Comparison

How We Feel vs Ahead

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • 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
Features
Read full description

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.

About

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.

Highlights
  • Manage emotions daily
  • Science-proven techniques
  • Interactive reflections
  • Personalized emotional toolkit
  • Track emotional progress
  • Learn with others
Features
Read full description

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

How We Feel4 screens
Ahead4 screens

Verdict

The call

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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

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.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

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.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

How We Feel ships an update every 3 weeks, Ahead fortnightly. Both last shipped on September 24, 2026.

Scorecard5 real differences · 6 level
How We Feel versus Ahead: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterHow We FeelAhead
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (30K ratings) — better4.7 (22K ratings)
Positive reviews91.2% of reviews — better70.9% of reviews
Number of ratings30K — better22K
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksFortnightly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#139 — better—
DevicesiPhoneiPhone
Requires iOS17.016.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size250 MB472 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperThe How We Feel Project, Inc.ahead Solutions GmbH

Customer experience

How We Feel

All ratings29,651 ratings
Positive97.5%
Neutral1.7%
Negative0.8%
Written reviews1,539 reviews
Positive91.2%
Neutral4.1%
Negative4.7%

Ahead

All ratings22,463 ratings
Positive94.0%
Neutral1.7%
Negative4.4%
Written reviews1,784 reviews
Positive70.9%
Neutral4.7%
Negative24.4%

User reviews

How We Feel

From 30K App Store ratings

What 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 ratings

What 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 more
  • 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 more
  • Audio/video content for visual/auditory learners
  • Improved bug fixes and stability
  • Better customer support and communication

In-app purchases

None

How We Feel

No in-app purchases

22 purchases

Ahead

Subscriptions22
  • Weekly$4.997 Days
  • Weekly7 Days trial$5.997 Days
  • Weekly7 Days trial$7.997 Days
Show 19 more
  • 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

Questions

Is How We Feel free?
How We Feel is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Ahead free?
Ahead is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, How We Feel or Ahead?
How We Feel is rated higher. How We Feel averages 4.9 out of 5 from 30K ratings, while Ahead averages 4.7 from 22K ratings.
Do How We Feel or Ahead have ads?
Neither How We Feel nor Ahead shows ads.
Which is updated more often, How We Feel or Ahead?
How We Feel ships an update every 3 weeks, and Ahead fortnightly. Most recently, How We Feel was updated on September 24, 2026 and Ahead on September 24, 2026.

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