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Our team thoroughly researches and evaluates the recommendations we make on our site. To establish that the product manufacturers addressed safety and efficacy standards, we:- Evaluate ingredients and composition: Do they have the potential to cause harm?
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- Best overall: I Am Sober
- Best for meditation: Twenty-Four Hours A Day
- Best for positive messages: SoberTool
- Best for simplicity: Nomo
- Best for community: Sober Grid
- Best for education: 12 Step Toolkit
- Best for audio resources: Joe & Charlie AA Big Book
- Best for sleep: Simple Habit
- Best for encouragement: Sober Time
- Best for daily affirmations: I Am
- Best for therapy: BetterHelp
Alcohol addiction is a complicated disease, and there’s no substitute for treatment. But finding strength, support, and positivity in an app — which is there whenever and wherever you need it — can offer day-to-day reinforcement and accountability.
Healthline chose these apps for their high quality content, reliability, and positive user reviews. We hope you find them helpful tools for maintaining sobriety, or helping a loved one do so.
As we searched for the best recovery apps, we kept a few key features in mind:
- Education: We looked for apps that included educational resources to help users understand addiction and recovery.
- Community: Alcohol recovery is difficult to do alone. A community should play a major role, so we looked for apps that connect users with others.
- Customer ratings and reviews: We made sure each app had solid reviews from customers.
- Progress: We searched for apps that made it easy to track and celebrate users’ recovery progress.
Best overall
I Am Sober
- iPhone: 4.9 stars
- Android: 4.9 stars
- Price: free with in-app purchases
- Who it’s best for: anyone looking for structure to help manage an addiction
Use the I Am Sober app to track your sober days and milestones, build new habits, and enjoy ongoing motivation from a community of people who get it.
Daily pledges can help keep you on track. A withdrawal timeline will help you understand what to expect in the days and weeks ahead. There are also additional resources designed to offer you a 24-hour companion and a wide network for your recovery.
Pros
- It has a money-saving progress tracker.
- It features a community-building aspect.
- The app is highly customizable.
Cons
- Some of the app’s features cost money.
Best for meditation
Twenty-Four Hours a Day
- iOS: 4.9 stars
- Android: 4.9 stars
- Price: free
- Who it’s best for: users in search of a faith-based experience
Twenty-Four Hours a Day helps you find inspiration whenever you need it with 366 daily meditations.
Access today’s message and swipe forward and backward to read more. Bookmark your favorites and search all messages by keyword.
Shake your device to summon a random message of inspiration and support. You can even customize font size for easy reading.
Pros
- The app is easy to use.
- It includes notifications with daily encouragement.
Cons
- The app features are basic.
- It might be more religious than some users prefer.
Best for positivity messages
SoberTool
This sobriety tool was developed by a Harvard-educated addiction counselor. It uses proven techniques to help you stay sober.
Features include daily motivational messages, a search engine to help you find relevant content, a tool to avoid relapse if you have a craving, a chat forum, and much more.
Pros
- The app is highly customizable.
- An anonymous community chat forum is available.
Cons
- It lacks educational material.
- The app has a basic interface.
Best for simplicity
Nomo
- iOS: 4.8 stars
- Android: 4.4 stars
- Price: free
- Who it’s best for: people who don’t want anything too complicated
Nomo was created to help the founder keep himself on track and motivated.
The app lets you create and share sobriety clocks — as many as you need — to track the number of days you’ve been sober, unhealthy habits you’ve gone back to, or whatever else you want to track.
Find detailed breakdowns of your progress to the minute, and earn chips when you reach milestones in your recovery. Send notifications to partners when you’re feeling tempted, and share your successes directly to social media.
Pros
- It’s easy to use.
- The app focuses on tracking sober days.
- There are many extra optional features available.
Cons
- There’s a lack of accountability partners.
- It hasn’t been updated in a few years.
Best for community
Sober Grid
- iOS: 4.9 stars
- Android: 4 stars
- Price: free with in-app purchases
- Who it’s best for: community building
Sober Grid is designed to serve as your sober social network. It connects you to sober people nearby, offers a 24/7 peer support group, tracks your recovery with check-ins and quests, and includes a sobriety counter. Your information on the app can be as private or as public as you choose.
Pros
- It features a large network of other people who are also recovering.
- There’s 24/7 support available.
- It has a positive mindset.
Cons
- In-app purchases are required to use some features.
Best for education
12 Step Toolkit
- iOS: 4.8 stars
- Android: 4.7 stars
- Price: free with in-app purchases
- Who it’s best for: people who want to understand addiction and recovery on a deeper level
The 12 Steps program is broken down into many seemingly minor but significant actions you must take to make progress on your journey to recovery.
Formerly named Recovery Box, the 12 Step Toolkit helps you navigate every single one of these steps, both expected and unexpected, with detailed descriptions of each of the 12 steps, hundreds of pages of readings from the Alcoholics Anonymous Big Book, and the ability to instantly chat with your connections for support.
Pros
- Comprehensive resources are available.
- There’s an instant chat option.
- There are extra safety features, such as Face ID.
Cons
- In-app purchases are required to use some features.
Best for audio resources
Joe & Charlie AA Big Book
- iOS: 4.9 stars
- Android: 4.7 stars
- Price: free with in-app purchases
- Who it’s best for: someone with an on-the-go lifestyle
Need a guide to the many complexities of the recovery journey? Just want some background noise or music that you can listen to during a quiet moment in your day, or when you’re struggling with a recovery challenge?
Joe & Charlie is a great resource. With thousands of hours of audio content, including readings and meditation sounds, Joe & Charlie can help you learn how to take the next steps in your recovery with an enormous list of helpful resources for the ups and downs of your journey.
Pros
- There are many audio resources.
- You can save data offline to listen at your convenience.
Cons
- In-app purchases are required to use some features.
- It has a basic interface.
Best for sleep
Simple Habit
- iPhone: 4.8 stars
- Android: 4.9 stars
- Price: free with in-app purchases
- Who it’s best for: users looking for a way to soothe anxieties
It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the anxieties and uncertainties of recovery. The Simple Habit app gives you a quick, easy resource to help relax your mind and your body with guided meditation courses, a progress tracker to see how much time you spend being mindful each day, and motivational tools.
The app helps keep you accountable to your own goals in recovery and helps you build healthy, positive habits like daily meditation and coping tools.
Pros
- There are 12+ hours of free audio content.
- The app focuses on building positive and healthy habits.
- It’s great for an on-the-go lifestyle.
Cons
- In-app purchases are required to use some features.
- There’s a lack of content for people with PTSD.
Best for encouragement
Sober Time
- iOS: 4.8 stars
- Android: 5 stars
- Price: free with in-app purchases
- Who it’s best for: someone looking for a visual method of tracking progress
If you’re in recovery, you know that every hour, every day, and every month that passes not giving in to your addiction is a huge milestone.
This app makes sure that you can count every minute along the way with powerful timekeeping tools, personalized goals for helping you achieve your sobriety milestones, and a community of support from those who have been there.
Pros
- There are personalized options available.
- The apps has a large support community.
Cons
- The app has ads.
Best for daily affirmations
I Am
- iOS: 4.9 stars
- Android: 4.9 stars
- Price: free with in-app purchases
- Who it’s best for: anyone with a busy lifestyle
It can be easy to forget that you are at the center of your recovery: That what you do and how you do it’s central to your success in overcoming addiction.
And sometimes, you just need a gentle, thoughtful reminder to yourself that you can do this. I am offers a wide collection of affirmation exercises that allow you to speak your anxieties, your concerns, and your fears out loud so that you can learn to cope with them.
Pros
- The app features a 24-hour free trial of its premium version.
- Daily affirmations are sent as notifications to your phone.
- It’s easy to use.
Cons
- The app is focused more on general positivity than addiction recovery specifically.
Best for therapy
BetterHelp
- iOS: 4.8 stars
- Android: 4.5 stars
- Price: free with in-app purchases
- Who it’s best for: someone seeking talk therapy recovery
If you want professional help and aren’t sure where to turn, BetterHelp offers virtual access to over 3,000 mental health specialists for free counseling as well as more in-depth paid counseling.
This app is designed to help you get through the ups and downs of your journey without the hassles of scheduling an in-person visit or worrying that you may have to wait weeks to see someone when you’re experiencing a difficult time now.
Pros
- You can choose from 20,000 available therapists for virtual therapy.
- Financial aid options are available.
Cons
- The service is pricey, even with financial aid.
| App name | Why we chose it | Highlights |
|---|---|---|
| I Am Sober | Great way to track progress in recovery. | daily pledges, withdrawal timeline, community aspect |
| Twenty-Four Hours A Day | Daily meditations share message of positivity and faith. | 366 daily meditations |
| SoberTool | It was developed by Harvard-educated addiction counselor. | motivational messages, chat forum, educational content |
| Nomo | Sobriety clocks help track your recovery. | You can view and share progress breakdowns. |
| Sober Grid | It has amazing community resources to help you stay on track. | 24/7 peer support group, sobriety counter, connects you with sober people nearby |
| 12 Step Toolkit | It features comprehensive educational resources. | chat forum, educational readings, progress tracker |
| Joe & Charlie AA Big Book | The audio resources are a great fit for on-the-go lifestyle. | thousands of hours of audio content |
| Simple Habit | It helps relax your body and mind. | guided meditation courses, progress tracker, motivational tools |
| Sober Time | The app counts every minute of your recovery progress. | timekeeping tools, personalized goals, community support |
| I Am | It reminds you that you can do this. | wide collection of affirmation exercises |
| BetterHelp | It offers free professional help. | over 20,000 therapists available |
Not all of these apps will be a good fit for everyone. To select the right app for you, consider where you are in your recovery journey and what kind of support you currently have around you.
If you’re looking for more support, pick an app with a heavy focus on community. In other cases, a daily notification reminder might be enough.
You should also consider your lifestyle. Do you have time to sit down and read through dense information on addiction and recovery? If not, an app with audio resources or short daily messages might be a better fit.
Therapy is often an important aspect of treating alcohol addiction. A professional can help walk you through the recovery process, either one-on-one or in a group setting.
Consider talking with a therapist or counselor if you feel like you need help learning to avoid triggers and gain healthy coping skills that will help you stay away from alcohol. You should also see a mental health professional if you’re dealing with another mental health condition beyond addiction, such as depression, anxiety, or bipolar disorder.
What is the best way to stop drinking?
The “best way” to cease drinking might vary from person to person. However, for many people, it’s extremely helpful to put your goal in writing and to tell someone else who can help keep you accountable.
Some other recovery tips include:
- not keeping alcohol in your home
- avoiding situations where alcohol is present
- trying something new (like a sport or hobby) to help fill the void alcohol once held
- joining a support group like Alcoholics Anonymous (AA)
What is gray area drinking?
“Gray area drinking” is a term used to describe when someone likely has a drinking problem, but the problem isn’t considered severe.
If you’re a gray area drinker, you might drink socially on a very regular basis, but you don’t think you need a detox program or AA to cease drinking. Your drinking might be problematic but it doesn’t appear that way.
What can I replace alcohol with?
If you want to sip on something nonalcoholic, some good replacements can be:
- tea
- coffee
- soda
- ice water with berries
- mocktails
Another idea: Pursue a hobby you used to enjoy or try a new one, like playing a sport or doing something creative.
Addiction can be extremely difficult to manage.
If you or a loved one is walking through recovery from alcohol addiction, one of these apps can help you gain the educational resources, supportive community, and progress tracking tools that you need.
