Free Apps for People in Recovery

March 3, 2021

Everyone in recovery can use support, no matter how long they’ve been sober. We’ve compiled a list of recovery-based apps that can be downloaded onto your phone to help you stay connected to a recovery support community and meet your own recovery goals. All of the apps listed are available on Google Android and Apple iOS. Best of all, these apps are free.

Sober Grid allows you to create online profiles and interact, support, and engage with other people in recovery using a platform similar to Facebook. You can also use the app to create anonymous check-ins about whether you’re sober or not, your mood, and what’s going on. These daily connections with others in the recovery community can help you remain clean and sober. If you turn on the GPS locator, you can find other sober people nearby. This can be useful if you’re traveling, in a new city, at a concert, or in an airport and you want to find other sober people to connect with.

SoberTool is an easy way to track your sober days. The app includes daily motivational messages and reminders to keep you on target. You can earn rewards by hitting different milestones for the time that you have stayed sober. The app even calculates your estimated savings from staying sober. One of the most unique tools is a feature that allows you to work through triggers and avoid relapse. You can also answer questions and be guided through uplifting messages that will inspire you to stay sober.

WEconnect provides daily reminders to keep your recovery plan on track. The app allows you to create reminders for anything you need, such as call your sponsor, go to a group meeting or meditate. You can also check in to activities such as 12-step meetings, outpatient treatment or group therapy. And you can check off daily activities from a list of “clarity routines” like exercising, journaling/writing, listening to music, spending time in nature. An “SOS” feature provides extra support when you need it the most. When you first download the app, you can select whether you want to manage your own recovery or be a supporter of someone else’s recovery, making it great option for sponsors, coaches, friends, family, and coaches.

AA Big Book Free – For Alcoholics Anonymous gives you access to the full text of the Big Book, and allows you to bookmark meaningful passages, make notes and search for keywords. In addition, the app includes a meeting finder, podcasts, prayers, and personal stories. A sobriety calculator lets you enter your sobriety date and keep track of your progress.

Other useful apps

Apps that focus on your mental and emotional health may also be helpful to people in recovery.

Headspace: This app is designed to make meditation easy and convenient. Meditation can help you create new patterns of thinking, and replace negative thoughts with positive ones, and decrease psychological stress like anxiety, pain, and depression. The program offers a free starter program: 10 days with 10 minutes of guided meditation. After 10 days, you have to pay for a subscription to unlock all of the meditations.

Simple Habit: This easy-to-use app is designed to help you meditate throughout the day, with sessions for sleep, anxiety, positivity, stress reduction, and to help slow breathing. There are free sessions available, but if you want to access all mindfulness exercises, a paid subscription is required.

Tide: When you are in recovery from addiction, it is important that you keep a healthy work/life balance. Tide helps you stay focused and productive with ambient noise and a timer. The focus timer is broken up in 25-minute fully concentrated periods and separated by 5-minute short breaks. You can choose from 5 meditation sounds, including forest, rain, and ocean.