Best Mood Tracker Apps Compared: Daylio, How We Feel, Bearable, EmoAtlas

The best mood tracker app is the one you'll still open six months from now, and that depends on what you want to learn about yourself. Below we compare four options, Daylio, How We Feel, Bearable, and EmoAtlas, on the things that matter day to day. Full disclosure: EmoAtlas is our app, so we've tried to be especially fair to the others and upfront about our own gaps.

How we compared mood tracker apps

We looked at each app through the same six questions:

• Speed of logging. If logging feels like homework, you'll stop.
• Emotion vocabulary. Can you name specific feelings, not just "good" or "bad"?
• Pattern insights. Does it connect mood to sleep, activities, or other factors?
• Privacy. Where is your data stored, and who can read it?
• Export. Can you take your entries with you if you switch?
• Price model. Free, freemium, or donation-supported. We don't list prices because they change.

Everything below reflects each developer's official site or App Store listing at the time of writing.

Daylio

Daylio is one of the best-known mood trackers, built around speed. Its developer describes creating an entry in two taps: you pick a mood and the activities you did, with no typing required. Notes, photos, and voice memos are optional.

What it does well:

• Fast logging. The mood-plus-activities format is quick and easy to keep up with.
• Visual stats. Mood trends, monthly and yearly statistics, and the "Year in Pixels" view, which shows your whole year as a colored grid.
• Goals and habits. You can set daily, weekly, or monthly goals inside the same app.
• Local-first storage. According to the developer, entries are stored on your phone, and optional backups go to your own Google Drive or iCloud.
• Export. PDF and CSV export are available.

Things to consider: Daylio's core unit is mood plus activities, so it leans more toward "what did I do today" than toward naming precise emotions. It has a free version and a paid Premium tier, which unlocks things like unlimited moods and activities and advanced statistics. Check the current plan in the app. It's available on iOS and Android.

Best for: people who want a quick daily habit and like seeing how activities line up with mood.

How We Feel

How We Feel is made by The How We Feel Project, a nonprofit. It was created in collaboration with Yale's Center for Emotional Intelligence and is based on the work of Dr. Marc Brackett. The app is free, with no in-app purchases listed on the App Store, and it's supported by donations.

What it does well:

• Emotion vocabulary. This is its standout feature. You place yourself on a color-coded grid based on how pleasant you feel and how much energy you have, then choose from a large set of specific emotion words.
• Strategies. Short video exercises grouped into categories like reframing thoughts, movement, mindfulness, and connecting with others.
• Health context. On iPhone, it can pull sleep and exercise data from Apple Health to help you spot patterns.
• Sharing. You can choose to share check-ins with trusted friends.

Things to consider: It focuses on emotions in the moment, not detailed tracking of symptoms or medications. Its App Store listing says data stays on your device by default, with optional anonymized sharing for research. The app supports exporting your data to a file. Look for the export option in the app's settings before you rely on it. Available on iOS and Android.

Best for: anyone who wants to build emotional vocabulary and get practical coping tools, at no cost.

Bearable

Bearable is a health and symptom tracker first, with mood as one part of a bigger picture. Its developer positions it for people managing chronic conditions and anyone curious about what affects how they feel.

What it does well:

• Breadth of tracking. Symptoms, mood, sleep, medications, energy, activity, food and hydration, menstrual cycle, and custom factors.
• Correlations. Reports that look at how things like caffeine, alcohol, or bedtime relate to sleep, anxiety, pain, or mood.
• Integrations. It can sync data from Apple Health, Google Fit, and Fitbit.
• Privacy and control. The developer says your data is encrypted, won't be sold, and can be exported or deleted from within the app.

Things to consider: With so much to track, setup and full check-ins take longer than in a mood-only app. There's a free tier and a paid subscription that unlocks more reports and features. Check the current plan on the developer's site. Available on iOS and Android.

Best for: people who want to connect mood with physical symptoms, medications, and health habits.

EmoAtlas

EmoAtlas is our app, and it's the newest of the four. It focuses on the link between emotions, everyday factors, and the body.

What it does well:

• Fast check-ins. Mood on a five-point scale, energy, and a few feelings (joy, calm, gratitude, anxiety, sadness, anger, tiredness). A check-in takes a few seconds.
• Context for feelings. For anxiety, you can note what it's about: work, money, health, relationships, the future, or no clear reason. For joy, what brought it.
• Factors. Tags like sleep, work, family, exercise, coffee, alcohol, and late screen time.
• Body map. Mark where you feel it (head, neck, shoulders, chest, stomach, back, arms, legs) and how: tension, heaviness, trembling, warmth, or pain. The Where tension lives view shows which spots come up most.
• Pattern insights. What moves your mood compares days with and without a tag. For example, "+1.2" means your mood averaged 1.2 points higher on days with that tag.
• Privacy. Entries are stored on your device. If you sign in, they sync, and note text is encrypted on your device, so the server can't read it. CSV export is always available.

Things to consider: EmoAtlas is new, so it hasn't had years of refinement like Daylio. It runs on the web and iOS only. Its list of core feelings is intentionally short, so if you want a large emotion vocabulary, How We Feel goes much deeper. It doesn't track medications or detailed symptoms the way Bearable does. And like the others, it doesn't diagnose anything or replace a therapist.

Best for: quick check-ins with body awareness and simple insights about what affects your mood.

Privacy and data export: check before you commit

A mood tracker can end up holding years of your most personal notes. Before you get invested, check:

1. Where is data stored? On your device only, in your own cloud backup, or on the company's servers?
2. Is it encrypted, and by whom? "Encrypted in transit" isn't the same as "the company can't read your notes."
3. Can you export everything? Look for CSV or a similar open format, not just a PDF report. Try exporting once early on, so you know it works.
4. Can you delete your data? Check whether deletion is available from inside the app.
5. Is data shared or sold? Read the privacy policy and the App Store privacy label. Pay attention to research sharing and whether it's opt-in.
6. What happens if you stop paying? With freemium apps, find out whether your history stays accessible on the free tier.

A quick comparison based on what each developer states at the time of writing:

Which mood tracker app fits you

• You want the simplest possible daily habit: Daylio.
• You struggle to name what you feel, or you want free coping exercises: How We Feel.
• You're tracking a health condition, symptoms, or medications: Bearable.
• You notice stress in your body and want to see what moves your mood: EmoAtlas.

Not sure? Try one for two weeks. If the insights don't tell you anything new, export and switch. Whichever app you choose, a good check-in format matters more than the tool. Our guide to keeping a mood journal covers what to write, and if you prefer paper, try a printable mood chart. For help naming feelings more precisely, see emotional awareness.