# Voda: Self-Care for LGBTQIA+ — user reviews > 63 indexed App Store user reviews of Voda by Voda Technologies Limited, rated 4.30/5 from 220 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/voda-self-care-for-lgbtqia-plus/id1609960860/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/voda-self-care-for-lgbtqia-plus/id1609960860.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 162 · 4★ 20 · 3★ 4 · 2★ 5 · 1★ 29 ## What do users think of Voda? Overall sentiment: positive **Pros** - 🎯 Highly personalized and tailored content for LGBTQ+ community - 🧠 Effective AI-driven journaling with thoughtful responses - 🏳️‍🌈 Comprehensive LGBTQ+-specific resources and affirmations - 📱 User-friendly interface with bite-sized content modules - 🎧 Helpful guided meditations and audio exercises - 💝 Compassionate and validating support experience - 🤝 Responsive and caring development team open to feedback - 🎨 Beautiful, well-designed user experience - 📊 Evidence-based therapeutic approaches (CBT and others) - 🌟 Effective for building confidence and self-acceptance - ⭐ Free trans+ library content available to all - 🎁 Scholarship program for those unable to pay **Cons** - 💰 Expensive subscription pricing ($120/year) - 🚧 Confusing paywall structure and unclear pricing model - 🤖 AI responses can feel robotic and impersonal - ⚠️ Limited free content after initial trial period - 😕 Gamification with achievement badges adds pressure - 🎤 Poor audio quality with audible breathing and editing cuts - ⏱️ Slow server performance and sluggish navigation - 🔄 Technical bugs causing progress loss - 📝 Limited identity affirmation options (missing bisexual, etc.) - 🚫 Misleading free trial claims - ❌ App crashes and won't open for some users - 🎭 Responses can be vague and overly inspirational **Commonly reported bugs** - App won't open or load (stuck on logo screen) - Push notification setup screen hangs with Error 422 - Progress and completed sessions disappearing mid-journey - Journal entry uploads failing multiple times before succeeding - Tailored advice generation failing with support contact required - Slow server performance causing sluggish menu navigation - Session interruption warnings creating pressure on users - Billing issues with charges after free trial deletion - Inconsistent date tracking on completed check-ins **Most requested features** - Add bisexual and more comprehensive sexual orientation options to identity affirmation - Expand trans identity affirmation journeys beyond current offerings - Add mood score tracking (1-10 scale) for daily check-ins - Include sleep-focused audio content similar to Calm app - Add customizable navigator/character that changes based on mood - Improve audio narration quality and remove breathing sounds - Lower subscription pricing to increase accessibility - Make more content free for vulnerable populations - Provide clearer explanation of what paid features include - Remove or reduce gamification pressure (badges/streaks) ## Newest reviews (14 of 63) ### 5/5 — Works when other approaches haven’t *2025-08-28, version 1.95.0* I’d tried this app a couple of years ago for a day or two, and like most wellbeing apps it just didn’t stick with me at all. I’d forgotten all about it until someone mentioned it to me again recently and I’m so glad I gave it another go. It’s improved massively. There’s something about the mini modules that just works with my brain. You can move through them quickly, but you still need to pay attention to select the right option. To start with I was tapping past the quote screens, but I actually find myself wanting to read them now. I don’t really like the AI summary that’s generated after a journal entry, but understand it might help others. I think getting into the habit of actually completing the journal has helped me. I’d maybe find it helpful to have the ability to add a 1-10 mood score for the day too. Just so I didn’t have to track this elsewhere The colours, short bursts of information, and being able to speed up the recordings all help to make this app feel more engaging to me. It sparks something in my brain that others don’t. I’ve never had a 16 day streak on anything before. It doesn’t even feel like a chore to maintain that. I want to do it! Most importantly, you can tell the app is made for the community by the community. Allowing full free access to the trans+ library is an extremely thoughtful and helpful gesture at a time where it’s really needed. ### 5/5 — Highly Recommend!! *2025-08-21* This is such a wonderful app that provides such credible and useful therapeutic techniques for anyone in the LGBTQIA+ community. This is the app & resource you need in your life no matter where you are in your journey!! ### 5/5 — Great app *2025-08-13* This