# Calm Urge: Self Harm Tracker — user reviews > 254 indexed App Store user reviews of Calm Urge by Shining Muffin LLC, rated 4.70/5 from 2,039 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/calm-urge-self-harm-tracker/id1551984419/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/calm-urge-self-harm-tracker/id1551984419.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 1,620 · 4★ 271 · 3★ 90 · 2★ 22 · 1★ 36 ## What do users think of Calm Urge? Overall sentiment: positive **Pros** - 👍 Helpful for self-harm recovery - 🚀 Lots of free features - 🔒 Password protection for privacy - 💡 Variety of calming activities - 👍 Tracks progress and mood - 👍 Encourages daily reflection **Cons** - 🐛 App crashes or won't open - 💰 Premium features behind paywall - 🔍 Concerns about parents accessing app - 🔍 Ads can be poorly timed - 🔍 Limited emotion tracking options **Commonly reported bugs** - Forgot password feature not working - Inconsistent app performance issues **Most requested features** - Add milestones/achievements tracking - Improve sound/audio functionality - Allow customizing mood/emotion options - Provide more free access to analytics ## Newest reviews (18 of 254) ### 4/5 — great app *2026-08-17, version 2.31.1* i really like this app, ive had for a little over 6 or 7 months now. the daily recaps are good and its helped me identify my mood a lot which im not good at. only thing is idk why they have premium ### 3/5 — good *2026-05-30, version 2.31.1* good! just lots of adds sometimes ### 4/5 — One thing I would like to see… *2026-05-24, version 2.31.1* I think this app is really good. My favorite thing is having a daily track and that it analyzes it and makes graphs and pie charts. One thing however that this app could improve, is the idea of a calm urge button. They have the right idea, but maybe having more things in there that are positive and helpful for a time of struggle. But overall I really like this app. ### 4/5 — Calm urge self harming *2026-05-01, version 2.31.1* I love this app a lot ever since i got it for my self harm I have been doing better ever since,I think it's helpful because it tracks when I do it and when I don't and I have been clean for two days so far and only two days because I just downloaded it. I discovered this app when I searched for something similar on my apps on my iPhone anyways I love this and I would use it in my after life also!!!!! ### 4/5 — Good app but typing feature won’t work *2026-03-13, version 2.31.1* The free version of the app is pretty good compared to other apps I tried. I like that it gives you a “calm urge” section that has little games to help take your mind off of sh but for some reason, whenever I try to use the features that require typing such as the Journal or daily message feature I can’t see what I’m typing. ### 5/5 — . *2026-03-10, version 2.31.0* 5 stars it really helped me ### 5/5 — Helped me stay clean *2026-03-10, version 2.31.0* I was clean for two weeks and relapsed and I had to make a promise to not do it again but this app helped me a lot I’ve been clean and my people are very proud of me ### 3/5 — Review *2026-03-06, version 2.29.0* It helped for a day then I felt depressed and ran away yesterday ### 4/5 — premium？ *2026-03-04, version 2.29.0* This app is good but wtf! Why is there premium?!? That’s messed up ### 2/5 — Significant challenges, but also potential *2026-02-10, version 2.29.0* All things considered, I unfortunately am giving this app a 2.5/5 rating. While there are lot of strengths and potential benefits to be gained from the general premise of the app, there are a lot of issues in its execution in my opinion. One major flaw of the free version of the app is that there are ads that frequently interrupt the user. They are long and very disruptive to me, as an adult who is not at risk of harming myself while utilizing the app. For a young, more impulsive person who is actively thinking of harming themselves and looking for instant relief, this is a huge issue. From a neuroscience perspective, the limbic system (which is the social emotional part of the brain) undergoes a large shift at the time puberty occurs (Laser & Nicotera, 2021). This happens around age 12-14 and can lead a young person to seek more sensations and short-term gratification. Additionally, the prefrontal cortex begins maturing later on in the teen years. This can mean the social-emotional part of the brain is highly active without oversight from the decision-making, impulse-control part of the brain (Laser & Nicotera, 2021). Mindfulness activities and an emergency contact function are only useful to an adolescent if they can provide an immediate alternative to self-harm. The 30 seconds required to wait through an ad might be what tips an adolescent with poor impulse-control user over the edge. The app also generally looks cheaply made and is not very visually appealing. There are also major concerns with the privacy policy, as the creator states that users under age 13 are not meant to be using the app and that their data should therefore not be saved. However, when registering the app on one’s phone, the user has the option to select “<12” as their age group, and can still use all the functions on the app within this age group. While it is certainly flawed, the app is not all bad. The premise of it is incredibly important, as around 23% of adolescents have, at some point, engaged in self-harm behaviors (Laser & Nicotera, 2021). The app’s “Daily Track” function asks