Don’t Lose Track in the Pad of Addiction Recovery with These Free Apps

Substance abuse and addiction is a common disorder that affects millions of people. Luckily, it is possible to overcome the disorder through addiction treatment at an inpatient rehab center. Addiction treatment is, however, just the first step to overcoming the disorder; once you receive treatment, you must undergo a lifelong recovery journey.

During the recovery stage, you have to take on several tasks and responsibilities, which are designed to keep them on the track – maintaining social support (family, sponsors, friends, etc.), attending recovery meetings (alcoholics anonymous, narcotics anonymous, etc.), avoiding triggers, exercising, proper dieting, and so on.

These responsibilities can become too much, making it easy to forget things that can be vital in the recovery journey. Fortunately, there are some tools you can use to keep track of your progress. A good example of such tools are addiction recovery smartphone apps.

What Are Addiction Recovery Apps and How Do They Help?

Addiction recovery apps are smartphone apps that help you to achieve various goals you have set in your recovery journey. They work by offering you support or providing inspiration during your recovery journey. There are several apps that are currently available, each offering a variety of different features such as:

• Inspiration messages
• Fitness and activity recording and tracking
• Journals
• Meeting locators
• Recovery information (news, articles, etc.)

Benefits of Addiction Recovery Apps

Addiction recovery apps have become quite popular in recent times, which is not surprising given how smartphones have dominated the world. However, this is not the only reason these apps are popular; they offer a wide range of benefits, which make them great tools for recovering addicts. Some of these benefits include:

1. They Offer You Instant Support When You Need It

During the recovery journey, having a healthy support system helps to reduce the risk of relapse. However, your support system will not always be available whenever you need them – for example, when at work, or when traveling. But this does not mean that you have to go for hours or even days without support. With an addiction recovery app, you can receive the support you need instantly whenever you are feeling down, vulnerable, or having cravings.

2. They Offer Several Recovery Tools and Resources

Another benefit of addiction recovery apps is that they offer a multitude of addiction recovery resources in one package. Many apps come with several features, which provide you with an all-inclusive recovery tool, for example, inspiring messages to uplift you, meeting locators for when you need to attend meetings, online counseling support, fitness tracker, and so on.

3. They Are Affordable

Addiction recovery apps are very affordable, with most of them available for free. Premium apps are also inexpensive, and will only require you to part with a few dollars. Therefore, not only are these apps helpful in the fight against addiction, but they are also cheap and readily available.

4. They Are Anonymous

While being in recovery is a huge win, the fact that you are a recovering addict can bring about stigmatization, for example, at the workplace, in public, or at social gatherings. Therefore, in these situations, it might be hard to access the recovery resources you need to stay on track. However, you do not have to worry about this when using addiction recovery apps. These applications are completely anonymous and therefore, they help you to receive the resources you need without having to worry about people identifying you as an addict.

Top Addiction Recovery Apps

Self Help *Just for today*

Self Help is an offline app that is designed to help you stay on track during your recovery journey. The app offers daily Narcotics Anonymous meditations, similar to what you would get at an NA meeting. It also offers positive messages that help to uplift you when you are feeling alone and vulnerable. The application is available in five languages – English, Arabic, Russian, Spanish, and Portuguese.

One Recovery On The GO

Group meetings play a huge role in providing peer support for recovering addicts, which makes it important to attend them during your recovery journey. However, it is not always easy to find these meetings while traveling to a place you are not familiar with. But now, you no longer have to worry about this, thanks to One Recovery on the Go application.

The app, which is (designed for users following the 12-step recovery program) provides you with locations of group meetings in the U.S. You can search for the meeting based on your location (GPS or postal code). The app also allows you to share the meeting locations with other people through email. On top of that, it comes with a map that allows you to schedule the meetings.

Pear reSET

Pear reSET is a prescription digital therapeutic designed by Pear Therapeutics to help in the treatment (outpatient) of substance abuse and addiction disorder. The app, which is approved by the FDA, consists of a 12-week therapy program, where you can take part in engaging lessons designed to help you fight addiction. The program also includes tests, which you can take after completing the lessons.

Pear reSET is used in conjunction with other substance abuse and addiction treatments. A press release statement by the FDA has indicated that the app is very helpful in increasing abstinence from addictive substances.

recoveryBox

Accountability is an important virtue that is required during the addiction recovery journey, and this is where the recoveryBox app comes in. The application allows you to track various daily life activities, thus helping you to capitalize on healthy behaviors while breaking away from unhealthy ones that can promote relapse.

You can customize the activity/behaviors you want to track, which makes the app useful for a wide range of addiction problems – alcohol, drugs, tobacco, sex, gambling, etc. For example, some of the behaviors you can track include anger, alcohol consumption, eating disorders, escapism, exercising, sex, and so on.

Sober Grid

Sober Grid is another addiction recovery smartphone app that can help you stay in the fight during recovery. The app allows you to connect with other recovering addicts near your location as well as the rest of the world, thus providing you with instant peer support whenever you need it. Basically, it is a social network for recovering addicts.

Other Alternatives to Staying on Track During Recovery

Addiction recovery apps are great resources for relapse prevention during the recovery stage. However, they are not the only resources you can find. Other alternatives to these applications include:

A Structured Schedule

Creating a structured schedule with assigned times for all of your daily activities (exercising, meal times, group meetings, etc.) will help you not lose track during your recovery journey

Exercise and Diet Program

A diet and exercise program can help you keep track of your fitness and nutrition during the recovery stage. You can keep track of your progress using a simple schedule

Journals

Journaling is a great addiction recovery tool, which can help to boost your mental status and enable you to avoid the temptation to use.

Having a Strong and Reliable Support Network

While addiction recovery apps can offer instant support, they cannot recreate the 

personal nature of a support network. Therefore, a great alternative to these apps is to 

have a strong and reliable support network that you can always count on anytime – 

sponsors, family, friends, peers, and colleagues.