Best Mood Tracker Apps

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While they cannot diagnose mental disorders and should not be a substitute for professional care, mood-tracking tools can help you monitor how your mood varies and aid you in better understanding stressors and triggers that can cause the negative emotions you experience.

Mood-tracking tools can be as simple as a daily journal for jotting down patterns in your mood changes. But nowadays, numerous mobile apps make mood-tracking even easier, offering interactive features, fun customization tools, and useful alerts right in the palm of your hand.

These mood trackers address everything from stress and low moods to symptoms of bipolar disorders and PTSD. Many of these apps were also developed and recommended by mental health experts.

Best Mood Tracker Apps of 2022

Best Overall : Moodfit


Key Specs
  • Platform: iOS and Android
  • Moods Tracked: Stress, anxiety, depression
  • Pricing: Free with in-app purchases
Why We Chose It

Available on Android and iOS, Moodfit offers customizable tools and insights to help with better overall mental health.

Pros & Cons
Pros
  • Customizable goals and activity tracking

  • Mood and gratitude journal

  • Meditation and breathing exercises

  • Also tracks sleep, nutrition, and medications

Cons
  • Premium features are an additional cost

  • Lacking some accessibility features

Overview

If you’re looking for a good, well-rounded app to help with a wide range of mood-related needs, Moodift is a solid pick. It’s a free app (a premium subscription with advanced features is available), but it’s packed with customizable insights and self-care tools designed to help track your moods, reduce anxiety, depression, and high levels of stress and improve overall mental health.

Available on iOS and Android, Moodift allows you to create and track daily personal goals, which provide the basis for getting yourself into mental shape. Some features of the app include:

  • Mood and gratitude journal: “Check in” with yourself to gain awareness about low moods and other symptoms and encourages you to see life’s positives. 
  • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): This uses the foundations of cognitive behavioral therapy to help you focus on how your thoughts affect your feelings and behavior and teaches you coping skills.
  • Mindfulness meditation and breathing exercises: These self-care tools help you effectively deal with stress and encourage relaxation.
  • Tracks sleep and lifestyle: These tools allow you to learn more about how key lifestyle factors such as sleep, nutrition, and exercise can affect moods.
  • Sharing with therapist: Moodfit lets you easily share mood charts and other insights with your therapist or coach, so they’ll know how you’re doing between appointments.
  • Medication alerts: Track and learn which medications may affect or help your moods. You can also share your medication log with your healthcare provider.

Moodfit also provides themed reminders for calm, gratitude, and motivation, custom activity tracking, and other helpful data and summary reports that let you monitor and identify patterns. You can download the app from the App Store or from Google Play.

Best for Anxiety : Worry Watch


Key Specs
  • Platform: iOS and Android
  • Moods Tracked: Stress, anxiety, depression
  • Pricing: Free with in-app purchases
Why We Chose It

Worry Watch is a data-driven anxiety management and coping tool that offers detailed insights into your thought patterns.

Pros & Cons
Pros
  • Anxiety tracker and journal

  • Detailed visual charts and statistics

  • Positive affirmations and reminders

Cons
  • Not available on Android

  • Interface can be tricky to navigate

Overview

Designed for anxiety self-care, the Worry Watch app puts a unique, data-driven spin on mood tracking and self-monitoring. It lets you record your anxious thought patterns and allows you to set a reminder to revisit those worries and note whether the outcome was as bad as you initially anticipated. It does so with the help of a detailed statistics dashboard that can generate helpful reports. The result? You may realize that your worries and anxious feelings may be mostly unfounded.

Worry Watch features include:

  • Anxiety journal: The Worry Watch journal captures your anxious thoughts with a great level of detail. For example, you can record the context, scenario, and intensity of the anxious thoughts.
  • Anxiety tracker: Worry Watch offers tools that let you challenge irrational thoughts and behavior with visual charts and statistics that can show you that some worries may have been unwarranted.
  • Positive affirmations: You can set daily or weekly reminders that affirm optimism.
  • Personalized settings: The app allows you to set a password to restrict access to your journal and offers options for exporting or downloading data and reports.

Best for Depression : MoodTools


Key Specs
  • Platform: iOS and Android
  • Moods Tracked: Depression, anxiety, PTSD, bipolar disorder
  • Pricing: Free with in-app purchases
Why We Chose It

MoodTools, available on iOS and Android, offers research-supported tools designed to help combat depression.

