iOS 17, your new mental health ally

With each new version of iOS, Apple introduces new features that not only improve the user experience, but also have a positive impact on users’ daily lives. With the launch of iOS 17, there are quite a few new features in this area. From mood tracking to sun exposure, here’s how iOS 17 is changing mental health care.

Monitor your mood and what motivates it

One of the most notable features of iOS 17 is the addition of the “State of mind” in the Health app. This option allows users to track their emotions on a daily basis to better understand their mental well-being. Through notifications in the Health app on iPhone or Apple Watch, we can now record our mood at different times of the day and set the overall mood for the day.

The process of registering a mood is simple and done through a menu that has a slider that goes from “Very Unpleasant” to “Neutral” to “Very Pleasant” using different colors for each mood. Then we must choose an adjective that describes our emotional state. App too allows you to identify factors that affect the state of mind, thus, it gives us a complete picture of the relationship between emotions and everyday experience.

Over time, if you use this feature on a daily basis, you will be able to have a long-term view of your state of mind. From the Health app on the iPhone itself, we can visualize our state of mind over weeks, months, or years with a graph. In addition, the application allows you to explore marked adjectives and associations that promote emotional change. This contributes to greater awareness and knowledge of oneself.

Mental Health Questionnaires

The mental health section also includes mental health surveys that assess anxiety and depression. These assessment tools offer users the opportunity to self-assess their own mental health. Based on the answers entered in the questionnaire, we will obtain information about the risk of anxiety and depression.

Spend more time outdoors

Other notable new features include measurement of time spent outdoors. In addition to the mental health benefits of natural light, being outdoors also has a positive effect on eye health. The Health app, along with Apple Watch, keeps track of how much time we spend outside. This feature is only available to users who, in addition to iPhone, also use Apple Watch in their daily life.

With iOS 17, Apple once again demonstrates its ongoing commitment to mental health and the overall well-being of users. These new features not only increase mental health awareness, but also contribute to a better understanding of our state of mind and health.