Key takeaways:
Apps, when used properly, can be a great tool to use in substance use recovery.
Apps can help you manage cravings, prevent relapse, learn about alcohol and drug addiction, and connect with others in the recovery community.
Our picks for the 10 most effective apps for substance use recovery include apps to track sobriety and complementary apps and digital tools for both 12-step and SMART Recovery groups.
We live in a digital world, and addiction recovery is no exception. Programmers and substance use experts have developed hundreds of recovery apps in recent years, and all of them claim to help people in recovery by tracking sobriety, building new habits, and managing cravings.
Here, we’ll talk about how to use apps during recovery in a way that’s helpful. We’ll also walk you through our choices for the 10 best apps and digital tools on the market for substance use recovery, including information about pricing, features, and what each app targets.
How do apps help substance use and addiction recovery and track sobriety?
Recovery apps can’t replace treatment, but they do fill a large gap in care access. Over 20 million people in the U.S. are estimated to have a substance use disorder, but less than 4 million receive treatment for it. In an ideal world, every person with a substance use disorder would receive treatment from a licensed facility. However, we still have a long way to go to reach that reality.
Using apps for addiction recovery support can never replace treatment by a licensed mental healthcare provider. But they can provide you with social support between sessions or 12-step meetings, and they might introduce you to people in the recovery community who you never would have met otherwise.
Most government authorities, including the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) support the use of digital tools to complement substance use treatment. Especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, we all have had to get used to digital life. Peer support groups and substance abuse counselors moved their services online. And people with substance use disorders turned to apps to help them manage their cravings and symptoms.
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Key features of recovery apps
There are many different types of recovery apps out there, but most of them include at least one of the following features:
Sobriety tracker: This counts how many days (or hours) you’ve been sober. This can be excellent for keeping up your motivation.
Informative content: This is text, video, or audio that teaches you about the science of addiction and recovery.
Peer support: This is a public forum or messaging service that allows you to connect with others in the recovery community. As the success of 12-step groups has proven, peer support is key in early recovery.
Habit tool: This is a feature that helps you build new, healthier habits. These habit tools may help you change habits related to your alcohol or drug addiction or just help you build new ones (like daily self-care habits).
Relapse prevention: Some apps come with a feature that helps you manage cravings in the very moment they hit and avoid relapse.
Directory: This is a listing or map of local treatment providers or peer support groups, so the help you need is at your fingertips.
Other: Some apps have other types of features, including interventions and tools that are specific to the group or treatment method they are used for.
Top 10 addiction recovery apps and digital tools
Here are 9 recovery apps and one web-based tool that can be useful, based on their:
Unique features
Scientific support
Cost: Most are free
Specific groups or populations served
Pear reSET-O: Best overall recovery app
Pear Therapeutics’ Pear reSET-O is our top choice for the best overall recovery app on the market. It’s the only app on this list to be approved by the FDA for substance use treatment. The app delivers a 90-day (12-week) cognitive-behavioral program for adults who are already enrolled in an outpatient treatment program. For now, you can only get Pear reSET-O with a prescription from your doctor.
Initial research (of 3,000 patients who’ve used the app) showed that using Pear reSET-O helped people with opioid use disorders stay sober and engaged in their in-person treatment. The research results have been so promising that the FDA approved it as a prescription digital therapeutic for people who are addicted to opioids.
I Am Sober: Best app for tracking sobriety
I Am Sober is a sobriety tracking app that helps you stay motivated by keeping track of the time — down to the second — you’ve been sober. Many apps come with a sobriety tracker, but I Am Sober has the best, most user-friendly sobriety tracking feature. The tracker also tells you how much money you’ve saved in the time you’ve been sober.
I Am Sober comes with features that help you build new habits and connect with a wide recovery community. It even comes with a withdrawal timeline, which lets you know what withdrawal symptoms you can expect in each stage. When you’re in early recovery, it’s important to know what withdrawal symptoms to expect so you can better cope with them.
SoberWorx: Best recovery app for finding treatment
Available on: Android
Cost: Free
Features: Directory
SoberWorx is basically a directory app that helps people battling substance use disorders and their loved ones to find treatment providers in their area. People can look on the app for:
Substance abuse counselors
Therapists
Licensed rehab facilities
Sober living homes
You can search for providers in the U.S. and the U.K.
SoberWorx isn’t the most downloaded app on our list, but a study by researchers at the New York University School of Medicine (measuring 74 different recovery apps) rated it higher than almost all other apps for aesthetics, engagement, and functionality, among other measures.
Recovery Today Magazine: Best recovery content app
If you’re looking to read inspirational and helpful content about addiction and recovery, then Recovery Today Magazine may be a helpful app for you. Recovery Today is one of the top digital magazines for the addiction recovery community, and you can access every issue with its app.
The articles included in this magazine offer stories of inspiration and courage in addiction recovery. Sometimes, what you need is to read about the successes of someone else who’s going through the same thing you are. Reading the articles in the Recovery Today Magazine app might give you the push you need to overcome challenges in recovery.
