How does AI mood tracking actually work?
By Siri Bandagiriye · It works in one of two ways: you rate your mood and the app charts it, or the app estimates your mood from what you write or say. Either way it shows patterns over time. It can't diagnose anything.
Most apps do one of two things. Some ask you to rate your mood, say from 1 to 5, and chart it. Others read your conversations or journal entries and estimate how you seem to be feeling.
Saati takes a quieter approach. Instead of asking you to rate yourself every day, it notices how your conversations shift over time.
We deliberately don't show you a score or a streak, because a number can become one more thing to feel bad about.
What the research says
In a study of a mood-tracking app, people answered a short mood questionnaire each day, the answers became a mood diary, and engagement predicted lower depression and anxiety.1
A meta-analysis of 176 trials found apps with mood-monitoring features had significantly larger effects on generalized anxiety symptoms.2
Written by Siri Bandagiriye
I've been a Buddhist monk and mindfulness teacher for 30 years, and for six years a chaplain with Correctional Service Canada, sitting with people in crisis. I built Saati in Halifax as a companion for the ordinary hard days. If you'd like to see what it's like, it's free to try.