app is great and would highly recommend . I like the lesson modules and their personalized ones that you can enjoy alongside your journey . I like writing in the journal daily and look forward to that . **Developer response:** Thanks so much, Kristen! We’re glad you’re enjoying the lessons and the daily journaling. Love hearing that it’s part of your routine. - J x ### 5/5 — Such a wonderful tool! *2025-08-12* This app is so helpful and has a variety of tools to support mental health and wellbeing. It’s engaging and affirming. The paid version has a lot of great features and it’s definitely worth the fee. The design team is very personable and open to feedback too. **Developer response:** Thanks so much for this lovely feedback. We’ll keep building with your feedback and support in mind! :-) ### 5/5 — An amazing app *2025-08-10, version 1.95.0* Has helped me so much recently and I use it daily - love its functionality ### 5/5 — Amazing App! *2025-08-10* I was originally intrigued by this app when I heard about it on social media. I host and produce a queer news podcast, and I wanted to check it out as a possible story. What I found was an incredibly useful app that has helped me in my own therapeutic journey. I am a late diagnosed ADHD person—too old for the stimulant drug treatments. So yeah, I’ve been trying to work with a therapist and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) workbooks. I was having some limited success with that, but then VODA really boosted my practice. I don’t think of it as a substitute for my therapist, but it gave me a better experience of CBT and interactive “workbooks” tailored to my queer identity and specific needs. VODA has an AI core, but it is not AI therapy. There are very real and responsive trained human beings behind the app. CBT is featured prominently, but other therapeutic approaches also inform the app’s content. The AI part helps shape feedback and recommendations to what I share in journal entries. And then, I believe the AI identified aspects of my issues in the first 10 day course I took to recommend a second. The second was particularly helpful and has literally changed my life in a few weeks. At every stage of the process, the app gives opportunity for feedback. I have experienced the creators as incredibly responsive to that feedback. The app is for the LGBTQ community and highlights our common challenges with coming out, gender dysphoria, relationship challenges, family issues, etc. As an older, out queer academic and activist, I am glad it addresses those concerns, but they aren’t really my dominant issues. Nonetheless, the app’s LGBTQ focus and awareness is refreshing and confirming as I work through ADHD and social networking issues in my life. After just a few days of the free trial I opted for a year’s subscription. It remains a daily tool I continue to use after almost two months. In fact, I had to take a break from it when I went on a silent meditation retreat (no phones or internet!), and I really missed it. So yes, I highly recommend this app. It does have a few minor presentation glitches, but they are finding and fixing those quickly. I think this app is only going to grow and get even better, quickly. This app can be a really excellent addition to your mental health self care. **Developer response:** Wow, thank you so much for such a thoughtful review! Reading about how Voda has supported your daily practice means a lot to our small LGBTQIA+ team. We put our heart into making sure the app is grounded and relevant to our community, so hearing how it’s resonated with you is incredibly encouraging for us. We know there are glitches to smooth out, and your trust and patience while we keep improving is so appreciated. Thank you! ### 5/5 — build bravery and focus :) *2025-08-09* Even after using this app for only a few weeks, I have already noticed feeling more grounded and intentional. The journeys they send you on help you recognize your thoughts and all the voices that may want to have a say in who you are and how you present and interact with the world, and you have a chance to pause, reflect, and reframe. They help build inner strength so you can reshape your view of the world into one of boldness, acceptance, and being enough. They give you practical examples of little ways to start being braver, and there’s a space to give feedback if you have questions or suggestions on a journey. It’s clear that the people who created this app care deeply about those of us on the other side of the screen, and they want to create a space for LGBTQIA people to flourish. Thank you, Voda! **Developer response:** This means a lot to our little team. Thank you for such thoughtful words. We’re so glad the journeys are helping you feel grounded