Pros & Cons
Pros
  • Simple, intuitive interface

  • Packs a lot of information

  • Depression questionnaire allows you to track symptoms over time

  • Safety plan for suicide prevention

Cons
  • May be too text-heavy for some users

  • Lacks visual and interactive elements

  • Some information lacks sourcing and attribution

Overview

Based on the principles of cognitive behavioral therapy, MoodTools offers features focused on depression (although it can also help with anxiety, stress, and posttraumatic stress disorder) and is designed to track, identify, and challenge negative thought patterns and help improve mood.

To take advantage of the app’s research-supported tools, users take the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), a self-administered test used for screening, diagnosing, monitoring, and measuring the severity of depression. MoodTools reminds you to retake the questionnaire every two weeks so you can track the severity of your symptoms over time.

MoodTools’ features include:

  • Thought Diary: MoodTools lets you create thought diaries to record and analyze the situations and scenarios that can cause negative thought patterns.
  • Activities: The app recommends and provides activities such as mindfulness meditation and therapeutic videos and lets you record your mood before and after to discover what behaviors help improve your moods.
  • Self-help and information: The app is packed with self-help literature, guidelines, and resources to continuously improve your mental health.
  • Safety Plan: MoodTools also lets you develop a suicide safety plan to help keep you safe and use emergency resources during a crisis. It allows you to add warning signs, coping strategies, positive affirmations, and emergency contacts.

MoodTools is available for free (it offers in-app purchases) from the App Store and Google Play.

Best for PTSD : PTSD Coach


Key Specs
  • Platform: iOS and Android
  • Mood Tracked: PTSD
  • Pricing: Free 
Why We Chose It

PTSD Coach was specially designed for veterans and military service members who have posttraumatic stress disorder but is available for free for everyone.

Pros & Cons
Pros
  • All features are free, no in-app purchases

  • Safety plan for suicide prevention

  • Customizable tools

  • Also available in Spanish

Cons
  • Content is geared toward military service members

Overview

Developed by the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs National Center for PTSD and the Department of Defense National Center for Telehealth and Technology, PTSD Coach is a completely free app designed to educate users about posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), provide information about professional care, and offer self-assessment, personalized feedback, and support tools that let them manage their PTSD symptoms. 

Although tailored to the needs of veterans and military service members, friends and family members may also find PTSD Coach a valuable resource for education.

Some of the tools include:

  • Recording and tracking of PTSD symptoms: Users can enter details about any distress they are experiencing and receive a coping technique based on the information provided
  • Relaxation skills: The app features visualization and breathing exercises, tips for better sleeping habits, and muscle relaxation techniques.
  • Self-help strategies: PTSD Coach offers positive self-talk and anger management strategies, among other tools.
  • Support and safety plan: The app also features a Support function that provides information about emergency and crisis support services and lets users create and connect to a support network by identifying contacts. A self-guided safety plan for suicide prevention is also available.
  • Customizable tools: PTSD Coach lets you customize the tool and integrate personal photos and music.

PTSD Coach is available from the App Store and Google Play.

Best for Bipolar Disorder : eMoods Bipolar Mood Tracker


Key Specs
  • Platform: iOS and Android, Web
  • Mood tracked: Bipolar disorder, anxiety, depression
  • Pricing: Free with in-app purchases 
Why We Chose It

eMoods is a free, user-friendly app created to help you chart symptoms related to bipolar and other mood disorders.

Pros & Cons
Pros
  • Easy interface

  • Medication reminders and change indicators

  • Safety plan for warning signs, triggers and support

  • Shareable summary reports

Cons
  • Full version requires a subscription

Overview

While it could also help with depression, anxiety, and other mood disorders, the eMoods app was developed for journaling, graphing, reporting, and managing symptoms related to bipolar disorder. It’s a free app, available for iOS and Android, and offers privacy features for extra peace of mind. All data is stored locally—the app doesn’t store data in the cloud and doesn’t connect to any APIs, so no data ever leaves your device without your explicit action.

One of its main features—the CBT-based charting journal—lets you track and capture daily highs and lows, symptoms, irritability, and sleep. But it offers additional features that make it more than just an effective mood tracker.

