# Crest - Ride Out Cravings — Urge surfing for any habit > App guides users through urges using visualization and coping tools. (iPhone/iPad app by Alejandro Beracasa.) - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/crest-ride-out-cravings/id6758573324 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`) - Developer: [Alejandro Beracasa](https://appshunter.io/developer/1871580035) - Category: Health & Fitness, Lifestyle - Price: Free - Rating: 4.90/5 from 14 App Store ratings · 4 written reviews indexed - Age rating: 12+ - Requires: iOS 17.0 · 3 MB - Languages: American English - Released: 2026-02-01 - Data updated: 2026-09-01 - Monetization: free - User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/crest-ride-out-cravings/id6758573324/reviews.md ## What is Crest? Every urge rises, peaks, and fades. Like a wave. Most peak within 8 to 15 minutes and then pass on their own. Almost nobody finds that out, because giving in ends it sooner. Crest gives you somewhere to wait. HOW IT WORKS An urge hits. You tap Surf Now. The wave rises with you, and Crest tells you where you are on it: what your body is doing, how much is left, and the moment you've hit the peak. Gentle haptics mark each phase. One tool is suggested if you want your hands busy. When it passes, you log it. That's the whole loop. One tap to start, one to finish. A JOURNAL THAT FILLS ITSELF IN Most journals are a blank page you abandon after a week. Crest's is full before you type anything. Every day you logged an urge colours itself by how hard that day was, so a month is a picture instead of a list. Tap the month name to pull back and read a whole year at a glance. Tap any day to see what happened and add a line about it. Nothing nags you to write. It's there on the days you want it. PROOF THAT URGES PASS You tell Crest how strong an urge was at its worst, and how strong it was by the end. Those two numbers turn into evidence: how far your urges actually drop, how long it takes, and how many times you've now proved it to yourself. "47 of the 50 you rated ended lower. Hit you at 7, left you at 3." Give it a couple of months and it answers a better question: whether your urges are fading further than they used to. SLIPS ARE DATA, NOT FAILURES Gave in? Log it. Nothing breaks, no score drops, no lecture. Crest asks what set it off, because the triggers that beat you are the most useful thing it can learn about you. You'll see them in their own list, separate from the ones you ride out. DECIDE BEFORE THE URGE ARRIVES The best evidenced thing in habit change is deciding in advance: when this happens, I will do that. Crest writes the first draft for you, from what actually beats you, then puts it on your Home Screen, on your widget, and in front of you the moment an urge starts. IT LEARNS WHAT WORKS FOR YOU Eight tools: breathe, ground, affirm, journal, body scan, cold, move, delay. After a surf, Crest asks one question. Did anything help? Over time it stops offering you eight options at the worst possible moment and starts offering the one that works. EVERYTHING IN CREST • The wave, drawn in real time, through four phases: Rise, Crest, Fall, Calm • A Journal that fills itself in, by month and by year • Eight coping tools, and a toolkit that learns which ones work for you • Your plan, written before you need it • Proof that your urges fade, in your own numbers • Patterns: when urges hit you, and which triggers win • Log an urge that already passed, without running a timer • Countdown or count up, your choice • An optional heads-up shortly before your usual window • Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets, Live Activity, and Siri • Private iCloud sync across your devices PRIVATE BY DESIGN No account, ever. There's nothing to sign up for. No analytics, no tracking, no ads. There is no third-party SDK in the app. No servers of ours. Your surfs sync through your own private iCloud, and nobody but you can read them. No feed and no leaderboard, because the last thing anyone needs is somewhere to broadcast a bad night. WORKS FOR Food. Doom scrolling. Shopping. Gaming. Procrastination. Any habit you're trying to break. And anything else you name yourself. Crest doesn't care what the urge is, only that it passes. Free. No ads, no subscription, no paywall. You've got this. ## Key features - Wave visualization for urges - Four urge phases: Rise, Crest, Fall, Calm - 8 coping tools (breathe, ground, affirm, etc.) - Streak and progress tracking - Group challenges with friends - Privacy-focused, no data collection ## Recent user reviews (4 of 4) All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/crest-ride-out-cravings/id6758573324/reviews.md ### 5/5 — Amazing App *2026-05-05* Great app for managing cravings and urges. So much more convenient than setting the timer myself and comes with tools to help regulate. **Developer response:** Thanks so much! Really glad the tools are helping you manage cravings. That's exactly what Crest is for. ### 4/5 — Strong and promising *2026-03-20* User friendly and welcoming. Would love to see the option to temporarily leave your surf to view the menu and come back to it. **Developer response:** Hi Mike, thanks for the kind words and the 4 stars! Good news, this feature already exists! During a surf, tap the down arrow (⌄) in the top-right corner. This minimizes the session so you can browse the menu while your surf continues running in the background. Hope that helps, happy surfing! 🌊 ### 5/5 — The Urge is real! *2026-02-03* It takes a bit to get use to it, to surf the urge… but once you click with it, you can’t stop coming back! ### 5/5 — Food cravings! Especially gummies *2026-02-03* I love this app. It’s simple, calming, and genuinely helpful. Urge surfing has helped me pause and ride out food cravings instead of acting on them. The wave visualization makes it easy to remember that urges pass. Highly recommend. ## Frequently asked questions about Crest ### What is Crest's core feature? Crest's core feature is its 'urge surfing' technique, which uses a visual representation of an urge rising, peaking, and fading like a wave. This helps users understand that urges are temporary and can be ridden out. ### What coping tools does Crest offer? Crest provides 8 distinct coping tools to help users stay present during an urge. These include breathing exercises, grounding techniques, affirmations, journaling, body scans, cold exposure, movement, and delaying the urge. ### Can I track my progress with Crest? Yes, Crest allows you to track your streaks, identify patterns in your urges, and monitor your overall progress over time. This data can provide valuable insights into your triggers and trends. ### Does Crest have ads? No, Crest is completely ad-free. The app emphasizes a calming and uninterrupted experience, ensuring no advertisements interfere with your urge surfing sessions. ### How does the 'Surf Crew' feature work in Crest? The 'Surf Crew' feature allows you to team up with up to 4 friends for mutual support. You can see combined stats and complete challenges together, fostering accountability while keeping individual data private. ### What devices is Crest available on? Crest is currently available on iPhone. It also supports iCloud sync, allowing your data to be accessible across all your Apple devices. ### Is Crest suitable for all types of urges? Yes, Crest is designed to help with a wide range of urges, including food cravings, doom scrolling, shopping impulses, nail biting, and procrastination. It's a versatile tool for managing various unwanted behaviors. ### How often is Crest updated? Crest was last updated on February 5, 2026, with version 1.3. This indicates a recent update, suggesting ongoing development and support for the application. ## Version history (last 5 releases) ### 1.6 — 2026-08-27 A JOURNAL THAT FILLS ITSELF IN Crest has a third tab. Every day you logged an urge colours itself by how hard that day was, so the month is already a picture before you write a word. Tap the month name and it pulls back to the whole year at once. Tap any day to see what happened on it and add a line. Everything you wrote that month sits under the grid, so your own words are on the surface instead of buried a tap deep inside a date. That includes what you wrote before there was a Journal to write it in. Notes you left on a surf - during it, or in the log afterwards - are in there too, marked so you can tell them apart. They stay on the surf they belong to and are still edited there; the Journal just stopped pretending they did not exist. DECIDE BEFORE THE URGE ARRIVES Write one line about what you'll do next time, and Crest gives it back to you mid-urge. It drafts the first version from what actually beats you, and it appears on your Home screen and on your widget. PROOF THAT IT'S WORKING The card on Home says it in a sentence now instead of a fraction, and it names exactly what it counts. Once you've rated twenty surfs it changes job. By then you know urges pass, so it starts answering the next question instead: how much further they're falling now than they used to. Your best streak and your count for the week moved to Progress, where the rest of the numbers already were. IT LEARNS WHICH TOOL WORKS After a surf, Crest asks one