Melon app

The Melon app is a health and wellness app with a variety of programmes. The app is aimed at people who want to improve their mental wellbeing. The app has the following main sections:

• Program which has 9 modules covering standard psychological tools to help with mental wellbeing, stress and anxiety. The modules include topics including “Tools to help everyday emotions” and “Connections and relationships – me whakawhanaunga”
• Journal for recording your sleep, activity, food diary, and feelings.
• Resources has multiple videos, podcasts and articles on a range of wellbeing topics. 
• I need help has an emergency contact list and emergency exercises. 

For the complete app description, go to the app website(external link), Google Play(external link), App Store(external link) or, for a more detailed review, see reviews below.

Clinical review

Reviewer: Emma Riddell, Clinical Pharmacist, Te Whatu Ora
Date of review: May 2024
Platform: Android
Version: 3.66.5
Comments: This app is a really great starting point for anyone wanting to understand their own mental wellbeing and looking for ways to improve it. It's not aimed at people with diagnosed mental health conditions, but would be a really great source of information for all New Zealanders. The program section covers a variety of topics including self-care, understanding your own values, tools to help deal with everyday emotions, mindfulness, relationships, and nutrition. There is also a section on supporting other people in your life who may be struggling with their mental wellbeing.

There are videos and images within each module to help support your understanding. I found it really easy to follow, and you don't need to sit down and do the whole program at once – your progress is saved so you can come back to it at any time. The only downside is that there is no interactive component – I would suggest users of this app use a journal in addition to the app so you can write down answers and ideas as you work your way through the program.

There's also a section with resources to learn more about different aspects of self-care and mental wellbeing, and it includes a wide variety of topics to do with mental wellbeing, including sections about Te Ao Māori, Pasifika wellbeing, and sexual and gender diversity. Just like the program section, these resources are provided in a range of formats, eg, text, images, and videos. There are also links to external websites and videos.

The journal section allows you to document your sleep, activity, mood, and energy. You can also upload photos of meals to create a food diary.

One of my favourite parts of the app is an interactive section called “Surveys”. It includes a quality of life questionnaire to help yourself understand your own mental wellbeing, and a Hauora Wellness Plan, which provides prompts to answers for actions you can do to improve your mental wellbeing, and what you're going to do if you are struggling. You can refer back to this section at any stage.
Safety concerns: None.
New Zealand relevance: Yes.

Clinical review

For COVID-19:

Reviewer: Jeremy Steinberg, GP, FRNZCGP
Date of review: April 2020
Platform: Android and Apple
Version: 3.22.0
Comments: The Melon app is a very well fleshed out wellbeing app with a good community section, multimedia resources and other extras. The multiple active community support workers are a great resource to have in this app. The website advertises programmes for multiple long-term conditions such as diabetes and cancer. These were not available to Healthify for review, and only the free COVID-19 programme was reviewed. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this to anyone struggling psychologically during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Safety concerns: None.
New Zealand relevance: It is a New Zealand-based app.

User review

Reviewer: Member of the public, NZ
Date of review: June 2020 
Comments: Too many private identifying questions. Too long process to access non-private data. Lost interest before finished trying to sign up.