Help & Support

What is Sentiscale?

Sentiscale is an iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch app that measures how fearful or greedy the market is right now and gives you the answer as a single number from 0 to 100, for the US, European and Asian markets. The number is built from eight independent market signals plus a language model's reading of the day's financial news, and the app explains in plain language why the number moved, with the headlines behind each claim.

Sentiscale is a sentiment gauge, not a trading tool and not financial advice.

Which devices does Sentiscale work on?

iPhone and iPad running iOS or iPadOS 18 or later, plus an Apple Watch app and a lock-screen widget. Sentiscale is a free download on the App Store.

Do I need an account to use Sentiscale?

No. Sentiscale has no accounts, no sign-up and no password. You open the app and the reading is there. If you subscribe to Pro, the subscription is attached to your Apple ID by the App Store, so it follows you to any device signed in with the same Apple ID without you creating anything.

Is Sentiscale free?

Yes, the core of the app is free forever: the live 0–100 mood gauge for all three regions, the lock-screen widget, and the extreme fear and greed alerts. Pro is an optional subscription that adds the reasoning behind the number — the verified daily “why” with its citations, the backtested band signal, and the per-sector breakdown.

Is there an Android or web version of Sentiscale?

Not today. Sentiscale is an Apple-platform app — iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch. There is no Android app on Google Play and no web app; the website you are reading is informational only. If Android ships, it will be announced on sentiscale.app.

What does the 0 to 100 number mean?

It is a fear-and-greed reading. 0 is maximum fear, 100 is maximum greed, and 50 is neutral. Sentiscale labels the number with one of five bands:

Band	Score	What it describes
Extreme fear	0–24	Broad, unusual defensiveness
Fear	25–44	Risk being taken off
Neutral	45–55	No strong pull either way
Greed	56–75	Risk being taken on
Extreme greed	76–100	Broad, unusual risk appetite

The gauge is descriptive, not predictive: it tells you what mood the market is in today, not what it will do tomorrow.

Which markets does Sentiscale cover?

Three regions, each with its own gauge and its own reading: the United States, Europe and Asia. Every region runs the same method on eight signals of its own, with region-appropriate inputs — the European gauge reads VSTOXX and its three-month curve, for example, where the US gauge reads the VIX. The European and Asian gauges deflate their inputs with ECB reference rates, so a currency move never reads as sentiment.

What are the eight signals behind the Sentiscale gauge?

Each region's number fuses eight independent legs, every one measured against its own recent history and mapped onto the same 0–100 fear-to-greed scale, then weighted equally so no single leg dominates:

• News — a language model scores every headline for sentiment, confidence and relevance, weighted by likely market impact.
• Momentum — the main index versus its own moving average.
• Breadth — how many of the eleven sector ETFs are above their own 50-day average, so a rally carried by a handful of megacaps cannot pass as a broad one.
• Volatility — the region's volatility index.
• Safe haven — demand for long-dated government bonds against equities.
• Junk bonds — the actual published high-yield credit spread, not an ETF price ratio standing in for it.
• Volatility curve — the three-month volatility future against spot, which is where near-term stress shows first.
• Tail risk — the market's price for crash protection.

All eight legs are free: the Signals screen shows each one scored, for every region. What Pro adds there is the backtested band signal — what the market did on average after past readings in the band the gauge is in today.

How often does the Sentiscale number update?

The pipeline refreshes every 30 minutes through the day. After the US market opens, the equity legs also carry live intraday quotes, so the headline number can move during the session. The volatility, tail-risk and central-bank data legs are published once a day and only change at the daily close.

Why did the number move when none of the signals changed?

Because part of the gauge is intraday and part of it is not. During US market hours the equity legs update with live prices, which nudges the headline number, while the volatility index, the volatility curve, the tail-risk measure and the credit spread only publish once a day. Outside market hours the number is stable until the next daily close lands.

Why is the Sentiscale number different from CNN's Fear & Greed Index?

Different inputs and a different method. Sentiscale reads and scores the day's news as a full signal in its own right, uses the actual published high-yield credit spread rather than an ETF price ratio, measures breadth across the eleven sector ETFs, and runs the same method separately for Europe and Asia. Two honest fear-and-greed gauges disagreeing by several points is normal; what matters is whether they agree on the direction and the band.

Does Sentiscale show live stock prices?

No, and deliberately. Sentiscale shows only the derived gauge, its legs and the reasoning — never a raw quote. Prices are internal inputs to the calculation. It is a sentiment instrument, not a quote terminal.

What is the daily “why”?

A short plain-language explanation of what actually moved the mood today, written fresh each day from the scored news and the state of the eight signals. Every claim in it is tied to the specific headlines behind it, so you can open the sources and check the reasoning rather than take the sentence on trust. The “why” and its citations are part of Pro.

How do I know the “why” is accurate?

It is written by one language model and then checked by a second, independent one before it ever reaches your screen. The checker verifies that the text is consistent with the band, that it invents no facts, and that it gives no advice or prediction. Anything the sources do not support is dropped. If the check fails, Sentiscale shows nothing rather than showing something unverified.

Why is the “why” empty or locked?

Two possible reasons. If it shows as locked, the daily “why” is a Pro feature and the subscription is not active on this device — tap Restore Purchases in the app's settings if you have already subscribed. If you are on Pro and it is genuinely blank, the verification step rejected that day's draft, which is the system working as designed; it will be back on the next refresh.

How do I add the Sentiscale lock-screen widget?

1. Touch and hold your iPhone's lock screen, then tap Customise.
2. Tap Lock Screen, then tap the widget area below the clock.
3. Find Sentiscale in the list and tap its widget to place it.
4. Tap Done.