question: did anything help? Over time it stops offering eight options at the worst possible moment and starts leading with the one that works for you. WIDGETS The Home Screen widget has the wave in it now. During a surf the water rises through the climb, stands highest at the crest, and visibly drains as it passes, so a glance tells you not just how long is left but whether the worst of it is behind you. Lock Screen widgets are new: a ring and a countdown, the phase and what's coming next, or a single line. The Live Activity keeps up with the surf now, so the phase on your Lock Screen changes as the wave does even while your phone is in your pocket. When the twenty-five minutes are up it says so, and then reminds you the surf is still waiting to be logged. Swipe it away whenever you like. ONE SET OF COLOURS Every intensity number in the app now uses the same scale, running from a calm blue up to coral. Four different places used to draw the same number four different ways, so a 7 could be orange on one screen and green on the next. Your ratings are unchanged. They finally agree with each other. The category colours are calmer too, and the charts, the time-of-day grid and the streak flame now sit inside Crest's own palette instead of borrowing system colours. ALSO NEW • Log an urge that already passed, without running a timer • Tap the phase name mid-surf to read why it works • "That's 12 in a row" after a surf, once you have a run going ### 1.5 (2) — 2026-08-07 Slip ups are data, not failures — and now Crest treats them that way. GIVING IN GETS A SCREEN Before, giving in dropped you back to the home screen with nothing recorded. Now it's a moment: how long you rode it, what set it off, how strong it was. No judgement, no lecture, no number going down. Knowing the pattern is how you beat it next time. SEE YOUR URGES FADE Crest already asked how strong an urge was at its worst and by the end. Now those numbers add up to something: "It passed 47 of your 50 surfs — hit you at 7, you left it at 3." Proof that urges pass, in your own data. WHAT BEATS YOU Your triggers are now split in two: the ones you ride out, and the ones that win. The second list is the useful one. A HEADS-UP BEFORE YOUR WINDOW Optional. Once Crest can see a real pattern in when your urges hit, it'll nudge you about fifteen minutes beforehand — so you can get ahead of it instead of reacting to it. Worked out entirely on your device. SIMPLER Insights and Progress were two names for the same screen. They're one now. Home leads with Surf Now, with your proof right underneath. Tap any past surf to open it. ALSO • Surf Crew has been retired • Onboarding is three screens instead of five • The launch screen shows the Crest wave • Surfs under a minute no longer show as "0m" • Skipping the log no longer records numbers you never entered ### 1.4 — 2026-06-11 - Surf Now: start riding an urge with a single tap - Live Activity: follow your wave right from the lock screen and Dynamic Island, no unlocking needed - Siri & Shortcuts: "Start a surf" hands-free, or straight from the widget - See your urge fade: log intensity before and after, and watch the wave do its thing - Export your data anytime: it's yours - Smoother, lighter, and fully supports larger text sizes, VoiceOver, and Reduce Motion ### 1.3 — 2026-02-05 NEW: Home Screen Widgets Track your active surf or quick-start from your home screen with new small and medium widgets. NEW: End Surf Early Finish a surf before 25 minutes and still count it as a win. You stayed in control. NEW: Countdown Timer Choose to see time remaining (25:00 → 0:00) instead of elapsed time in Settings. Themed Affirmations Affirmations now show themed icons based on their message - strength, patience, mindfulness, and more. Improvements • Smoother celebration animations • Better widget phase transitions • Fixed session history display • Performance optimizations throughout ### 1.2 — 2026-02-04 • iCloud Sync - Your surfs now sync across all your devices automatically. No account required. • End Surf Early - Finish anytime and still count it as a win. • Countdown Timer - See time remaining instead of elapsed. Toggle in Settings. • Themed Affirmations - Unique icons and colors by theme. • Bug fixes and performance improvements. ## More apps by Alejandro Beracasa - [Fastinger](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/fastinger/id6758466615) All apps by Alejandro Beracasa: https://appshunter.io/developer/1871580035 ## Related topics [urge surfing](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/urge-surfing) --- *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 2026-09-01.*