Moodistory FAQs

No matter if you call it mood tracker, mood journal or mood diary – it’s the same idea. We’ll just stick to the term “mood diary” here.
A mood diary as a tool to capture one’s mood in a structural way for the purpose of reflection, analyzation and understanding. Just like in a simple diary, you capture thoughts, emotions, feelings and – of course – moods. Since it is done in a structural way, it potentially lets the writer gain more precise insights into thoughts and behavioural patterns. A mood diary creates the foundation for change and taking control of one’s life. It is not just used during therapy of bipolar disorders or depression. It is often also used in coachings and for self-improvement.

To get started, all you need is just a pen & paper and the basic structure (e.g. mood categories/scale). But if you want to take mood tracking to the next level you should take a look at our low-effort mood diary app Moodistory. 🙂

A mood diary is a great tool to cultivate positivity, gain inner strength and raise awareness about your mood, emotions and feelings. It helps you taking control of your life especially when your world feels to be in chaos. But it is also a very efficient tool when it comes to self-improvement as it allows you to see yourself from a new – more distant – perspective and in this way makes changes in your patterns of thought possible.

If you think about yourself right now – can you answer the following questions:
How were you doing last week, last month or a year ago? What did you do when you were feeling good? What did you do when you didn’t feel good? Is your mood following a pattern? Do you have mood swings? Do you know how long your lows and highs usually last? What were you thinking when you were down?

A mood diary can answer all of these questions in great detail. If you want to know more about the benefits of keeping a mood diary, head over to our blog and check out our “10 reasons why keeping a mood diary is great“.

This strongly depends on the tool you use to keep your mood diary. Our app Moodistory was designed to keep the effort as low as possible while capturing as many details as possible:

Entering one simple entry will take you about 5 seconds in our app (yes, seconds!). If you are entering an extensive entry, it will take you a little bit more – you just need to tap on icons (e.g. running, shopping, party etc.) that describe your day. No need to write anything down (even though you can do this too)! It’s fast and easy. Of course, you can also create your own icons – this is also just a matter of seconds. Moodistory can also capture your location automatically!

We’ve performed user tests to measure the time to creation. On average, users need 20 seconds to create an entry. So, you just need to spend 20 seconds a day on your mood diary – it’s less time than making a sandwich, less time than brushing your teeth and probably even less time than booting up your favourite video game!

As a rule of thumb, we recommend to create at least one entry per day.
In general: the more information about your mood is present, the better and more concrete are the insights you will get. Therefore you should ask yourself two questions:

1) What is the best time to answer the question “How are you?”.
This could be for example in the morning or in the evening. In fact, a lot of people prefer to create an entry in the evening just before going to sleep as it is a good time to reflect on the passed day. But since you can create as many entries per day as you would like to, you could also plan to create an entry in the morning and at noon and in the evening. No matter how often you are planning to create entries, we strongly recommend to set up one or multiple reminders, so you will never forget to create an entry.

2) Do you think that your mood changes a lot during the day?
If you answer this question with “yes”, we recommend to create more than 1 entry per day as you will then get a much more detailed picture of the past. You can e.g. set up reminders for every 4 hours.
Another approach is to create an entry every time you feel a shift in your mood. This way it will be much easier to understand why your mood has changed.

Don’t worry, we can help you! 🙂 First of all, it’s important to know that your iPhone tries to guess the best fitting language for any app on your device. Naturally, the first guess is your phone’s language. But if an app is not available in that language, then your phone will work its way through a list of languages, and use the first language that is also supported by the app. Fortunately, you can edit this list:

1. Open your iPhone’s ‘Settings’
2. Tap on ‘General’
   
3. Select ‘Language & Region’
   
4. Check if the ‘Preferred language order’ is correct for you.
   
   In this example, you iPhone will try to use English first, then French, then Spanish, then Japanese etc.
   If the order is not right for you, then you can tap on ‘Edit’ to change the order or delete a language. If you select  ‘Add Language…”, you can also add a new language to this list.
   
   Please note, that the first language in this list is also your iPhone’s default language.

