A big part of sticking with your recovery from an addiction is having support from family, friends and sponsors, going to and participating in meetings, and keeping triggers at bay. You also have to maintain your well-being by exercising and eating a healthy diet. These are all the main elements of thriving in our society today, especially when you’re recovering from an addiction.
Today, another helpful addiction recovery tool is emerging. A growing trend of use among people who are recovering from an addiction is smartphone addiction recovery apps. Mobile applications for addiction recovery including clever elements that make it easier for you to find support, manage triggers, benefit from daily inspiration, monitor and track your recovery, and so much more.
Smartphone apps for addiction recovery have become a huge addition to the current and upcoming health-related apps providing people with immediate access to information and support relating to their condition. And, it’s no wonder that addiction recovery apps are growing in their usage considering the number of people who struggle with substance abuse and addiction.
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Take these statistics, for example:
- By 2018, more than 50 percent of tablet and smartphone users will have downloaded a mobile health-related app, including addiction recovery apps.
- One in seven Americans are expected to develop a substance abuse disorder, according to a 2016 report released by the surgeon general. Only one in 10 of these people will get treatment.
- More than 20 million Americans struggle with substance addictions.
If you’re in recovery for substance abuse, the good news is you have a lot of resources available to you after you leave an addiction treatment facility, such at 12 Keys Rehab. Not only do we offer you a customized aftercare program, but you also have the opportunity to get help in the form of support groups, local community programs, meetings, and even cell phone recovery apps.
With the rise in technology, you now can use your smartphone to get the help you need at any time of the day or night for your recovery through the use of addiction recovery apps. Let’s take a look at the many things mobile apps for addiction recovery have to offer.
About Apps for Addiction Recovery
These days, every time you turn around, there is someone using their smartphone for activities like texting, accessing social media, watching videos, taking selfies, or searching for information on something. Now, you can add mobile applications for addiction recovery to the mix. However, how do you know which app best suits your needs after you complete your treatment program?
No matter what your addiction is and what type of support you’re looking for, there are a number of apps for addiction recovery that can help you. Apps for addiction recovery are convenient and very affordable with many being free to no more than $1.99 or so to download.
They are a private and anonymous way for you to get the help you need in your recovery. Most are geared toward providing you with social support while giving you various models for healthy behavior change. You will likely find these apps to be very useful in your recovery from since they have a lot to offer.
Besides helping you locate support groups, you’ll find many apps, including exercise, yoga or meditative apps, that support you through your continued recovery and help you to manage triggers and relapse. Typically, however, most smartphone addiction recovery apps are tailored to a specific addiction like drugs or alcohol and behavioral addictions like eating, sex and gambling addiction.
Choosing One or More Addiction Recovery Apps
To decide which recovery app is best for your needs, you have to determine what goals you’re trying to achieve through the natural steps of your recovery. There are a number of recovery apps available to help support and inspire you throughout your recovery, and many apps help with specific addictions. There are unique features to each one, such as:
- Messages of inspiration
- Notes and journals
- Group meeting locators
- News, information, and articles that are related to recovery
- Mood and activity tracking and recorders
Since there are so many apps for addiction recovery available to you, we understand that it could get overwhelming trying to figure out which one will be the most effective during your recovery. To help you through your research and save you a great deal of time, here are some of the most popular recovery apps:
1. 12 Keys Coaching™ App
12 Keys Coaching is a free app that reflects dedication and commitment to your continued recovery, helping you get and stay healthy. The app is HIPPA-compliant and is specifically designed to complement recovery treatment.
With the 12 Keys Coaching app, you’re assigned a personal recovery coach that you can connect to post-treatment. Your personal recovery coach will focus on your total wellness and monitor your recovery progress.
You’ll get all the support and accountability you need for an entire year. Through daily text messaging, phone calls and/or recovery tasks that are assigned to you, your personal recovery coach will work with you to monitor your progress. You also get access to an in-app team of trusted family members, friends and sponsors that all work together to support you during your recovery. In addition to the app, you also have access to exclusive alumni events and on-site 12 Keys facility care groups.
The 12 Keys Coaching™ App can be downloaded for free at Google Play or at the iTunes store.
What Users Like About the 12 Keys Coaching™ App. The overall goal of this recovery app is to provide you with coaching and support so you can stay focused and active and enjoy a successful, long-term recovery. Users appreciate the daily interaction.
