Prayer Apps

We offer two tremendous must-have prayer apps to help bind you close to Jesus. Those are followed by some other traditional Catholic gems we found:

 

Amen App (Free) Apple | Android  by Augustine Institute

 

 

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Hallow Free download with access to a bunch of exquisite content including dozens of traditional Catholic prayers. Subscription necessary to open access to full content–monthly $8.99; annually $59.99 Apple | GooglePlay

 

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Let’s start with Hallow App.

When is the last time you learned a new way of praying? It’s time to turn to prayer with intention. This serene, guided meditation app is all about you and your soul entering a blissful, meditative audio environment to help you pray. The goal? To slide you into a meaningful dialogue with God so you can nurture your relationship with him. The enormous catalog of content (prayer, meditations, scripture, reflections, bedtime Bible stories, etc.), utilizes peaceful, calming audio to stir your soul–from the velvety voices reading to you, to the soothing music/sounds in a variety of genres. Step by step, you will be led into prayerful, tranquil meditation like you may never have experienced in your life.

On the free side of this app (just download and get started) you get

• meditations on the Daily Gospel (updated every day)
• audio Rosary
• the pandemic “Stuck at home” praylist
• Spiritual Communion
• Chaplet of Divine Mercy
• Examen (examination of conscience/preparation for confession)
• Spiritual Writing
• Christian Meditation sessions
• a free trial of full version of the app (offer varies)
• the Bible in a Year with Fr. Mike Schmitz

Each of these offerings comes with a choice of two voices as your guide, three length options, nine background music selections, a journal, prayer reminder options, goal setting and tracking. You also have access to all of the Guest Sessions, and Minute Meditation sessions.

To unlock the full version of this app to access all its content, you must subscribe (monthly $8.99; annually $69.99). Before you squawk at the price (which I sure did at first!), please consider what you pay for streaming media subscriptions. Content in THIS app can help save your soul (Can you say that about Hulu or Netflix?) because it’s focused on one thing: to help get you in a mindset to talk to God. That relationship is the most important relationship in your life. And if you are a nominal Catholic routinely going through the motions of your faith, begrudgingly going to Sunday Mass when prodded or not giving God much thought, it’s time to grow up, spiritually speaking. Let’s be honest. Hallow is so jam-packed with content (packaged in tasteful, minimalist design), it takes eight full minutes to run through everything this amazing app offers (complete with celebrities), as this video demonstrates:

English/Spanish (limited).

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Amen App (Free) Apple | Android  by Augustine Institute

The Augustine Institute has been a distinguished leader in producing/publishing faithful Catholic catechetical materials in a variety of media formats for a number of years. Led by Dr. Timothy Gray, their impressive catalogue of resources unlocks for public consumption the rich array of Catholic thought and spirituality to help fuel the New Evangelization led by laity. You might be familiar with the Institute’s Lighthouse Catholic Media rack in the back of your church, or their amazing internet-based resource portal, Formed–which gathers together the best of Catholic entertainment, formation resources, educational series and more. Now, the Augustine Institute offers an app that utilizes much of the Institute’s content, but centered around one specific theme: To help you encounter God through meditative prayer from the time you wake up to the time you go to sleep.

Amen App joins Hallow in this category of apps based in a soothing meditative experience in prayer, complete with a variety of sleep aids designed to calm your mind and body. Like Hallow, Amen App is based primarily in audio format, so you can pray/meditate with your eyes closed. This includes audio meditations and bedtime stories read to you in a soothing delivery by a trained voice actor on a variety of topics with a selection of background music or sound effect options.

Amen App also comes packed with other valuable Catholic audio/text resources to help inspire “your daily conversation with God through faithful Christian meditation, nourishing Scriptures and relaxing sleep sounds,” according to developers. Among resources, you get audio/text versions of:

• Daily Mass readings and audio reflections
• Meditations/reflections on a variety of topics by top Catholic theologians and speakers (like Chris Stefanick and Dr. Tim Gray).
• Stories for children including Bible stories and the popular Brother Francis cartoon (just the audio, no video, unfortunately)
• Catholic devotions including a variety of audio rosaries
• Truth & Life Audio Bible: Enter into a fully dramatized reading of a new book from the New Testament each month.
• Read-the-Bible-in-a-year audio program
• Sermons by saints and Fathers of the Church
• Morning and Evening psalms/prayers
• Season-specific resources targeting Lent, Easter, Advent and Christmas
• Journal

Options include the ability to download resources for use offline and Spanish language.

