WellStream app

The free version of the WellStream app helps you track your own mental wellbeing. There's a short daily quiz to complete, and you can see a graph of how your mental wellbeing changes over time. You're also encouraged to keep a brief daily diary in the app.

• Other features of the app include the “support tab”. From this tab, you can be directed to a website that can help you find a helpline that's most relevant to your needs.
• You can also invite trusted people (eg, family, friends) to be a support person through the app.
• If your daily quiz results show a low score for your mental wellbeing, you'll be encouraged to contact a support person or helpline.
• There's also a tab of content produced by the app. This currently includes information on how to get the most out of the app, and videos of virtual walks through nature which are very relaxing and calming.

The paid premium version of the app includes additional features.

• One of these features is called “Streams”, which is a way to track activities or things that might impact your mental wellbeing (eg, work, hobbies, exercise, therapies, relationships).
• Each day, during the daily quiz, you log which activities/streams you did, and over time the app compares these activities to your wellbeing, to see whether each “stream” has a positive or negative affect on your wellbeing.
• You can set your “streams” to be anything you want. The premium version also allows you to keep a photo diary, and access any new features.
• When you first download the app, you get a 14-day trial of the premium version for free, so you can decide whether you want to pay for the subscription ($14.99 monthly or $89.90 yearly).

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, Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora
Date of review: July 2024
Platform: Android
Version: 20231220.1
Comments: This app is a tool for tracking mental health over time. The app itself won't improve your mental health, but it's a useful tool for assessing it. It asks specific questions to assess your mental/emotional wellbeing. This could allow you to see over a long period of time, what your mental wellbeing has been like and when/if any changes to your overall mental wellbeing have occurred. I liked that if you score low on the daily mental wellbeing quiz, you're directed to contact someone for support. This app is best used together with support from your healthcare professionals eg, doctor or health improvement practitioner. It'll work best if you use it regularly.
The paid premium version of the app adds the streams feature, which provides data on which activities/relationships affect your mental health positively or negatively. This feature will work better if you use it over a longer period of time, as it'll be able to compare your mental wellbeing score each day to what streams you logged that day. This feature could help if you're wanting to assess the impact of any activity/relationship on your mental wellbeing (eg, does attending an exercise class improve your mental wellbeing that day). It will only be able to assess immediate impact (ie, that day) rather than long-term impact. The streams feature might not be beneficial for everyone, and it's quite expensive. You get a free 2-week trial of the premium version when you first sign up to the app, which allows you to try out the additional features and see if it's something that will be beneficial for you.
Safety concerns: None.
New Zealand relevance: Yes
Concerns: None.