Comparison

iChill vs Bounce Back Now

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

Head to head
About

iChill

This app teaches six wellness skills based on the Trauma Resiliency Model to help manage stress and trauma. It guides users to understand and regulate their nervous system, promoting a balanced state for better well-being. Regular practice can reduce anxiety and depression symptoms.

Highlights
  • Teaches six wellness skills
  • Based on Trauma Resiliency Model
  • Helps regulate nervous system
  • Promotes balanced 'Okay Zone'
  • Reduces anxiety and depression symptoms
  • Suitable for all ages
Features
Read full description

Are you feeling stressed, not quite yourself, or worried about a loved one? iChill is here to help. iChill teaches six wellness skills from the Trauma Resiliency Model (TRM)® and Community Resiliency Model (CRM)® to help you manage sensations associated with trauma and stress, enhancing your well-being. Based on the biology of the human nervous system, iChill helps us understand and regulate our body's natural rhythms. When in harmony, our nervous system aids in navigating life's challenges, helping us make sound decisions for ourselves and our community. This balanced state is called the Resilient Zone or "Okay Zone." Stressful events can bump us into the High Zone (anxious, uptight) or Low Zone (numb, disconnected). iChill helps us return to our Okay Zone, restoring balance. Regular practice of these skills can reduce anxiety and depression symptoms, improving overall well-being. iChill benefits children, teens, and adults of all ages. It helps us answer the question, “What else is true?” leaning into our strengths to help manage distress in the present moment. iChill is not meant as a substitute for counseling with a licensed mental health professional. Learn more about iChill's developer, the Trauma Resource Institute, at traumaresourceinstitute.com.

About

Bounce Back Now

This app offers private, self-paced emotional recovery tools for individuals and families impacted by trauma or stressful life events. It helps track well-being, provides coping strategies for stress, anxiety, and mood, and connects users to support resources.

Highlights
  • Emotional well-being assessment and tracking
  • Understanding trauma symptoms
  • Coping tools for stress, anxiety, and mood
  • Mindfulness and relaxation techniques
  • Sleep monitoring and improvement
  • Parenting tips for young children
  • Connection to crisis support helplines
Read full description

Bounce Back Now (BBN) is a free app to support the emotional recovery of individuals and families affected by a traumatic event, privately and at their own pace. Most content in the app is also highly relevant to people who have experienced other stressful life events. BBN was developed by healthcare professionals at the Medical University of South Carolina, Boston University, and University of Nebraska and was rigorously tested in research funded by the National Institute of Mental Health to provide an effective recovery tool for trauma survivors worldwide. Many people experience stress, anxiety, low mood, or sleep problems after a traumatic event, but don’t know where to turn for help. This app will help you track your emotional recovery and will provide you with coping tools to help you manage stress, anxiety, mood, and sleep problems based on best practice guidelines. If you want to talk to or text a disaster crisis counseling and support specialist via the Disaster Distress Helpline (which is administered by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration), the BBN app will help connect you to them. Download BBN today to support your and your family’s recovery after a traumatic event. What you will get: - Ability to assess your emotional well-being and track your recovery over time. - Gain an understanding of symptoms that commonly occur after a traumatic event. - Easy access to best-practice mobile tools that support emotional recovery and health across a range of domains, including stress, anxiety, depression, and sleep. - Effective coping tools that include relaxation skills, mindfulness, scheduling pleasurable activities, monitoring and improving sleep, writing about your experience, and tools to manage stress and anxiety. - Apply coping tools to improve mood and rate your experiences. - Coping tips for adults and helpful parenting tips for young children and adolescents. - Resources for additional help, such as Disaster Distress Helpline, American Red Cross, and National Institutes of Health, all in one place. - By practicing these skills over time, you may become less distressed and more quickly able to return to your daily activities. This mobile app is intended for information, education, and self-help purposes only. It is not a substitute for medical advice from a doctor or health care provider. Use of this application does not establish a doctor-patient relationship between you and the Medical University of South Carolina, Boston University School of Public Health, University of Nebraska, the National Institutes of Health, or any affiliated institutions. Persons using this application assume full responsibility for the use of this application and agree that the Medical University of South Carolina, Boston University School of Public Health, University of Nebraska, or any affiliated institutions are not responsible or liable for any claims, losses, or harms arising from use of the application. If you have any questions about the app, please contact the BBN Team at bbn@musc.edu or visit bouncebacknow.org.

Screenshots

iChill4 screens
Bounce Back Now3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Bounce Back Now at 5.0 against iChill's 4.2. Bounce Back Now also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 68%) and update cadence (fortnightly vs every 4 months). iChill's advantage is ratings volume (35 vs 4) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Bounce Back Now holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: iChill has 35 ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 68% of iChill's written reviews are positive against 100% of Bounce Back Now's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

iChill ships an update every 4 months, Bounce Back Now fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 5, 2026 and October 3, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
iChill versus Bounce Back Now: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameteriChillBounce Back Now
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.2 (35 ratings)5.0 (4 ratings) — better
Positive reviews68.4% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings35 — better4
Update frequencyEvery 4 monthsFortnightly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS13.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size152 MB52 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperTrauma Resource Institute, Inc.The Medical University of South Carolina

Customer experience

iChill

All ratings35 ratings
Positive77.1%
Neutral5.7%
Negative17.1%
Written reviews19 reviews
Positive68.4%
Neutral10.5%
Negative21.1%

Bounce Back Now

All ratings4 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

iChill

No in-app purchases

None

Bounce Back Now

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is iChill free?
iChill is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Bounce Back Now free?
Bounce Back Now is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, iChill or Bounce Back Now?
Bounce Back Now is rated higher. iChill averages 4.2 out of 5 from 35 ratings, while Bounce Back Now averages 5.0 from 4 ratings.
Do iChill or Bounce Back Now have ads?
Neither iChill nor Bounce Back Now shows ads.
Which is updated more often, iChill or Bounce Back Now?
iChill ships an update every 4 months, and Bounce Back Now fortnightly. Most recently, iChill was updated on October 5, 2026 and Bounce Back Now on October 3, 2026.

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