The best apps for emotional intelligence

The best app for emotional intelligence depends on which half you want. For understanding your own emotions, How We Feel is our top pick: it is free, made by a nonprofit with Yale’s Center for Emotional Intelligence, and built around naming feelings precisely. For reading other people and practising what you say next, Volo is the better fit.

Emotional intelligence is usually described as awareness of your own feelings and awareness of other people’s. Most apps cover the first half. Few cover the second.

How we compared

We compared published features as of September 2026 on four points: whether the app builds self-awareness, whether it builds awareness of others, whether it gives you a way to practise, and what it costs.

1. How We Feel

How We Feel is the best free tool for emotional self-awareness. How We Feel is a mood journal from The How We Feel Project, a nonprofit founded with Yale’s Center for Emotional Intelligence and based on research by Dr Marc Brackett. You check in with a colour-coded matrix built on the Mood Meter, choose from a wide vocabulary of emotion words, and get strategies such as mindfulness, cognitive reframing and movement. It also has body sensation mapping, weekly insights, a friends feature and video-guided activities. It is free and works on iPhone.

Limitation: it focuses on your own feelings, not on reading people or handling a conversation.

Best for: naming your own emotions precisely.

2. Volo

Volo is the pick when emotional intelligence means reading people and responding well. It is an iPhone app. The Body Language track includes Reading Others and Subtle Mirroring, and the Conversation Skills track includes Active Listening and Asking Questions That Open People Up. Lessons run 2 to 4 minutes.

Practice is the difference. Its 25 AI roleplay scenarios, which you type or speak, include “Recovering from something awkward you said” and “A tense dinner with family”, and the coach grades three goals and quotes your own lines back. What To Say adds 61 scripts in warm, playful and direct tones.

Limitation: iPhone only, no mood tracking, and it is not therapy.

Best for: reading other people and responding well, with practice. Volo on the App Store · Communication skills with Volo

3. Six Seconds apps

Six Seconds offers small, focused tools. Six Seconds lists EQ Coach, an iPhone app with 64 reflection questions, flip cards and note-taking by text or voice, priced at $1.99 for the full version as of September 2026. It also lists a free Emotion Wheel app for building emotional vocabulary.

Limitation: these are reflection tools, not practice.

Best for: reflection prompts and an emotion vocabulary.

4. Wysa

Wysa is an AI companion for talking through how you feel. Wysa offers an AI chat, CBT and DBT-inspired self-help techniques and mindfulness exercises for anxiety, anger and conflict. It works on iPhone and has a free version with paid tiers. It says it does not offer diagnostic measurements or treatment advice.

Limitation: it is a wellbeing tool, not an emotional intelligence course.

Best for: talking through a feeling with an AI companion.

How do the emotional intelligence apps compare?

App	Your own emotions	Other people’s	Practice	Cost
How We Feel	Strong	Light	No	Free
Volo	Light	Yes, lessons	Yes, AI roleplay	Free tier
Six Seconds apps	Yes	No	No	Free and $1.99
Wysa	Some	No	Chat	Free tier

How can you build emotional intelligence beyond an app?

Practise in real conversations. Name your feeling before you react. Ask a question before you assume. Notice one thing about the other person’s tone or posture. For structure on the people side, see the best communication skills apps and how to improve communication skills.