An ME/CFS diary that shows what a day has cost.
Bucket is an iPhone diary made for MCAS, POTS, EDS/HSD and migraine that also supports ME/CFS (myalgic encephalomyelitis / chronic fatigue syndrome), which often travels with them. It adds up what you do — physical and mental — as today’s spend, shows it against your usual day and says so after a heavy one. With an Apple Watch it shows time above a heart-rate ceiling. It never sets targets or tells you to do more.
What people with ME/CFS often log.
What they met and did
Work, caring and days out
Mental effort — calls, forms, appointments
Sleep, being unwell, stress
Heat and weather
Medicines and supplements
How they felt
Feeling worse after a busy day
Brain fog
Tiredness
Pain
Feeling worse on standing
Examples of what people often track — not a list of causes or symptoms to look for. You choose what to log, and Bucket learns your own pattern.
Asked in ME/CFS’s own words.
When you set Bucket up, you choose every condition you have or think you might — diagnosed, suspected or still exploring. Each brings a question of its own, in words people with it use. For ME/CFS it’s “Crash” — none, borderline or crashed. Bucket doesn’t ask it every day, only now and then, after a heavy spell.
Your entries fill a bucket that drains over the following days, so you can see the load building. Once there’s enough in your diary, Bucket shows what tends to come before your bad days — the same day or up to about three and a half days earlier.
Pattern in your logs · example
Busy days out tend to be followed by a bad day two days later.
6 of 8 times · 5 separate episodes · held in both halves of your data
An example of how Bucket words a pattern. It describes what tends to follow what — never what caused it.
Your bucket went near the top. Two taps help Bucket learn what matters for you — skip either.
How did you sleep?
- Badly
- OK
- Well
Crash
- None
- Borderline
- Crashed
What Bucket does for ME/CFS.
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Today’s spend
Everything you’ve logged as doing today, body and mind, on the same scale the bucket uses — not a second score. It’s shown against your usual day, and once a few bad days have followed heavier ones, against the level those days reached.
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A note after a heavy day
If yesterday or the day before reached that level, Bucket says so.
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Time above your heart-rate ceiling
With an Apple Watch: your usual resting rate plus 15 to start, or a number you set yourself if a medicine holds your rate down. Stretches of fifteen minutes or more above it, outside a workout, are watched for patterns like anything you log.
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Spoons or a battery
Show today’s spend as spoons or a battery, if that’s how you think about energy. The bucket itself can be a bucket, a jar or a mug — every look fills the same way.
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Light enough for a bad day
A tap, a sentence or your voice is enough, on the Watch or from a widget. Gaps are fine — a day with nothing logged counts as unknown, not as a good day.
Try the free stand test in your browser — no app, nothing stored.
Questions about Bucket and ME/CFS
Is there an app for ME/CFS pacing?
Bucket supports ME/CFS, though it isn’t a pacing programme and never sets targets. It adds up your physical and mental effort as today’s spend and shows it against your usual day — then, once a few bad days have followed heavier ones, against the level those days reached, and says when yesterday or the day before reached it.
Can Bucket track crashes and post-exertional malaise?
Partly. Bucket has no crash log of its own. Now and then it asks its ME/CFS question — none, borderline or crashed — and a crashed answer counts as a bad day when Bucket looks back, up to about three and a half days, for what tends to come before one.
Does Bucket tell me to exercise or do more?
No. Bucket never sets activity targets, never suggests building up, and never says you did too much. It shows what you’ve spent and what tends to come before your bad days in your own records, so you can weigh it yourself.
Does Bucket use heart rate for ME/CFS?
Yes, with an Apple Watch. For ME/CFS, Bucket shows time above a heart-rate ceiling — your usual resting rate plus 15 to start with, or a number you set yourself if a medicine holds your rate down. It is a figure to watch, not a treatment.
Can I use spoons or a battery in Bucket?
Yes. Today’s spend can be shown as spoons or a battery, and the bucket itself as a bucket, a jar or a mug — every look fills the same way.
Is Bucket hard work on a low-energy day?
No. Logging takes a tap or a sentence, by voice, on the Watch or from a widget, and gaps in your diary are fine. A day with nothing logged counts as unknown, not as a good day.
Who wrote this.
Bucket is made by Chris, who has a connective tissue disorder and hypermobility, gets migraines, and is working towards an MCAS diagnosis through the NHS — and built Bucket to find the delayed reactions that were impossible to spot alone. Read Chris’s note.
This page describes what Bucket does. It doesn’t explain ME/CFS, and it isn’t medical advice. To read about ME/CFS itself, see the NHS page.
Checked against the Bucket app on 28 October 2026. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.
Often travels with
Long COVID · POTS · MCAS · EDS/HSD
Free, no sign-up
- Stand test Time five minutes lying and ten standing, count your pulse, print your numbers. Nothing is stored or sent.
- Try the bucket Tick what happened this week and watch a sample bucket fill and drain.
- Appointment sheet One page to fill in before you see a clinician. Print it or save it as a PDF.
- Paper symptom diary A week on one page — what you met, what you did, how you felt.
Be first to try Bucket for ME/CFS.
One email on launch day with the App Store link. That’s all.
Planned launch price: 30 days free, then £12.99 a month or £89.99 a year. Cancel any time in iPhone Settings.