and braver :-) ### 2/5 — Robotic *2025-07-11* I like the idea of the app but I hate that all the responses seem robotic and when I pick an option and it just says “wrong” and that made me feel worse about myself, you could at least say why it was wrong, like “wrong, while it may feel that way, being unique to yourself is both healtheri and happier” or something **Developer response:** Hi Aiden, it's been close to a year but we're following up because this one mattered. A flat "wrong" has no place in an app meant to support you, and the fact it made you feel worse about yourself is exactly what we never want. Since your review, responses now explain the why with warmth: much closer to the affirming example you wrote (which we genuinely used as a reference). You made the app gentler for everyone who comes after you. Thank you for that! ### 2/5 — “Affirm identity” *2025-06-30, version 1.92.0* Hello I noticed that for “affirm” identity there was only lesbian and gay male. I’m bisexual and I often feel invalidated misunderstood And pressured to pick a side. And I often question if I’m bisexual or lesbian due to peer pressure and I would really appreciate it if you added more categories for “affirm identity” ### 5/5 — Uplifting bursts of support *2025-06-04* VODA’s format presents info broken down into small chunks. I think this was a wise decision because it gives users a chance to control their own personalized journeys. At some point, it might be nice to incorporate the choice of selecting some sort of navigator character. They could modify it based on their mood. I just started so it may already be there further along. Thx for the hours and hours the team worked on this project. Signed: the Dogfather **Developer response:** Hi there, thanks for your kind review! This made our day! We're so glad that you enjoy Voda. We're introducing new companions soon on the app, our first character is a guide in the form of a fox... We're very open to new ideas and will soon be asking for new companion character recommendations :-) Thanks and we'd love any future feedback too -welcome to send to jaron@voda.co - you have a direct line here. Thank you - x ### 5/5 — Mental Relief & Freh Air *2025-05-03, version 1.89.0* I had never had this type of counseling before. It’s mind-blowing! It helps me validate myself like never before! ### 4/5 — An amazing app *2025-04-12* As someone who struggles with OCD, anxiety disorder, and possibly ADHD, and is aromantic this all is very helpful to make me feel better. I always felt out of place being aromantic as everywhere I looked people were talking about their crush and whatever. But this app helps me feel more better and less out of place. One thing I will say is if possible instead of making it cost like over $10 for it maybe they could lower it down so everyone can be able to do it. **Developer response:** Hey there, thanks so much for sharing your experience! We're so glad to hear Voda's helping you feel less out of place (you're definitely not alone!). I completely get the pricing concern too but we have a bunch of free programmes available, and for annual subscriptions it is a 43% discount too! We’re always working on ways to make Voda more accessible for everyone. Thanks again for your feedback x ### 5/5 — Gave it another try and now find it helpful *2025-02-27, version 1.86.0* Previous glitches with progress lost seems to have been rectified. I find it helpful. Presumably AI driven because it picks on your journal entries in later sections. Five minutes a day well spent ### 5/5 — Thank you for helping our people! *2025-02-17* Our story has always been one of survival, joy, and mutual empowerment. Thank you for creating a new beautiful tool for the next generation. May you be blessed a thousand times over for the gift you have shared with the world. Our ancestors thank you. **Developer response:** Wow, this truly made our day. Thank you so much for your beautiful words. 💙 We’re so glad to hear from you, and it means everything to know that Voda resonates in such a meaningful way! - J x ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Voda Is Functionally Counterintuitive *2026-03-20* Downloaded this app after seeing it advertised on Facebook. As an LGBTQ+ person, was desperate to find some mode of self care/therapeutic maintenance for my ongoing social and disability related problems. Instead I found an app that, while helpful at first, didn’t make it clear that it had a paywall after the first day. Or as I saw in another comment, required the use only of random free services on the site. Or even more so the need to apply for a special scholarship to use the app for free. All of these factors indicate that the creators of the app care more about profit and their