  • Medication tracker: eMoods lets you record medication changes so you can make medications with the help of your healthcare provider and learn about what works and what doesn’t.
  • PDF reports: With the app, you can share and review printable reports with your doctor or therapist. You can also opt to send a PDF version of your report electronically.
  • Charts and visualizations: A monthly, color-coded calendar provides a snapshot of mood changes to show patterns in how different symptoms relate to one another. Charts and insights let you track trends and monitor triggers in-between appointments with your doctor.
  • Safety plan: The safety plan for suicide prevention lists warning signs and triggers and offers a support network and coping strategies.

The app, available on the App Store and Google Play, also improved its interface design, adding a dark mode and a colorblind-friendly color scheme.

Best for Stress Management : MoodKit


Key Specs
  • Platform: iOS
  • Mood tracked: Stress, anxiety, depression
  • Pricing: $4.99
Why We Chose It

The affordable app provides tools for stress management based on CBT principles and more than 200 activities for mood improvement.

Pros & Cons
Pros
  • CBT-based stress- and anxiety-management tools

  • Mood charts with daily, seven-day, or 30-day views

  • Password-protected journal

  • Calendar integration

Cons
  • Not available for Android devices

  • Not available in other languages except English

Overview

Stressors are everywhere. MoodKit draws on the principles and strategies of Cognitive Behavior Therapy to help you manage these daily stressors that impact mood and emotions. The app (iOS-only for now) does this with four main integrated tools: a mood tracker, various activities, a thought checker, and a journal. The four tools are packed with resources and features that help manage symptoms of stress, anxiety, and mood disorders but also enhance professional treatment:

  • Mood-improvement activities: The app offers over 200 activities that provide specific ways and tips to implement CBT principles and techniques and reduce negative feelings. You can choose to “commit” to an action, implement it, favorite it, schedule it in your calendar, or even share it with others.
  • Thought checker: MoodKit helps you manage and modify thoughts and negative feelings related to a specific situation. With repeated use of the tool, it identifies patterns. It gives you insights that help you learn to change how you think and lower the level of intensity of your feelings.
  • Mood tracker: You can save and chart daily ratings of your mood and export them for archiving or sharing with your doctor or therapist.
  • Journal: The journaling tool lets you create, save, and export written notes (you can even add your own emojis!) about your moods, activities, or observations. 

The app is enabled for security PIN and Touch and Face ID for privacy. MoodKit is available for $4.99 from the App Store.

Best for Self-Help Tools and Resources : MindShift CBT


Key Specs
  • Platform: iOS and Android
  • Moods tracked: Anxiety, stress, panic
  • Pricing: Free
Why We Chose It

MindShift CBT helps equip users with CBT-based strategies and self-help tools to develop more effective ways of thinking and relaxing and encourages active steps to take charge of anxiety.

Pros & Cons
Pros
  • User-friendly interface

  • CBT-based tools

  • Chill Zone offers audio for meditations

Cons
  • No recent app updates

  • Limited check-ins for journal entries and graphs per day

Overview

Developed by non-profit organization Anxiety Canada, the MindShift app is packed with resources and interactive cognitive-based tools to help track and manage anxiety symptoms and encourage overall healthier thinking. Initially, the app was designed for young adults, but most everyone will find the interface user-friendly and visually appealing.

Like many of the apps listed here, MindShift uses CBT-based strategies and techniques to help users relax and be more mindful and develop more effective ways of thinking to tackle everything from anxiety, worry, and panic to perfectionism and phobias. MindShift CBT’s many self-help features include:

  • Thought journal: MindShift offers a journaling tool so you can note and identify your low moods, negative feelings, and anxiety symptoms and transform them into balanced thoughts.
  • Coping cards: Positive affirmations and coping statements help ease your anxiety in any given situation.
  • Challenges and activities: The app provides tools through steps, belief experiments, and comfort-zone challenges so you can learn to overcome your fears and build confidence.
  • Chill Zone: You can listen to audio recordings for guided relaxation, breathing exercises, and mindful meditation.
  • Goal setting: The app lets you set goals to keep you motivated and inspired and keep anxiety in check.
  • Check-in feature: MindShift’s check-in feature allows you to record and view graphs and entries. You can easily export and share data with your therapist, counselor, or doctor.
  • Numerous extras: You also get guides and other tips for incorporating healthy habits into life.

MindShift is available for free on the App Store and Google Play.

