Self-Help Apps
Self Help Resources iPad/iPhone and Android App Suggestions
Below you will find suggestions for a variety of apps geared toward self-growth, stress management, mood management, conquering addictions, etc. Some of these apps are free while others have an associated cost. Some of the content below may be outdated-- please be patient, we plan to update this page soon. To read more about an app simply click on the title. If you have an app that you think should be added to the list below, please email us! To download an app of interest search the app name:
- On the AppStore on your iPad or iPhone or use your associated computer's iTunes account.
- On Google Play or Amazon's "Apps for Android" on your Android Tablet or Phone.
iOS-based (iPad/iPhone) Apps
Fitness
- Body Fitness
- Fitness for iPad: detailed text, photo, video, and audio instructions for hundreds of exercises, 50 yoga poses. Includes 100 ready-made workouts. Cost is $3.99.
- Fooducate: "Lose weight, track your progress, and eat REAL food." Recommended by doctors, dieticians, fitness trainers. Took 1st prize in the US Surgeon's General Healthy App Challenge. 4.5 stars with over 9,500 ratings. For iPhone. Also check out the website! Rated at 4.5 stars with 10,438 ratings. Free with in-app purchases available.
- Daily Yoga-- Lose Weight, Get Relief. Free.
- LiveStrong.Com. Calorie and fitness tracker. Free.
- Brain Fitness
- Fit Brains Trainer: use to enhance your memory, focus and brain speed. Designed by neuroscientists. Free with in-app purchases available. Other apps by this company that are worthy of checking out: Brain Health Lifestyle Assessment, Cognitive Assessment, Focus Trainer, Memory Trainer.
- Lumosity: train memory and attention with brain games and track your progress. Free with in-app purchases available.
- 3D Brain: use your touch screen to rotate and zoom around the interactive brain structures. Discover how each brain region functions, what happens when it is injured and how it is involved in mental illness... Free.
Magazine and Media (broad content)
- Personalized magazines that let you customize content. Choices include health related content focused on fitness, nutrition, physical and mental health. All are free.
- Stitcher Radio Podcast: Listen to more than 3500 of the best news, talk, sports, and entertainment podcasts, or tune into the live streams of your favorite local talk radio stations. Make sure to check out sources in "Science & Medicine" (such as "Psychology" and "Medicine" Stations) and "Lifestyles & Health" (such as "Self-Help & Advice", "Fitness & Nutrition," "Health & Wellness" Stations). Free.
- TED Conferences: Video-recorded talks on all sorts of topics. Check out talks by Brene Brown, Bob Thurman, Martin Seligman... Free. A CAPS staff favorite.
- Umano: Interesting News Read to You: an ever growing catalog of articles that are read to you. Listen while communiting, at the gym, cooking... Build your own playlist or let Umamo create one for you. Five stars at over 1,600 ratings. Free with paid subscription available.
Medical / Mental Health / Psych. Medications
- APA Monitor: provides monthly issues of the "Monitor," a publication of the American Psychological Association. Free.
- Current Psychiatry: provides the latest evidence-based, peer reviewed psychiatric information Free.
- Medscape: large and comprehensive medical app geared toward health care professionals. Free.
- 120+ Mental Health Disorders: detailed descriptions of over 120 different mental health disorders. Free
- PocketPharmacist: Drug information, interaction checker and medication organizar. Includes information on the top 1,550+ medications in the United States. Cost is $1.99.
- PsychDrugs: provides information on various psychologically related medications, including indications and dosage. Free.
- SkyScape: used by healthcare professionals to access trusted medical resources. Provides drug information, medical calculators, and clinical information on over 850 topics. Free.
- TherapyBuddy: Get the most out of being in counseling. An app that lets you record appointments, takeaways from your sessions, homework, things you want to bring up next session, etc. The app is password protected. Free.
- WebMD: access to signs, symptoms, and treatment of various medical ailments. Free.
Mental Health Support and Suicide Prevention
- ASK & Prevent Suicide: includes warning signs associated with suicidal behavior, what to do, access to crisis lines. Free.
- Jason Foundation A Friend Asks: how to help a friend who might be thinking of suicide. Provides warning signs, do's and don'ts, and the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, etc. Free.