bottom line than the people who are needing their services for help. I needed more than the weekly visits my disability insurance covers for offline therapy. And navigating the complicated and difficult to read well system Voda employs caused me the kind of cognitive stresses I actually sought out this app to try to manage. This app is a very important service. And really needs to be more user friendly and less concerned with profit. And take into consideration the complicated economic and cognitive issues of its users. **Developer response:** Hi there again - thank you for this review. Accessibility and cognitive load are exactly what we should be getting right for our community, and you've shown us where we're falling short. We do offer a free tier and free Voda+ scholarships (voda.co/scholarships, approved for everyone), I'd love to make this right personally, please message me at jaron@voda.co. — Jaron ### 1/5 — I think this would be helpful if there wasn't a paywall *2025-09-26* I really think this could be a great tool for queer people and queer youth, but I see this as a cash grab if you want to help the community get rid of the paywall please or figure out a system to make it cheaper than other subscriptions. I think this could be something great but right now it's just irritating, especially since there's a struggling with finance thing on the worry setting a lot of people don't have the money for this, but need the help **Developer response:** Thank you, this clearly comes from caring about our community, and we feel the same. Cost should never be the barrier to support. That's why there's a free Voda tier with daily content, self-care resources on coming out, journaling, and a scholarship that gives full Voda+ free to anyone who can't afford it. You can write in at voda.co/scholarships. We're a small queer team trying to keep this sustainable so it's still here for the next person who needs it - but no one should go without in the meantime. -Jaron ### 1/5 — One free lesson a day… *2025-05-07, version 1.89.0* Or not, as it were. Signed up, tried to do my one free lesson, kept prompting me to pay. So much for accessibility and paid users meeting it available for all, etc. Don’t lie about needing to subscribe. Also, lower your rates, $120 a year is outrageous, we shouldn’t be paying double for the monthly. ### 1/5 — Stolen art *2025-05-03, version 1.89.0* Voda has already started off very poorly after stealing Rickofalltricks animations for their personalized ads without any contact with the artist, and has used that for their own profit. I find this to be extremely inconsiderate to those who put actual effort into their work, just to find out that it’s been stolen for a app to lure people in and gain their interest in the app. For more details on this feel free to check out Ricksoftricks video on YouTube channel for more details. Voda never reached out for the artists consent to use their art for ad purposes. ### 1/5 — Can’t do anything without a subscription *2025-03-27, version 1.86.0* I wanted to try this app out, but I couldn’t do anything without a subscription. I wish you guys just made the app something you need to buy instead of tricking us into thinking it’s for free or will have some free features. I have no clue if this app was actually helpful or not since I couldn’t use anything. ### 1/5 — Not like calm at all *2025-03-22, version 1.86.0* Was advertised to be like the Calm app. However I did not see it have what I was hoping for. Which was audio for helping me achieve sleep quicker and more restorative. Instead it offered a 10 day plan for journaling and self reflection… that is NOT what I wanted. So yeah nothing like the calm app. ### 1/5 — pay for help? *2024-11-24, version 1.78* it’s honestly quite sad that this app targets people like me who are trans or in the community, i feel like this because you guys make us pay for help? like we are the most vulnerable group and some of us need help but don’t have the money to pay for something like this. this makes me pretty upset as the app actually looked pretty cool. do better. ### 1/5 — truly nothing at all *2024-11-05* this app just tells you to think about your emotions and then gives you vaguely inspirational paragraphs about weathering storms or whatever. i understand that that’s all some people need, so im glad those people are getting helped, though imo you probably could accomplish the same thing with a hang in there kitten poster or something. for example, i went through the module on coping with misgendering. it just told me to write down how being misgendered made me feel and then told me to try to convince myself that what i was feeling was not real. (they call this act therapy) i know from experience that a lot