Comparison

Cathexis vs Shadow Work

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

Head to head
About

Cathexis

This app helps you understand your body's signals and emotions through somatic therapy techniques. It offers guided programs and free practices to build self-awareness and manage stress, anxiety, and other challenges. Data is processed on-device for privacy.

Highlights
  • Body check-ins with sensation mapping
  • Nine 30-day therapeutic programs
  • Six learning levels per program
  • Four free regulation practices
  • Two free crisis-responsive programs
  • On-device AI for personalized insights
  • Integration with Apple Health
Features
Read full description

Your nervous system is doing something right now. Tightness somewhere. A hum of energy. A heaviness you've learned to ignore. Cathexis starts there — with what your body is actually telling you — and builds outward. Cathexis is a somatic therapy tool grounded in seven neuroscience frameworks: how your brain constructs emotions from body signals, how it predicts and updates predictions, what drives your motivations, how body states shape decisions, how the whole brain coordinates emotion, how unconscious patterns surface, and how memory can be rewritten through practice. YOUR BODY, MAPPED Each session begins with a body check-in: where you feel sensation, what quality it has, how intense it is. Tag your context — energy, location, what's happening — and over time, patterns emerge that your nervous system has been running without you noticing. With your permission, Cathexis integrates with Apple Health, your calendar, motion activity, weather, location, and Health Records (FHIR) — building a picture of what your body does in the context of your life. All data stays on device. NINE 30-DAY THERAPEUTIC PROGRAMS Each addresses a specific way your nervous system learned to protect you: • Living with Threat — anxiety, hypervigilance, panic • Living with Shutdown — low mood, numbness, fatigue • Living with Loss — grief, yearning, hollowness • For Those Who Feel Too Much — flooding, overwhelm • Living Under Siege — when the past keeps intruding on the present • Living with Conflict — being torn between opposing truths • Living in the Body Under Strain — chronic pain, body image, disordered eating • Living Under Pressure — burnout, chronic stress, system exhaustion • Navigating Change — identity shifts, life transitions Six learning levels per program — from guided body awareness to independent practice. FOUR FREE REGULATION PRACTICES Extended Exhale, Five Senses Grounding, Foundation Body Scan, and Box Breathing — always available, no subscription required. TWO FREE CRISIS-RESPONSIVE PROGRAMS Still Here — a 7-day somatic safety practice for when staying feels difficult. Builds a personal Somatic Safety Plan. New Ground — a 7-day practice for when your world changed without warning. Builds a personal Somatic Crossing Map. Both free. No trial, no limits. Verified resources for crisis, self-harm, eating disorders, substance use, domestic violence, and sexual assault are always accessible. ON-DEVICE INTELLIGENCE AI runs entirely on your iPhone using Apple's on-device models — your data never leaves your phone. Your somatic field — built on reaction-diffusion mathematics — visualizes your nervous system in real time. During practice, it breathes with you. Ask it questions by voice or text and receive observations grounded in your own data. Morning predictions and evening check-backs help your brain update its patterns. Substance use and medication logging help your patterns make sense. Siri Shortcuts let you check in, start a practice, or get a somatic summary by voice. BUILT FOR YOUR PROVIDER A Session Report PDF captures your patterns and practice data in clinical language — ready for any provider. Your Treatment Plan is a living summary you own. My Story builds a portrait of your experience over time. INSIGHTS Three views: brain network activation, body sensation mapping, and the connections between your internal systems. Regulation trends, somatic trajectories, and prediction accuracy track what's changing. Monthly Reflections generate ongoing narratives as you progress. PRIVACY AS ARCHITECTURE Everything on-device. Nothing uploaded. Full data deletion anytime. A local Model Context Protocol (MCP) server lets external AI tools access your data with explicit permission at four granularity levels. BUILT BY A CLINICIAN Designed and built by a licensed therapist in residential treatment. Every practice, every word, every safety threshold reflects direct clinical experience with these patterns.

About

Shadow Work

This app offers a structured journaling experience based on Jungian psychology to explore hidden aspects of yourself. It guides you through stages of self-discovery, integration, and self-actualization with written prompts and body awareness exercises. All your entries are stored privately on your device.

Highlights
  • 25 structured sessions across 3 stages
  • Shadow Archetype and Exile reveal
  • Trigger & Glimmer tracker
  • The Mirror reflection tool
  • Grounding breathwork and body check-ins
  • Private, device-only journaling
  • Progress tracking and daily streaks
Features
Read full description

Shadow Forge is a structured shadow work journal built on Jungian psychology. Not a mood tracker. Not a gratitude log. A guided descent into the parts of yourself you've been ignoring, judging, or hiding from the world. HOW IT WORKS Shadow Forge divides your inner work into 3 stages and 25 sessions: Stage 1 - Shadow: 7 sessions Meet the parts you cast away. Explore your projections, your triggers, and the qualities you deny in yourself. Ends with your Shadow Archetype reveal - and the Exile it has been protecting. Stage 2 - Integration: 10 sessions Stop fighting what you found. Learn to own the shadow instead of being owned by it. Stage 3 - Self: 8 sessions The work becomes who you are. Live from a more complete version of yourself. WHAT EACH SESSION INCLUDES - A grounding ritual to prepare the container - 3 written prompts designed to surface what hides beneath the surface - A body check-in to locate emotion as sensation - Everything stored privately on your device THE FIRST STAGE IS FREE Complete all 7 sessions of Stage 1 at no cost. Unlock Stage 2 and Stage 3 with a monthly or annual subscription. YOUR JOURNAL. NO ONE READS IT BUT YOU. Every response is stored locally on your device. No account. No cloud. No server ever receives your entries. FEATURES - 25 structured sessions across 3 stages - Shadow Archetype reveal, plus an Exile card - the wound your Archetype has been protecting - Trigger & Glimmer tracker - log what drains you and what lifts you, see the pattern over 14 days - The Mirror - a 5-question reflection that reveals your relationship pattern, synthesized with your Shadow Archetype - Grounding breathwork before each session - Body awareness check-in - Private journal - device only, no cloud - Progress tracking across all sessions - Daily streak - Grounding exercise available anytime - 11 languages supported Privacy Policy: https://enginaytekin.com/privacy Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Cathexis4 screens
Shadow Work4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ratings volume: Cathexis at 4 against Shadow Work's 1. Shadow Work's advantage is iOS requirement (16.4 vs 26.1). On price, rating, update cadence and ads 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. Cathexis sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month and Shadow Work sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $7.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Cathexis against 5.0 for Shadow Work. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 4 and 1 respectively.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Cathexis ships an update every 2 weeks, Shadow Work fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on September 29, 2026 and October 13, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Cathexis versus Shadow Work: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCathexisShadow Work
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (4 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings4 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeks — betterFortnightly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemiumFreemium
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad — better
Requires iOS26.116.4 — better
Further details — not scored
Size35 MB55 MB
Age rating17+9+
DeveloperJUSTIN JOSEPH DEGARBOEngin Aytekin

Customer experience

Cathexis

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Shadow Work

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

6 purchases

Cathexis

Subscriptions5
  • Independence$4.991 Month
  • Cathexis Premium7 Days trial$9.991 Month
  • Practice$12.991 Month
Show 2 more
  • Independence$39.991 Year
  • Cathexis Premium7 Days trial$79.991 Year
One-time1
  • Lifetime Access$199.99
2 purchases

Shadow Work

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly7 Days trial$7.991 Month
  • Annual7 Days trial$59.991 Year

Questions

Is Cathexis free?
Cathexis is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Shadow Work free?
Shadow Work is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Cathexis or Shadow Work?
Cathexis and Shadow Work are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 4 and 1 ratings respectively.
Do Cathexis or Shadow Work have ads?
Neither Cathexis nor Shadow Work shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Cathexis or Shadow Work?
Cathexis ships an update every 2 weeks, and Shadow Work fortnightly. Most recently, Cathexis was updated on September 29, 2026 and Shadow Work on October 13, 2026.

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