Comparison

Forest Bathing Life vs FreeCBT

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Forest Bathing Life

This app offers guided practices and a community to help you reconnect with nature, combat stress and anxiety, and cultivate inner peace. Explore programs like guided walks, meditations, and a nature sound library to integrate forest bathing into your daily life.

Highlights
  • Guided forest bathing walks
  • Virtual Group Circles
  • Nature Sound Library
  • Inner Nature meditation audios
  • Community board messaging
  • Track nature-calm feelings
Features
Read full description

Humanity is facing a global crisis which stems from our disconnection from the natural world. Many of us suffer from a “nature deficit” as we spend more and more time indoors. With time spent in nature decreasing, many of us are suffering from stress and anxiety. And with that stress comes inflammation: the root of so many ailments and illnesses. We must break free of this cycle! Nature is always here for you. What you need is a practice, a guide who reminds you and teaches you and a community to help you CONNECT TO NATURE. So much of nature connection is the time we allow ourselves to be outdoors and in a special state of mind. Give yourself this time. The app can help you prioritize this practice above all other distractions that come in this busy modern life. I want to guide you to create a different routine, a different way of seeing and interacting with the world that is new but deeply familiar. There is so much awe, so much simplicity, complexity, beauty and intrigue waiting for you to discover when we slow down and simply notice. The practice of forest bathing is the path that awaits you. With 8 years of experience and having helped over 1,500 people around the world with developing an understanding and practice of forest bathing, I've designed the app to deepen your relationship to the natural world by establishing and integrating the practice of Forest Bathing into your daily life. Would you like to connect to nature while taking care of your wellbeing while combating those feelings of stress and anxiety? Are you ready to take the steps towards feeling more peace and connection with nature with this transformative practice? Then this is your time! Programs included in the app (that is constantly expanding like the universe): -The Forest Bathing Life Drop-In Sessions -6-Week Forest Bathing Experience -Nature Sound Library -30-Day Sit Spot Celebration Features include: -Guided forest bathing walks -Virtual Group Circles -Guided sit spots -Inner Nature meditation audios -Community board messaging -Track your nature-calm feelings daily -Virtual LIVE forest bathing walks May the forest be with you! Duncan INFORMATION ABOUT THE APP AND PURCHASE OPTIONS By signing up, you will get access to subscription(s) that include features such as progress tracking, and offline sync. The download of Forest Bathing Life is free of charge. Should you use Forest Bathing Life app to access in-app content, we offer one of the following options: Free plan(s) - available to subscribe free of charge. Subscription based plan(s) - a recurring payment will be charged to your credit card after the trial period ends and when a subscription renews. A subscription renews automatically unless canceled at least 24 hours prior to the end of the subscription period. There is no increase in price when renewing. Subscription(s) can be managed and auto-renewal turned off in Account Settings in the App Store after purchase. One-time purchase based plan(s) - a payment will be charged to your credit card only once. Read our full Terms of Service and our Privacy Policy: https://passion.io/terms-of-service https://passion.io/privacy-policy

About

FreeCBT

This app provides a digital thought diary to practice Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). It helps users identify and challenge negative automatic thoughts, retrain their brains, and ultimately improve mood and behavior. It's an open-source tool for self-help and as a companion to traditional therapy.

Highlights
  • Thought diary
  • Challenge automatic thoughts
  • Identify cognitive distortions
  • Train alternative thoughts
  • Open source
  • CBT self-help tool
Features
Read full description

FreeCBT is an open source thought diary for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is the "gold standard" of psychotherapy and is widely considered to be one of the most effective, evidence backed treatments for depression, anxiety, and panic. If you go into just about any therapist or psychiatrist, CBT will likely be one of the first treatments they try. FreeCBT is a companion and self-help app for one of the most common formats of CBT. You may have heard it called "the three column technique" or "catch it, check it, change it." Your brain is really good at making you feel exactly what you're thinking. Often, we find ourselves thinking "automatic negative thoughts" that lead us to fume on something that may not be true. That can cause us to feel depressed or anxious. CBT helps you record "automatic thoughts," challenge them with cognitive distortions and then train your brain with an alternative thought. If you do it enough, you can change your thoughts, your moods and your behavior. FreeCBT, a fork of Quirk, is open source under the GPL. You can find the code on Github at: https://github.com/erosson/freecbt

Screenshots

Forest Bathing Life4 screens
FreeCBT3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: FreeCBT at none against Forest Bathing Life's 5. FreeCBT also leads on ads (none vs shown) and ratings volume (170 vs 5). Forest Bathing Life's advantage is update cadence (every 2 months vs every 9 months) and rating (5.0 vs 4.7). On price, review sentiment, device support and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Forest Bathing Life sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $8.99 per month. FreeCBT asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Forest Bathing Life holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: FreeCBT has 170 ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 100% of Forest Bathing Life's written reviews are positive against 96% of FreeCBT's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Forest Bathing Life ships an update every 2 months, FreeCBT every 9 months. The most recent releases landed on October 3, 2026 and October 29, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Forest Bathing Life versus FreeCBT: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterForest Bathing LifeFreeCBT
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (5 ratings) — better4.7 (170 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews — better96.2% of reviews
Number of ratings5170 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 months — betterEvery 9 months
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.0 — better15.1
Further details — not scored
Size79 MB35 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperDuncan MurdochEvan Rosson

Customer experience

Forest Bathing Life

All ratings5 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews5 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

FreeCBT

All ratings134 ratings
Positive94.0%
Neutral2.2%
Negative3.7%
Written reviews79 reviews
Positive96.2%
Neutral2.5%
Negative1.3%

Bugs and requests

Forest Bathing Life

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

FreeCBT

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Swiping from distortion page selects/deselects distortions unintentionally
  • App update deleted all past user entries
  • Keyboard covers answer input area on some screens
  • Swipe navigation doesn't work properly on certain screens
  • Inconsistent touch response during navigation

Requested features

12 requests
  • Dark mode option
  • Analytics to track thoughts and patterns over time
  • Export feature to share entries with therapist or notes app
  • Cross-device synchronization
  • Bottom navigation bar
Show 7 more
  • Ability to tag or categorize thoughts by topic
  • Filter and view thoughts by category
  • Evidence section with for/against columns
  • Worst case scenario section with probability assessment
  • More detailed examples for alternative thought step
  • Additional cognitive distortion options (jumping to conclusions)
  • Better help documentation and explanations

In-app purchases

5 purchases

Forest Bathing Life

Subscriptions3
  • Subscription7 Days trial$8.991 Month
  • Monthly Subscription$24.991 Month
  • Subscription$59.991 Year
One-time2
  • One Time Subscription$8.99
  • One Time Subscription$39.99
None

FreeCBT

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Forest Bathing Life free?
Forest Bathing Life is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is FreeCBT free?
FreeCBT is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Forest Bathing Life or FreeCBT?
Forest Bathing Life is rated higher. Forest Bathing Life averages 5.0 out of 5 from 5 ratings, while FreeCBT averages 4.7 from 170 ratings.
Do Forest Bathing Life or FreeCBT have ads?
Forest Bathing Life shows ads; FreeCBT does not.
Which is updated more often, Forest Bathing Life or FreeCBT?
Forest Bathing Life ships an update every 2 months, and FreeCBT every 9 months. Most recently, Forest Bathing Life was updated on October 3, 2026 and FreeCBT on October 29, 2026.

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