How We Feel vs Ahead
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
How We Feel
This app helps users understand and manage their emotions with science-based strategies. It tracks sleep, exercise, and health trends to identify patterns and offers guided exercises for stress, anxiety, and relationship building. Share your feelings with trusted friends to strengthen connections.
- Emotion identification and tracking
- Sleep, exercise, and health trend monitoring
- Science-based emotional regulation strategies
- Guided video exercises (mindfulness, movement, cognitive)
- Real-time emotion sharing with trusted friends
- Pattern identification for emotional wellbeing
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How We Feel is a free app created by scientists, designers, engineers, and therapists to help people better understand their emotions and find strategies to help them navigate their emotions in the moment. Conceived in conjunction with Yale University's Center for Emotional Intelligence and based on the work of Dr Marc Brackett, How We Feel helps people find the right word to describe how they feel while tracking their sleep, exercise, and health trends using HealthKit in order to spot patterns over time. Founded as a science-based nonprofit, How We Feel is made possible by donations from people who are passionate about bringing mental wellbeing to the widest possible audience. Our data privacy terms are clear and easy-to-understand: all of your data is kept on your device unless you opt-in to send an anonymized version of your check-ins to be used in research to help more people. Whether you are downloading this app in order to build better relationships, make your emotions to work for you, not against you, improve how you handle stress and anxiety or simply to feel better, How We Feel will help you identify patterns through daily HealthKit tracking and find emotional regulation strategies that will work for you. The How We Feel friends feature allows you to share how you feel with the people you trust most in real time, strengthening your most important relationships. Filled with step-by-step video strategies you can do in as little as one minute on themes like "Change Your Thinking" to help you address negative thought patterns with cognitive strategies; "Move Your Body" to express and release emotions through movement strategies;"Be Mindful" to gain perspective and minimize the negative impact of misunderstood emotions with mindfulness strategies; "Reach Out" to build intimacy and trust, two important tools for emotional wellbeing, with social strategies.
Ahead
This app helps you understand and manage your emotions through science-proven techniques. Learn to overcome unhelpful thought patterns and build a personal toolkit for emotional regulation in just 5 minutes a day. Track your progress and become a calmer, kinder individual.
- Manage emotions daily
- Science-proven techniques
- Interactive reflections
- Personalized emotional toolkit
- Track emotional progress
- Learn with others
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The Duolingo for emotional intelligence. Learn to stay calm, kind, and in control of anger, anxiety, and stress, in just 5 minutes a day. ◆ Apple Design Award 2024 (Social Impact) ◆ App of the Day in 20+ countries ◆ 2 million people. 4.8 stars. WHY AHEAD Nobody taught us how to handle our emotions. School skipped it. Ahead fixes that. We are behavior change scientists, and we turned proven psychology into short, playful steps that actually stick. No lectures. No 30 minute meditations. Just real skills you use in the moment. WHAT YOU GET - Personalized journeys for anger, anxiety, confidence, procrastination, heartbreak, and more - 5 minute activities you can do anywhere - An emotional profile that shows the root of how you react - Streaks, levels, and rewards that build the habit - Progress you can feel in 2 weeks HOW IT WORKS 1. Take the quick emotional assessment 2. Get your personalized journey 3. Practice 5 minutes a day 4. Watch your emotional fitness grow WHO IT IS FOR People who want to fight less with the people they love, react less on impulse, parent with more patience, and feel calmer under pressure. We promise to only give science backed advice, never sell your data, and always act in your favor. Try Ahead free for 7 days. Your future self says thanks. For more information, see our Terms of Service (https://www.ahead-app.com/terms-of-service) and Privacy Policy (https://www.ahead-app.com/privacy).
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: How We Feel at none against Ahead's 23. How We Feel also leads on review sentiment (91% vs 71%) and rating (4.9 vs 4.7). On price, ratings volume, update cadence and ads there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Ahead sells 22 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per 7 days. How We Feel asks for nothing beyond the download.
