2022 APP STORE AWARDS

Cultural Impact Winner

How We Feel helps us know ourselves a little better.

How We Feel

An emotional wellbeing journal

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This nonprofit app empowered us by giving us a simple way to understand our emotions.

—App Store Editors

When asked how we’re doing, we often respond with an automatic “fine.” But How We Feel—created in partnership with research scientists at the Yale School of Medicine’s Center for Emotional Intelligence—wants to help us uncover the truer, deeper answer.

The range of our emotions is vast, and How We Feel simplifies it all into a sensible, color-coded system. Feeling low-energy but pleasant? Tap into a sea of green icons to pinpoint a specific feeling—maybe “chill,” “supported,” or “blessed.” Or browse the blue icons if your vibe is less upbeat—maybe “spent,” “excluded,” or “meh.” The visuals help guide you: The deeper the color, the more intense the emotion.

Color-coded adjectives help you capture how you feel (left). Visualizations then bubble up your emotional trends.

The more we checked in each day, the easier it became to zero in on our feelings. By cross-referencing with details like how much sleep and exercise we got, the app made our emotional trends apparent. We could see firsthand that on days when we managed to get eight hours of sleep, we logged happy, yellow-hued emotions, whereas our check-ins after a long commute tended to be less pleasant. More curious trends—like Tuesdays being lower energy than Wednesdays—were an opportunity to ask an important question: Why?

How We Feel doesn’t need to be an insular exploration, either. The app encourages you to share your feelings with someone you trust. Of course, some emotions are easier to share than others, so you can decide during each check-in if you want to let a friend or partner know how you’re doing.

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Our favorite feature

How the app recommends expert-guided video lessons based on our recent emotions. In the Regulate section, licensed therapists, psychologists, certified yoga instructors, and other experts provide step-by-step instructions for practicing self-compassion and self-massage, distancing yourself from a negative interaction that’s been plaguing you, and much more. We especially appreciated Write Yourself Happy, which takes just one minute a day!

Meet the creator

Current and former Pinterest employees who volunteer their time teamed up with research scientists to create the app. It is supported entirely by donations.

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2022 App Store Award Winners

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