitness trackers like Google Fit or Apple Watch. The core tracking and weekly reports are free; a subscription ($6.99/month, or $34.99 as an optional one-time-style purchase) adds unlimited goals, custom experiments, and full historical data access.
Good for: people managing a health condition alongside mood, who want to share detailed reports with a doctor or therapist. Limitation: the broader health-tracking focus may be more than you need if you just want simple daily mood logging.
How We Feel is a free, ad-free nonprofit app built with Yale University's Center for Emotional Intelligence, based on the RULER framework for identifying and understanding emotions precisely, using a color-coded "mood meter." It logs context like sleep and who you were with, and includes short lessons on emotional skills.
Good for: people who want a scientifically-grounded approach to naming emotions precisely, at no cost, with no premium upsell. Limitation: it's more focused on emotional vocabulary and in-the-moment awareness than on long-term written journaling.
How We Feel is fully free with no premium tier, and Dear Diary and Daylio both offer meaningful free functionality. Which is "best" depends on whether you want journaling included, health-symptom tracking, or the fastest possible daily log.
Not necessarily. Several apps on this list, including How We Feel, are free. Others, like Daylio and Bearable, offer solid free tiers with optional paid upgrades for advanced stats or unlimited history.
They can support self-awareness and give you concrete data to discuss with a therapist or doctor, and some, like Bearable, are specifically designed with sharing reports with a clinician in mind. They aren't a replacement for professional diagnosis or treatment.
It depends on your goal. If you mainly want fast, consistent data over time, a mood-only app like Daylio may suit you better. If you also want to capture context and reflect in writing, a combined app like Dear Diary keeps both in one place.
Start simple — a mood rating and maybe one activity tag is enough for most people to begin noticing patterns. You can always add more detail later if a simple log starts to feel insufficient.
If you'd rather track your mood and write a few private lines in the same app, Dear Diary combines both — free to download, with entries kept on your device.
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A private, distraction-free space to put these ideas into practice — free to download.
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