HOW I FEEL
Add your side of the story to Gentler Streak
November 11th 2026・by Katarina Lotrič
GENTLER 101
WELLBEING
HEALTH
“How I Feel” is a new feature in Gentler Streak, our Apple Watch and iPhone app that suggests each day whether to push, go easy or rest. When how you feel doesn’t match your data, you rate your day from Off to Great, add the symptoms or moods behind it, and your daily guidance adapts.
Some days, the way we feel isn’t reflected in what the data says, no matter the data quality. Meet “How I Feel”, a self-report in Gentler Streak that lets you add your side of the story and adjusts your daily guidance accordingly.
The idea had been growing for over two years and started taking shape this August: a feature that captures the part that our devices can’t grasp. In an era when it feels like we’d like to outsource everything to AI, we decided to turn to the source - and that is you.
It was personal, too. I am one of the “no devices in the bedroom” tribe, which means my Gentler Streak guidance has always lacked the most accurate vitals signals, overnight data along with sleep quality, so this was something that was bugging me personally.
Then there was the community. Learning that the app has found its way to people with chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia and ADHD, and hearing that for many of them it’s the first time they felt part of the active crowd, yet on some days still not heard (as data can’t pick up personal context), was a big yes to this being something we needed to explore and tweak.
Our focus while creating it, was making the feature easy to understand and use, without overwhelming you, demanding too much of your time, and fitting it all seamlessly into the rest of the app. It goes without saying that empathy, choice of words and colours, timings, transitions and just user flow in general, are all essential building blocks of our process. Learn more below.
What is “How I Feel”?
When how you feel doesn’t match what Gentler Streak guidance says, you can now overwrite that estimate with your own experience. Rate how you feel on a scale of Off, A bit off, Okay or Great, then choose the symptoms or moods behind it, and our guidance will then adapt.
How does it work?
You’ll find the “Anything to add?” prompt under the Activity Path on the Today tab. Tap it, rate your day, then add what you’re noticing: a short list sits up front, an extended list is one tap away, and you can start typing to find more or create your own tag.
If during your day something changes, after you’ve done the self-evaluation, swipe left on the estimate to erase it, then add what fits best at that time.
It’s optional to give feedback to the app: do it when guidance doesn’t align with how you feel. Also, the feature comes with settings, so you decide when the prompt shows up, or hide it altogether. Open Gentler Streak > My Profile > Settings > Self-evaluation prompt.
Gentler Streak’s ‘Anything to add?’ prompt, where you rate how today feels from Off to Great and add symptoms or moods.
What changed on the Today screen?
The app now has four tabs: Today (previously Streak), Health (newly re-added), Workouts (previously Activities) and Insights.
Today has had a major revamp, so information is easier to digest, more telling and more interactive.
That new colourful line under the Activity Path shows your well-being for each day. It’s logged automatically if you wear your watch at night, and appears after you self-evaluate if you don’t.
The upper part of the Today screen shows everything that matters now: your Activity Path with well-being below it, your vitals, sleep, steps, menstrual cycle, VO2max and the day’s logged workouts (you can personalize this section, reorder or remove parts, by tapping the icon next to My Day).
Below is a wholesome Timeline with a 10- or 30-day view. It marks each day’s wellbeing quality, logged symptoms, vitals or sleep when outside your normal, the first day of your menstrual cycle and all logged workouts. Most items are tappable and open an extended view.
Gentler Streak’s Today screen with the Activity Path, the well-being line and a 10-day Timeline.
What is the Wellbeing Path?
You get the Wellbeing Path when you switch your status from Active to On a Break, Sick or Injured. We used to remove the Path so as not to pressure you into coming back, but that left the app passive on days when life happened. Now, when that occurs and your body needs your focus, app is there to support you too.
When we’re healthy, exercise is one of the main pillar of staying that way, so the app focuses on the right activity levels for you. When we’re sick, burned out, injured or on a break, our well-being matters more, so the app’s focus shifts with it.
The Wellbeing Path replacing the Activity Path in Gentler Streak’s Sick status.
What does the Wellbeing Chart show?
The Health tab is home for your health metrics: vitals, sleep, Vo2max, menstrual cycle. Its daily summary is based on overnight data, and if you don’t have it, we don’t guess blindly, but now leave it up to you to fill it in. Your entries also appear in the Wellbeing Chart below, which includes all of your previously recorded measurements into an overview of your past well-being. You will see, that it works best if you wear your Apple Watch at night.
Simply logging symptoms and moods, or with a little creativity, there are many things you can learn from it! For instance, you can observe whether your sleep quality shifts with the seasons, the day of the week, the day of your cycle or anything else. You could be using a sauna as part of your winter self-care routine to see how your vitals behave - another thing to log. Or just log symptoms to help you spot potential patterns.
The Wellbeing Chart is interactive, and offers a cummulative and day-to-day view. You can also filter by symptoms.
wellbeing chart
Who is “How I Feel” for?
Saying it’s for everyone is not something a marketing advisor would suggest. But it is! :) It can help different groups for different reasons:
People invisible to the majority of the fitness world.
… such as those living with chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, ADHD, long Covid, perimenopause or menopause, or experiencing high stress, low moods or rough sleep. In the US, about 2% of adults live with fibromyalgia, around 7% reported having long Covid in March 2024, and almost half of women aged 40 to 60 (49.4%) reported menopausal symptoms in a year.
Why it works: In these situations, data doesn’t necessarily reflect what we feel in our bodies. Adding your lived experience and symptoms steers the guidance in a better direction and helps you notice sooner that something may be happening, so you can decide what to do.
People who don’t wear their watch at night.
Why it works: night data provides the clearest signals of your body, and without it guidance is potentially missing a big building block (depending on your sleep quality, and health condition). Your input brings guidance closer to the level it would reach if you wore your Apple Watch to bed.
Anyone curious about how their behaviour affects their well-being.
Why it works: tag what you do, and see how it affects the way you feel. Log “sauna” through winter to watch your vitals and mood, “muscle soreness” to follow how you recover after gym days, or “creatine intake” to see whether it changes your training and mood. Using a daylight lamp in winter? Tag it too, and observe if it lifts how you feel.
People without a particular condition.
Why it works: on days when data doesn’t reflect your reality, and that is a very normal occurrence, it steers Gentler Streak in the right direction.
Why did we build it?
It’s an update we’ve had in mind from the very start, when we began working on The Outsiders, our one-stop fitness app for performance-minded people, with all the niche data, progress tracking and geeky detail they love. Splitting development into two apps lets Gentler Streak stay on a more lifestyle-oriented, wholesome and human path. With Gentler Streak we try to be as inclusive and accessible as possible, so that anyone, whatever their fitness level, background or ability, feels part of the gang. Our process involves a lot of talking, thought exchange and concept tweaking, and also a lot of challenging ourselves, all with the common goal: how to create the best possible experience for the person using it.
Research points the same way. In a study of 657 information workers wearing fitness trackers (Martinez et al., JMIR Human Factors, 2022), heart rate variability, a common stress signal, explained only about 1% of the variation in how stressed people said they felt. A 2026 review of five sleep studies, mostly using Fitbit, found that wearables agreed only poorly to moderately with how people rated their own sleep. And across 56 athlete studies (Saw et al., 2015), subjective measures of well-being tracked training load more sensitively than objective ones. Coaches know this: ultra running coach Jason Koop looks at how an athlete describes a workout before he looks at the numbers (Koop, TrainRight).
Is it private, and is it a medical tool?
What you tell the app stays in the app, on your device. There are no accounts and no servers on our side. Gentler Streak isn’t a medical device and doesn’t diagnose or treat anything: think of it as a log to keep an eye on things, so you can make your own decisions. For whenever you feel off, make sure to speak to your doctor or a specialist.
How can I try it?
“How I Feel” is now available on the App Store. You’ll need an iPhone and an Apple Watch. We’d love to hear your experience, we read everything: support@gentlerstories.com.
How I Use It
Frequently Asked Questions
What is “How I Feel” in Gentler Streak?
A feature that lets you add your side of the story: you rate how you feel, add what’s behind it, and your daily guidance adapts.
Does it change my daily guidance?
Yes. When how you feel doesn’t match your data, your answer overwrites the estimate for that day, and the guidance follows it.
Do I need to wear my Apple Watch at night?
No. Night data gives the clearest picture, and without it your input fills in part of what’s missing.
Where is my data stored?
On your device. There is no account and no servers on our side.
Is it a medical tool?
No. It doesn’t diagnose or treat anything.
How do I erase a self-evaluation?
Swipe left on the estimate to erase it, then add what fits best at that time.
Who is it for?
Anyone whose days don’t always match the data: chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, ADHD, long Covid, perimenopause or menopause, high stress, low moods, rough sleep, no watch at night, or simple curiosity.
Who is it for?