Free Study Planner App with Mood Tracking: Why Your Feelings Should Drive Your Schedule
Most planners ignore how you feel. Locked In tracks mood after every focus block, feeds it to AI, and builds schedules that match your actual capacity — not your aspirations.
Standard planner: "Here's your schedule. Execute it." You: Exhausted, anxious, behind. → Planner doesn't care. You skip → guilt → quit.
Locked In: "How are you feeling right now?" → Schedule adapts.
Mood tracking isn't a wellness feature. It's capacity detection. Here's why it changes everything.
The capacity illusion
Aspirational you: "I can do 4 hours of deep work tonight." Actual you: 9 PM, decision fatigue, cortisol high, working memory full.
Standard planner trusts aspirational you. Locked In checks actual you.
How mood tracking works (10 seconds per block)
After every focus block, a check-in appears:
How did that block go?
Mood: ●●○○○ (2/5)
Energy: ●○○○○ (1/5)
Note: "Brain fog, kept checking phone"
Takes 10 seconds. Two tappable scales + optional note.
Three things happen instantly:
1. Interoception training (you learn your signals)
ADHD, burnout, anxiety → impaired interoception (knowing your internal state). Forced check-in = practice. Over weeks, you recognize "I'm at 2/5 energy" before the crash.
2. Real-time AI context (next plan adapts)
Last 4 blocks: mood 2.1, energy 1.8, completion 45%
→ Next plan: Chill Mode, 15-min blocks, 3 blocks max, fun mandatory, sleep anchor
You don't explain. The data speaks.
3. Cortisol Meter updates (live capacity gauge)
All mood + timer + streak data → gauge at /app/cortisol:
| Zone | Score | Meaning | Schedule Response |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ready | 0-33 | High capacity | Max effort, longer blocks |
| Caution | 34-66 | Moderate | Balanced, protect recovery |
| Overloaded | 67-100 | Low reserves | Chill Mode, shorter blocks, sleep-first |
One glance before planning. "I'm at 72 — Chill Mode it is."
Mood-driven scheduling in action
Scenario A: Good day
Mood check-ins: 4.2 avg, energy 4.0, completion 85% Next plan (Study Mode):
- 4 focus blocks, 35 min each
- Standard breaks, movement every 2
- Stretch goals, Max effort available
- Wind-down at 10:30 PM
Scenario B: Rough day
Mood check-ins: 2.1 avg, energy 1.8, completion 40% Next plan (Chill Mode auto-suggested):
- 3 focus blocks, 15 min each
- Longer breaks (10-15 min)
- Movement every block
- Fun block mandatory
- Sleep anchor 11 PM
- "Only if it feels okay" language
Scenario C: Crisis day
Mood check-ins: 1.5 avg, energy 1.2, completion 10% Next plan (Chill Mode locked):
- 2 micro-blocks, 10 min each
- 20 min breaks
- Fun block doubled
- "Permission to stop" language
- Next-day check-in: "Didn't happen" → even gentler tomorrow
Same user. Same app. Completely different schedules. Because capacity ≠ constant.
Why "How was your day?" fails (and block-level wins)
End-of-day reflection:
- Recall bias (peak-end rule)
- Averages out the nuances
- Too late to adjust today
Block-level check-in:
- Real-time signal
- Captures nuance (block 2 great, block 3 crashed)
- Feeds next block immediately (auto-advance) + tomorrow's plan
You build a dataset of YOUR actual rhythms. Not generic advice.
Privacy: Your feelings, your device
- Mood data in
localStorage(local-first) - Never sent to AI raw — only aggregated stats (avg mood, trend, completion rate)
- Optional encrypted sync (you control)
- Clear all → wipes mood history instantly
The compounding effect
Week 1: You notice "I crash after 60 min." Week 2: AI caps blocks at 50 min. Completion jumps 30%. Week 3: You notice "Morning = 4/5 energy, Evening = 2/5." Week 4: AI schedules hard tasks at 9 AM. Evening = Chill Mode. Month 2: Cortisol Meter stays in Ready/Caution. Burnout prevented.
Your planner learns you. Not the other way around.
Try mood-driven planning free (30 seconds)
- lockedn.in → "Start free" → "Continue as guest"
- Type: "Want to try mood-based planning. Usually overplan and crash."
- Get plan with mood check-ins built in
- Do one block → mood check-in appears
- Watch next plan adapt
Your feelings aren't noise. They're signal. Finally a planner that listens.
Locked In: Free study planner with block-level mood tracking + AI adaptation. Local-first, no sign-up. Try it here.
— Locked In
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