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What is mentalillnessmouse?
Mentalillnessmouse is a peer-advice blog about living with mental illness. Its stated focus is mental health peer advice rather than clinical treatment, and its most concrete content is curated lists of phone apps for crises, chronic pain, comfort, sleep and medication management.
What it covers
The blog's app roundup is organised by need, which makes it easy to scan when you already know what you want help with:
- Emergencies and crisis: ICE Contact, MY3 and Wickr Me, described as tools for reaching a support network or communicating privately.
- Chronic pain: Ouchie for pain management and Flaredown for tracking symptoms and treatments.
- Comfort and connection: Comfort Spot, Vent and Reachout: My Support Network.
- Background sound: Rain, Rain, TaoMix 2 and myNoise for relaxation, sleep or concentration.
- Medication: Medisafe, Carezone and MyTherapy for reminders, prescription details and symptom notes.
The page carries its own caveat: none of the apps are substitutes for therapy or medical professionals, and most are free. That framing matters — this is a starting point for self-management, not a treatment plan.
Who it suits
It is most useful if you want peer-level suggestions and are comfortable evaluating apps yourself. If you need clinical guidance, crisis intervention or a formal care plan, a peer blog is the wrong first stop; use it alongside professional care, not instead of it.
A practical next step
Pick one category that matches your week — say, medication reminders — and try a single app for a few days before adding another. For broader, professionally reviewed mental health information, NHS and Mind are established alternatives worth comparing against peer advice.
Which apps can help me manage a mental health crisis?
The apps listed on mentalillnessmouse for crisis situations focus on two things: reaching your support network fast, and keeping a private channel open when you need to talk. The blog also carries a disclaimer worth taking seriously — none of these apps replace therapy or emergency services.
Apps for emergencies and crisis
- ICE Contact — a free personal safety app that sends instant and delayed messages to friends and family listed as your In Case of Emergency contacts. Available for Apple and Android.
- MY3 — you define your support network and your personal safety plan in advance, so you can act on it when thoughts of suicide arise. Available for Apple and Android.
- Wickr Me — a private messenger with easily erasable messages, letting you control who sees your content and for how long. Available for Apple and Android.
How to choose between them
| Need | Better fit |
|---|---|
| Alert someone automatically if something happens to you | ICE Contact |
| Plan ahead for a suicidal crisis | MY3 |
| Talk frankly without a lasting record | Wickr Me |
A practical next step
Set up one app while you are calm, not during a crisis. Fill in your contacts and safety plan, then send a test message so you know it works on your phone — the blog itself suggests trying apps first while you are safe to see whether they function on your device. If you are in immediate danger, contact local emergency services rather than relying on an app.
For ongoing support between crises, the same page lists comfort and peer-connection options such as Vent and Comfort Spot, plus symptom trackers like Flaredown that can give a therapist or doctor a clearer picture of your patterns.
How can I track my medications and symptoms using phone apps?
Use a two-part setup: a medication reminder that handles doses and refills, plus a separate tracker for symptoms and side effects. Combining both jobs in one app is convenient, but the dedicated trackers usually give you richer notes and charts, while the dedicated reminder apps are more reliable about nagging you on time.
Medication reminders
- Medisafe schedules doses and refill warnings, and can alert an emergency contact if you miss medication. It also opens a channel to your doctor or pharmacist. Good if forgetting doses is your main risk.
- Carezone lets you photograph prescription bottles and imports the details automatically, then adds symptom notes and contacts. Useful if typing in long medication names is a barrier.
- MyTherapy sends reminders for medication, measurements and exercises, and doubles as a journal. A sensible pick if you want one app for pills and simple logging.
Symptom and treatment tracking
- Flaredown is a comprehensive symptom and treatment tracker, aimed at people managing chronic conditions. Best when you need to spot patterns over weeks.
- Ouchie combines pain management with connecting to providers and other people in similar situations. Suits chronic pain specifically.
