Moodpath is a mental health app that was evaluated against 60 usability guidelines across several areas: onboarding, tracking, data visualization, content, and support. It met 37.5 of 51 total checkpoints evaluated, scoring 74% overall. Specifically, Moodpath performed well in onboarding users, tracking entries, presenting content in digestible chunks, and providing personalized recommendations and guidance based on user data. Some areas for improvement include helping users understand patterns in their data and allowing bookmarking of content.

1. Met
checkpoints
All relevant
checkpoints
UX Score in %
Onboarding and
homepage
11.5 14 82%
Tracking 4.5 6 75%
Data visualisation 5 6 83%
Content 6.5 11 59%
Support and education 10 14 71%
Overall 37.5 51 74%
74%
MOODPATH
iOS, May 2020

2. Onboarding and homepage | Guideline #1
Consider delaying account creation until
user has tried the app.
Moodpath doesn’t require users to create an
account.
meets

3. Onboarding and homepage | Guideline #4
Make sure there is a clear and
explicit opt-in to terms and
conditions and privacy policy.
Moodpath displays an explicit opt-in to
Privacy Policy and the toggle switch isn’t
preselected.
The link to Privacy Policy is provided and
the Policy page is written in a user-
friendly way (avoiding legal jargon).
meets

4. Onboarding and homepage | Guideline #6
Allow the user to step back in the onboarding
process and show how many steps are left.
Moodpath uses a chatbot approach to onboard
users. While stepping back and allowing to change
selections isn’t crucial for Moodpath (the app doesn’t
collect user data in the onboarding flow) they should
still provide a progress bar at the top of the screen.
When signing up to a new product, users want to see
how it works as soon as possible. Both long
onboarding flows and uncertainty of how many steps
are left are frustrating and can deter users from
continuing with the sign up flow.
doesn’t meet

5. Onboarding and homepage | Guideline #18
Design the home screen around the main
function of the app and the most
important user tasks.
Home screen design is crucial in orienting
users within the app and guiding them to the
next most important step.
Moodpath does a great job focusing the home
screen around the key task - answering daily
health assessment questions.
When there is a new questionnaire to answer,
the user can just start by answering the first
question. Otherwise, the app displays most
recent answers and a countdown towards the
next set of questions.
meets

6. Tracking | Guideline #23
Provide a way to add additional context
around user entries.
Users can add notes to the tracking entries.
meets

7. Tracking | Guideline #24
Make it clear what happens with the
data or, better yet, allow the user to
decide.
While there is a link to the Privacy Policy
and an explicit opt-in, an improvement
would be to explain how user data is
used on the app screens.
Adding a simple sentence ‘we share
anonymous data with research
organisations’ either in the onboarding
flow or on the tracking screen would
increase the app transparency.
The app could also allow users to make a
choice if they want to contribute their
data to research or not. Users can
however delete their data from the
server so the app does provide a good
level of control over their data.
partially meets

8. Tracking | Guideline #28
Use UI design controls that require
less interaction effort.
Moodpath uses buttons and icons on
the tracking screen which are easier to
interact with than dropdown or sliders.
meets

9. Visualising data | Guideline #31
Provide a useful empty state before
enough data is available.
Moodpath app requires users to answer
health assessment questions for 14 days
before they can get their evaluation.
The app provides a useful empty state where
they clearly explain what the user needs to
do to receive their assessment and provide
progress bar at the top.
meets

10. Visualising data | Guideline #32
Help people understand patterns.
While Moodpath displays the summary of
tracked moods and situations, there is no
indication of the correlation between the
two that would help people understand
patterns.
Additionally in the free version users can’t
add custom situations so the data is
limited in that regards.
doesn’t meet

11. Content | Guideline #38
Allow bookmarking / adding to favourites.
Moodpath has a large library of courses and
activities that can help people improve their
mental wellbeing.
Since it is unlikely that user will be able to
complete entire course in one sitting, the app
should provide a way to ‘bookmark’ or ‘add to
favourites’ a course that is in progress.
The app also recommends content to users
based on their assessment answers, so the user
should be able to easily save recommended
course should they want to access it later.
doesn’t meet

12. Content | Guideline #40
To support browsing, organise content by
problem area and not by content type.
While the app organises content under topic-
related headings (such as sleep, relaxation,
conflicts) users can’t get an easy overview of all the
topics available in the app.
Providing an introductory page with an overview of
all topics would help users find their way through a
large library of educational content.
By selecting a topic users wants to work on (e.g.
sleep) and then viewing all content related to that
topics (both read and listen) users would be able to
find most relevant content more easily.
doesn’t meet

13. Content | Guideline #48
Present the content and instructions in small
bite-sized chunks.
The content of educational resources is presented in
an ‘Instagram story-like’ format. Each screen contains
a limited amount of information and the user taps
on the right side of the screen to move to the next
part.
This way the information is present in small
digestible chunks and it doesn’t overwhelm users
with long blocks of text.
meets

14. Support and education | Guideline #57
Make it relevant based on the
information you have received from
the user.
Moodpath provides relevant
recommendations and guidance based on
the answers from daily health assessments.
In this example, if the user indicated they’ve
been having trouble sleeping, at the end of
the day they will receive an ‘Insight’ with
advice on what they can do to improve
their sleep.
meets

15. Support and education | Guideline #59
Create an easy to follow content
path.
Moodpath recommends relevant
content to the user based on their
answers to health assessment
questions.
This way they are able to surface the
right content at the right time and the
user receives personalised
recommendations.
meets

16. Support and education | Guideline #60
Combine practical exercises with
educational content.
Moodpath combines educational
resources with practical exercises such
as mindfulness or guided meditations.
This approach helps users get the
foundational knowledge and build
necessary skills at the same time and
creates more engaging experience.
meets