- Lifebuoy: Suicide Prevention: Continuity of Care and Follow-Up: this is an interactive, self-help promoting app designed to assist suicide survivors as they normalize their lives after a recent suicide attempt. Contains a mood diary, self-help, and crisis resources. Free.
- My Game Plan: helps people who are following up from a visit to a psychiatric emergency facility. Helps you to develop a safety plan; have easy access to supportive phone contacts, warning signs and coping strategies, etc. Free.
- MY3-Support Network: stay connected to your network when you are in a time of crisis with MY3. You define your network, and your plan to stay safe. Free.
- QPRBook: For suicide prevention. A book available in Spanish and English for those thinking about suicide and for those who know, love, and counsel them. Highly recommend. (As an alternative, you can also download the book to your computer in pdf or view it online). Free.
- ReliefLink: this innovative suicide prevention/mental health app won a $50,000 prize at a White House conference! It includes mood and behavior monitoring and tracking, safety planning, medications and appointment reminders, a help center map locator, built-in coping tools, & an emergency button. Free.
- Spill--Get real about life anonymously. Hear honest opinions from people who can relate. For people in high school, college, graduate school, & beyond. Share stories, advice, encouragement and empathy with one another. Spill has long been available on the web and now has this handy app as well. Free.
- Virtual Hope Box-- received the 2014 Dept of Defense Innovation Award! It is designed for use by patients and their behavioral health providers as an accessory to treatment. Provides tools to help with coping, relaxation, distraction, emotional regulation, and positive thinking. And you can personalize the content. Free.
Mood Management (e.g., Help for Anxiety and Depression)
- Anti-Anxiety: Stress therapy program to manage your stress and anxieties. Free.
- Anxiety Coach: App comes from the Mayo Clinic. Comprehensive self-help tool for reducing a wide vareity of fears and worries from extreme shyness to obsessions and compulsions. Cost is $4.99.
- Anxiety Free: self-hypnosis to reduce anxiety and its associated negative consequences. Free.
- Anxiety Mint--Cognitive Bias Modification for Anxiety: CBM works by altering negative attentional biases. Complete 15 minutes of CBM a week to start. Cost is $1.99.
- CBT-i Coach: designed for people engaged in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia. Best used in conjunction with a health provider. Improve your sleep routine and sleep environment. Free.
- DBT Self-help: a tool to help you manage overwhelming emotions, break destructive impulsive behaviors, navigate relationships, and cultivate mindfulness. The skills are based on the principles and skills taught in Dialectical Behavioral Therapy skill classes. Can be used in conjunction with psychotherapy or as a standalone self-help intervention. Cost is $8.99.
- eCBT Mood: helps people who are feeling down or depressed to feel better by using the scientific principles of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Cost is $.99.
- End Anxiety Hypnosis-- Free Relieve Stress, Manage Worry, and Relax Deeply with Meditation and Hypnotism. Free with in- app purchases.
- The Gratitude Habit: A Happiness Workshop from LiveBetterYou. Workshop on happiness with tips on incorporating gratitude and appreciation into your own life. Five star app. Free.
- Gratitude & Happiness(Self-Help Journal, Todo, Thoughts and Mood Tracker): Track basic happiness items and graph them. This is "a slice" of the Track & Share app above. If you purchase that app, skip this one. Cost is $.99.
- Happy App--Beat Depression, Anxiety & Stress, Guided Meditation & Hypnosis. Guided hypnosis by Racheal Meddows. Cost is $3.99.
- iCounselor Series: iCounselor apps include anxiety, anger, depression, eating disorder, and OCD. All are $.99 with varied ratings.
- LearnPanicCBT for iPad: this is a self-treatment program for panic disorder that is based on Cognitive Behavior Therapy principles. Cost is $4.99.
- MoodKit by Thriveport: Improve your mood and become your own expert with the wisdom and guidance of MoodKit at your fingertips. This app has over 150 mood improvement activities, a thought checker, mood tracker, journal, iOS calendar integration, and more. It was featured in the LA Times, Harvard Business Review, CNET, and the App Store's "New and Noteworthy" and "What's Hot" in Health & Fitness. For iPhone. App rated at 4.5 stars. Cost is $4.99.