simple, direct questions to the user about whether or not they have harmed themselves, how they felt throughout the day, and what their major concerns were that day. With adolescents, it is generally best practice to be direct in questioning about whether or not self-harm is happening, how frequently it is occurring, etc (Laser & Nicotera, 2021). Additionally, the ability to share this data from the app directly to a therapist could be really helpful for a clinician working with adolescents, as they likely only see each client for about an hour a week. This way, the young person would not have to try to remember how they felt and acted each day throughout the week. Instead, they can pass along the data that they recorded in real time. Additionally, the options that the app offers as alternatives to self-harm are strong. First, the “emergency call” function allows the young person to add three custom emergency contacts. Connectedness to parents and to nonparental adults are both protective factors for young people against suicidal ideation and self-harm (Laser & Nicotera, 2021). This emergency call function encourages the user to at least identify three safe adults that they can lean on in times of distress. It hopefully also encourages the user to follow through and make the call to an adult when necessary. Finally, the app’s mindfulness activities provide genuinely enjoyable and distracting alternatives to self-harm, as intended. There are a wide variety of options, with high-quality sound bites and engaging, interactive components. All things considered, the free version of this app has immense potential, with significant challenges in its current state. ### 3/5 — Okay-ish *2026-01-23, version 2.29.0* + Good Graphics + Cool fidgets + Daily Pledge + Daily Review - Advertisements - Can’t turn sounds off ### 5/5 — It’s good!!! *2026-01-10, version 2.29.0* It’s a good app!! Especially if you wanna keep track of your SH or triggers (if you write them down) the calming games are cool too, they don’t work for me but I still like to play with them from time to time!! ### 4/5 — love this but *2026-01-03, version 2.29.0* amazing app i perfer this over anything but i recently relapsed and i attempted to go into the app and it asked me for my passcode which i swore i ised face ID so i put in all my passwords and yet none worked and im unable to get in. the "forgot passcode?" button dowsnt work for me either. ### 4/5 — Very good ! *2025-12-22, version 2.29.0* On the first day that I used it I had multiple urges to SH but I used the breathing method to stop myself an it has worked I am now clean for 2 days !! ### 4/5 — great app!! *2025-12-20, version 2.29.0* it helped me lots but i do recommendation not using an app to get better. this one is great tho ### 5/5 — Yes! *2025-11-23, version 2.29.0* Honestly I had been struggling with self harm for longer than I’d like to admit. I was bored, figured that since summer was coming, I might as well try to keep the scars to a minimum. So I tried this app, I haven’t self harmed in 12 days, which is my highest time ever! This app has multiple ways to help cope, such as breathing exercises, and overall helps so much! 100% recommend! ### 5/5 — Thank you so much *2025-10-26, version 2.29.0* Thank you so much. This app has really helped me although I haven’t stopped but I am doing it less frequently and I’m really really thankful for this app ### 5/5 — Kiera *2025-10-25, version 2.29.0* This app is amazing it helped me so much and it just made me feel like I’m not a freak and it helpd me stop Im finally getting better all thank to this app ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Unknown *2025-12-21, version 2.29.0* The constant ads stress me out and make me more mad I know you can’t do anything about it just make the app really suck and when you say that you have relapse it doesn’t do anything it just rede the timer like thanks app Ik I can’t last 2 sec don’t recommend ### 1/5 — Ads and premium *2024-12-12, version 2.27.0* Takes advantage of struggling people by using ads and having premium options. Boo hiss ### 1/5 — Only works if paid for *2024-12-07, version 2.27.0* This app makes me want to self harm more. It supposedly offers a free version but it’s useless with its bad interface and ads. I can’t afford therapy or meds, I surely can’t afford another subscription. ### 1/5 — Clinicians - please walk through this with clients *2024-01-25* As a DBT-trained clinician I wanted to check this app out for my clients. It has some good features and, based on the reviews, many do find it helpful. But I wanted to highlight that some features apparently trigger ads. I tapped to check out the daily message and got an ad for some kind of Galaga style game. When I clicked what I assumed was the skip button, it took me to the App Store. Imagine being a person struggling with the urge to self harm hoping to see a helpful message only to get an ADVERSTISEMENT! Seems like it could be rather triggering to someone in a moment of high activation. So please review it for yourself and walk clients through it to see if they think it would help and can tolerate the ads because they could come up at bad times and only make the client more frustrated and likely to self harm. ### 1/5 — Adding premium and poorly placed ads. *2022-12-01, version 2.19.4* This app was amazing until you updated it to shove premium in our faces. The overall app performance has also plummeted and i keep getting issues trying to look at my analytics. The