stoic. journal & mental health

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1. ★★★★★subscription and paid restrictions

   All about the $. I was under the impression I could use what I felt necessary and each time a new prompt showed up, the end result was signing up for a subscription. If you don’t decline the prompts (even the simple questions you think are designed to help you), I the next page is something else asking for money. I checked this app out for my kid but I will not suggest it for him.

2. ★★★★★subscription and paid restrictions

   Subscription Spam Kills UX. As a first-time user who just wanted to learn more about and explore the app, the first five or ten minutes with it was awful and frustrating. I just wanted to see the interface and determine whether or not I might like it. Instead, I got hit with a bunch of popups, subscription paywalls, rating requests, and more *constantly* within the first five minutes — to the point that this “mental health companion” app was actively fighting me while I was trying to figure it out. I get that subscriptions are important. I don’t even mind paying for something I like. But when I’m spammed so much in the first few minutes that I can’t even figure it out, the ask comes across as greedy and unhelpful. Once I cleared the constant popups, I tried to click around and gain a better understanding of how the app functions. Nope: More popups and paywalls. Based on other reviews, some users are having better luck. I still don’t know if this app is for me … but after all the paywall spam, I have no interest in continuing. Devs, please consider implementing a better onboarding flow for users and asking for money *after* someone has a chance to get their bearings.

3. ★★★★★trial charges and refunds

   Did not want to extend trial. Does not give refunds.. I wanted to try it out. I never used the app. They charged me $100 and will not give a refund. They say oh it’s not our fault because Apple handles al the billing. We can’t do anything about it. That is BS, unethical and terrible business practice.

4. ★★★★★negative experience without a specific reason· unspecific

   money. mental health that everyone is talking about, you ended up charging and making business… not good should be free

5. ★★★★★negative experience without a specific reason· unspecific

   AI is biased and bad for LGBTQ users. The AI is horrible for LGBTQ users. An app all about journaling, where LGBTQ users often need it more, shouldn’t be discriminatory towards them. This is the last thing I want to be seeing in my journal, and it’s horrible for your mental health unless you’re a straight white Christian.

6. ★★★★★negative experience without a specific reason· unspecific

   Unable to open app. App crashes every time starting up now

7. ★★★★★negative experience without a specific reason· unspecific

   App immediately crashes. I downloaded this app and upon opening for the first time, it crashed. I tried again, same thing. I tried a few more times and same story. So I decided to give it another opportunity, so I deleted the app and reinstalled. Same story. Frustrating to say the least. I go to the website, and the only way to report a bug is to do it through the app. How am I supposed to report a bug if I cannot open the app?

8. ★★★★★negative experience without a specific reason· unspecific

   Worked great until it didn’t. I used the app twice a day for more than a year. Then one day it wouldn’t open. No support and nothing online helped to resolve the issue. What a disappointment.

9. ★★★★★negative experience without a specific reason· unspecific

   Just trying to bring attention to the devs. This app doesn’t launch for me. I’ve installed it multiple times it keeps crashing on launch. iPhone 14 Pro running latest public iOS

10. ★★★★★slow performance and long loading times

    Definitely Glitchy.. Didn’t want to be “That guy,” but here I am. Writing an honest review so others can find another stable app that works for them. The potential in this is seen, but the customer service response is so slow, and they don’t fix anything. The AI counselor just responds back with the same sentence you’ve typed to them which is a waste of money. I pay 49.99 for this and have yet still to hear from them about me getting my money back. Don’t get scammed. Not unless they fix these issues. Once fixed, it will be great. - UncleKev.

11. ★★★★★negative experience without a specific reason· unspecific

    What happened to the app?. I used to go there and read stoic quotes and stories. Now they all seem to be gone. Now, if you want to read anything there, it will have to be your journal (which isn’t going to help me) or by reading content from people I’ve never heard of (whom I don’t trust since I don’t know them). No Marcus Aurelius quotes, no Seneca quotes, no quotes from anyone that I could find except from modern day people who think they know stoicism. I’d rather stick to the people who I know and admire that have been around for centuries. And every other click shows a page to “buy” the app on a never ending monthly (or annual) plan. Sounds more commercial now than stoic.

12. ★★★★★trial charges and refunds

    Charged before trial ended. Im so tired of mental health apps costing so much and not following through with promises. When I signed up for the free week trial, it said it would send me a reminder notification before the trial ended in case I want to cancel. They didn’t (yes my notifications are on/everything allowed), and lo and behold- charged before I could cancel. Honestly this price is steep as it is, at least follow through with the heads up you promised me.

