Moodist: the weeks between appointments · Write-up

The problem

Most people see their clinician every few weeks. In the appointment they are asked how things have been, and they answer from memory. The last few days tend to crowd out everything before them, and a hard week a month ago is easy to forget.

That leaves clinicians working from a snapshot. The time between visits is where most of life happens, yet it is the part they rarely get to see. The idea behind Moodist is to record those weeks with as little effort as possible from the person living them.

How it works

1
Check in
Once a day, the person answers a few short questions on their phone. It takes a minute or two.
2
See the pattern
Each check-in becomes a point on a timeline. Over a few weeks the points turn into a trend that is easy to read at a glance.
3
Talk about it
At the next appointment, the clinician and the person look at the trend together and talk about what changed.

Who it helps

For people tracking their mood

A check-in short enough to fit into a busy day.
A record of your own, so the good stretches are as easy to see as the hard ones.
Less pressure to remember everything when you walk into an appointment.

For clinicians

Several weeks of daily check-ins in one view.
A clearer sense of when things changed, so the conversation can start there.
Less of the appointment spent piecing the past few weeks together.

Privacy

Health data needs care. In an app like this, a few principles matter most.

Ask only for what the check-in needs.
Show a person's check-ins to a clinician only when the two have chosen to connect.
Protect every account, and encrypt data on its way between the app and the server.

This describes the idea in general terms. It is not a statement about any certification or standard.

Behind the build

From August 2024 to February 2026 I was a Research Assistant in the University of Melbourne's Department of Psychiatry and the sole developer of Moodist, across three phases of work. I rebuilt the app in Expo React Native and built a clinician dashboard on a Flask backend. In February 2026 I handed it to a professional team for production.

Role: Sole developer
Period: Aug 2024 – Feb 2026
Delivery: Three phases
Hosting: Under $500 a month

Expo
React Native
Flask
Python
Docker
AWS LightSail

The whole platform costs under $500 a month to host, with each service in its own Docker container on AWS LightSail.

Thank you to Xuan Wang for early contributions to Moodist.

What I learned

Building for clinical work taught me to design every screen for someone at the end of a hard day, so fewer taps mattered more than more features. A small system I understood end to end was easier to look after and cheaper to run. The handover mattered as much as the code, because the app only helps people if someone can keep it running after me.

Try Daybook

Moodist is a University of Melbourne project. This page is my own write-up of the idea. The demo below is a separate project with its own code, questions and design, and is not affiliated with the University.

Daybook is a small daily habits check-in I made on my own. It asks about time outdoors, water and time for yourself, and shows four weeks as a dot grid. Answer three questions about today, save it and watch today fill the last square in four weeks of made-up history.

01The problem

02How it works

Check in

See the pattern

Talk about it

03Who it helps

For people tracking their mood

For clinicians

04Privacy

05Behind the build