Best for Customization : Daylio


Key Specs
  • Platform: iOS and Android
  • Mood tracked: Anxiety, depression, stress
  • Pricing: Free with in-app purchases
Why We Chose It

There’s no one-size-fits-all solution for better mental health, but Daylio lets you customize mood-tracking tools and activities so that they’re more tailored to you.

Pros & Cons
Pros
  • Customizable tools, prompts and reminders

  • User-friendly interface

  • PIN protection

Cons
  • Premium features available with a monthly subscription

Overview

Sure, a no-frills, straightforward journaling app is sometimes all you need. But customization features, such as the ability to add and change emojis and personalize prompts and reminders, can make mood-tracking more fun (and thus, more likely for you to use them).

The Daylio app is a colorfully designed micro-diary app that lets you track and monitor your daily moods and activities, offers insights to determine any patterns, and suggests active steps to decrease your anxiety or avoid stressors and improve low moods.

Once or multiple times throughout the day, simply open up the app to choose or enter your current moods and activities, with the option of customizing emojis, color themes, and descriptions and adding notes to help record details of important events. You can then review entries with stats, charts, and calendars to measure the impact of certain activities on your moods and ultimately build habits, set goals, motivate yourself, and collect achievements.

Daylio’s many features include:

  • Customization features: The app features a database of icons for personalized activities, and you can mix and match your moods with emojis and customize color themes
  • Statistics and reports: You can explore monthly or yearly statistics created from your entries and export PDF or CSV to share, print, or analyze. 
  • Reminders: You can set reminders, so you never forget to create a memory or note an interesting observation
  • Goal setting: You can create daily, weekly, or monthly goals to motivate yourself and build healthy habits

Daylio is free, but a premium subscription lets you enjoy more personalization, the ability to set an unlimited number of goals, remove ads, and more features. The app is available from the App Store and Google Play.

Final Verdict

Moods can impact our quality of life. For some individuals, professional care and medication (or both) will be necessary for tackling the symptoms of anxiety, depression, stress, PTSD, and other mood disorders. For others, a mobile app installed on a smartphone can serve as a complementary way to enhance therapy or as a stand-alone tool for monitoring and understanding negative thoughts and moods.

Mood-tracking apps allow individuals with mood disorders to quantify their moods, leading to a better understanding of which activities can trigger negative moods. The apps can also serve as a handy way to share mood data with healthcare providers for diagnosis and treatment. Some of the best mood trackers focus on a particular disorder. PTSD Coach, for example, was specially designed for veterans and military service members who have (or may have) posttraumatic stress disorder, and eMoods was developed for individuals who want a way to monitor their bipolar disorder symptoms. 

Overall, mood-tracking apps offer the benefits of convenience (you can travel with it anywhere!) and privacy (most of these apps provide the security of passwords and local storage). They can help you practice healthy habits (or correct unhealthy ones) and can become a valuable part of your own personal mental-health toolkit.

Compare the Best Mood Tracker Apps

Company Pricing Platforms Moods Tracked  Generates Reports
Moodfit
Best Overall
Free with in-app purchases iOS, Android Stress, anxiety, depression Yes
Worry Watch
Best for Anxiety
Free with in-app purchases iOS Stress, anxiety, panic disorder Yes
MoodTools
Best for Depression
Free with in-app purchases iOS, Android Depression, anxiety, stress, PTSD No
PTSD Coach
Best for PTSD
Free iOS, Android PTSD No
eMoods Bipolar Mood Tracker
Best for Bipolar Disorder
Free with in-app purchases iOS, Android Bipolar disorder, anxiety, depression Yes
MoodKit
Best for Stress Management
$4.99 iOS Stress, anxiety, depression Yes
MindShift CBT
Best for Self-Help Tools and Resources
Free iOS, Android Stress, anxiety, panic Yes
Daylio
Best for Customization
Free with in-app purchases iOS, Android Anxiety, stress, depression Yes

Guide for Choosing the Best Mood Tracker Apps

Are Mood Tracker Apps Worth It?

Hundreds of mood-tracking and mental health apps are available for download, but they do not replace in-person therapy. Mood trackers, however, provide resources, symptom tracking and management tools, and online support that can help individuals better understand their moods and the situations and activities that impact them.

Mood trackers are helpful for daily journaling or recording of moods and observations. The statistics and insights they provide can help you learn to avoid specific stressors and triggers. Other tools available on mood-tracking apps, such as journals, thought trackers, and goals, can also help motivate you to take active steps to boost your mood. Features such as therapeutic videos, mindful meditations, and breathing and relaxation exercises can also help when you can’t easily connect with professional care.

