I Used Both Versions of the Reflectly App for Mindfulness—Here’s the One to Try

As a mom of four who works part-time, I sometimes feel out of touch with myself and my emotions. Something is always demanding my attention so I don’t always have the presence of mind to pinpoint what I’m feeling and what circumstances may have triggered these emotions.

I’ve also been diagnosed with adult ADHD, and, even though mindfulness has been suggested to me time and time again, it's a practice I’ve had a hard time sticking with for more than a few days at a time. This is what drew me to Reflectly, an app that offers digital mood journaling. I wanted to try it with the hope that it would help me become more self-aware. The app uses daily notifications meant to prompt users to assess their mood and keep a snapshot of their day. 

I tried both the free and premium versions over the course of 30 days, using it daily, and while I found the app easy to use, at times it felt so simple it was underwhelming. Read on to learn more about my experience with Reflectly.

How I Signed Up

At sign-up, I had the option to choose between the free Reflectly app or upgrade to Premium (which costs $19.99 annually on Android or $59.99 annually on iOS). 

I wanted to compare the two, so I decided to try out the free version first. Then, I checked out Premium.

I’m an Apple user, so I paid $29.99 for my first year as part of a promotion, which would increase to $59.99 if I continued using it for a second year. Android users get a much better deal, paying $19.99 annually for premium.

As far as I could tell, the only things setting the premium version apart from the free version are the advertising (there are ads in the free version but not in the premium version) and a bundle of extra apps. I felt like the creators of Reflectly tried to increase the value of the original app by providing these additional apps you can download for free in addition to the Reflectly app. These apps include: 

• Done, a habit tracker 
• Grateful, a gratitude journal 
• Last, a habit-breaking app for tracking the last time you did something that you consider a bad habit

Each time I  opened the free version of the app, Reflectly encouraged me to buy the premium version. Otherwise, I could still track my mood and journal, leave a voice memo, or upload a photo of my day.

It is also worth noting that, since I paid for a year upfront, I wasn’t able to cancel my Reflectly subscription. I also couldn't turn off the auto-renew in the app. Instead, I had to go to the Apple App Store and navigate to my profile and then my subscriptions. From this page, I was able to turn off the auto-renew that would occur in 2024.

How I Used Reflectly

After signing up, I began using Reflectly right away. I hoped it would lend itself to me being more mindful of what was happening in my day-to-day life. I did find the journaling helpful since it forced me to reflect on my day before bed when I am typically distracted by social media or TV. However, the app doesn’t state whether it is specifically helpful for ADHD symptoms. 

I was asked to complete this mood check-in by choosing a point on a spectrum from “really terrible” to “super awesome.” From there, I clicked “continue” and the app prompted me to select from icons indicating what about my day played into my mood. There are preset icons to select, including exercise, relationships, food, and health. Each day, I chose the icons I felt were most directly related to my mood and then clicked "continue."

Next, I was prompted to choose how I felt about what I shared so far from icons representing emotions including anxious, happy, excited, and bored. If I wanted to, I could add my own emotions as well. To complete the check-in, I needed to do some writing. This is an incredibly simple, no-frills aspect of the app. It is one field that prompts you to add a title that is 40 characters or less and a second field that prompts you to add some notes. The notes don’t appear to have a character limit, as I was never cut off even when I wrote multiple paragraphs. 

There weren’t directions or prompts for completing the writing part of the daily mood check-in, and Reflectly doesn’t add much explanation on the purpose of this exercise. Instead, the website states the journal is meant for you to “reflect on your daily thoughts and problems.”

The mood check-in was the main function of the app, but I could also participate in a daily challenge. These included taking myself to a nice dinner, drawing a picture, or similar self-care activities.

Regardless of whether or not I journaled or participated in a challenge, Reflectly still provided me with mood stats. This included an average mood based on what I reported over the last month displayed as an emoji and a mood scale ranging from “really terrible” to “completely awesome.” My stats also included a tally of how many negative days I’d experienced and a snapshot of which activities I reported tying into my mood each day. I found this tracker helpful, as it allowed me to see the progress I was making by using the app.

One aspect of the app I didn’t love was the notifications I received while using it.

I decided to turn them off altogether in my profile settings—there is also the option to limit when these positivity reminders are sent and how many you receive in a day. 

The most helpful part of the app for me was the daily reminders to check in with myself. These are notifications on my phone, which I scheduled when I first downloaded the app. 

Pros and Cons

Reflectly is an easy-to-use mood-tracking app. Overall, the app felt underwhelming and I would recommend the free version over the premium services. That said, here are my pros and cons.

Final Thoughts

After using Reflectly for a month (and trying both the free and premium versions), I don’t think that the app’s value matches the cost of the premium version.

The only thing exceptional I felt I was paying for was the snapshot of my mood stats over time. However, even that could be replicated on paper with a little effort. 

If you want to try the app, I would recommend trying the free version over the premium version because they are essentially the same app, minus ads and some extra bonus apps you likely don’t need. But just because the app is free doesn’t necessarily mean it’s worth your time. Another free app, The Healthy Minds Program, offers a wealth of meditation and mindfulness exercises that guide you through building a mindfulness practice with exercises and lessons backed by neuroscience. In comparison, Reflectly is pretty bare-bones and leaves you out in the cold.

One big plus for me, though, was having the ability to customize the notification settings. This allowed me to eliminate the notifications that were bothersome while still holding onto the notifications for the journaling portion of the app.

It helped me gain a self-awareness I’ve been struggling to practice with the distractions of everyday life.