But wait, there is more! 😉
Starting with iOS 13, you can set or change the language for a single app as well: Open ‘Settings’, scroll down and select the app you would like to set the language for – e.g. Moodistory. Then you just have to tap on ‘Language’ to change the language.

Yes. You can create as many entries per day as you like.
The easiest way to do so is to tap the “+” icon in the lower right-hand corner of the screen and select “Any Day / Time”. You will then have to select first the date for your new entry and after that the time.

Yes, of course. You can change any property of any entry: the date/time, the location, the mood, the list of selected events, the notes and of course the image.
Just open any entry and tap on the pencil icon that is located on the very top right.

Now tap on the item that you would like to change (e.g. the smile to change the mood). If you want to edit the notes, just scroll down to the notes field and tap on it.

If you would like to delete an entry, scroll to the very bottom and tap on “Delete answer”.

Events are anything that you feel are important to you/your mood and that determine your day. They can typically reflect your day-to-day routine and are often referred to as “activity”. If can be anyting like e.g.: the food you had, the sports you did or the fact that you have been to work. You can also think of events as things that you would use as hashtags and feels important to you and your mood.
There are more than 180 predefined events divided into 10 categories in Moodistory that can be fully customized. Meaning you can edit & delete existing events and you can also create completely new events and categories.

For your convenience, there are 2 ways to create new events:

1) During the creation of an entry on the event selection screen.
If you search for an event that does not yet exist, you will see a plus shaped icon with the title “Create …” (see screenshot below). Once you tap on this icon, the screen for creating a new event pops up and you just have to complete the form to create a new event.

2) Using the settings menu:
Go to settings (very left button in the navigation bar on the bottom), tap on “Events list & categories”, and then select “Edit Events List” (see screenshots below). Then tap on the button “Add New Event” to create a new event.

Go to settings (very left button in the navigation bar on the bottom), tap on “Events List & Categories”, and then tap on “Edit Events List”. You will then see the list of all available events in Moodistory.

Now look for the event you want to edit/delete (you can also use the search field on the bottom) and tap on it.

You can now change the name, category and icon of the selected event. Also, if you tap on the minus shaped icon on the top, you can delete this event completely.

Keep in mind that any changes to events will also affect entries that are currently using them. So, for example, if you use “Running” in 10 entries and delete the event, then “Running” will also be deleted from those 10 entries.

On the event/activities selection screen, tap on any category:

You will then see a list of all categories and at the very top 2 additional entries:
“Selected“: This will show you a list of all selected events/activities.
“Recent“: This is what you are looking for – tap on this. It shows you the list of your 24 recently used events/activities.

Events are intended to reflect your day-to-day routine in a catchword- or hashtag-like way.

Notes & thoughts are more about specific details about what you did, feel or think – anything that comes to your mind and you would like to remember. While events are one important cornerstone when it comes to analysing your mood, notes are not. That’s why it is crucial that you use events to describe your day-to-day routine so you can then get the most out of the statistics.

To create a backup of your data, open “Menu & Settings”, select “Data” and top on “Backup Data”:

The data backup will generate a file (technically speaking, it’s a JSON file packed in a Zip-file). You can store this file locally (and then send it to your computer via e.g. AirDrop or email), or save it directly in your iCloud (or any other cloud service). The filename contains the date and time of the export, so you can easily see which one is the most current one. Of course, there is also a restore feature in Moodistory to import your data again.

In case you just bought a new iPhone and would like to transfer your data onto your new device. The easiest way to do so is to first use “Create backup” in Moodistory’s settings and store the resulting file in your iCloud. Now, make sure that the file is synced into the cloud. Then install Moodistory on your new iPhone and perform the data restore using “Restore data” in Moodistory’s settings. Moodistory will ask you for a file to restore – so simply select the one from your iCloud which you just have created during data backup.

