Safety Plan vs Empathetic ear
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Safety Plan
This app guides users through creating a personalized safety plan to manage suicidal thoughts and self-harm urges. It offers tools for crisis moments, mood tracking, and access to support resources for individuals and their loved ones.
- Step-by-step safety plan creation
- Shareable safety plans
- Crisis intervention tools
- Mood tracking
- Access to crisis support
- Informational resources
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Safety Plan is here to help you make a plan for dealing with thoughts of suicide and self-harm. The app will walk you through filling out the 6 steps of a safety plan, share your safety plan with your loved ones, and use your safety plan in a moment of crisis. The app also includes audio and interactive tools to help you calm down, information for you and your loved ones about safety plans and suicide, mood tracking, and ready access to crisis support. Safety Plan is a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs app, developed by the National Center for PTSD Dissemination and Training Division and the Office of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention.
Empathetic ear
This app records and analyzes voice interactions to help users understand emotions and improve communication. It processes speech to provide insights based on emotional tone and communication patterns.
- Voice interaction recording
- Speech processing
- Emotional tone analysis
- Communication pattern insights
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Feeling disconnected? Like the days have gotten quieter and the world a little further away? Empathetic Ear is a daily AI companion that listens, remembers, and shows up for you, every single day. You choose Sam, a warm and patient listener, or Alex, a straightforward and encouraging presence. Either way, you get 15 minutes sessions, multiple times each day that are entirely yours. No appointments. No waiting rooms. No judgment. Most apps forget you the moment you close them but not Empathetic ear, It remembers... It remembers you memories and experiences. It remembers Sunday mornings. It remembers what you shared about last Tuesday, your family visit, and it asks how it went. Every session builds on the last. Over time, your companion gets to know the people in your life, the things that matter to you, the moments that were hard and the ones that made you smile. Speak or type - your choice. Some days you want to talk. Some days you'd rather write. Empathetic Ear works both ways, in your own time and at your own pace. The voice slows down for you. The text gets bigger if you need it. Everything is designed around how you actually communicate. Something to work toward. Each week your companion suggests a small, personal goal, something real and doable, tailored to your life. Not homework. Not therapy exercises. Just a gentle nudge toward the kind of moment that makes a day feel worthwhile. Reach out to an old friend. Sit in the garden. Write down one good thing. Your companion checks in on how it went. Celebrates the small wins. Adjusts when life gets in the way. Keep your people in the loop. After each session, Empathetic Ear creates a brief summary of your conversation. You can share it with a family member, a caregiver, or your care team so the people who love you know how you're doing, even from a distance. Your safety, always. If you're having a hard day, a really hard day, help is one tap away. Empathetic Ear understands and recommends immediate and urgent care like the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, always visible and never hidden. Who Empathetic Ear is for. Adults who feel the days have gotten quieter. People who live far from family. Those who are retired, widowed, or caring for a loved one. Anyone who could use someone to talk to without the complexity, the cost, or the commute. Works on any smartphone, no Wi-Fi or broadband required. Built with care. Backed by research. Empathetic Ear is being developed in active collaboration with senior psychiatry researchers to continuously improve the experience. Your conversations are powered by large language models (LLMs), the same technology behind today's most advanced AI and adapted specifically for adults. Your privacy matters. Your data stays in Google Cloud, encrypted, secure, and never sold. Your conversations are yours. We do not share, sell, or use your personal information for advertising. What you get. • 15-minute conversations with Sam or Alex • A companion that remembers your story across every session • Speak or type — always your choice • Weekly personal goals tailored to your life • Session summaries to share with family and your care team • Voice and text size options designed for your comfort • Works on any smartphone — no broadband needed • One-tap access to 988 when you need real support Disclaimer Empathetic Ear is a wellness companion. It is not a substitute for professional mental health care. This is not therapy, nor a replacement for therapy. It is not suitable for emergencies or immediate assistance. If you are experiencing a mental health crisis, please call or text 988 or contact your healthcare provider immediately.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Empathetic ear at every 9 days against Safety Plan's every 22 months. Safety Plan's advantage is ratings volume (23 vs 1) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.1). On price, rating, ads and in-app purchases 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Safety Plan against 5.0 for Empathetic ear. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Safety Plan has 23 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Safety Plan ships an update every 22 months, Empathetic ear every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on October 28, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Safety Plan | Empathetic ear |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (23 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 23 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 22 months | Every 9 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 15.1 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 90 MB | 30 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 17+ |
| Developer | US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) | Empathetic ear LLC |
Customer experience
Safety Plan
Empathetic ear
In-app purchases
Safety Plan
No in-app purchases
Empathetic ear
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Safety Plan free?
Is Empathetic ear free?
Which has better reviews, Safety Plan or Empathetic ear?
Do Safety Plan or Empathetic ear have ads?
Which is updated more often, Safety Plan or Empathetic ear?
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