- Optimism: a mood charting app that helps you develop strategies for managing depression, bipolar or other mental health conditions. Free. Also available for your computer and on the web.
- Relieve Depression Hypnosis-Stop Feeling Depressed & Start Being Happy. Helps to improve your outlook and relieve anxiety through hypnosis. Free with available in-app purchase for advanced features.
- Self-help for Anxiety Management: offers a range of self-help methods for people who are serious about learning to manage their anxiety. Developed by a team of psychologists, computer scientists and student users. Highly recommend. Free.
- Support by EBT: Emotional Brain Training Check in: For those who are using the EBT program for stress and mood management, this is a useful tool. The app is designed to help you identify your current level of stress, discover what part of your brain is now dominant and then use a brain based tool to reduce stress and feel better. To learn more about EBT, download the book "Emotional Brain Training, An Introduction to EBT" from the iBook store. This app won't make much sense to you if you are not familiar with the EBT program. Cost of app is free but you must create an account at EBTGroups.com.
- Track and Share (Lite or Pro): Track your mood, improve your habits, get things done, manage your health, practice gratitude; very versatile and useful app. Rated at 4 stars. Lite is free; pro is $4.99. A CAPS staff favorite.
Productivity, Motivation, & Goal Setting
- Carrot To-Do: "The worlds first to-do list with a personality. You keep this sadistic AI construct happy by getting things done in real life. She'll reward you. But be careful! Slackers make CARROT upset..." Five stars with over 10,000 ratings. Cost is $1.99.
- Evernote: cloud storage that helps you "collect and find everything that matters." Free until you need more storage space. Syncs the material across your evernote applications on your computer, iPhone, iPad, android and windows devices.
- Habits Pro: Helps you set tasks and goals and track your related habits. Rated at 4 stars. Cost is $4.99.
- Lift-Daily Motivation: "Unlock your potential. Change your life." Coaching toward making your goals habitual, see your progress visualized, get support from your friends, try to beat your best streak. Free.
- Priority Matrix: a simple and effective task management app. Uses time management strategies to help you be more effective in managing your priorities. Free.
- Springpad: get organized, get inspired, and get more done. Free personal organizer app that lets you save and organize tasks, recipes, notes, movies, and more. Save from anywhere, on any device. Free.
- Todoist: To-Do List / Task List: The leading todo list and task manager for iPhone and iPad. Works on 13 platforms and syncs across all your devices. Free with in-app purchase available.
- Track and Share (Lite or Pro): Track your mood, improve your habits, get things done, manage your health, practice gratitude; very versatile and useful app. Lite is free; pro is $4.99.
- Unstuck: designed to kick-start success for specific kinds of stuck moments. Helps you make decisions, set plans, get motivated, overcome obstacles, etc. Free. (Also check out the website for more content. The page on gratitude is great)
Relax, Reflect, Meditate, Manage Stress, Sleep
- Breathe2Relax: stress management tool using diaphragmatic breathing. Free.
- Buddhify 2: "the mindfulness app for your modern life." Dozens of custom meditations for 14 different parts of your day. Cost is $1.99.
- Conscious: increase your mindfulness and awareness by taking simple and effective daily challenges alongside other like-minded people. Rated at 4+ stars. Free. A CAPS staff favoirte.
- eCBT Calm: helps people who are feeling stressed and want to learn relaxation skills. It assesses your stress level, provides relaxation skills, and also includes links to online resoucres for stress and anxiety. For iPhone. Cost is $.99.
- Headspace (on-the-go). Meditation app with quick techniques to "help you sleep better, focus more, & get some relief from a busy mind." For iPhone. Free.
- iZen Garden for iPad: Create your own Zen garden (with a rake, sand and rocks..). Cost is $4.99.
- Meditation 4 Inner Wisdom: guided meditation/self-hypnosis. Free.
- Mindfulness Meditation: guided meditations ranging from 5 to 40 minutes; includes an audio guide to meditation. Cost is $1.99.
