Try these sobriety apps to win Dry January [Updated]

If you’re considering taking part in Dry January, check out these sober apps to help you quit alcohol for the month — and maybe longer. Dry January is a monthlong challenge to abstain from alcohol for the first 30 days of the year. Popular in the United Kingdom and growing worldwide, it’s a great way to reset after the boozy holiday season, giving people a chance to focus on health and well-being.

A lot of people get guidance and support using Dry January apps, aka apps to drink less alcohol, which can also help cut back drinking anytime during the year.

Sober apps: Supportive apps to drink less alcohol

Cutting back on alcohol — or cutting it out entirely — packs plenty of benefits. Drinking can hurt both physical and mental health. Recent studies suggest no amount of alcohol is beneficial to health, contrary to long-standing beliefs. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy even called Friday for new warning labels on alcoholic beverages due to the cancer risk associated with drinking. And obviously, booze costs money — all the more so during pricey nights out at bars and restaurants.

Sobriety apps for iPhone and iPad, like the ones below, take many factors into account and attempt to motivate you to drink less. And all eight sober apps below are free, though many offer in-app purchases or premium features.

Best Dry January app: Try Dry

Developed by the charity Alcohol Change UK, Try Dry is a free sober app designed to help manage alcohol consumption, particularly during the Dry January challenge and beyond. The app includes drink tracking, streaks, daily notifications and prompts, celebratory milestone badges and more. There’s even a planned drinking feature. With its daily interactions, the app is highly motivating. It’s been downloaded more than 250,000 times, and its developers report an 84% decrease in alcohol consumption among harmful drinkers. You can adjust measures and currency to U.S. versions.

Features:

• Track units (drinks), calories and money saved.
• Understand your drinking patterns.
• Monitor your well-being with sleep, energy levels, mood and craving intensity trackers.
• Record your thoughts, feelings, daily reflections, events or learning.
• Check up on your drinking with a health quiz.
• Keep track of your dry streaks.
• Find extra free tools, tips and resources.
• Designed for iPad.

Price: Free

Download from: App Store

Best accountability app: Reframe

The Reframe app is a mindful drinking app designed to reduce or quit alcohol consumption through a structured, evidence-based program. Reframe employs techniques grounded in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and other psychological principles to help users understand and alter their drinking habits. This includes identifying triggers and developing healthier coping mechanisms. It emphasizes a holistic approach not just focused on drinking habits but also on improving overall life quality. The program includes a private, anonymous community for encouragement and support. Reframe claims 91% of its users report a significant decrease in alcohol consumption within three months of using the app.
It includes:

• Tracking drink totals and dry days.
• Online coaching sessions.
• A 24/7 anonymous community.
• Daily exercises and readings.

Price: Free with in-app purchases ($99 per year with full features)

Download from: App Store

Best drink-less app: Sunnyside

The Sunnyside sober app emphasizes moderation rather than complete sobriety, catering to folks who want to be more mindful of their drinking habits without necessarily quitting alcohol altogether. Users can create tailored drinking plans based on their specific goals, whether it’s cutting back on drinking, avoiding hangovers, or improving overall well-being. The app features daily tracking and sends SMS reminders to help users stay accountable to their goals. There’s also a community forum and one-on-one coaching through text messaging.
Features:

• Community forum
• Daily text nudges remind you about goals.
• Subscribers can reach out to a friendly human coach.

Price: Free with in-app purchases ($99 per year with full features)

Download from: App Store

Best free alcohol-tracking app: DrinkControl

DrinkControl serves as a personal diary for alcohol consumption, allowing users to track what they drink, how often, and see the associated costs and calories. It aims to promote moderation and accountability in drinking habits. It’s easy-to-use design allows drinks to be quickly logged by common measures like glasses or cans, which are converted into standard units of alcohol. Then it shows users statistics and infographics summarizing the impact on diet, health, and finances. It also syncs with Apple’s Health app, allowing alcohol units and calorie intake to be recorded directly within the Health app.

• Tracks your alcohol intake in glasses, bottles or cans and converts them into standard units of alcohol.
• Lets you know when you go over the limit set by moderate drinking guidelines.
• Tells you how much money you’ve spent and calories consumed with your drinks.

Price: Free with in-app purchases

Download from: App Store

Best self-help sobriety app: Saying When

The Saying When sober app was developed by Canada’s Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. It’s based on Moderation Management, a long-standing, AA-like self-help program designed by Dr. Martha Sanchez-Craig, which has been effective for more than 25 years in helping people reduce or quit drinking. The Saying When app helps users understand their drinking patterns, as well as triggers, to help moderate or avoid drinking. The app emphasizes privacy, allowing users to seek help without the stigma often associated with alcohol-related issues.
Features:

• Answer some questions to set a goals baseline, then track drinks and urges to drink in a dashboard.
• Provides tips and resources.
• Can be used alone or as part of the Saying When progam.

Price: Free

Download from: App Store

Best drink-tracking app: MyDrinkaware

The MyDrinkaware app helps monitor drinking habits, set goals, and promote healthier lifestyle choices. The app was developed by Drinkaware, a leading U.K. alcohol education charity. It helps set manageable goals for reducing drinking over time, alerts users in realtime to binge drinking, and helps positive changes stick. The app emphasizes the importance of setting realistic and manageable goals, such as planning drink-free days or reducing the number of drinks consumed weekly. This approach helps users make sustainable changes over time.

Features:

• Plan and celebrate drink-free days.
• See how your drinking compares to previous weeks.
• Take a quick test to see your risk level.
• Check how many alcohol units and calories each drink contains.
• Shows you when you have been binge drinking.
• Set goals to help you moderate your drinking over time.
• Helps you understand the link between alcohol and sleep quality
• Set manageable, realistic goals to help make positive changes stick.

Price: Free

Download from: App Store

Best sober counter app: I Am Sober

The I Am Sober app is a sobriety support tool designed to help individuals manage recovery from addiction to alcohol or drugs. The app helps track sober days, connect with a supportive community for help and encouragement, and maintain motivation. Features include a sobriety calculator, trigger analysis, a withdrawal timeline and, crucially, a daily pledge tracker, which prompts users to make pledges every day to stay sober, reflect on their motivations and review their day.

Features:

• Strengthen your resolve with daily reminders to stay sober.
• Swap stories and advice and find support in a support community.
• Track your progress and savings in detail to help inspire confidence to continue.

Price: Free with in-app purchases

Download from: App Store

Sober January: Dry Day Tracker app

Sober January: Dry Day Tracker is a support app for Dry January or other alcohol-free challenges that helps users stay motivated and track their progress throughout the month. Each day, the app highlights a new benefit of sobriety, functioning like an advent calendar for those aiming to stay alcohol-free.

• “Daily motivation advent calendar”
• Track your progress with stats.
• Fun and inspirational tone
• Privacy conscious. No need to register or provide personal information.

Price: Free with in-app purchases

Download from: App Store