The widget is free — no subscription needed. Open the Sentiscale app at least once first, so the widget has a reading to show.

Why is my widget not updating?

iOS decides when widgets refresh, and it throttles them for apps you rarely open, in Low Power Mode, and on a weak connection. Three things fix almost every case: open the Sentiscale app so iOS learns you use it, turn off Low Power Mode, and check that Background App Refresh is on for Sentiscale in Settings. Remember too that the market data itself only changes every 30 minutes, and only on trading days — a widget showing the same number all weekend is correct.

When does Sentiscale send a notification?

Rarely, on purpose. Alerts fire when the gauge enters an extreme band — extreme fear or extreme greed — and on genuinely high-impact fresh news. There is no daily digest and no engagement nagging; if nothing meaningful happened, Sentiscale stays quiet. Notifications are free, not a Pro feature.

I am not getting any notifications. What should I check?

1. Settings › Notifications › Sentiscale — confirm Allow Notifications is on.
2. Check Focus modes and Scheduled Summary are not holding them back.
3. Open the app once; the notification token is registered from inside the app.
4. If you recently reinstalled, re-grant the notification permission — a reinstall issues a new token.

If all four are in order, it is most likely that nothing has crossed the alert bar recently, which is the normal state. Quiet weeks are expected.

What does Sentiscale Pro include?

Everything in the free app, plus the four things that explain the number: the verified daily “why”, the citations showing the exact headlines behind each claim, the backtested band signal showing what the market did on average after past readings in this band, and the per-sector mood breakdown across the eleven sectors.

How much does Sentiscale Pro cost?

3.99 US dollars a month or 19.99 US dollars a year, with a 7-day free trial on either. Prices are set per storefront, so your own country's price is shown in the App Store before anything is charged — in Switzerland, for example, it is CHF 3.95 a month or CHF 27.50 a year. If you subscribed before a price change, you keep the price you signed up at until you cancel.

How do I start the free trial?

Open Sentiscale, tap any Pro feature or the Pro button, and choose monthly or yearly. The 7-day trial starts immediately and you are not charged until it ends. Cancel any time during those 7 days and you pay nothing.

How do I cancel my Sentiscale Pro subscription?

Cancelling is done in the App Store, not in Sentiscale — Apple owns the billing relationship and no app can cancel on your behalf:

1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad.
2. Tap your name at the top, then Subscriptions.
3. Tap Sentiscale, then Cancel Subscription.

Sentiscale's own settings screen has a Manage subscription button that opens the same Apple sheet. You keep Pro until the end of the period you have already paid for, and the free app keeps working afterwards.

I paid but Pro did not unlock. What now?

1. Open Sentiscale's settings and tap Restore purchases. This re-checks your Apple ID with Apple and is the fix in most cases.
2. Confirm the device is signed in with the same Apple ID that made the purchase.
3. Check Settings › your name › Subscriptions — if Apple shows the subscription as active, Restore will pick it up.
4. If a bank confirmation is still pending, Apple has not completed the purchase yet; it unlocks by itself once it clears.

If Restore still does not unlock it, email info@sentiscale.app with your App Store receipt and we will sort it out.

I got a new iPhone. How do I get Pro back?

Install Sentiscale, sign in to the same Apple ID, open the app's settings and tap Restore purchases. There is no account to migrate — the entitlement follows your Apple ID. Pro also works on your iPad and Apple Watch with the same Apple ID at no extra cost.

Can I get a refund?

Refunds for App Store purchases are handled by Apple, not by Sentiscale. Request one at reportaproblem.apple.com with the Apple ID that made the purchase. If Apple declines and you think the case is unusual, write to us and we will look at it.

Does deleting the app cancel my subscription?

No. Deleting Sentiscale does not cancel anything — an App Store subscription keeps renewing until you cancel it in Settings › your name › Subscriptions. Cancel there first, then delete the app.

What data does Sentiscale collect about me?

As little as it can. There are no user accounts, no ads and no third-party tracking or advertising SDKs, and every user sees the same market-wide reading, so there is nothing personal to profile. Sentiscale stores a push notification token if you turn notifications on, and verifies your subscription through Apple. The full detail is in the Privacy Policy.

Does this website track me?

No. sentiscale.app sets no cookies, runs no analytics service and loads nothing from a third party. The web server keeps a plain access log with the client IP removed as it is written, purely to count how many people open the site and how many tap through to the App Store.

Where does Sentiscale's market data come from?

Free, public sources only — no paid terminal and no private feed. Equity and sector data come from Finnhub, the VIX and SKEW indices and the volatility curve from Cboe's public end-of-day files, VSTOXX from STOXX's published history, the high-yield credit spread from the St. Louis Fed's FRED, and the reference rates from the ECB. News comes from public financial news feeds.

Is Sentiscale financial advice?

No. Sentiscale is an information and sentiment tool. It does not give financial, investment or tax advice, makes no recommendation to buy or sell anything, and nothing in the app is a prediction. Past readings and backtested statistics do not indicate future results. See the Terms of Use.

How do I contact Sentiscale support?

Email info@sentiscale.app. One person reads it and usually replies within two business days, in English, German, French, Italian or Spanish. For anything not behaving as it should, include your device model, your iOS version, the region you were looking at and roughly when it happened.

Sentiscale is operated by Vesper AI, c/o ExpertFid & Audit SA, Strehlgasse 2, 8001 Zürich, Switzerland. Company details are on the Imprint.

How do I report a bug or suggest a feature?

The same address — info@sentiscale.app. Feature requests genuinely get read; several shipped features started as one line in an email. A screenshot is worth a paragraph.