- Mindful Meditation Hypnosis by Subliminal Affirmations. Choose a short or long session of hypnosis led by Rachael Meddows. Free with in app purchases.
- Relax and Sleep Well: guided relaxation/self-hypnosis. Lite version is free; full version is $6.99.
- Relax Melodies: Oriental Meditation. Relaxing sessions designed to help you sleep. Includes timers and alarms. Free. Premium version is $2.99.
- Relax Melodies: Sleep Zen Sounds & White Noise for Meditation, Yoga and Baby Relaxation. Relaxing sessions designed to help you sleep. Includes timers and alarms. This is a popular sleep aid app with over 4,000 ratings. Free. Premium version is $2.99.
- Relax with Andrew Johnson-- Deep Relaxation-- Sleep. Teaches relaxation techniques. Lite version is free; full version is $2.99.
- Simply Being-- Guided Meditation for Relaxation & Presence. A highly acclaimed meditation app that provides 4 meditation times and gives you options of background music or nature sounds. Great ratings at 4.5 stars and over 1,000 reviews. Cost is $.99.
- Sleep Machine. Highly acclaimed sleep app with over 71,000 ratings. Provides ambient sounds which you can mix together. Current version rated at 4.5 stars. Lite version is free; full version is $1.99.
- Sleep Pillow: White Noise Machine: A variety of different nature sounds (rain, ocean, whales, etc.) to help you relax and/or sleep. Terrific reviews at 4.5 stars and almost 14,000 ratings! Lite version is free; full version is $1.99.
- Stop, Breathe, & Think: Become more mindful and compassionate using the meditation guide. Check-in daily, track your progress, and feel the calm. Rated at 5 stars. Free with in-app purchases. A CAPS staff favorite.
- Take a Break-- Guided Meditations for Stress Relief. Includes Work Break Relaxation (7 min.) and Stress Relief Meditation (13 min.). Free.
- The Now-Mindful LIving: helps you to retrain your mind to live more fully in the moment. Provides periodic cues to be fully focused on the present. Free.
- Transform Your Life: A Year of Awareness Practice by Cheri Huber: provides 365 days of inspirational quotes, encouragement, and daily assignments supporting awareness practice. Free with in app purchases available.
- Zen Wisdom: Collection of Zen quotes that bring perspective. Cost is $.99.
Recover from Addiction
- Craving to Quit: A 21-day program based on a successful smoking cessation program developed and tested at Yale University. Available on iOS and Android.
- iQuit: Helps you to quit smoking using the iQuit "scheduled reduction" method. Free.
- iQuit-Stop Smoking Counter: measures smoking cessation and the length of time you have stopped smoking, the money you have saved, and the extra life gained. Cost is $1.99
- iPromises Recovery Companion: AA and 12-step recovery application. You can create trigger alerts, share meetings and access shared meetings; geo-locate the meeting you are stitting in to add it to your meeting list; easily contact friends in recovery; keep a visual journal of your moods, challenges, and accomplishments; click an icon to call your sponsor; get a daily positive message; etc. Free.
- Quit Pro: Stop Smoking Now: shows the number of cigarettes that have not been smoked, the amount of money saved daily, and allows you to post to social media to get support from friends).
- recoveryBox Addiction Recovery Toolbox: designed for addiction recovery and accountability. Customize the behaviors you want to track: from alcohol to sex or shopping addiction, etc. Well liked by reviewers. Cost is $1.99.
- Recovery Record (Eating Disorder Management): a companion on your journey to recovery from eating disorders including anorexia, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder. This app is also intended for people with general eating, weight and shape concerns. Based on CBT and self-monitoring research. Super app at 5 stars with over 1,000 ratings. Free. Also, clinicians should check out: Recovery Record Clinician (for Eating Disorder Treatment Professionals-- an evidence-based, HIPAA compliant application).
- Stop Drinking with Andrew Johnson: designed to help listeners relax and overcome the emotional and physical cravings of alcohol. The app is designed to help you break the negative habits that lead you to reaching for a drink and give you the positive resources to achieve your goals. Uses relaxation, hypnotherapy, positve suggestions and visualization. Cost is $2.99.
