Ballast is an iPhone app for quitting porn and compulsive masturbation (PMO). When an urge hits, it walks you through it with your own reasons and your own plan. It tracks your streak, and it treats a slip as something to learn from.
iPhone, iOS 26 or later · No account · The whole urge flow is free, for good
In the app today
The urge, the slip and the days between
Version 1.0.1 is on the App Store now. Each part answers something people complain about in this category: help that's behind a paywall at 1am, and a slip treated as a verdict.
When an urge hits
Four steps, in your own words, free for good.
Breathe. A guided breathing step to start.
Your reasons. The ones you wrote on a calmer day.
Ride it out. A timed urge-surfing exercise, with your if-then plan beside it if you've written one, something to do instead, a grounding exercise and the person you chose to text.
Logging a slip opens a short screen for the next hour: a few small physical things, and your own plan if you wrote one. No numbers on it and no offers.
The day after, a quiet card reminds you the attempt is intact.
Your streak counts from your quit date, on the Home Screen and Lock Screen too. A slip restarts the current run. Your longest run and your history stay.
Insights finds patterns in what you log, with trigger summaries and a day-and-hour heatmap PRO
A guided 30-day course. A daily practice with no promised timeline for change. Week one is free.
Short reading. Everything about urges and slips is free.
If-then plans and habits. One of each is free.
A grounding toolbox for the hard minutes, and a friction checklist of seven one-time changes to your phone.
Lock the app with Face ID, and export your records whenever you choose. There is no account to create.
Not in the app yet
Coming in the next update: a built-in adult-website filter and progress a slip can't erase.
No brain myths
What Ballast won't tell you
This category sells "dopamine detox", "rewiring" and 90-day countdowns. I couldn't find good evidence for those claims, so Ballast doesn't make them, and its copy is tested so it can't drift into them.
What it does: it uses skills from CBT and ACT, the two approaches most studied for this problem. That research looks promising and has real weaknesses. Here's what supports what, and where it's thin.
Private and secular
Nothing to sign up for
No account and no server. Your entries stay on your iPhone, and Ballast doesn't read your browsing or other apps. Apple and RevenueCat process purchases. The privacy policy lists the rest.
There's no religious framing. People of any faith or none are welcome, and if you want a faith-based app, the comparison names some.
What's free
Free and Pro, without the fine print
Nothing that helps in the moment costs anything. Pro is for the long haul, and Ballast doesn't put an offer in front of you during an urge or after a slip.
What each tier includes in Ballast 1.0.1
Free, for good
Pro
Whole urge flow, slip logging and after-slip support
Insights: trigger summaries and a day-and-hour heatmap
Streak, widgets and daily check-ins
Weekly review
Seven days of journal; the current calendar month
Full journal and calendar history
One if-then plan, one replacement habit
Extra plans and habits
Course week one; all reading about urges and slips
The remaining course days; the rest of the library
Grounding toolbox, friction checklist, getting help
App lock and data export
Pro comes as a monthly or yearly subscription or a single lifetime purchase. The App Store shows the price for your country. The offer appears after setup, can always be dismissed, and has no countdown or made-up discount. Apple handles billing, so you cancel in Settings like any other subscription.
It doesn't block anything yet. Version 1.0.1 has no website filter. Apple's free Screen Time steps come first in our guide, and you may not need more than those.
There's no community. No account and no server means no groups or forums. Plenty of people find other people are what helps most, and other apps do that better.
The whole urge flow, slip support, your streak, daily check-ins, app lock and data export are free for good. Pro adds Insights, the rest of the course and library, full journal and calendar history, extra habits and plans, and the weekly review.
Does Ballast block websites?
Not in the current version. Ballast 1.0.1 doesn't include a filter yet. Its free friction checklist walks you through Apple's Screen Time steps, which need no app.
Does anything I write leave my phone?
Ballast sends none of it anywhere. There is no account and no server, and personal entries stay on your iPhone, though an iCloud or computer backup of the phone can include them. Ballast does not read your browsing or other apps. Apple and RevenueCat process purchases.
Is Ballast treatment?
No. Ballast is a self-tracking and educational tool that uses skills from CBT and ACT. It does not diagnose anything and does not replace professional care.
