Best Gratitude Apps of 2023 - Free on Android
The emergence of gratitude apps has revolutionized the way individuals engage with gratitude practices. Rather than relying on traditional methods, such as physical journals, these apps offer a convenient and user-friendly experience, serving as a digital companion to guide users on a journey of self-reflection and appreciation. Whether you’re new to the practice or already consider yourself a master, gratitude apps are an excellent choice to help foster a more positive lifestyle.
Practicing gratitude encourages individuals to shift their focus away from negative thoughts and redirect them to positive ones by means of reflection. This can facilitate personal growth through gaining a deeper understanding of one's values. One research paper defines gratitude as “the appreciation of what is valuable and meaningful to oneself…a general state of thankfulness and/or appreciation” (Sansone & Sansone).
Gratitude apps cater to the diverse needs and preferences of users through gratitude challenges, guided meditations, personalized prompts, and more. Gratitude apps empower individuals to develop a consistent gratitude practice that aligns with their unique needs and lifestyle by creating an immersive and interactive environment that fosters a genuine sense of appreciation and mindfulness. Ultimately, gratitude apps serve as powerful tools in helping individuals develop a deeper appreciation for the present moment and enhance their overall well-being.
Picking the right gratitude app for you can help ensure you’ll actually use it and reap the positive benefits. Ask yourself what you’re looking for in the app. What is your level of time-commitment? Do you want to write a lot or a little? Would you like a prompt or the ability to free journal? Do you want daily affirmations or guided meditations?
Best Free Gratitude Apps of 2023 - OVERVIEW
6.) 365 Gratitude - Daily Reading
5.) Delightful - Free - Form
4.) Three Good Things - Additional Reflection
3.) Spark - Daily Gratitude - Engaging
2.) Presently - Streamlined
1.) 5 Minute Journal - Morning & Evenings
6.) 365 Gratitude
Daily Reading
365 Gratitude offers a variety of options to users without being too overwhelming. The app guides users through a variety of daily activities including a mood check in, reading, reflection, and gratitude practice in about five minutes. From there, users can also interact with one another in a Facebook-reminiscent forum; meditate; journal; write thank you cards; generate personalized affirmations; create a vision board; and chat with an AI using cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) techniques.
Upon opening the app, users are prompted to complete a daily mood check-in. The emotions, ranging from ‘great’ to ‘awful’, are each paired with a corresponding colorful facial expression. Information about these check-ins, such as a Monthly Mood Chart; Longest Best Day Streak; and Moods of the Month, (showing the number of times you reported each mood), can be found under mood tracking in the data section.
After checking in, users have a short reading (a few paragraphs) followed by a unique daily prompt related to the message. Finally, users are asked to list three good things that happened that day with the option to upload a single picture.
My favorite part of the app are the personalized affirmations. Users can enter key words or topics to receive AI generated affirmations, and all your favorites can be easily saved for later with the click of a button. The background that these affirmations are displayed on is also customizable with around 50 options to choose from.
Gratitude Journal has a 4.7 and 4.5 star rating among Apple and Android users, respectively.
Download the app on Google Play or the App Store.
5.) Delightful
Free - Form
Delightful is stress-free and simple to use. At the top of the screen, users are greeted with a daily quote. After starting a new entry, users are prompted with three ‘blank’ boxes in which they can write whatever they’d like! This space can be used to list good things that happened in the day; things you are grateful for; personal strengths; fond memories; or anything else joyful and ‘delightful’. The app offers daily prompts in each box, but these are just suggestions. The calendar feature allows users to go back and visit previous entries. For those who aren’t a fan of the default orange, the app has a dark mode.
What I love about this app is how free-form it is. Sometimes, having to come up with things I’m grateful for is much harder than listing good things that happened in my day, or vice-versa. The prompts are also a wonderful way to expand your gratitude practice in unique ways. One thing I wish the developers would improve is the calendar feature, which could show past entries more smoothly.
Delightful has a 4.8 and 4.7 star rating among Apple and Android users, respectively, with over 50 thousand downloads on the Google Play Store.
Download the app on Google Play or the App Store.
Additional Reflection
Three Good Things by Oatmeal Apps greets users with a daily quote, then asks “what three good things happened today?” In addition, users are asked to reflect on how they felt about each of these three events. For days when users are feeling a little stuck, clicking 'Can't think of anything?' will bring them to a link with seven easy to overlook ideas to help promote gratitude for the 'small' things. Unfortunately, users are not able to add more than three entries.
