Apple Watch & HealthKit

Feelmo's Balance score — your daily measure of inner balance — is born from the heartbeat fluctuations (HRV) that your Apple Watch reads. On this page we'll walk through, one step at a time, how to set things up at the start, how Feelmo reads your data, and what to do when the numbers don't quite appear. There's nothing complicated to configure. Once you've set it up, all that's left is to wear your Watch and go about your day.

To begin — where does the Balance score come from?

Feelmo isn't an app that tries to "guess your emotions." It's a gentle daily companion that watches over the balance of your autonomic nervous system. The clue it relies on is the HRV (heart rate variability — the fluctuation in R-R intervals) that your Apple Watch measures for you.

Your heart doesn't beat with the steady tick of a metronome; it pulses with tiny fluctuations. These fluctuations act like a mirror reflecting the state of your autonomic nervous system, and from them Feelmo builds your Balance score (0–100) — a measure of inner balance. It's drawn mainly from multiple HRV-derived clues, measurement quality, and movement from your own baseline. A low number is a sign that things are "unsettled," a high one a sign that you're "in balance" — but the Feelmo way is to read it not as a number to compare with anyone else, but as the difference from your own usual self (your baseline).

The number itself is translated into the expressions of six companions (Genki/Energetic, Odayaka/Calm, Futsuu/Steady, Fuan/Uneasy, Panku/Frazzled, and Tsukare/Weary), and set gently beside you. So rather than "how many points did I score today," it's enough simply to glance at "which expression is today's you closest to."

What you need

• iPhone (iOS 17.0 or later)
• Apple Watch (used to read your Balance score)
• The Feelmo app (coming soon)

Setup steps

Follow them in order and you'll be done in a few minutes.

1. Pair your Apple Watch with your iPhone beforehand If you haven't yet, please finish pairing first from Apple's "Watch" app. Feelmo works by reading the data already gathered in your iPhone's Health app, so it assumes your Watch and iPhone are connected.

2. Install Feelmo and open it Install it from the App Store and open the app. We'll give you a brief introduction to what Feelmo is all about at the start.

3. Allow access to HealthKit Following the prompts, please allow access to the Health app (HealthKit). Feelmo asks for everything it might use all at once, the first time (we won't suddenly ask for more later). You can choose permission for each type of data, and revoke it anytime from Settings. What it mainly reads is your heart rate variability (HRV), heart rate, and sleep. All of these are used to display your Balance score and vital signs.

4. After that, just go about your day as usual Nothing special is required. Wear your Watch and live as you normally would, and at night, if you can, keep it on while you sleep. From the data that gathers, the Balance score and vital-sign cards will quietly fill in.

When is the best time to measure?

The wrist sensor on Apple Watch isn't good at measuring while your body is in motion. When your wrist moves, noise creeps in easily and the fluctuations can't be read correctly. That's why HRV is captured most reliably at times like these:

• When you're sitting calmly (such as the in-app on-demand measurement — a few dozen seconds of staying still)
• While you're asleep (during sleep there's little body movement, so stable data is easy to capture)

So wearing your Watch and sleeping at night is the surest shortcut to growing your Balance score most cleanly. Even if there aren't many numbers during the day, as long as there's data from when you're sitting calmly or sleeping, Feelmo will read your balance just fine.

Checking and changing permissions

You can check or change your HealthKit permissions anytime from iOS Settings.

Settings → Privacy & Security → Health → Feelmo

Here, for each data type — heart rate variability, heart rate, sleep, and so on — you can toggle reading on or off. Even if you turn one off, you can switch it back on whenever you need it again. The initiative over permissions is always on your side.

When data doesn't appear

When your Balance score or vital signs don't show up, don't worry — just check the following, gently, in order. Most of the time it's simply a small condition that hasn't quite come together.

1. Did you wear your Apple Watch as you went about your day? The Balance score is born from heart data captured when you're sitting calmly or asleep. The data from a night spent wearing your Watch while you sleep is especially stable.

2. Are your HealthKit permissions granted? On the settings screen above (Settings → Privacy & Security → Health → Feelmo), please check whether reading of heart rate variability and the like is allowed.

3. Is your sleep and heart rate data being recorded at all? Open the iOS "Health" app and take a look at whether your sleep and heart rate data are being recorded in the first place. If there's no record here, nothing reaches Feelmo either.

4. Did your Apple Watch have enough battery? If the battery runs out during the night, that night's data can't be captured. Checking the charge before bed, or making a habit of charging at another time such as the evening, keeps things stable.

5. Are you still early in your journey? In the first few days of use, the numbers to display may not all be there yet. Give it a little time and wait for the data to gather.

If that still doesn't resolve it, please feel free to reach out to Support.

About privacy

The data built from your HRV, and your Balance score, stay as a rule inside your own device (on-device). They aren't uploaded somewhere on their own, and you can delete them anytime. Please use Feelmo with peace of mind. For more, see the Privacy page as well.