Again, mood-tracking apps are not a substitute for therapy or medication, but they can complement the professional care that you are getting. Most of the apps generate easy reports and allow for PDF or CSV exports so that you can share the highs and lows with your provider, which can supplement diagnosis or inform treatment decisions. 

Comparing Mood Tracker Apps

Before downloading or purchasing a mood-tracking app, it’s essential to consider a few factors so you can get the most out of the tools:

  • Pricing: Many apps offer robust features and functionality for the cost of a one-time fee or a monthly subscription. But there are also available apps that provide useful features for free (and some with in-app purchases). Browse the App Store or Google Play page reviews and check out if the features are right for you.
  • Platforms: Do you have an iPhone or an Android phone? Many apps are available on both platforms, but others are only available for iOS. Check out the app’s specs to see if it’s available for your device and if your device meets the tech requirements.
  • Moods tracked: Are you looking to focus on a specific mood disorder, such as anxiety or panic disorder, or are you looking for general stress-management tools? The specialized apps may offer more targeted care for your needs, but many apps also cover several moods.
  • Reports: If you’re seeing a therapist or doing in-person professional treatment, reports that you can download or share with them may be helpful. The reports and insights generated can help your provider with diagnosis and treatment.
  • Interactive features and resources: Do you prefer an app that does more than track moods? Many mood trackers also offer resources, such as exercises, videos, positive affirmations and coping cards, safety plans, and an online community for support.
  • Research-based apps: It’s important to use a well-studied app, but since most apps are untested and do not have peer-reviewed research to support claims, look for ones that offer science-based activities and resources. Many of the apps listed here use cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and incorporate proven techniques in addressing anxiety, stress, depression, and mood disorders.

Using Mood Tracker Apps 

Once you have decided on a mood-tracking app, make sure to complete any initial sign-up requirements for personalization. Many apps provide a questionnaire or short quiz that asks for information on your moods or symptoms. Completing this right away will help the app tailor information, activities, and tips to your needs.

Almost all mood-tracking apps also offer a daily journaling tool that helps you track and monitor your moods' highs and lows. It's a good idea to "check-in" or write an entry at least once a day so you can generate insights, stats, and patterns that will help you identify your triggers or stressors.

Make sure to update your app when the developer upgrades to a new version, so you can be sure you're getting all the latest features and bug fixes. 

Most apps listed here are free to download but offer premium features for an added cost or a subscription fee. We recommend you try the free version first and use the app for a few weeks or months before deciding whether you want access to the app's premium version.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can Mood Trackers Improve Your Mental Health?

Mood trackers serve as tools to help you practice habits and take active steps toward improving your overall mental health. They do this by allowing you to monitor your moods, the activities or situations that impact them, and give you insight into avoiding triggers. They can be valuable tools for learning effective ways of thinking, relaxing, and coping.

Do Mood Trackers Help With Disorders Such as Bipolar? 

Bipolar disorder is marked by episodes of depression and elevated mood. These changes can be disruptive and affect quality of life. While treatment of bipolar disorder requires medication and therapy, lifestyle changes can also help, and this is an area where mood trackers can have an impact.

Tracking, understanding, and managing your moods and bipolar disorder symptoms can help you lead a better, healthier, more balanced life. Combined with professional care, mood trackers can offer healthy habits, coping strategies, positive affirmations, and online support.

How Much Do Mood Tracker Apps Cost?

Most mood-tracking apps are free but offer in-app purchases for extra features. However, free apps can contain ads that may disrupt the user experience. Paid apps can range from $2.99 to $10.99. Many apps also offer a monthly subscription to premium features.

Methodology

Mental health is one of the most popular categories in the App Store. To choose the best mood tracker apps, we looked at options that offer robust tracking, charting, and journaling features. We considered affordable apps, either offering free versions with premium paid features or a download for a minimal fee (less than $10). We also considered mobile apps that provide research- or evidence-based tools. Each app included also features user-friendly interfaces.

1 Source
Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
  1. Caldeira C, Chen Y, Chan L, Pham V, Chen Y, Zheng K. Mobile apps for mood tracking: an analysis of features and user reviewsAMIA Annu Symp Proc. 2018;2017:495-504. Published 2018 Apr 16.