Previous entries can be seen in the memories tab, sorted by oldest or newest, and also have a search feature to access specific memories more easily. If you miss a day, don’t list three things, or skip the feelings section, these simply won’t show up on the memories screen, so don’t stress if you can’t do it all every day.
Three Good Things has a 4.9 and 4.8 star rating among Apple and Android users respectively.
Download the app on Google Play or the App Store.
3.) Daily Gratitude Journal: Spark
Engaging
This app asks you to complete your daily spark: two things that you are grateful or thankful for today, and two affirmations. The total number of sparks you’ve completed is displayed in the top right corner, and you can access your gratitude history from the main screen. For users who would like a little extra reminder to complete their daily spark, the app has a cute widget displaying their current number.
After writing each ‘gratitude’, users are asked to hold down a heart while they reflect on their positive feelings. After releasing their hold, users are showered with a colorful burst. There are a seemingly endless selection of affirmations to swipe through before picking one for the day. Once you find one you resonate with, users repeat the process of holding down a button while reflecting on the affirmation and repeating it to themselves.
This act of holding down your thumb and reflecting is my favorite part of the app. It helps you really feel grateful rather than thinking of listing two things as another item on your daily to-do list. Similarly, it gives you time to process the affirmations and read them multiple times. The subtle vibrations and burst of color when you release is extremely pleasing and makes the app very enjoyable to use.
Spark is underground, but growing in popularity. While the app currently only has a few hundred downloads, the ratings are good and more reviews are popping up overnight. Spark may not have made headlines in 2023, but it bolsters an impressive 5 star rating from Apple users and 4.9 stars from Android users.
Download the app on Google Play or the App Store.
2.) Presently
Streamlined
Presently is simplistic in all the best ways possible. Users are only asked one question: “What are you grateful for today?” This can be answered very simplistically or in as much detail as you’d like. As far as I can tell, there is no character limit, and users can create paragraphs if they’d like to list multiple things or offer a deeper reflection.
For users who are feeling a little stuck, clicking on the lightbulb icon will generate continuous prompts, such as what books, activities, or music you are grateful for. An inspirational daily quote can be found at the bottom of each entry, though users are able to turn these features if they would prefer a cleaner page.
The app opens to a scrollable feed of your previous entries, with today’s blank entry at the top. The feed doesn’t show days that don’t have entries, so there’s no unnecessary space and users don’t have to feel bad if they don’t use the app daily. Users can change the display length to show more or less of the text in this timeline, though the entire entry is always accessible by clicking on it. Milestones such as five, ten, and twenty five days of gratitude are shown here as well.
Users can set the first day of the week for their calendar and change the date style to include the day of the week. Any dates without an entry can have one added by clicking on it in the calendar. Previous entries can also be viewed through the calendar, either by selecting a specific date or hitting the ‘random’ button. As an added bonus, there is a search feature on the main page allowing you to look for specific memories with ease.
For those who would like a secure space to reflect privately, the app can lock using your phones current fingerprint settings. Presently can be customized with a choice of over 40 different themes and color schemes. I love this app because it is so easy to use in the moment and makes reflecting on past experiences incredible convenient.
Presently has over one million downloads on the Google Play Store with an average rating of 4.9 stars. The app is not yet available for Apple users.
Download the app on the Google Play Store here.
1.) 5 Minute Journal
Mornings & Evenings
Made by the same creators as the physical 5 Minute Daily Gratitude Journal, this app offers both a morning and evening reflection; memories; journal gallery; guides; mood insights; and more. Each daily prompt is split into morning and evening activities. In the mornings, users are asked to list three things that they are grateful for; what they will do to make the day great; and their daily affirmations. In the evening section, users list their daily highlights and what they learned. Each of these tabs also has an option to upload a photo, which can always be viewed in the gallery.
One section from each day completed is visible in the memory timeline on the homepage, and can be viewed in full by clicking on the entry. The home page also offers a daily quote, morning and evening guided meditations, and a variety of recommended guides. All guides can be viewed under the ‘guide’ tab.
My favorite part of this app is the variety is offers without pressuring users to complete all sections. It pushes me to take my gratitude practice further while also improving my personal life more directly by asking what I would like to accomplish and what I learned each day. This has helped me to be more productive and to better incorporate lessons into my life rather than feeling down about potential ‘mistakes’.
Journal has a 4.8 and 4.7 star rating among Apple and Android users respectively.
Download the app on Google Play or the App Store.
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