This Sobriety App Is One of My Favorite

THERE’S AN APP FOR THAT –

Jan. 19, 2022 – I don’t remember how or why I settled on I Am Sober in particular when I decided to stop drinking. I think it was because I liked the design sensibility. And I was panicking.

At its core, I Am Sober is really just a fancy stopwatch. You pop in your start date, and it starts counting up. You can pick your particular poison (options range from “alcohol” to “pills” to “self-harm” as well as a “custom” option) and write a pledge, which the app will prompt you to reaffirm daily at a time of your choosing and recap your day later on. It’s an elective step, but creates a streak the app tracks in parallel to your total time. You can even pledge retroactively if you happen to miss a day — if you affirm to the app that you aren’t fibbing; scout’s honor.

At one point, pledges were an important part of my daily routine, but increasingly what I sporadically return for is the “Community” feature, a series of Twitter-like feeds dedicated to various sobriety milestone (2 days, 1 week, 4 months, 1 year, etc). The functionality is exceedingly simple, a feed of text posts with the occasional picture, and option for readers to respond with emoji reactions or comments. Anyone who’s created an account can peruse the full breadth of anniversaries right away, but your ability to actually post only unlocks as you hit the milestones yourself.