PureCBT vs Interrupt
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
PureCBT
This app provides evidence-based cognitive behavioral therapy tools for managing anxiety, depression, and stress. It offers guided exercises, mood tracking, and educational lessons, with premium features available through a one-time purchase. All data is kept private on your device.
- Thought Records
- Mood Tracking
- CBT Journal
- Guided Programs
- Behavioral Activation
- Sleep Log
- Core Beliefs Work
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PureCBT brings the full power of cognitive behavioral therapy to your iPhone. Whether you're working through anxiety, depression, sleep difficulties, or everyday stress, PureCBT gives you the same evidence-based tools used in clinical practice — structured, guided, and completely private. CORE TOOLS — FREE - Thought Records — The gold standard CBT exercise. A guided 7-step wizard walks you through identifying automatic thoughts, examining evidence, spotting thinking traps, and building balanced perspectives. - Mood Tracking — Daily check-ins with emotion tagging, notes, and trend charts so you can notice patterns and track progress over time. - CBT Journal — Reflect on your day with clinically-informed prompts tailored to your focus area. Tag entries by emotion and revisit them anytime. - Progress Dashboard — See your mood trends, emotion patterns, thinking trap insights, and consistency streaks at a glance. - Introductory Lessons — Learn the foundations of CBT with 10 illustrated lessons covering the Five-Part Model, identifying moods, goal-setting, and more. - Dark Mode & App Lock — Protect your most private thoughts with Face ID and a personal PIN. UNLOCK PREMIUM (one-time purchase) Go deeper with the full CBT toolkit: - Guided Multi-Week Programs — Structured courses for anxiety, depression, social anxiety, and sleep, designed as progressive weekly curricula. - Full Lesson Library — Unlock all 49 illustrated lessons spanning thinking traps, behavioral experiments, core beliefs, and long-term strategies. - Behavioral Activation — Schedule meaningful activities and track how they affect your mood. A core technique for overcoming depression and low motivation. - Sleep Log — A CBT-i style log that calculates sleep efficiency and shows your 7-day trends. - Core Beliefs Work — Use the downward arrow technique to uncover and reshape the deep beliefs beneath your automatic thoughts. - Anxiety Hierarchies — Build exposure ladders and log your progress through feared situations, step by step. - iCloud Sync — Keep your data in sync across iPhone and iPad through your private iCloud account. - CSV Data Export — Export your mood entries, thought records, and journal for review with your therapist. PRIVACY BY DESIGN All data stays on your device. No servers, no accounts, no sign-ups. No analytics, no ads, no tracking. Optional iCloud sync uses only your private iCloud container — we never see your data. Your mental health journey is yours alone. BUILT ON SCIENCE PureCBT is grounded in cognitive behavioral therapy as developed by Aaron T. Beck and refined through decades of clinical research. The sleep tools follow CBT-i principles established by Charles Morin. Every lesson, exercise, and program is based on peer-reviewed evidence. PureCBT is not a substitute for professional mental health treatment. If you are in crisis, please contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988.
Interrupt
This app helps you break negative thought cycles with quick, targeted reframes. Access instant interventions via widgets or Apple Watch complications to manage stress, overthinking, and imposter syndrome. It offers personalized options and tracks your thought patterns with a focus on privacy.
- Instant intervention widgets and Apple Watch complications
- Curated library of Stoic wisdom and CBT reframes
- Personalized custom emotional triggers and notes
- Automatic charts for tracking thought patterns
- Air-gapped privacy with local data storage
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Break the cycle of overthinking in seconds. We all get stuck in thought loops. Whether it’s a sudden wave of imposter syndrome, spiraling stress, or negative self-talk, getting out of your own head is the hardest step. Interrupt is a lightweight, privacy-first mental health companion designed to help you catch and break these cycles the exact moment they happen. Instead of long-form journaling or 10-minute meditations, Interrupt focuses on immediate cognitive redirection. With a single tap on your Home Screen widget or Apple Watch, you are presented with a highly targeted, grounding reframe to help you take a breath and regain perspective. HOW IT WORKS: Notice: Catch yourself ruminating or stressing. Trigger: Tap the app, widget, or Apple Watch complication. Select: Choose your current emotion (Stress, Overthinking, Imposter Syndrome, etc.). Reset: Read a curated reframe, take a deep breath, and let the thought go. FEATURES: • Instant Intervention: Deep-linked widgets and Apple Watch complications mean relief is always just one tap away. Bypassing menus, you get what you need instantly. • The "Essentials" Library: Comes pre-loaded with a curated mix of Stoic wisdom, cognitive behavioral reframes, and somatic grounding cues. • Highly Personalized: Add your own custom emotional triggers. Build your personal "Custom Notes" library with messages to your Future Self or "Proof of Wins" to remind you of your resilience. • Actionable Insights: Beautiful, automatic charts track exactly when and why you ruminate, helping you identify time-of-day patterns and your most common triggers. • Air-Gapped Privacy: Your mind is your own. All of your emotional data and custom notes are stored strictly on your local device. We do not collect, read, or transmit your personal data. Interrupt is not a cure, but a circuit breaker. Take back your attention, one thought at a time. Disclaimer: Interrupt is designed solely as a self-help and educational tool for momentary cognitive redirection. It is not a medical device, nor is it a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, psychiatric therapy, or healthcare treatment. The use of this app does not establish a doctor-patient or therapist-client relationship. Never disregard or delay seeking professional medical or mental health advice because of something you have read in this app. If you are experiencing a medical emergency, mental health crisis, or having thoughts of self-harm, please call 911, dial the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, or contact your local emergency services immediately.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: PureCBT at every 4 days against Interrupt's every 2 weeks. PureCBT also leads on ratings volume (3 vs 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. PureCBT sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Interrupt sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for PureCBT against 5.0 for Interrupt. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 3 and 1 respectively.
PureCBT ships an update every 4 days, Interrupt every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 5, 2026 and October 7, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | PureCBT | Interrupt |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (3 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | — | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 3 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 days — better | Every 2 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, Apple Watch |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 — better | 18.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 191 MB | 5 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Yazeed Alaudah | Michael Brockman |
Customer experience
PureCBT
Interrupt
In-app purchases
PureCBT
- PureCBT Premium$14.99
Interrupt
- Stoic PackFree









