mood tracking ⤴

last updated: jan 22 2021

I've been using Daylio to track my mood since november 2018. If you're looking for a mood tracker, or an easy way to get into daily journaling, I'd recommend it.

about daylio

What I like:

free vs premium

I bought the premium version of the app when it was a one-time purchase. Then I switched from iOS to Android. Now it's a subscription. Is it worth it? The free version comes with plenty of features. But the premium version does add a lot of functionality: more moods and activities, colour choices, and no ads.

I currently pay for the premium version. I have the money, the developers actively update with new features, and I think the price is fair for the value. But maybe you can't afford it, or don't think there are enough updates to justify a subscription. I used the free version for months and was happy with it. I think Daylio still offers a free trial of the upgrade, so if you get a lot of use of out it, give that a shot and decide for yourself.

the history of my mood tracking

I started out with a decent variety of moods—eight moods across five mood categories—but relatively few activities. For the most part, I just kept the defaults like "family," "work," "shopping" and so on. My early entries rarely have notes, and those that do are usually only a few words: "vacation in chilliwack," "new computer!"

I also used turned notifications on, so I would get a reminder at 8pm every night to add an entry.

Beginning in 2019, my notes start to get longer. Now each entries range from no note to a few sentences. By spring, there's a note attached to every entry, and they're a few sentences on average.

Because I keep a regular journal, I didn't feel a need to write detailed entries. I was more interested in tracking my mood and looking back at my monthly statistics. However, because I don't write every day (and tend to miss days when I'm especially stressed, busy, or depressed), Daylio became a nice way to jot down a few notes which I could use to jog my memory later. I could do it in bed, with the lights off—even my low-energy sad self could manage that. It helped fill in the gaps between journal entries.

The pattern of longer entries continues through 2019. By December, paragraphs are common. I'd also spent some time on r/Daylio and rethought how I was using activities. The ability to organize activities into categories was something I hadn't yet taken advantage of.

My sister uses Daylio too, and she'd shown me how she used activities to track how much sleep she'd gotten and how much water she drank. I saw folks on the subreddit doing similar things. Inspired, I zealously added activities and organized them into categories. Now I had categories for types of social interaction, how much sleep I'd gotten, and what the weather was doing.

Which basically brings us to the present...

what I do now

joygoodmehsadocean lover

My setup in numbers: