Comparison

iChill vs Virtual Hope Box (new)

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

Virtual Hope Box (new)

This app provides tools to help users cope with difficult emotions, relax, and engage in positive thinking. It allows for personalized content creation with loved ones and therapists, offering distraction techniques and guided exercises.

Highlights
  • Multimedia content storage
  • Personalized coping cards
  • Positive activity planning
  • Distraction tools
  • Guided relaxation exercises
  • Controlled breathing techniques
Features
Read full description

The Virtual Hope Box (VHB) is a smartphone application designed for use by patients and their mental health providers as an accessory to treatment. The VHB contains simple tools to help patients with coping, relaxation, distraction, and positive thinking. Patients and providers can work together to personalize the VHB content on the patient's own smartphone according to the patient's specific needs. The patient can then use the VHB away from clinic, continuing to add or change content as needed. Patients can use the VHB to store a variety of rich multimedia content that they find personally supportive in times of need. For example, a patient can include family photos, videos and recorded messages from loved ones, inspirational quotes, music they find especially soothing, reminders of previous successes, positive life experiences and future aspirations, and affirmations of their worth in their VHB. A patient can also collaborate with their provider to create coping cards to use in response to personal problem areas they experience. Finally, the VHB provides the patient with positive activity planning, distraction tools, and interactive relaxation exercises including guided imagery, controlled breathing and muscle relaxation.

Screenshots

iChill4 screens
Virtual Hope Box (new)4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is iOS requirement: iChill at 13.0 against Virtual Hope Box (new)'s 18.0. On price, rating, review sentiment and ratings volume 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

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.2 for iChill against 4.1 for Virtual Hope Box (new). Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 35 and 16 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 68% of iChill's written reviews are positive against 71% of Virtual Hope Box (new)'s.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on October 22, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
iChill versus Virtual Hope Box (new): the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameteriChillVirtual Hope Box (new)
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.2 (35 ratings) — better4.1 (16 ratings)
Positive reviews68.4% of reviews71.4% of reviews — better
Number of ratings35 — better16
Update frequencyEvery 4 monthsEvery 4 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS13.0 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size152 MB64 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperTrauma Resource Institute, Inc.Defense Health Agency

Customer experience

iChill

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

Virtual Hope Box (new)

All ratings6 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews7 reviews
Positive71.4%
Neutral14.3%
Negative14.3%

In-app purchases

None

iChill

No in-app purchases

None

Virtual Hope Box (new)

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is iChill free?
iChill is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Virtual Hope Box (new) free?
Virtual Hope Box (new) is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, iChill or Virtual Hope Box (new)?
iChill is rated higher. iChill averages 4.2 out of 5 from 35 ratings, while Virtual Hope Box (new) averages 4.1 from 16 ratings.
Do iChill or Virtual Hope Box (new) have ads?
Neither iChill nor Virtual Hope Box (new) shows ads.
Which is updated more often, iChill or Virtual Hope Box (new)?
iChill ships an update every 4 months, and Virtual Hope Box (new) every 4 months. Most recently, iChill was updated on October 22, 2026 and Virtual Hope Box (new) on October 24, 2026.

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