Hedonometer 1.5

The Hedonometer app offers a professional interface for visualizing social sentiment data derived from Hedonometer.org, providing an innovative perspective on social well-being.

The primary feature is an interactive graph capable of displaying up to three years of sentiment data. Past years are overlaid with year-to-date comparisons, enabling users to evaluate current data against historical trends seamlessly.

Language preferences for sentiment analysis can be adjusted via the language setting, ensuring accurate representation across different linguistic contexts. Users may also select from various graph styles to tailor the visualization to their preferences. An option to toggle the display of previous years facilitates comparative analysis of temporal trends, either focusing solely on current data or viewing multiple years concurrently.

Data exploration is facilitated through touch interactions: tapping on the graph activates a cursor that can be moved by holding and sliding your finger left or right, revealing precise data points at the cursor location.

The app includes a zoom control via a scale slider, adjustable from six weeks up to an entire year. When zoomed in, users can scroll horizontally across the timeline by swiping left or right on the graph, allowing detailed examination of specific periods.

The accompanying Watch application mirrors these functionalities with an interactive graph and similar controls. The crown wheel enables zooming in and out when the cursor is inactive, and allows movement of the cursor when active, enhancing usability on the wearable device.

During data exploration on the iPhone, a dark green shaded area beneath the graph indicates annotations related to significant events, aiding contextual understanding of happiness fluctuations over time.

The app supports complications for Apple Watch and widgets for iOS devices, including the new Lock Screen widgets introduced in iOS 16. These elements update automatically in the background with no need for manual refreshes, drawing from Hedonometer.org’s daily updated data. They display the latest happiness index alongside trends over the past two days, functioning as a social happiness barometer. Due to potential color limitations on certain complications and widgets, the app employs distinct line styles—thick solid lines for recent data, thin solid lines for one year ago, and dashed lines for two years prior—to differentiate between years visually.

The “More Information” section offers insights into the University of Vermont’s Hedonometer project and additional details about the app’s development and purpose.