Yes, you can! You can easily use cloud services such as OneDrive, Dropbox or Nextcloud. Just be sure to install the app of your cloud service provider and log into your account. You can then enable your favorite cloud service in the ‘Files’ app and use it in Moodistory. Here’s a detailed step-by-step description:

1. Make sure that the app of your cloud provider is installed and that you are logged in.
2. Open the files app.
   
3. Tap on ‘Browse‘ (on the bottom) and select ‘Edit‘ in the upper right-hand corner.
   
4. Now, enable the cloud service that you would like to use and tap on ‘Done’ (again in the upper right-hand corner).
   
5. All done – you can now use the cloud service within Moodistory.

Please make sure that you have completed (or skipped) Moodistory’s tutorial on the iPhone.
If that is the case, please restart your Apple Watch and your iPhone.

This is usually related to the basic rules of how your iPhone and Apple Watch decide where and when a notification is shown. Please take a look at Apple’s official documentation about notifications which explains how this works and how you can change that.

If you don’t get any notifications according to your reminder settings, please check the following:

1. Most importantly: Check if you are using the latest version of Moodistory. Please open the App Store and check if there is any update.
2. Open Moodistory, go into the reminder settings and make sure that the reminder is set to ON.
   
3. Tap on the reminder and check if at least one weekday is enabled.
   
4. Check if you have enabled the option for “Smart reminder”.
   
   • If this is ON, keep in mind that if you create a journal entry within 2 hours before the reminder’s time, you will not get any notification.
   • We recommend disabling the option “Smart reminder” if you are using random reminders. Why? – Because a random reminder will select a random time between the start and end time. You will never know which time is selected. If e.g. the randomly selected time is 6 pm and you create an entry at 5 pm you will not receive a notification for this day. Since you do not know that the random reminder was scheduled for 6 pm, it is hard to tell why you did not get a notification.

If all of this seems fine, please check your notifications settings:
Open your iPhone’s ‘Settings’ and select ‘Notifications’. There’s a list of apps at the bottom. Please select Moodistory and make sure that notifications are ON and all screens are enabled.

Usually, the reason for not hearing any sounds for notifications is a general configuration setting on your iPhone. But just to be sure, please first check your reminder configuration in Moodistory:

1. Open Moodistory, go to the reminder settings and select the reminder for which you are missing the sound.
2. Check if the option for Sound is ON.
   
3. Tap on Sound and make sure that the option “Vibrate only” is set to OFF and one of the sounds in the list below is selected.
   
4. Now save the sound settings and the reminder: On the sound settings screen (see the previous step), tap the checkmark in the upper right-hand corner to go to the previous screen. Now, tap again on the checkmark in the upper right-hand corner to save the reminder.

Let’s continue to your device’s settings to check whether it is configured to play sounds for notifications:

1. Open your iPhone’s ‘Settings’ and select ‘Do Not Disturb‘. Make sure that the very first option ‘Do Not Disturb’ is OFF.
   
2. Make sure that your device’s hardware mute switch is NOT set to silent. The switch should be in the upper position, meaning you should NOT see the red-orangish color if you look at the switch from the side.
   
3. Open your iPhone’s ‘Settings’ and select ‘Notifications’. There’s a list of apps at the bottom. Please select Moodistory and make sure that the switch for sounds is set to ON.
   
4. Check your notification sound volume: Again, open your iPhone’s ‘Settings’ and select ‘Sounds’. The slider for ‘Ringer and alerts’ controls the notification sound volume. Slide it up to at least the middle.
    

The CSV export will let you use your mood data with other programs such as Google Sheets, Microsoft Excel or Apple’s Numbers. This means that you can do your own analysis of the mood data.

The CSV export will create a so called ‘Comma-Seperated Values‘ (CSV) file. This file is a simple text file that you can open with any app or program that can show texts. The structure of such a CSV file is easy to understand: You can think of it as a kind of spreadsheet where columns are separated using a comma. The first line of the CSV file describes the name of the columns. All other lines are the data, meaning every single line holds the data of one diary entry.