Sober Grid: Best recovery social networking app
Facebook, Snapchat, and LinkedIn: Our world is now filled with social networking apps. You can use this type of networking platform to your advantage with Sober Grid, a social networking app that’s specifically designed for people in recovery. It claims to be “the world’s largest recovery app,” and thousands of people have downloaded it so far.
On Sober Grid, you can share your recovery progress with other app users and create posts to both give and receive support. But its best feature is the 24/7 live peer coaching. Certified and trained peer coaches are ready to provide you with constant live support, 365 days out of the year.
Quitzilla: Best recovery app to build good habits
Quitzilla shares many of the same features as other apps on this list, including a sobriety tracker and a motivation reminder, which helps with relapse prevention. You can use the app for any bad habit, not just substance use.
What makes this app especially unique is its habit-building feature. Quitzilla asks you about addictions and bad habits that you want to change, and it supports you in changing them. It helps you stay motivated about your “why” of recovery, and it rewards you for progress made toward new habits.
SoberTool: Best recovery app to manage cravings and prevent relapse
This app was created by a Harvard-educated chemical dependency counselor. It gives you the tools you need at the moment a craving hits. Just open the app and choose the question or issue you’re facing right now. What is making you feel tempted to use again? SoberTool will use that information and give you the tool you need to manage your cravings, in the moment.
You can either answer a few prompts to tell the app how you feel or use its search function. Other features include a sobriety tracker and a community forum so you can share your recovery journey with your peers.
12 Steps AA Companion App: Best 12-step app
Price: $2.99 (App Store); $1.99 (Google Play)
Features: Informative Content, Directory
Many people rely on 12-step support groups to get through early recovery. 12-step groups like Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and Narcotics Anonymous (NA) have helped countless people start living an addiction-free life. Its holy scripture, called the Big Book, has been modified to help with all sorts of addictions, from gambling addiction to overeating.
The best app that supports your 12-step process is the 12 Steps AA Companion App. This app is the one that’s officially associated with AA. With it, you can look up meeting schedules in your area, track your sobriety, and read and take notes on the Big Book. You can even search through an AA contact database.
PTSD Coach: Best dual diagnosis app
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is one of the most common mental illnesses that accompany substance use. It’s so common for people to suffer from both PTSD and substance use disorders, in fact, that several evidence-based practices have been designed specifically to treat these two conditions together. When you suffer from both drug or alcohol addiction and another mental health disorder like PTSD, it’s called a “dual diagnosis.”
One population that commonly experiences dual diagnosis of PTSD and substance use disorder is veterans. That’s why the Veterans’ Administration has created this app, called PTSD Coach. When you suffer from a dual diagnosis condition, you need to treat both the addiction and the mental illness. The VA PTSD Coach app provides you with skills like anger management tools and positive self-talk. You don’t need to be a veteran to download it.
Web-based tools
SMART Recovery Groups are another option for a peer support group (that is not based on the 12-step approach). SMART stands for “Self-Management and Recovery Training.” These peer-support groups are based on science and mutual aid. Their groups are free, and members support each other with managing cravings, maintaining motivation, and managing thoughts and feelings that lead to substance use.
If you’re looking for a digital platform that supports what you’re learning in a SMART recovery group, then the SMART Recovery Cost-Benefit Analysis Tool could be a good fit for you. A cost-benefit analysis, or CBA, is one of the principal skills you learn in SMART recovery groups. A CBA is a decision-making tool that helps you decide whether or not using drugs or alcohol is really worth it.
The bottom line
If anything is clear in the world of substance use treatment, it’s that not nearly enough people are receiving the treatment they need. In the meantime, there are apps. Although apps can’t — and don’t — replace licensed treatment, they put support and information in the pockets of people struggling to recover from addiction. If you feel like you need extra support for your substance use disorder and you have a smartphone, give one of these apps or web-based tools a try.
If you or someone you know struggles with substance use, help is available. Call SAMHSA’s National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357) to learn about resources in your area.
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References
McCauley, J. L., et al. (2012). Posttraumatic stress disorder and co-occurring substance use disorders: Advances in assessment and treatment. Clinical Psychology: A publication of the Division of Clinical Psychology of the American Psychological Association.
Pear Therapeutics. (2020). Pear Therapeutics announces publication of real-world data demonstrating impact of reset-o® for patients with opioid use disorder.
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2015). 1 in 15 veterans had a substance use disorder in the past year.
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2019). Key substance use and mental health indicators in the United States: Results from the 2018 National Survey on Drug Use and Health.
Tofighi, B., et al. (2019). Smartphone apps targeting alcohol and illicit substance use: Systematic search in in commercial app stores and critical content analysis. JMIR mHealth and uHealth.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (2018). FDA clears mobile medical app to help those with opioid use disorder stay in recovery programs.