2. Sober Grid
This app allows you to network with others in your location. A big part of maintaining sobriety is by being able to reach out to others who are going through the same thing. Sober Grid makes it easy for you to locate others through a virtual, location-based support group. Now, when you need immediate support and encouragement if you’re having a bad day, you can click on the app’s “Burning Desire” button and send a message to a peer to help you.
This is an Android and iOS app that is free and allows you to connect with other people who are also going through their own recovery process. In essence, you have instant access to a sober community from around the world as well as in your own neighborhood. This allows you to network with a strong sober support system — and even help other people out when they are going through rough times.
This app has what is called “The Grid” to help you locate nearby sober people. This is a GPS locator tool that provides you with the profiles of other users and how close they are too you. With this app, you can locate others quickly and easily if you move to a new city or if you are traveling. By entering a user’s name, you can locate their geographic location, which helps you connect with sober friends from and within any city. You can stay totally anonymous if you prefer.
If you want to meet up with another user, there is a feature on Sober Grid that lets you send them your location. With this app’s special geosocial networking features, it is now simple to locate and connect with other sober individuals locally or globally.
Sober Grid also offers you a public news feed where you can share posts and communicate with other people who are going through recovery from an addiction. It’s a safe place for you to share your struggles, experiences and everyday thoughts related to your addiction recovery.
What Users Like About Sober Grid. Not only are you able to share your struggles and successes, but you can be there for and have access to other sober people no matter where they are located. This is a user-friendly app that enables you to grow your sober network quickly and easily through a “Facebook for sober people” type of community.
3. Self Help *Just for today* NA
This app is also free and is an offline multilingual app that was created to help you through your addiction recovery journey. Its goal is to provide a “Recovery and Hope” message. Each day when you turn it on, you get the daily meditation.
The main features include:
- Daily Narcotics Anonymous (NA) meditations
- Positive affirmations to boost your mood
- Share hope and recovery messages
- Multilingual with five languages (English, Russian, Arabic, Spanish and Portuguese)
There are other In-app products that range from $1.99 – $9.99 per product.
What Users Like About Self Help *Just for today* NA. This app is great for helping you stay sober and can quickly become a key part of your recovery. It provides you with the little things that help you get through each day. You receive daily NA meditations you would get when attending a local NA meeting. It is perfect for anyone who is in recovery, no matter what your addiction is.
4. Squirrel Recovery; Addiction App
The Squirrel Recovery; Addiction app is currently free and offers you a personalized and constant support system. You’re able to rate your urges, mood, and stress levels throughout the day and share it with a specialized support team that tracks and monitors your progress. You have access to this support team 24 hours a day. If you have an emergency and need support immediately, there is also a ‘panic button’ you can press.
The Squirrel Recovery app also helps you avoid potential relapse by sending you encouraging messages during times of day when you tend to have urges. To motivate and inspire you throughout your recovery, you can read other testimonials. You’re also rewarded with coins for certain periods of sobriety.
What Users Like About the Squirrel Recovery; Addiction App. This app is a great tool that motivates you to stay on track with your recovery. To succeed in your recovery, you need a strong social support network no matter what problems you’re facing. This app is not only free, but it ensures you have help instantly whenever you need it, day or night.
5. recoveryBox
recoveryBox is a free iOS application that was created with accountability in mind. It allows you to track your everyday activities with ease by having you separate them into what is known as your “lights.”
To break a habit, you need to know why and when you do the things you do, and then come up with ways to break your unhealthy behaviors. This app provides you with the tools you need to do this. It works with any type of addiction, like alcohol and drugs, pornography, gambling, etc. Alternatively, the recoveryBox app lets you customize to your own particular needs.
What Users Like About recoveryBox. This app equips you with the tools and resources you need to make each day successful. It combines the “Celebrate Recovery” program and the 12 Step program. You have it right at your fingertips during the day no matter where you are so you can message your accountability partner at any time you feel triggered.
As a self-monitoring tool, you have a journal where you can log what you’re looking to track, and you can give yourself reminders. From documenting and tracking things to notifying your sponsor, it combines tools and elements you can benefit from to stay on track with your recovery. You get also badges that encourage you through your journey to keep you going.