- 12 Steps AA Companion-Alcoholics Anonymous: a comprehensive sobriety tool available for members of Alcoholoics Anonymous. Has a Big Book reader, search tool, sobriety calculator, notes, AA contacts database and more. Cost is $2.99.
- Quit Forever: program that was designed by smoking cessation experts from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center to help you quit smoking. Helps you develop a personalized plan to quit that includes preparing to quit, qutting, and dealing with relapse. Also helps you connect with others for support and lets you track how much money you can save by not smoking. Cost is $1.99.
- Quit Smoking Hypnosis by Mindifi--Stop Addiction Now: Recondition your mind's thought processes through hypnosis. Four audio programs. The first is free, additional tracks have a cost. The "all audios" pack is $9.99.
Trauma Help & Support
- eCBT Trauma: helps people who have experienced a traumatic event. It uses the scientific principles of CBT to help relieve the symptoms of PTSD. Cost is $.99.
- PTSD Coach: excellent app designed for Veterans and military Service Members who have, or may have, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). This app provides users with education about PTSD, information about professional care, a self-assessment for PTSD, opportunities to find supoprt, and tools that can help users manage the stresses of daily life with PTSD. Free.
- PTSD Connect: join a growing community of people from all walks of life who face PTSD. Members share experiences and learn from each other. Follow discussions on the go, find helpful tips and treatment resources. Visit the website which offers even more resources (click on link above). Free.
Veterans Support Apps (click link)
Android Apps
Fitness
- Body Fitness
- Cardio Trainer and Cardio Trainer Pro: track and record your fitness activities; record your pace, calories, path taken, etc. Also allows for customization for running, cycling, hiking, and other fitness activities. Lite is free; pro is $9.99
- Daily Yoga-- Lose Weight, get in shape, relieve stress... with this yoga coaching app with different durations and levels. Free.
- Fooducate: "Lose weight, track your progress, and eat REAL food." Recommended by doctors, dieticians, fitness trainers and took 1st prize in the US Surgeon's General Healthy App Challenge. 4.5 stars with over 9,500 ratings. Check out the website! Free version and Fooducate+ version for $4.99.
- Instant Heart Rate: a well regarded heart rate monitor app. Use it for optimizing your exercise and to track your progress. Rated at 4.4 stars with over 125,000 ratings! Free.
- LiveStrong.Com. Calorie and fitness tracker. Set your goals and track your progress. Free.
- VirtuaGym Fitness Home & Gym: offers full workout plans for home and gym use, 3D demonstrations of every exercise in its database, audio prompts, and more. Free.
- YogaPedia: provides nearly 100 unique yoga positions, tips and information. Free.
- Brain Fitness
- Fit Brains Trainer: scientifically-designed app thta provides a collection of fun brain games, personalized training sessions, and visual tools to help you improve your brain's performance. Free.
- Mind Games: collection of games based in part on principles of cognitive psychology to help you practice different mental skills. Fight the effects of aging on your brain and improve brain functioning at any age. Free.
- 3D Brain: use your touch screen to rotate and zoom around the interactive brain structures. Discover how each brain region functions, what happens when it is injured and how it is involved in mental illness... Free.
Magazine & Media (broad content)
- Personalized magazines or readers that let you customize content. Choices include health related content focused on fitness, nutrition, physical and mental health. All are free.
- Stitcher Radio Podcast: Listen to more than 3500 of the best news, talk, sports, and entertainment podcasts, or tune into the live streams of your favorite local talk radio stations. Make sure to check out sources in "Science & Medicine" (such as "Psychology" and "Medicine" Stations) and "Lifestyles & Health" (such as "Self-Help & Advice", "Fitness & Nutrition," "Health & Wellness" Stations).
- Ted Talks for Android. Video-recorded talks on all sorts of topics. Check out talks by Brene Brown, Bob Thurman, Martin Seligman... Free. A CAPS staff favorite.
- Umano: Interesting News Read to You: an ever growing catalog of articles that are read to you. Listen while communiting, at the gym, cooking... Build your own playlist or let Umamo create one for you. Free with paid subscription available.
Medical + Mental Health & Psych. Medications
- APA Monitor: provides monthly issues of the "Monitor," a publication of the American Psychological Association. Free.