- Vent is a social diary for expressing how you feel within an understanding community. It is emotional outlet rather than clinical tracking, so keep it separate from your data log.
A practical routine
- Put every medication, dose and time into one reminder app the day you start.
- Log symptoms once daily at a fixed time, even when you feel fine; a two-line note beats a detailed entry you skip.
- Add side effects and any missed doses in the same entry, so cause and effect sit together.
- Before an appointment, export or screenshot two to four weeks of entries rather than months of raw data.
The trade-off is effort versus insight: reminders cost a few minutes to set up, while tracking only pays off if you keep it going long enough to see a pattern. If you can only manage one app, choose the reminder and add a plain notes app for symptoms. If your main concern is safety during a crisis, look at ICE Contact for emergency messaging, MY3 for a personal safety plan, or Wickr Me for private, erasable conversations; the blog behind these listings, mentalillnessmouse, groups them under emergencies, chronic pain, comfort, white noise and medications.
A next step: pick one reminder app and one tracker, run both for two weeks, then decide whether the tracker is earning its place. None of these apps replaces therapy or medical care, and for anything urgent contact emergency services or a crisis line rather than an app.
What apps can provide comfort and peer support during difficult times?
For comfort and peer support, the apps listed by MentalIllnessMouse fall into three practical groups: crisis and safety tools, peer-comfort communities, and calming sound apps. The blog's own framing is important: it states that none of these apps are substitutes for therapy or medical professionals, and that most are free.
Crisis and safety apps
- ICE Contact sends instant and delayed messages to chosen friends or family in an emergency, for Apple and Android.
- MY3 helps you define your support network and a personal safety plan for times when you have thoughts of suicide, for Apple and Android.
- Wickr Me is a private, erasable messenger for sensitive conversations, for Apple and Android.
These are useful when the main need is reaching a specific person quickly or keeping a conversation private. They are not peer communities in themselves; their value depends on already having people you trust to contact.
Comfort and peer support
- Comfort Spot by Quiet Spaces is presented as a comfort-focused app for Android and Apple.
- Vent describes itself as a social diary where you can express how you really feel within an understanding community, for Android and Apple.
- Reachout: My Support Network is a support network for patients and caregivers dealing with chronic conditions, for Apple and Android.
If you want to feel less alone in the moment, Vent is the closest match to peer support because it centres on sharing feelings with others. Reachout is more structured around ongoing conditions and the people who care for you. Comfort Spot is better understood as a soothing tool than a community.
Calming sound apps
- Rain, Rain offers endless rain and similar sounds for Apple, Android, and Amazon Apps.
- TaoMix 2 lets you build soundscapes that change over time, for Apple and Android.
- myNoise lets you mix relaxing sounds for sleep or concentration, for Apple and Android.
These suit quiet, private moments when company is not available or wanted.
A practical way to choose
- If you are in danger or need to alert someone, use a safety tool such as ICE Contact or MY3 first.
- If you want to feel heard by others, try a peer-oriented app such as Vent.
- If you mainly need to calm down, pick a sound app.
- Check that the app works on your phone before relying on it, as the blog advises doing while you are safe.
For a broader peer-support community outside apps, 7 Cups is a well-known option, though it is not part of this blog's list.
Are these mental health apps free to use?
Most of the apps listed are described as free, but "free" here means no upfront cost to download and use the core features—not that every app avoids paid tiers or in-app purchases. The page itself notes that "most of these apps are free," which is a general statement rather than a guarantee for each one. The more important caveat on the page is that none of these apps are substitutes for therapy or medical professionals.
What the page actually says about cost
| Category | Examples on the page | Cost signals from the page |
|---|---|---|
| Crisis and safety | ICE Contact, MY3, Wickr Me | Listed without any paid mention; described as free or free personal safety tools |
| Chronic pain | Ouchie, Flaredown | No price mentioned; presented as tools for tracking and management |
| Comfort and community | Comfort Spot, Vent, Reachout: My Support Network | No price mentioned |
| White noise | Rain, Rain, TaoMix 2, myNoise | No price mentioned; described as relaxing sound tools |
| Medication | Medisafe, Carezone, MyTherapy | No price mentioned; described as reminder and tracking tools |
The page's only explicit pricing statement is that most apps are free. It does not list subscription prices, and it does not say which specific apps charge. The page also uses "subscribe" and "subscription" language, but that appears in the context of the blog itself rather than confirmed app pricing, so it should not be read as proof that any particular app requires payment.