13. ★★★★★negative experience without a specific reason· unspecific

    Voice to Text feature disappeared. When I first got the app, there was voice to text options when I was writing a journal entry. But now that is no longer there. Did that feature gat taken off? That was the main reason I got the app

14. ★★★★★negative experience without a specific reason· unspecific

    Daily Prompts + Follow Ups. I’ve used the free version for a few years now and I loved that it would prompt me to start my day with my three focus areas + questions that tie into those + gratitude questions. Then in the evening, the prompt would be essentially a follow up of those initial questions. Now the daily check-ins are just one simple question with no follow up. What happened?!?!

15. ★★★★★negative experience without a specific reason· unspecific

    Don’t really like. It’s not the best-i mean it’s ok but like………not a journal app i would use everyday

16. ★★★★★negative experience without a specific reason· unspecific

    App Keeps Crashing. - The app is crashing all the time when I keep updating my daily journal - I am losing all my journaling when that happens - I have noticed that it is only happening on the Mac though

17. ★★★★★negative experience without a specific reason· unspecific

    Crashing on iPad. Everytime I click on a home card the app crashes

18. ★★★★★crashes, freezes and errors

    Broken or something…. I signed up for the free trial, and then wanted to start customizing to see if it would work for my needs. Cannot find the customization anywhere. tried following the directions on their help pages, they must be referencing some other version… The options they tell me to select are not there. Also not there are any of the “Exercises” group on the sidebar from the help articles screenshots. I have spent 30 minutes trying to make this work… Done now.

19. ★★★★★negative experience without a specific reason· unspecific

    App crashes. Every time I try to begin journaling, the app just crashes and I can’t do anything.

20. ★★★★★data, history or progress disappears

    Not very easy to use. This app is not very intuitive. I spent about 15 minutes, customizing a template and then there was no save options, it was grayed out, so I Lost that work. Frustrating trying to find all the different features and get it set up. Felt like a stoic test on how to deal with frustration

21. ★★★★★subscription and paid restrictions

    Lost all data. Really nice app but one day it just stopped working and cannot open, and all my history is gone. And to be clear I was on the premium plan.

22. ★★★★★subscription and paid restrictions

    My favorite app taken over by AI :(. Had been using stoic for years. It was a moment of peace in my mornings where the world seems a little clearer - a chance to escape from wandering thoughts, a nice break from the rest of the internet, through a clean interface and simple prompts. Really helped me with seasonal depression. The addition of AI features without an opportunity to opt out is finally getting me to switch to a paper notebook! I’m not at all interested in more intrusive AI in my life and no amount of nagging will change my mind. Sad to lose quite a long streak and delete after having a “Lifetime” subscription but like everything else on the internet it’s fake (and probably a data point someone is monetizing, somewhere!)

23. ★★★★★negative experience without a specific reason· unspecific

    Not good for apple watch. The “mood” and “emotions” section are both the same thing; and whatever mood you select nothing happens — you just get taken back to the home page. Not a good mood tracker at all

24. ★★★★★negative experience without a specific reason· unspecific

    Freezes constantly. Would be great otherwise.

25. ★★★★★negative experience without a specific reason· unspecific

    Confusing. The desktop version of this app is excellent. But the iOS version is hopelessly confusing. This app needs to be completely revamped so that the average person can understand it and use it properly.

26. ★★★★★negative experience without a specific reason· unspecific

    Journaling. If you’re looking to journal your thoughts, this is not the app for that. It should come with instructions on how to access your entries. It’s such a struggle to start journaling, and then if you want to go back to an entry, well… I can’t find a way to it. There should be a calendar where you can click a day to see your entry.

27. ★★★★★negative experience without a specific reason· unspecific

    They got rid of customizing prompt sources. I used this app a long time ago, and you used to be able to say “I only want quotes from stoics, Buddhism, and Taoism”. They seem to have gotten rid of this feature. You can select quote “themes” while browsing quotes, or one category, but not more than one, and this browsing doesn’t seem to influence your daily quote. For example, if I get a daily quote from Oprah Winfrey or the Bible I’m gonna gag. Useless without its core feature regardless of all the stuff they added. Will update this review once this core deficit is resolved.

28. ★★★★★subscription and paid restrictions

    Overcharged, No help from company. I ordered the basic version of this app, but then was charged over $300 for it. Called and emailed customer service. Did not get any help or a refund. Do not order this app. Still trying to get a refund a year later. Very disappointed.

29. ★★★★★negative experience without a specific reason· unspecific

    Chat GBT Way Better. The free version of Chat GBT is way better than this. Not sure why this gets such high reviews.

30. ★★★★★negative experience without a specific reason· unspecific

    Nice marketing, lousy product. The idea that Stoic philosophy combined with AI will help you live a better life is the underlying premise to this app. In reality the app doesn’t come close. I found the questions posed by the app inane and unhelpful. Take your money, go buy the actual books written by Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus, and the other great stoic. Read a chapter, or just a page, and write about how the reading struck you emotionally or intellectually. That will help you far more than this app.