The Observing Ego
“See yourself clearly.”
A mood tracker that connects your emotions to habits, health data, and clinical assessments — built for honest self-reflection, not performance. Ages 7 and up.
Built for the full picture.
Every tool you need to understand your inner life — and share it meaningfully with the people who support you.
Mood Logging
165 emotions across 12 primary feeling categories, mapped to a dimensional circumplex. Log via an orbiting emotion picker, Quick Check-In, or Apple Watch Digital Crown.
CoreClinical Assessments
PHQ-9, GAD-7, WHO-5, C-SSRS, BDI-II, and more. Track your scores over time and bring clinically meaningful trends to your next appointment.
Clinically informedJournal
Rich-text entries with psychodynamic prompts. Separate tracks for standard journaling, core memories & reflection, and a dedicated dream journal.
ReflectiveInsights Dashboard
Mood correlations, habit patterns, Year in Pixels, and longitudinal assessment trends. Minimum 7 data points before any insight surfaces — quality over noise.
Data-drivenSafety Planning
Personal safety plan, crisis resources (988 Lifeline), and gentle check-ins when the app detects elevated risk. Safety features are always free — no paywall, ever.
Always freeApple Watch
Log your mood in seconds with the Digital Crown. Glanceable complications, quick check-in complications, and wrist-tap reminders at your chosen times.
Companion appHealthKit Integration
Correlate your mood with heart rate, sleep, steps, and more. Data stays on-device — HealthKit data is read-only and never leaves your phone.
Read-onlyPrivacy First
All processing happens on-device. CloudKit sync is end-to-end encrypted. No ads. No data selling. No account required to start. You own everything.
On-deviceThree steps to self-knowledge.
Each log builds a picture. Each picture becomes understanding. Each understanding becomes change.
Log
Open the app, select how you feel from 165 emotions, note your intensity, add habits, meds, or a quick journal entry. It takes under a minute.
Discover
After 7+ logs, patterns emerge. Correlations surface between your mood and sleep, exercise, medications, and habits — shown clearly, never sensationalized.
Understand
Bring your data to therapy, psychiatry, or your own reflection. See the arc of months, not just the noise of days. Watch treatment actually work — in your own handwriting.
Radical honesty requires radical privacy.
The data you share with yourself is the most sensitive data there is. We take that seriously.
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All data stays on your deviceMood logs, journal entries, assessments, and health correlations are processed locally. No server ever sees your raw data.
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CloudKit encrypted syncIf you enable iCloud sync, data is end-to-end encrypted via Apple's CloudKit. Even we can't read it.
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No ads. No data selling. Ever.We earn revenue only through subscriptions. Your mental health data will never be monetized or shared with third parties.
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HealthKit is read-onlyWe only read health data to show you correlations. We never write to HealthKit or transmit health data anywhere.
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Face ID / Touch ID protectionLock the app behind biometrics with a configurable auto-lock timeout. Your journal is your business alone.
Safety features are never paywalled.
C-SSRS screening, safety planning, and crisis resources — including the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline — are always accessible, regardless of subscription status. When the app detects elevated risk, it surfaces help immediately. This cannot be turned off or locked behind a settings toggle.
The design is trauma-informed throughout: warm language, no pathologizing, no judgment — built with clinicians, for real people.
Simple, transparent pricing.
Start free. Upgrade when you're ready. Safety features stay free forever.
Essential
- Basic mood logging (12 primary emotions)
- Safety planning & crisis resources
- C-SSRS safety screening
- Quick journal entries
- 7-day history
- Apple Watch logging
Premium
- All 165 emotions + interoception body map
- Full journal (rich text, dream journal, CMR)
- All clinical assessments (PHQ-9, GAD-7, WHO-5, BDI-II…)
- Insights dashboard with correlations
- HealthKit integration (sleep, HRV, steps)
- Defense mechanism & mentalizing tracking
- Unlimited history & CloudKit sync
- Year in Pixels + trend exports
- DBT diary cards
- macOS companion dashboard
Cancel anytime. No hidden fees. Subscriptions managed via App Store. Safety features always included, always free.
From the people who use it.
Real words from real users — and the clinicians who work alongside them.
"The name 'The Observing Ego' is perfect. I'm in psychodynamic therapy and the whole point is learning to watch your own patterns without judgment. This app is basically that skill in digital form."
"I used to spend the first ten minutes of every therapy session trying to remember how my week went. Now I just hand over my phone. My therapist gets the full picture and we can spend the whole hour actually working on things."
"I tried three other mood apps before this one. They all wanted me to create an account, share data with their servers, or sign up for an AI coach. The Observing Ego keeps everything on my phone. That's the only reason I was honest enough with it for the data to actually be useful."
"Taking the PHQ-9 every two weeks and seeing my scores trend downward over three months of treatment was the first time I had concrete evidence that therapy was working. On bad days, I look at that chart and remember that the overall direction is good."
Clinicians notice the difference.
What happens when patients walk in with months of real data, not a week of guesswork.
"When a patient walks in with three months of mood trends overlaid with medication changes, dosage adjustments, and sleep data, it fundamentally changes the conversation. I've started recommending The Observing Ego to every patient on a new regimen."
Psychiatry"I do psychodynamic therapy, and the defense mechanism tracking in this app is remarkable. I've never seen anything like it in a consumer product. Patients who log their defenses between sessions come in with a self-awareness that usually takes much longer to develop."
Psychology"The app's name is what first caught my attention — the observing ego is a foundational concept in analytic work. The app doesn't interpret, judge, or direct. It creates a reflective space where the patient can witness their own affective life with curiosity rather than reactivity."
Psychoanalysis"The trauma-informed design is something I notice as a clinician even if my clients don't consciously register it. The language is warm, never pathologizing. It doesn't say 'your mood was bad' — it says 'you logged feeling sad.' That matters enormously for clients with complex trauma."
Social Work"The age-adaptive interface is critical. Teen clients engage with this app in a way they never would with something designed for adults. The vocabulary matches their developmental level, and the privacy controls mean they feel safe being honest."
Family Therapy"The body map feature has been a game-changer for patients with high somatic anxiety. They start noticing that tension in their shoulders appears two days before a panic episode. That kind of interoceptive awareness is a core treatment goal, and the app accelerates it."
PsychologyStart seeing yourself clearly.
Download The Observing Ego and begin your first log today. No account required. 7-day free trial for Premium. Safety features free forever.
iOS 17+ · watchOS 10+ · macOS 14+ · Privacy-first · No account required