6 How We Feel Alternatives in 2026 (Streaks, Insights, iOS 15)

Let’s be clear about something first: How We Feel is one of the best free things on the App Store. Nonprofit, no ads, no upsells, a 4.9-star average, and a Mood Meter that genuinely teaches you to name feelings. If it fully works for you, close this tab and keep it.

People who search for alternatives usually have one of four specific itches: they want real analytics, they need a streak or the habit dies, their phone can’t run iOS 17, or the app’s newer AI features make them uneasy. Pick your itch. (Disclosure: we build MoodKit, #1 below. Facts checked August 2026; US pricing. Fair warning: unlike How We Feel, most of these cost money.)

Your gap with How We Feel	Try
”I want actual insights, not just a log”	MoodKit
”I need a streak or the habit dies”	Daylio
”My iPhone can’t run iOS 17”	MoodKit (iOS 15+) or Daylio
”I want zero AI anywhere near my feelings”	MoodKit or Pixels
”Keep it free”	Apple State of Mind
”I track health stuff too”	Bearable

1. MoodKit — the analytics that were never coming

Scroll How We Feel’s reviews and one request repeats for years: real graphs, real analysis. That missing piece is MoodKit’s whole reason to exist. It ranks your activities by measured effect on your mood with day counts shown, surfaces best and worst weekdays, catches activity combinations, and treats Apple Health sleep, exercise, and steps as ranked factors. Then it lets you test the findings with week-long self-experiments (“skip late caffeine for a week; did it help?”).

Two more fits are almost suspiciously neat. MoodKit runs on iOS 15+, covering the phones How We Feel left behind. And it uses no AI at all: every insight is plain statistics computed on your device, nothing goes to a chatbot, and there’s no account.

• Best for: graduating from naming feelings to understanding drivers.
• Watch out for: not free. Free download and full-feature trial, then $39.99/year or a one-time $79.99 Lifetime. iPhone/iPad only, and there’s no emotion-vocabulary trainer like the Mood Meter.

2. Daylio — streaks that keep the habit alive

How We Feel deliberately avoids gamification. Admirable, but if your logging died without a streak, admire Daylio instead (4.8★, ~61k ratings): two-tap entries, achievements, a colorful month heatmap, a free tier you can stay on forever, and support for older iPhones.

• Best for: habit mechanics and a real free tier.
• Watch out for: its analysis is charts and counts. The famous insight gap.

3. Apple State of Mind — the free path, same catch

Already on iOS 17+? The Health app logs moods natively: valence slider, emotion words (a lighter cousin of the Mood Meter), factor tags, automatic context from sleep and exercise. Free and deeply private. Note the trap, though: it has the same iOS 17 requirement that may have sent you here, and its analysis stops at a timeline. Our Apple Health mood guide maps where it ends.

4. Pixels — quiet, minimal, AI-free

Pixels is an indie Year-in-Pixels tracker in the same generous spirit: one tap colors the day, the year becomes a mosaic, and the plus unlock is a small one-time purchase (~$4.99). No AI, no account, no subscription.

• Best for: minimalists and subscription refusers.
• Watch out for: descriptive stats only, no widgets, no Apple Health.

5. Bearable — when mood is one signal among many

If you left How We Feel because you also track sleep quality, symptoms, or medications, Bearable (4.8★) correlates all of it. It’s the heavyweight option: accounts, detailed check-ins, subscription-only. Read the comparison before committing.

6. DailyBean — the gentle, simple diary

DailyBean (4.8★, ~70k ratings) keeps How We Feel’s softness without the science layer. One bean face a day, a few icons, optional note and photo. Lower effort than anything else here.

• Watch out for: minimal insights, by design.

A closing word

How We Feel’s deal (genuinely free, nonprofit, no ads) is unique, and switching only makes sense when a specific gap costs you something real: a dead habit, an unsupported phone, unanswered “why do I feel like this?” questions, or AI features you’d rather live without. Match the app to that gap, lean on the trials, and if price is the tiebreaker, the no-subscription list settles it.