Comparison

Cold Shower Therapy vs Ice Barrel

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

Head to head
About

Cold Shower Therapy

This app helps you build mental toughness by tracking your daily cold shower practice. Monitor your streaks, view progress with stats, and join a community of individuals challenging their comfort zones. Daily reminders and a global leaderboard encourage consistency.

Highlights
  • Track cold shower streaks
  • View progress with stats
  • Calendar history view
  • Global leaderboard competition
  • Daily consistency reminders
  • Theme customization
Features
Read full description

Build mental toughness one cold shower at a time. Cold Shower Therapy helps you track your daily cold shower practice, build streaks, and join a community of people pushing their comfort zones. FEATURES: • Track your cold shower streaks • View your progress with beautiful stats • See your history on the calendar • Compete on the global leaderboard • Daily reminders to stay consistent • Choose between Ice Blue and Arctic White themes WHY COLD SHOWERS? Cold showers have been shown to boost energy, improve circulation, increase alertness, and build mental resilience. Start your day by doing something hard. Sign in with Apple to sync your progress and compete with others. From IMPOSSIBLE® - helping you do hard things since 2010. Based on the original cold shower therapy post - http://impossiblehq.com/cold-shower-therapy More cold shower resources http://impossiblehq.com/cold-shower-therapy-guide http://impossiblehq.com/cold-shower-health-benefits http://coldshowertherapy.com Special thanks to Nick Reese.

About

Ice Barrel

This app enhances cold water therapy by allowing remote control of a connected chiller, tracking session progress, and offering guided coaching. It also facilitates connections with other cold therapy practitioners.

Highlights
  • Remote chiller control
  • Session tracking
  • Guided coaching
  • Community connection
  • Temperature control
  • Notifications
Features
Read full description

Whether you’re an ice bath enthusiast or just starting your journey, the Ice Barrel App will help you make your cold therapy practice even better. CONTROL YOUR ICE BARREL CHILLER FROM ANYWHERE Wi-Fi connectivity enhances your control over the Ice Barrel Chiller with features like advanced scheduling (coming soon), precise temperature control, important notifications, multi-user support, and more. SESSION TRACKING TO MEASURE PROGRESS Log the temperature, duration and type of cold therapy session to build consistency and measure your progress over time. GUIDED COACHING TO LEAD YOUR JOURNEY From beginner to advanced, explore our coaching sessions to guide you through your cold journey every step of the way. CONNECT WITH ICE BATH ENTHUSIASTS Discover a like-minded group of others practicing cold therapy near you that you can connect and share with. Disclaimer: Always consult with a doctor before doing the cold therapy exercises mentioned in this app.

Screenshots

Cold Shower Therapy4 screens
Ice Barrel4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Cold Shower Therapy at 4.4 against Ice Barrel's 3.7. Cold Shower Therapy also leads on review sentiment (72% vs 44%) and ratings volume (107 vs 31). Ice Barrel's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 4). On price, update cadence, ads and device support 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. Cold Shower Therapy sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. Ice Barrel asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Cold Shower Therapy holds the better App Store score, 4.4 against 3.7. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 107 and 31 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 72% of Cold Shower Therapy's written reviews are positive against 44% of Ice Barrel's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Cold Shower Therapy ships an update monthly, Ice Barrel every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 22, 2026 and October 23, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Cold Shower Therapy versus Ice Barrel: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCold Shower TherapyIce Barrel
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.4 (107 ratings) — better3.7 (31 ratings)
Positive reviews71.9% of reviews — better43.8% of reviews
Number of ratings107 — better31
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 3 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPod
Requires iOS15.015.0
Further details — not scored
Size2 MB167 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperImpossible X LLCIce Barrel

Customer experience

Cold Shower Therapy

All ratings107 ratings
Positive84.1%
Neutral3.7%
Negative12.1%
Written reviews89 reviews
Positive71.9%
Neutral4.5%
Negative23.6%

Ice Barrel

All ratings29 ratings
Positive69.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative31.0%
Written reviews16 reviews
Positive43.8%
Neutral6.3%
Negative50.0%

Bugs and requests

Cold Shower Therapy

Reported bugs

28 issues
  • Account creation errors
  • Cannot get back into the app after signing out
  • App is buggy and outdated
  • App is broken and no longer works
  • Stopped logging showers
Show 23 more
  • Data corruption and loss of streaks/stats
  • App crashed
  • Stats reduced to incorrect numbers
  • Current streak data disappeared
  • Incorrect days shown for streaks
  • Invalid login parameters
  • Cannot sign in with Facebook
  • Music doesn't play
  • Doesn't keep a counter going
  • Lost records multiple times
  • App is very unstable
  • New update requires re-login with no password reset
  • Wouldn't register shower on calendar
  • Add past shower feature doesn't work
  • Contact feature not working
  • Does not always update, leading to lost stats/rankings
  • Black screen on opening
  • Downloading new iOS update deletes shower history
  • Screen never turns off when app is open
  • App crashes or doesn't open properly
  • Statistics screen won't scroll
  • Total cold showers doesn't fit on older iPhones
  • Total showers count is wrong

Requested features

19 requests
  • Ability to edit starting date
  • Manual add option for past showers
  • Adjustable prep time beyond 5 seconds
  • Increase alarm volume
  • Option to shut off music prompt
Show 14 more
  • Record total number of showers
  • Ability to delete incorrect entries
  • Intermediate chimes/countdown
  • Connect to Spotify
  • See notes afterwards
  • Make timer work without multiple button presses
  • Make noise when timer is up
  • Apple Watch app
  • Ability to edit journal entries
  • Option for rare days without showers
  • Change alarm to 10 minutes
  • Allow current song to finish after alarm
  • Toggle to stop screen from turning off
  • Offline tracking

Ice Barrel

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

4 purchases

Cold Shower Therapy

One-time4
  • Cold Shower for Yesterday$0.99
  • 3-Months Optional Patronage$2.99
  • 6-Months Optional Patronage$5.99
Show 1 more
  • 12-Months Optional Patronage$11.99
None

Ice Barrel

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Cold Shower Therapy free?
Cold Shower Therapy is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Ice Barrel free?
Ice Barrel is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Cold Shower Therapy or Ice Barrel?
Cold Shower Therapy is rated higher. Cold Shower Therapy averages 4.4 out of 5 from 107 ratings, while Ice Barrel averages 3.7 from 31 ratings.
Do Cold Shower Therapy or Ice Barrel have ads?
Neither Cold Shower Therapy nor Ice Barrel shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Cold Shower Therapy or Ice Barrel?
Cold Shower Therapy ships an update monthly, and Ice Barrel every 3 weeks. Most recently, Cold Shower Therapy was updated on October 22, 2026 and Ice Barrel on October 23, 2026.

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