Move Mood

Overall, Move Mood has more strengths than weaknesses. However, there is room for improvement in the app, namely in the lack of human support and social connection components. Move Mood’s strengths largely lay in its clinical foundation and evidence-based approach. Move Mood employs Behavioral Activation Therapy (BAT), a well-studied treatment for depression (Ekers et al., 2014). The app’s core functionality centers on task creation and scheduling. Users are prompted to reflect on what they value in life and build tasks around those areas. Tasks are chosen from preset lists or can be self-written, then categorized as routine, necessary, or enjoyable. Each task is broken down into steps, given a difficulty rating, and mood rating when the user thinks about doing the task. Scheduling is flexible, as tasks can be set as one-off, daily, weekly, or monthly, and tied to specific times of day and exact dates. The app also cites being co-designed with input from young people to ensure effective implementation in the target population. Personalization options allow users to select their goal tasks based on domains they value. They provide many example tasks and flexible structure, which may function similar to scaffolding in guiding users. Such structured examples are beneficial in supporting adolescents’ self-efficacy and task initiation (Conley et al., 2022; Laser & Nicotera, 2021). This approach makes the experience more accessible and relatable for adolescents. Features like task creation, mood tracking, and reward reinforcements further support users in managing their mood and building positive habits. Aside from task creation, monitoring, and mood tracking, the app does not have any other features. This can be seen as a strength, as the simplicity of the app could reduce avoidance, a common behavior in depression. Furthermore, teens more easily engage with technology with minimal distractions like pop-up ads or an overwhelming amount of content. Research and practitioner guides note the role of media design and reduced distraction in adolescent engagement (Laser & Nicotera, 2021), and systematic reviews show mobile interventions can still be effective without complex social or gamified features (Conley et al., 2022). The weaknesses of this app surround the minimal social components in the app. While the app focuses on individual use, it lacks integrated social features that could allow users to connect with peers or share their progress. Incorporating such features could enhance motivation and provide a sense of community. The pseudo-social component of the “companion” the teen commits to approaches this quality. However, it could be more enriching for the user to know there are other teens experiencing the same things as them. The app could have an anonymous community of peers encouraging each other to use the app and complete their tasks. Including peer social features could enhance motivation and community, as social network use is an important component in teen and family treatment approaches (Murphy, Lancy, & Hertlein, 2013). However, Conley et al. (2022) found that the presence of social features didn’t consistently change effect sizes across studies, so adding a social component should balance safety, privacy, and engagement. Overall, Move Mood is a thoughtfully designed tool for adolescents experiencing low mood. It has simple structured therapeutic techniques and playful personalization which makes it both practical and easy to use. By allowing teens to customize their experience through self-chosen tasks, it encourages them to take an active role in their mental health, all while keeping the process simple and accessible. Move Mood is a clinically grounded, user-friendly app that can support young individuals in managing low mood and depression. Its strengths in evidence-based design and user engagement make it a valuable tool for adolescent mental health. However, incorporating social features could further enhance its impact. As indicated on the website, stem4 is seeking to fund a large scale, quantitative and qualitative study on the Move Mood app. Results from that study could enhance features of the app and guide how parents and teens choose their mental health apps.

Offers customisation of set list of tasks but you can’t actually edit them. Also when you set up new tasks that aren’t daily, there isn’t a regular day reminder to choose for set days even though you can define which days you’re supposed to do the task. Please refine, this can be really good!

When going through the setup steps the default display appears too large for my phone meaning the Continue button is obscured below the bottom of the screen. Have had to reduce text size to get it to show but larger font / accessibility settings may affect others in similar way? Does not appear to be an issue on larger iPhone screens just the smaller one that I have - iPhone 8.

This is a great idea for an app. I like it. However I can’t get past the task difficulty section so I cannot proceed with the app

I’ve been trying to start using the app but it will not let me pick a difficulty. Is there something else I have to do?

I have been suffering from depression for sometime. Doing daily tasks and scheduling has become increasingly difficult, I’m glad I found this app

It keeps breaking down, I’ve had to redown load the app 3 times. Although it is a great app it helped me so far w my anxiety and doing task. To bad it crashes. Cause I was really into it

There was a time I searched for an app to set and reach objectives. What a surprise to find this kind here, and on the subject of depression! It feels quite nice to know that items such as "brush teeth daily" or "eat 3 meals" and the kind have been put (with the option to add personalized tasks). It’s fun to complete those tasks, and instead of focusing on productivity, it asks: "Do you feel good after having completed it? How hard did you find it?" Which is quite effective to make you focus back on self-care. I don’t really understand why everytime I complete a task however, it asks me if I want to plan another, nor the option of "I’ll try this until this date"—but hopefully it’s been well coded. Oh, and I love the idea of a mascot. So, this app? It helps.