Over the years, Apple has consistently added useful health-related features with every major iOS update. Whether you want to track your sleep or set up a medication schedule, the Health app lets you keep track of your physical well-being. Now, with the feature-packed iOS 17, Apple lets you track your mental health on your iPhone. Using the Health app, you can log your momentary emotions and daily moods to gain access to valuable insights and assessments. You can track your state of mind and the contributing factors to understand your overall mental wellbeing and take necessary steps if needed. In this guide, we will explain how you can log and track your mental wellbeing on an iPhone running iOS 17.
How to Log Your Mood & Emotions on iPhone
Note: The Mental Wellbeing feature in Health app is available only on iOS 17, which is currently in Developer Beta, with the Public Beta coming in a few weeks. Since iOS 17 is in beta right now, it might have some bugs & glitches. To avoid any issues, it’s recommended to install iOS 17 developer beta on a secondary device.
1. Open the Health app and navigate to the Browse tab.
2. Select the Mental Wellbeing option, choose State of Mind, and tap Get Started.
3. Then, tap Next.
4. You can now log an Emotion or Mood. Let’s choose Emotion first and tap Next.
5. You will be asked to choose how you are feeling right now. By default, Neutral is selected. You can drag the slider to choose from Very Unpleasant, Unpleasant, Neutral, Pleasant, or Very Pleasant. It’s interesting to see the aesthetically pleasing UI and how the background color and animation change according to your mood. Once you have chosen your mood preference, tap Next.
6. Now, you will be asked to choose an option that best describes this feeling. You can select from the suggested options or tap Show More to see all available options. You can also select multiple options.
7. Then, you have to choose the factors that have the biggest impact on you and contribute to your state of mind. Tap Done to proceed.
8. Logging how you’re feeling at least twice a day can give you a better sense of your mental wellbeing. You can set up reminders to log your mental state During the day, or End of the day, or set a custom time. Tap Edit Schedule or Turn ON Reminders to move ahead.
10. You can also enable Periodic Questionnaires to get a prompt to take a questionnaire a couple of times in a year or when you have a pattern of unpleasant moods.
11. You can repeat the same steps to log your mood on your iPhone running iOS 17.
How to Add Mental Wellbeing Data on iPhone
The Mental Wellbeing feature in the Health app also allows you to add additional data, including anxiety risk, depression Risk, exercise minutes, mindful minutes, sleep, and time in daylight. For anxiety and depression risks, you need to take up a questionnaire. For other options, you can enter the data manually.
How to Add Anxiety or Depression Risk Data on iPhone
1. In the Health app, visit the “Mental Wellbeing” section and tap Anxiety Risk or Depression Risk. Next, tap on Take Questionnaire.
2. Then, tap Begin, answer the questions, and tap Done.
3. You will then see the results, which could be one of the following – Minimal, Mild, Moderate, Moderate to Severe, or Severe.
4. To save the questionnaire and answers, tap the Export PDF option.
5. It’s worth knowing that this assessment isn’t a diagnosis. Rather, it gives you information about the possible next steps like following up with a doctor.
How to add Time in Daylight and other data on iPhone
1. Choose an option for which you want to add data. When you choose an option, you will see its benefits and harms to get a clearer idea of how it affects your mental wellbeing. We have chosen Time in Daylight here, which is the amount of time you spend in sunlight.
2. Tap Add Data from the top-right corner.
3. Then, choose the start and end date & time for the amount you spent in sunlight. Tap Add to log your data in the Health app.
4. Repeat the steps to add other mental wellbeing data on your iPhone.
How to View Your Mental Wellbeing Data on iPhone
Now that you have logged the mental wellbeing data on your iPhone, it is also important to learn how to view the logged data to get an assessment of your mental health. Here’s how to view and track mental wellbeing data on iPhone.
1. Open the Health app and tap Browse from the bottom-right corner.
2. Under the Health category, tap Mental Wellbeing. You will see the insights for the mental health data you have logged before. You can tap the available options to see helpful and useful details.
3. For example, you can tap State of Mind -> Show in Charts to view your mood & emotional health. You can view this data on a weekly (W), monthly (M), past six-months (6M), and yearly (Y) basis. You can also tap the Calendar icon in the top-right corner to see how your mood has been during the past days/months.
4. You can go back and tap Depression Risk, Mindful Minutes, and other metrics for which you have logged data and know helpful details about them.
Frequently Asked Questions
With iOS 17, iPadOS 17, and watchOS 10, Apple added a Mental Wellbeing feature in the Health app on iPhone & iPad and Mindfulness app on Apple Watch. It offers an engaging way to track your state of mind- your mood and emotions. You can log various factors that affect your mental wellbeing, including sleep, exercise, lifestyle time spent in daylight, and more. Besides, the Mental Health feature lets you undertake assessments for depression & anxiety to ascertain risk levels and share this data with your physician.
You can log and track your mental wellbeing in the Health app on your iPhone. For this, head to the Health app and choose Mental Wellbeing. You can log your State of Mind and other mental health parameters like anxiety risk, mindful minutes, sleep, & more. To track and check your mental wellbeing on your iPhone, just open the Health app -> Mental Wellbeing and you will see the logged insights. You can tap the individual cards (State of Mind, Anxiety Risk, and more) to discover detailed insights about them.
Open the Mindfulness app -> State of Mind -> Get Started and choose the Log how you’ve felt overall today. By default, Neutral is selected. You can use the Digital Crown to browse through different available options and tap the Checkmark once you’ve made the selection. Then, select the option(s) that best describes this feeling and tap the Checkmark. Finally, choose the factors that have the biggest impact on you and tap the Checkmark to log and track your mood on your Apple Watch.
The Health app on iPhone and iPad allows you to take depression and anxiety assessments. Apple explicitly states that these assessments aren’t a diagnosis of any medical conditions. Rather, this can help users understand the risk levels, discover resources, and create a PDF to share with their doctor.
Yes, with iOS 17, iPhones can detect anxiety. There’s a Mental Wellbeing feature in Apple’s Health app that lets you go through an Anxiety Risk questionnaire and identify the associated symptoms. Once you take that assessment, you can see the results (ranging from Minimal to Severe) and export them to a PDF to consult a doctor.
Time in Daylight is the estimate of the amount of time spent in sunlight. It promotes proper eye development and helps reduce the risk of Myopia in children. Moreover, it offers additional benefits to overall physical and mental health. The Time in Daylight feature is also available on iOS 17, iPadOS 17, and watchOS 10. An Apple Watch running watchOS 10 can measure the time spent in daylight using the ambient light sensor. You can manually log this date and also view this data in the Health app on your iPhone or iPad.
No, iPhones don’t have a stress test feature in the Health app. However, an iPhone running iOS 17 can help you understand your state of mind and detect depression & anxiety. To log your stress levels on an iPhone, you can use third-party apps like Stress Check (Free).