6. SoberTool
SoberTool is an all-inclusive app that allows you to track your sobriety and even see how much money you save. You can find neighborhood AA meetings and receive motivational messages. It even helps you figure out your best resources for relapse prevention by providing you with some easy questions to answer.
The main features of SoberTool include:
- Immediate help for people in recovery
- Sobriety counter that calculates your days of sobriety as well as how much money you are saving
- Immediate support for relapse prevention
- Daily messages for motivation and alerts that remind you about them
- Rewards for your sober time
- Search engine that provides you with ways to deal with certain feelings to avoid relapse simply by typing in how you feel
- A process that helps turn your relapse thinking around and gets you back to recovery thinking when you are dealing with a craving
- A community forum so you can share your comments, personal messages and receive support from other people anonymously
- A process of improving your sobriety quality whether you have been sober for a while or are new
SoberTool is based on techniques that have been proven to assist you in staying sober and clean regardless of what your addiction is. It provides you with instant and free help as well as coping skills training. Everything is anonymous and confidential since your information is only stored on your smartphone.
What Users Like About SoberTool. This app is very positive and uplifting, and the messages and topics are extremely helpful. The information you get is targeted to your specific feeling at the moment which helps you through it. It’s the perfect app for motivation and self-appraisal.
7. Mindfulness Meditation
Meditation is a useful skill that most everyone can learn and benefit from, whether they are in recovery or not. When you’re able to sit with your breathing for just a few moments, it does wonders to well-being and provides healing.
The Mindful Meditation app is currently $1.99 and gives you audio tracks that assist you in connecting with your mind’s natural clarity. When you can let go of your past and the future that hasn’t happened yet and just be in the “now,” it can provide you with a natural peace of just being in your own presence.
Its Track 1 is a short track that was created for helping you unwind and relax quickly without losing your focus or clarity. It’s great for professionals, parents or for anyone who simply has a very busy life.
Track 2 is around eight minutes long and provides you with a guided visualization that mimics nature with elements like the sky, mountains, a forest pool, or a meadow. These natural elements emphasize your mind’s natural clarity, your body’s strength and the joyous nature of your own heart.
It includes soundscapes from musicians Shannon Sol Carroll and Ant Aggs and is delivered by Cameron Aggs, a Clinical Psychologist with over 18 years’ worth of meditation experience.
What Users Like About Mindfulness Meditation. This app is ideal for both home and work life when you just need a few moments to be by yourself and get away. The music is very calming, and it can lift your spirits after using it. It’s also perfect for beginners.
8. NA Meeting Search 2.2
NA Meeting Search 2.2 is a free app available on Google Play that was created to help you find NA meetings locally or around the globe. You’re also provided with daily “Just for Today” meditations, local helplines, and websites.
What Users Like About NA Meeting Search 2.2. The app is very helpful in locating meetings. It’s also perfect for daily meditations you can conveniently access right from your phone.
Benefits of Addiction Recovery Apps
Apps for addiction recovery come with a number of benefits including:
- They provide you with support instantaneously. You typically take your smartphone wherever you go, which means you have constant and immediate access to this recovery resource. Whether you’re experiencing feelings of vulnerability or cravings that seem to come out of nowhere, mobile applications for addiction recovery are a great resource to have right at your fingertips.
- They are anonymous. You can access the apps discreetly. This allows you to benefit in your recovery even in public places without having to worry about what other people think.
- They offer you a multitude of recovery resources. You get a great deal of resources from just one recovery app. No matter where you go, you can have instant access to written or audio material right in immediate reach.
- They are inexpensive. Many apps are free to download and use, and the paid apps are very affordable.
Most people today use their smartphones and other electronic devices to connect with others, make purchases, manage their schedules, gain information, and navigate their way around. Now, you can also get help with your recovery by using your smartphone.
Taking accountability and setting yourself up with goals is important and a crucial part of maintaining long-term addiction recovery. Any of these apps can help you, after you have completed your treatment program here at 12 Keys Rehab, to achieve your goals no matter if they are short or long-term.
Just remember, even though recovery apps can be very effective, they can’t and shouldn’t replace professional help. Through a treatment program, you can begin your journey to recovery under close supervision so it can be done safely. If you’re struggling with an addiction or have a loved one who is, contact us right away so we can get you started in the right, personalized treatment for you — which may include using one or more of these post-treatment addiction recovery apps.
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