As someone who suffers with pretty bad pain on daily basis, it is no surprise that I do not have much of a social life - apart from reading and obsessing over books, playing video games and making bookmarks out of cereal boxes, I like to spend my time checking out the android app store for anything I may find useful or even fun. There is so many apps that I absolutely adore and none of my friends have heard of before I informed them, I would like to share a list with you. Who knows? Perhaps they will become useful to you too!
*means that there is a website equivalent to the app.
1. Habitica *
Have you ever acquired a minor, but incredibly infuriating habit? I have. I almost always forgot to drink water and take my medication. It had gotten so bad, that I was taken to the emergency department by an ambulance, more than once, after my doctor had taken a urine sample to check for an infection and it turned out that I was severely dehydrated.
Luckily, one of my internet friends had told me about habitica (such a clever name, right?), or habitRPG as the app is properly called, a website that is designed to help you fight and conquer bad habits as a pixelated version of you.
The app allows you to set habits that you want to work on, both positive and negative, tasks that you should do everyday, for example wash your face, brush your teeth, feed the cat etc and it allows you to set special tasks you only have to do once.
When completing these tasks, you often get items such as candy for your pet or your mount (yes, you can have a pet and a mount What is even cooler? You can have a PET CACTUS. Mine is called Fernando) and sometimes quests that will grant you the games currency which can be spent on the armor for the pixelated you.
On top of all that, you can join a guild with your friends and you can put comical spells on them. It is amazing. .
Website
2. 7 Cups Of Tea *
While I do not use this anymore, I have to admit that this app is what helped me through my depression when I couldn't find a therapist in my nearby areas. The community, just like every community has some fantastic people and some who may be there just to be unkind to people, however, personally, I have never interacted or even found anyone from the later.
You have a choice of two roles. You may either become someone that people will vent to (after proper training) or the person that vents and receives support. I have been both and I have to admit, that being on the supporting end was incredibly rewarding and helped me feel better with myself as well as earning me some wonderful friends. In fact, one of the closest friends I have was someone that I had met through this app.
As a supporter, or, a volunteer "counselor" on the website you have a calendar that is there for you to put in appointments you have set to speak with the people you are currently helping. As the one on the receiving end of support, you have the option to rate your "counselor" based on how helpful they are, and if they are not helpful at all? You can report it to the administration.
Website
3. LvlUp Life *
A little bit like habitica. although personally I prefer this app, LvlUp life is an rpg oriented "life" game. Your profile presents certain stats, that increase each time you complete a task from one of the categories. Of course, which stats increase depends on which task you complete.
The stats are as follows; Strength (STR), Culture (CUL), Envoirment (ENV), Charisma (CHA), Talent (TAL) and Intelligence (INT). For example, Stength will increase if you complete the "Go for a jog" task and Talent will increase if you complete "Draw something".
You may wonder to yourself, "but what if I decide to lie?". Well, you know, technology is not advanced enough to detect your lying through a mobile device but where is the fun in that? This app is here to make you better.
I genuinely love this app - not only does it make everyday tasks so much more fun, it even helps to show you which part of your life is the least developed (for example, if you are an active person, your strength bar will be the highest and if you are an artsy person, your talent bar will. The bar that is the lowest in points, is the one that you should work to improve on). However, I warn you, it IS addictive.
4. Moodtrack
This app is designed to help people see what their mood patterns are. It displays a chart on your mood throughout the week, showing you the entries you have logged as your diary progresses, so that you can show it to your therapist or counselor.
If you do not have a counselor, or a therapist, I find that if you track the app for a week and make entries based on what you think has changed your mood (that does NOT apply to all people, as some people have unexplained mood changes so this won't be really useful to determine the cause), it could help you develop coping strategies against the most recurring causes.
So this app is online, but allows you to have complete anonymity as it does not require a name nor an email. Email however, is recommended in case you lose your phone or need to reset it.
Personally, I have only spoken to kind people on this app. I have never encountered a person who was unkind to me. I am not saying that there are ONLY kind people on this app, but they definitely outweigh the toxic. Their support has tremendously helped me cope with my depression.
5. Vent
Very similar to moodtrack, however, here you can have a lengthy bio and message people privately. It is not as anonymous as moodtrack, so many people choose to use their real names and include links to their social media accounts, such as instagram and snapchat because gaining followers through this app is actually quite easy.
Although I cannot generalize, I have found that there is a visible larger number of trolls on this app than on moodtrack. It may be because it is much more popular. I think it is incredibly unfortunate as the app was designed to help people battle through depression, anxiety and other mental illnesses.
There is a very wide selection of moods to choose from when logging a diary entry and that certainly helps to find exactly what you are looking for. In fact, I always look up a mood on vent before making a log on both, vent and moodtrack so that it is as accurate as possible.
Unlike moodtrack, vent allows you to have a profile picture.
6. SuperBetter
Another app that resembles Habitica and LvlUp Life. Except this one is unique because it focuses SOLELY on your mental health. It is a fun little RPG game to make you feel better about yourself for completing little tasks, such as drinking a glass of water or stretching.
As far as I am aware, this app is still being perfected, so it is not as full of quests and tasks as the sisterly apps. Regardless, it is incredibly helpful when you feel down about yourself and need a pick-me-up.
I was introduced to this app by a friend, fellow sufferer of borderline personality disorder, and just like them I found that it has boosted my self esteem and motivation to continue trying my best in life. I recommend it to anyone in recovery.
7. Amino
This app is my absolute favorite. It is like a thousand social networks packed into one. You can join communities about literally anything. From motorcycles, to medicine, to my little pony, to feminism, to reddit - it has EVERYTHING. I recently even became a language teacher in the Language Exchange amino! It is so much fun and I adore it!
8. Curiosity
Curiosity is a very unique app, and just like amino, is definitely one of the best things I have ever come across.
The app has a large variety of topics on which they write articles that help you find out more about the topic. Each article has two or more YouTube videos attached to it that is related to the subject. Very helpful and a fun way to learn new things.