How We Feel holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.7. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 30K and 22K respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 91% of How We Feel's written reviews are positive against 71% of Ahead's.
How We Feel ships an update every 3 weeks, Ahead fortnightly. Both last shipped on September 24, 2026.
| Parameter | How We Feel | Ahead |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.9 (30K ratings) — better | 4.7 (22K ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 91.2% of reviews — better | 70.9% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 30K — better | 22K |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Fortnightly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Best chart rank | #139 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 16.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 250 MB | 472 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | The How We Feel Project, Inc. | ahead Solutions GmbH |
Customer experience
How We Feel
Ahead
User reviews
How We Feel
From 30K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Easy to use and intuitive
- 🤗 Helps with emotional awareness and regulation
- 💎 Comprehensive range of emotions to choose from
- 🎨 Visually appealing and aesthetically pleasing
- 🆓 Completely free with no ads or in-app purchases
Room to improve
- 🔍 Limited ability to add custom emotions
- 🔀 Difficulty expressing mixed or complex emotions
- 🕰️ Inability to log past emotions or edit timestamps
- 🐛 Occasional app crashes or bugs
- 🔒 Lack of password protection or app lock feature
Ahead
From 22K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🤗 Helpful for managing emotions
- 🧠 Insightful and educational
- 🎨 Visually appealing design
- 🎯 Personalized content
- 🕰️ Bite-sized lessons
Room to improve
- 💰 Expensive subscription
- 🔒 Restricted access without subscription
- 🕰️ Limited daily activities
- 🐛 Buggy and glitchy
- 🤖 Robotic or impersonal tone
Bugs and requests
How We Feel
Reported bugs
4 issues- App crashes when accessing the 'Tools' section
- Exercise and sleep data incorrectly applied to past entries
- Editing past entries leads to a blank screen
- Inconsistent behavior when adding friends
Requested features
6 requests- Add ability to log multiple emotions at once
- Implement a body map to identify physical sensations
- Allow users to customize emotion categories
- Provide an option to export data or sync across devices
- Add a widget for quick mood check-ins
Show 1 moreShow fewer
- Integrate with health/fitness tracking apps
Ahead
Reported bugs
5 issues- Crashes and freezes
- Inability to access full content without subscription
- Inconsistent syncing and data loss
- Confusing navigation and user interface
- Unresponsive or malfunctioning features
Requested features
8 requests- More free content and features
- Ability to track progress and revisit past lessons
- Personalized recommendations based on user data
- Integration with other mental health apps or services
- Dark mode option
Show 3 moreShow fewer
- Audio/video content for visual/auditory learners
- Improved bug fixes and stability
- Better customer support and communication
In-app purchases
How We Feel
No in-app purchases
Ahead
- Weekly$4.997 Days
- Weekly7 Days trial$5.997 Days
- Weekly7 Days trial$7.997 Days
Show 19 moreShow fewer
- 1 month$9.991 Month
- 3 Months7 Days trial$19.993 Months
- 3 Months7 Days trial$29.993 Months
- 12 months7 Days trial$29.991 Year
- 3 months1 Month trial$29.993 Months
- 12 Months7 Days trial$39.991 Year
- 3 Months7 Days trial$39.993 Months
- 12 months1 Month trial$39.991 Year
- 12 months7 Days trial$39.991 Year
- 3 months7 Days trial$49.993 Months
- 12 months7 Days trial$59.991 Year
- 12 months1 Month trial$59.991 Year
- 12 months1 Year trial$59.991 Year
- Ahead Premium7 Days trial$69.991 Year
- 12 months7 Days trial$79.991 Year
- 12 months1 Month trial$79.991 Year
- 12 months1 Year trial$79.991 Year
- 12 months7 Days trial$89.991 Year
- 12 months7 Days trial2 variants$99.991 Year