- Medscape: large and comprehensive medical app geared toward health care professionals.
- PsychDrugs: provides information on various psychologically related medications, including indications and dosage.
- SkyScape: used by healthcare professionals to access trusted medical resources. Provides drug information, medical calculators, and clinical information on over 850 topics.
- WebMD: access to signs, symptoms, and treatment of various medical ailments.
Mental Health Support and Suicide Prevention
- ASK & Prevent Suicide: includes warning signs associated with suicidal behavior, what to do, access to crisis lines. Free.
- Jason Foundation A Friend Asks: how to help a friend who might be thinking of suicide. Provides warning signs, do's and don'ts, and the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, etc. Free.
- MY3-Support Network: stay connected to your network when you are in a time of crisis with MY3. You define your network, and your plan to stay safe. Free.
- QPRBook: For suicide prevention. A book available in Spanish and English for those thinking about suicide and for those who know, love, and counsel them. Highly recommend. (As an alternative, you can also download the book to your computer in pdf or view it online). Free.
- Spill--Get real about life anonymously. Hear honest opinions from people who can related. Share your advice with other people in high school, college, graduate school, & beyond. Share stories, advice, encouragement and empathy with one another. Spill has long been available on the web and now has this handy app as well. Free.
- Virtual Hope Box-- received the 2014 Dept of Defense Innovation Award! It is designed for use by patients and their behavioral health providers as an accessory to treatment. Provides tools to help with coping, relaxation, distraction, emotional regulation, and positive thinking. And you can personalize the content. Free.
Mood Management (e.g., Help for Anxiety and Depression)
- Cognitive Diary CBT Self-Help: Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is a mental-health approach stipulating that irrational beliefs lead to many life problems including stress, anxiety, anger, depression, conflict in relationships, and more. This app provides a Cognitive Diary, which is a technique used in CBT to help challenge that irrational thinking. Rated at 4.5 stars. Free.
- Cognitive Styles CBT Test: This app is based upon research in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and is sponsored by a clinical psychologist. It is meant for personal assessment to aid in self-help for personal improvement. By examining your thinking styles, you can learn to change them which can reduce anxiety, depression, and unreasonable anger. In addition, you can improve your self-esteem and your relationships. Rated at 4.5 stars. Free.
- Depression CBT Self-Help Guide: learn to control the stress that contributes to depression through articles, suggestions, cognitive thought diary, emotion training audio, etc. Well rated at 4.5 stars. Free.
- Self-help for Anxiety Management: offers a range of self-help methods for people who are serious about learning to manage their anxiety. Developed by a team of psychologists, computer scientists and student users. Highly recommend. Free.
- Stop Panic & Anxiety Self-Help: Use this app to get through a panic attack, and to learn to tolerate and control anxiety symptoms. Rated at 4.5 stars with over 800 ratings. Free.
- Support by EBT: Emotional Brain Training Check in: For those who are using the EBT program for stress and mood management, this is a useful tool. The app is designed to help you identify your current level of stress, discover what part of your brain is now dominant and then use a brain based tool to reduce stress and feel better. Cost of app is free but you must create an account at EBTGroups.com.
- T2 Mood Tracker: designed to help you track your emotional experience over time and to provide you with a tool to share this information with your health care provider. Six pre-loaded issues included: anxiety, depression, general well-being, head injury, post-traumatic stress, and stress. Rate yourself, make notes, find patterns. Free.
- Worry Box-Anxiety Self-Help: Does worry cause you anxiety and tension? Do you avoid things due to fear of the outcome? Does your worry cause conflict with others? Put Your Worries in the Worry Box - Use the worry cognitive diary to help you determine how to cope with the worry. If it's controllable, you can list the steps you can take to manage the worry. If it's not controllable, select from the list of coping statements to help you think about it differently. Free.
Productivity, Motivation, & Goal Setting
- Evernote: cloud storage that helps you "collect and find everything that matters." Free until you need more storage space. Syncs the material on your computer, iPhone, iPad, android and windows devices. A CAPS staff favoirte.