Here’s an example of a CSV file:

At first sight it looks a bit crowded, but it gets clear if you read it word by word:
The first column is named ‘date’ and has 2 values, ‘2021-09-16 10:34:50’ for the first line and ‘2021-09-15 19:00:00’ for the second line.
The second column is named ‘mood’ and has 2 values, ‘3’ for the first line and ‘5 for the second line.
Etc.

The CSV export screen lets you choose 2 options:

Excel friendly CSV export: If you are going to create the CSV file to be used in Excel, then we recommend setting this option to ON. Excel has its own special way of handling CSV files. For example, line breaks are sometimes not handled correctly, resulting in a misaligned spreadsheet. If you are rather going to use the CSV file in Google Sheets or Apple’s Numbers, then we recommend setting this option to OFF.

Field delimiter: By definition, a CSV file should use a comma to separate fields. However, not all programs stick to this definition. Only if you know that you need a semicolon instead of a comma, change the default setting.

Let’s take a look at a sample CSV file:

A diary entry in the CSV file is described using 8 columns:

date: The date and time of the diary entry. Format used: yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss

mood: The mood of the diary entry. The mood is described by a number in reference to the used mood scale. Here’s an example: If we have a mood scale of 6, meaning we have 3 negative and 3 positive levels, then a mood in the CSV file is described by a number between 0 and 5 (not 1 and 6). – 0 stands for the most negative mood, 5 for the most positive mood.

events: The list of events of the diary entry. Every single event within the CSV file is described by the assigned category and the event name – e.g.: Drinks-Coffee. Since there can be more than one event per diary entry, events are separated using the “|”-sign.

notesAndThoughts: The text stored for notes and thoughts of the diary entry. If you set the option “Excel friendly CSV export” to ON, then line breaks are replaced with the “#”-sign.

locationName: The location name as text stored for the diary entry.

locationLatitude, locationLongitude: The location’s latitude and longitude coordinates. These can be used on any map to find the exact location.

hasImage: Since CSV files can only hold texts, images cannot be written to them. However, this field indicates whether an image is attached (value “yes”) or not (value “no”).

Excel will let you open CSV files directly, and then split the data into columns, but there is a better and more safe way:

1. Create a new workbook (meaning, create a new Excel file)
2. Go to the Data tab and select on the very left From Text
3. Select the CSV file to be imported
4. Now, it’s important that you set the configuration right:
   1. On the first screen, make sure that you have selected ‘Delimited‘, ‘Start import at row‘ is set to 1, and ‘File origin’ is set to ‘Unicode (UTF-8)‘. If everything is set, it should look similar to this:
      
      If it looks correct, click on Next.
   2. Now you need to tell Excel which delimiter you are using. It has to be the same as the field delimiter that you have used for the CSV export. If you’ve used the default settings, ‘Comma’ is the correct option to choose here:
      
      Once you’re done, tap on Next.
   3. Now you can tell Excel, which type of data (date, text etc.) every single column holds. We recommend setting the first column (date) to the structure YMD. Make sure that you first select the column at the bottom, and then select the column data format. Leave all other columns unchanged.
      
      Do not yet click on Finish. Before you do so, click on ‘Advanced…‘ and make sure that the ‘Decimal separator‘ is set to a dot “.” and the ‘Thousands separator‘ is set to the apostrophe.
      Now, close the advanced window and click on ‘Finish‘
5. All set, you can now start analysing your mood data in any way you can think of!

Simply: On your iPhone, and only on your iPhone. There is no automatic sync into any cloud service. We do not store any of your mood data on any server.
That’s why we say: Your data belongs to you!

No, we do not share any of your mood data with any other app or website.
No one but you has access to your diary. Just like it should be with any other diary.

Yes. Moodistory supports your iPhone’s Face ID / Touch ID / Passcode to restrict access.
Just go into Moodistory’s settings and enable “Touch ID / Code” or “Face ID / Code” (depending on which iPhone you have).
Once enabled, Moodistory will ask for your Face ID / Touch ID / Passcode when opening the app and before anything else is shown on the screen.

Unfortunately, no, there is currently no Android version of Moodistory.
If you would like to get notified once we approach an Android release, you can leave your e-mail here: