Recovery Toolbox: Apps for Tackling Substance Use Disorder
Mobile applications have revolutionized the way we tackle many of today’s tasks and challenges - including addiction. While no app can replace substance abuse treatment, an app can provide an extra boost to your recovery - with the added benefit of being available anywhere and at any time.
We’ve compiled info about some potentially helpful recovery apps, though Asana Recovery does not endorse or recommend any of the products listed here.
These apps offer a range of features, from providing social support and tracking progress to offering motivation and connecting users with additional resources.
Pear reSET-O: Best overall recovery app
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.
I Am Sober
I Am Sober is a sobriety-tracking app to help motivate you by keeping track of the time — down to the second — you’ve been sober. It also tells you how much money you’ve saved in the time you’ve been sober.
I Am Sober even comes with a withdrawal timeline, which lets you know what withdrawal symptoms you can expect at any point, so you can better cope with them.
SoberWorx
Available on: Android
Cost: Free
Features: Treatment Directory
SoberWorx is basically a directory app that helps people find treatment providers in their area including:
Substance abuse counselors
Therapists
Licensed rehab facilities
Sober living homes
You can search for providers in the U.S. and the U.K.
Recovery Today Magazine
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 offer inspiring personal stories about overcoming addiction to help motivate your own recovery efforts.
Sober Grid
Cost: Free (Additional cost for peer coaching)
Features: Peer support, social networking
A social networking platform that supports sober choices, Sober Grid is a social networking app that’s specifically designed for people in recovery. On Sober Grid, you can share your recovery progress and create posts to both give and receive support. Another cool feature is the 24/7 live peer coaching (available at an added cost). Unlike Facebook, Snapchat, and LinkedIn you can scroll without worrying about being triggered by photos and posts about using.
Quitzilla
Quitzilla’s habit-building tool helps you stay connected to your personal motivations for recovery and includes many of the same features as other apps on this list, including a sobriety tracker and a motivation reminder. It asks you about the bad habits you want to change and rewards progress toward building new habits. You can use the app for any bad habit, not just substance use.
SoberTool
Cost: Free
Features: Relapse prevention, craving management, sobriety tracker, peer support
This app offers help with cravings when they arise. Created by a Harvard-educated chemical dependency counselor, SoberTool, asks you questions about your current mindset or situation and provides immediate guidance for managing your cravings.
12 Steps AA Companion App: Best 12-step app
Price: $2.99 (App Store); $1.99 (Google Play)
Features: Informative Content, Directory
The 12 Steps AA Companion App is the only recovery app 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
While the PTSD Coach app was created by the Veterans’ Administration, you don’t need to be a veteran to use it. In conjunction with addiction recovery, the app offers support for PTSD with anger management tools and positive self-talk.
SMART Recovery Cost-Benefit Analysis Tool (web-based)
SMART , or “Self-Management and Recovery Training,” is an approach to recovery that is not based on the 12-steps. One of the most practical skills it teaches is doing a cost-benefit analysis (CBA) to decide if the benefits of using outweigh the costs. The web-based SMART Recovery Cost-Benefit Analysis Tool makes doing a CBA even easier.
Alum Spotlight
If you’d like to be featured in an Alum Spotlight feature in the newsletter, please contact your admissions counselor. If you don’t have their contact info, check the list below:
Kimberly Brave: 405-999-0550
Amir Askari: 949-560-2945
Nick Ono: 949-763-0222
Sabrina Johnson: 562-889-1825
Krystal Smith: 949-244-6822