ads that appear seem to be very poorly picked in when they appear and what they show. Every time I try and reset my streak I get an add for either bible reading or a ‘diet’ app. This is an app to help people with mental issues who also likely have EDs as well as SH issues. It’s ridiculous. Put the ads as small banners or clicking into analytics just not on reset streak or when journaling. - Screen the ads. - Don’t pressure users to get premium. We’re all mentally screwed we don’t have any money. - Performance issues. ### 1/5 — App won’t open. *2021-12-24, version 2.15.1* I’ve been using this app for a really long time and it has been helping me a lot as the app is doing what it’s supposed to but for weeks now the app won’t open past the "Take a deep breath" page. Knowing how important this app is to me I don’t wanna risk losing everything when deleting it. It helps many people so please fix this as we can even open the app at all or notice us if there has been a shutdown. ### 1/5 — Don’t get the new update *2021-06-05, version 2.5.0* I really loved this app when I first got it but I updated it yesterday and now there’s something called premium, which I personally think is so wrong to try and profit off of people’s mental health. Absolutely disgusting ### 1/5 — Doesn’t work *2021-05-13, version 2.4.0* Starts with « take a deep breath » to a black screen. Someone could be pushed the edge because of this, them trying to get some form of tracking of their progress for it to not work and feel like there’s no point improving. ### 1/5 — Upset *2021-04-30, version 2.0.0* I am disappointed that they took away the option to see statistics over time. It is a major reason I use this app. I understand they made a premium version to make money but they should have added even more new features and charged for those rather than strip those who already had something free to them from them. I'm not paying a subscription for this. Maybe a flat rate but not a sub. It is kind of weird this is what is being capitalized. I know I'm one person so it doesn't matter but I'm sure others feel the same way. I loved this app prior and will change me review if anything changes. ### 2/5 — It’s okay *2026-05-09, version 2.31.1* I can’t hear anything on the app but works good ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Honest review *2026-09-03, version 2.31.1* It's really good and has helped me with my self harm issues, ive been around 3 months clean as I'm typing this. Only annoying thing is the adds but other than that it's an amazing app ### 5/5 — good *2026-09-01, version 2.31.1* I like this app, it’s free and it has all you need. I love the journal part, overall good for recovery ### 5/5 — This app saved my life. *2026-08-07, version 2.31.1* It’s amazing it helped me I’m 10 days clean, it’s just really great definitely get it if ur struggling, I’m 12yo and I nearly ended my life but this saved me thank you for reading this🦓🐘🐰🕊️🐜🦔🐷🐱if u know u know. ### 5/5 — Thanks so much xx *2026-08-06, version 2.31.1* I LOVE you guys so much u have saved me in so many ways i love this app and as a teenager struggling with self harm with this app is a dream x ### 5/5 — Friends *2026-08-05* I love this app. It has helped me. I’ve only had it for a day, though. I will probably make another review once I’ve had it for a month or so. I think on this app you should be able to have friends kind of like the app Finch. It’s a self-care app. I think this because I feel so it would be nice to be able to share your progress optionally with friends.. So basically what I’m saying is in the app. There should be a friend option to that friends, and you are allowed to share your progress and everything but it is all optional ### 5/5 — Helps a lot *2026-05-30, version 2.31.1* Clean for 13 days!!! I’m really of myself ### 5/5 — I never write reveiws for apps unless they are this good! *2026-05-17* Honesty, tracking wise, it’s not the best app. If you want an app to journal how each day went, your progress tracking, how long you’ve been clean, journaling ECT I would recommend a different app. However, the reason I’m writing this review is because of the calm down section, it’s genuinely so good and immediately put my mind at ease. I 1000% recommend it for it’s calm down game section. It helped me stay clean, relaxes your mind, helps you think straight. So good. My only problem is that I wish the drawing tools were a a bit more advanced, and you could at least blend the colors but I digress ### 5/5 — IT HELP ME SO MUCH *2026-05-12, version 2.31.1* U NEED THE APP NEW! As someone who did self harm it helped me so much ### 5/5 — My opinion *2026-04-20, version 2.31.1* This app has gotten me through some really rough times, being able to see how long you have been clean is refreshing and having the calm urge thing where you can pop bubble wrap and so on is very helpful. ### 5/5 — Great but recent update is buggy *2026-03-12* This app has really been a lifesaver for me in my mental health journey. But the recent update kind of messed up some things. The fonts are all different now (idk if that was intentional or not). More importantly the journaling feature on the daily track page is broken. I can see the box where the words are supposed to go but I can’t see the words themselves!! The journaling feature was one of the reasons I really stuck with this app so this is a relatively major obstacle. Kinda disappointed :( --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-09-09.*