What’s the difference between tracking emotions and tracking mood?

In MindDay, emotion tracking and mood tracking are two complementary features that help you observe your emotional experience at different levels.

Emotion tracking allows you to record an emotion you’re experiencing at a specific moment in time. This might be joy, fear, sadness, anger, or other primary emotions.

You can also specify the context in which the emotion arises (work, family, sports, personal life, etc.) as well as the related feelings. Feelings are emotions combined with thoughts, such as gratitude, enthusiasm, excitement, or pride. This helps you gain a more nuanced understanding of what you’re experiencing.

Over the course of a single day, it’s common to move through several different emotions. That’s why emotion tracking can be completed multiple times a day.

This practice supports the development of emotional intelligence by helping you better identify, name, and understand your reactions.

Mood tracking reflects your underlying emotional state. A mood is more diffuse and more stable than a fleeting emotion. It isn’t always linked to a specific event.

It captures the overall tone of your day: for example, you might generally feel calm, irritable, motivated, or tired.

In MindDay, you’re encouraged to log your mood once a day. This makes it possible to observe how it evolves over time—across several days or even a full month—and to identify patterns.

When you complete your daily mood check-in (whether or not you also track your emotions), a visual summary appears in the “Insights” tab.

In the calendar view, the bubble for each date changes color according to the mood you logged that day. This color coding gives you a quick, visual overview of how your mood evolves over time.

However, if you only complete emotion tracking without logging your mood, the calendar bubble will not change color.