of therapeutic techniques rely on essentially just willing yourself into feeling something different, but i’ve never been very good at that, and ive always felt that if i could do that i wouldn’t really need the therapist as a middleman. so ultimately im sure this could be helpful for someone with extremely mild symptoms of depression or anxiety, but im also not totally sure why someone with extremely mild symptoms of depression or anxiety would need such an app in the first place. **Developer response:** Coming back to this because a lot has improved since you tried us. We hope you can give Voda another shot! ### 1/5 — Scam *2024-08-25, version 1.78* I was charged $13 when I chose free trial I decided the app wasn’t for me but I was still charged after deleting it ### 1/5 — literally will not open *2023-10-13* sat on that logo screen for 5 minutes. nothing. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — So healing! *2026-08-26* I’m absolutely loving this app! It is making such a difference in my mental health. And the fact that it’s specifically for queer and neuroqueer people makes a world of difference from other mental health apps. Cannot recommend it enough! ### 5/5 — My therapy journey *2026-05-05* I absolutely love this app. My fiancé found it for me a few days ago when I snapped for no reason while working and it worried me greatly so I started this three days ago. It's got a trove of information. It's easy to use user-friendly. It doesn't rush you to do anything or complete anything and I like that **Developer response:** Thank you for sharing this. Shoutout to your fiancé for the recommendation! We're glad Voda feels like a safe space to take things at your own pace. - J :-) ### 5/5 — Different is good! *2025-12-12, version 1.102.0* This is my first app review. I have tried other self care apps and find this one the best so far and very positive. A very cleaver use of AI that responds to your journaling thoughtfully and the guided meditations are helpful. I would recommend trying this! I appreciably loved the lgbtq+ content and will explore that more soon ### 5/5 — Individualized *2025-11-24* This app is wonderfully tailored to meet your individual needs. Not only can you receive guidance based on your personal goals, you also receive support based on your daily journal entries! ### 5/5 — Great App for Self-Care *2025-10-30, version 1.99.0* I’ve been using this app for a while and I’m really happy with it. It’s relaxing, supportive, and thoughtfully designed. Highly recommended! ### 5/5 — Super amazing app!!!! *2025-10-04* So I randomly found this on the app store one day and immediately loved it, I’m a non-binary lesbian who struggles with OCD, Autism, Anxiety and Tourettes and this app makes me feel really seen. The developers are super nice and are always open to feedback and Jaron reads and responds to every message. So glad to have started my journey with Voda 😊✨💕 ### 5/5 — Fantastic app, really helpful for LGBTQIA people in all stages *2025-09-21, version 1.96.0* Really enjoying the app. Helping me find words and validation. Helping sort through emotions and feelings. ### 5/5 — So Helpful *2025-09-05, version 1.95.0* As a queer,trans and disabled person it has been so hard to find a space that is safe and understands my mental health needs. Voda has been that for me and I was gifted with a free subscription and it has helped me so much! Thank you Voda for being a safe space! 💕🌈🏳️‍⚧️✨ ### 5/5 — Proud and Empowered: Thanks to Voda! *2025-09-04* Using the Voda app has profoundly helped me become more aware and accepting of my queer identity. The app’s personalized affirmations, paired with actionable strategies grounded in evidence-based approaches, have strengthened my confidence and challenged unhelpful thoughts and limiting beliefs that I once held about myself. Its daily advice and mindfulness exercises offer practical tools that make it easier to buffer minority stress and cultivate self-compassion. I especially appreciate how the app creates a supportive, affirming space where my experiences feel validated and normalized. Through Voda, I’ve gained skills to better regulate my emotions and cope with challenges specific to LGBTQIA+ life, all while continuously affirming my identity. The tailored content and community-driven approach make me feel understood and empowered to implement changes in my self-care routine. Overall, Voda has been invaluable in helping me embrace and celebrate my queer self with greater resilience and self-love. ### 5/5 — Good app *2025-08-31, version 1.95.0* I like its format a lot. It’s helpful but I think there should be a journey for affirming identity for trans not just gay or lesbian. --- *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.*