- Lift-Daily Motivation: "Unlock your potential. Change your life." Coaching toward making your goals habitual, see your progress visualized, get support from your friends, try to beat your best streak. Free.
- Todoist: To-Do List / Task List: A leading todo list and task manager. Works on 13 platforms and syncs across all your devices. Free and Premium versions.
- Wunderlist--To-do & Task List: easy way to manage and share your daily to-do lists. Syncs across all your devices. Free.
Recover from Addiction
- Recovery Record (Eating Disorder Management): a companion on your journey to recovery from eating disorders including anorexia, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder. This app is also intended for people with general eating, weight and shape concerns. Based on CBT and self-monitoring research. Super app at 5 stars with over 1,000 ratings. Free. Also, clinicians should check out: Recovery Record Clinician (for Eating Disorder Treatment Professionals-- an evidence-based, HIPAA compliant application).
- 12 Steps AA Companion-Alcoholics Anonymous: a comprehensive sobriety tool available for members of Alcoholoics Anonymous. Has a Big Book reader, search tool, sobriety calculator, notes, AA contacts database and more. Cost is $1.99.
- Quit Drinking-Andrew Johnson: designed to help you relax and overcome the emotional and physical cravings for alcohol and to help you break those negative habits that lead to reaching for a drink.
- Quit Smoking: provides a customizable tracking widget for your Android phone's home screen, letting you keep up on progress and measure your success. This app is designed to gradually wean you from your dependency on cigarettes with a step-down program. It adjusts itself continuously to fit your personal smoking pattern based on the data you enter.
Relax, Reflect, Meditate, Manage Stress, Sleep
- Breathe2Relax: stress management tool that provides information on stress, and instructions and exercises to reduce stress including diaphragmatic breathing. Free.
- Conscious: increase your mindfulness and awareness by taking simple and effective daily challenges alongside other like-minded people. Rated at 4.6 stars. Free. A CAPS staff favoirte.
- Headspace (on-the-go). Meditation app. Free.
- Lightening Bug-Sleep Clock: ambience and white noise mixer. Library of almost 200 sound loops and samples, soothing backgrounds, and sound visualizations, customizable alarm clock... Rated at 4.6 stars with over 28,000 ratings. Free.
- Lightening Bug-Meditation Pack: includes 8 meditation scenes and 19 sounds. Gongs, bells, pads, sitar, breaks, aums, and chimes. Must install Lightening Bug before buying this content. Rated at 4.6 stars. Cost is $1.49.
- Meditation Helper: A meditation timer which allows you to set a target for the length of time you want to meditate each day. High ratings at 4.7 stars and over 1,400 ratings. Free. A CAPS staff favoite.
- MindHealth: an app (based on Buddhist Psychology) to help you reduce stress, calm the mind, and "sow the seeds of happiness" through your meditation practice. Helps you learn acceptance, non-judgment, compassion, gratitude, loving kindness.
- Relax Completely: hypnosis session for deep relaxation which has received rave reviews from around the world. Rated at 4.4 stars with over 1,300 ratings. Free. The paid version of this app, Sleep Deeply is also well-regarded.
- Relax and Sleep Well: guided relaxation/self-hypnosis by Glenn Harrold. The recording is designed to help you alleviate stress and anxiety and sleep well at night. Free.
- Simply Being Guided Meditation: choose from 4 meditation times and meditate with or without music/nature sounds. $.99.
- Sleep Cycle: simple time calculator that makes it easy to manage sleep cycles so that you wake up well-rested. Free.
- Stop, Breathe & Think: Become more mindful and compassionate using the meditation guide. Check-in daily, track your progress, and feel the calm. Rated at 4 stars. Free with in-app purchases. A CAPS staff favorite.
Trauma Help & Support
- PTSD Coach: designed for Veterans and military Service Members who have, or may have, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). This app provides users with education about PTSD, information about professional care, a self-assessment for PTSD, opportunities to find supoprt, and tools that can help users manage the stresses of daily life with PTSD.
- PTSD Connect: join a growing community of people from all walks of life who face PTSD. Members share experiences and learn from each other. Follow discussions on the go, find helpful tips and treatment resources. Visit the website which offers even more resources (click on link above). Free.