A practical way to check before you commit
Free mental health apps commonly make money in ways that do not show up on a download page. A reader who wants to avoid surprise charges should check three things inside each app store listing:
- Whether the app offers a free tier with a paid upgrade for extra features.
- Whether premium features are locked behind a subscription after a trial period.
- Whether the app shows ads or sells anonymised data, which is a different kind of cost.
For a concrete scenario: someone setting up a safety plan might start with MY3 and ICE Contact because the page frames them as free personal safety tools. Someone managing a daily medication routine might try Medisafe or MyTherapy first, since reminder apps often keep their core function free and charge only for advanced features. If cost is the deciding factor, test the free version for a week before entering payment details anywhere.
Where the page's limits matter
This is peer advice, not a pricing database. The page does not verify current prices, and app pricing changes often. Treat the "most are free" line as a starting point, then confirm on the official app store listing for your device. The page's own disclaimer is also worth repeating: these apps support self-management and connection, but they do not replace professional care.
If you want a second peer-oriented perspective on free mental health tools and safety planning, Mind publishes plain-language guidance on supporting yourself and others, and NAMI offers practical resources for people managing mental illness and for families. Both are established organisations rather than app directories, so they are useful for context rather than for verifying a specific app's price.
How do I choose the right mental health app for my needs?
Start by matching the app to the job you need done, not to the biggest feature list. The mental health apps listed on mentalillnessmouse are grouped by purpose — crisis and safety, chronic pain, comfort and community, white noise, and medication management — and that grouping is a sensible way to shop. A crisis app, a symptom tracker and a rain-sounds app solve completely different problems, and one app rarely does all three well.
Match the category to your situation
Use the site's own categories as a starting filter:
- Crisis and safety: Tools such as ICE Contact, MY3 and Wickr Me are for emergencies, safety planning and private contact with trusted people. Choose one only if you will actually set it up before you need it.
- Chronic pain and symptoms: Ouchie and Flaredown suit people tracking pain, symptoms and treatments over time.
- Comfort and community: Comfort Spot, Vent and Reachout: My Support Network are for expression and peer connection rather than clinical tracking.
- White noise and relaxation: Rain, Rain, TaoMix 2 and myNoise are for sleep, focus or winding down.
- Medications: Medisafe, Carezone and MyTherapy handle reminders, refill timing and, in some cases, sharing information with doctors, pharmacists or an emergency contact.
Practical selection criteria
| Question | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Which phone do you use? | Some listed apps are Apple-only, Android-only, or both; a few extend to Amazon devices. |
| Is it free, and does it stay free? | The page notes most listed apps are free, but free apps can change or add paid tiers. |
| Does it need setup and permissions? | Reminder, location and notification access determine whether safety and medication features work. |
| Will you keep using it after week one? | A simple app you open daily beats a feature-rich one you abandon. |
| Does it fit alongside professional care? | The site states plainly that none of these apps substitute for therapy or medical professionals. |
A concrete example
If you take several medications and sometimes forget doses, start with a medication app such as Medisafe or MyTherapy, and check whether it can alert an emergency contact or connect with your doctor or pharmacist. If your main struggle is night-time anxiety, a sound-mixing app like myNoise or TaoMix 2 is the better first download. Trying to use a social diary app for medication reminders usually ends in missed doses.
Your next step
Write down your single most pressing need, pick one app from the matching category, and test it for a week. If it does not fit your routine, switch rather than stacking apps. Keep crisis numbers and a safety plan reachable outside any app, since a phone can be locked, uncharged or out of signal.
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