Check out Amen App’s video tutorial to discover all this beautiful app offers:

 

However much Amen follows Hallow’s lead, it falls short of the Hallow App in some key areas:

• the sheer volume of resources compared to Hallow app which boasts of more than 1,000 files in its repertoire. We notice, for example, Hallow offers more children’s content, a larger selection of music and features like novenas, and tracks for preparation for confession. Amen’s content, nonetheless, is exceptional and would take you quite a while to exhaust it. Both apps continually add content, so they both become more valuable over time.
• the quality of Hallow’s voice recordings are superior. Amen App’s audio consists of a mix bag of audio captured in a variety of sound settings compared to Hallow’s professional tracks. While the important meditative offerings are recorded by a trained voice actor in Amen App, here and there other readings are not. You will not be able to choose voices of readers either as you can in Hallow, nor will you be treated to “celebrity” voices featured in Hallow (Jonathan Roomie, Bishop Barron, Dr. Scott Hahn, Fr. Mike Schmitz, Jim Caviezel).

But look, you pay for that level of content, customization and professional audio you get in Hallow. Amen is truly a worthy contender, especially when you compare Hallow’s free content next to Amen’s total package which is completely free.

Both are exquisite apps with the same goal in mind.

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Bread 4 Today (Free) Apple and Android

Produced by the Redemptorist Congregation, this is a daily meditation aid providing prayers for reflection and meditation.  Prayer archive allows users to search past entries by category so that they can reflect on prayers that match their concerns, for example: Courage, A just world, Relationships, Hope, Hard Times, Faith, Forgiveness and special intensions (calendar days of prayer and reflection). All prayers can be shared via social media with a tap of the screen as it has integrated social media capabilities.

 

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Catholic Short Prayers-Lite (Free) Apple

As its name implies, this is an app loaded with a long list of famous, traditional Catholic prayers for various occasions, topics and needs. You can get most of these prayers imbedded in other apps. What makes this app different is the daily reminder feature for each prayer to help you remember to pray and to pray with some consistency. You can even use a location-based alarm feature to remind you to pray when you reach a particular location like your home. This app gives you the ability to bookmark prayers and share your favorite short prayers through Twitter, Facebook and email.

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  iPieta.($2.99) Full version in Apple. Android version is split up into several lite apps.

This major app is loaded! An entire library of Catholic prayers and devotions is packed into this app. For example: Numerous devotions including a version of the Little Office of Our Lady, the 33-Day Total Consecration Preparation, Novenas to the Holy Spirit and to the Divine Mercy, St. Alphonsus Stations of the Cross, and the St. Bridget 1-Year and 12-Year Prayers. You also get:

• The Douay-Rheims and Latin Vulgate Bibles
• Catechism of the Catholic Church added to iPieta as a web view display of the Catechism published on the Vatican web site. Internet connection required. There is NO app available for the Catechism of the Catholic Church due to copyright/translation issues. This is the only way you can view it using an app.  [Kindle version via Amazon $9.95] Other catechisms available on this app are Baltimore Catechisms #1, #2, & #3; Catechism of Christian Doctrine, the Roman Catechism
• Catechism of St. Thomas Aquinas
• Calendar for Ordinary Roman Calendar and Extraordinary Roman Calendar (1962).
• Library of spiritual writings by St. Louis Marie de Montfort, St. Teresa of Jesus, St. John of the Cross, St. Catherine of Siena, the Summa Theologica by St. Thomas Aquinas, the Imitation of Christ, Introduction to Devout Life by St. Francis de Sales, selections by St. Jean-Marie Vianney, and the Treatise on Purgatory by St. Catherine of Genoa. The Summa (apart from the Supplement) is also in Latin.
• Papal Encyclicals
• Ecumenical Council Documents
• Scriptural passages for meditating on the mysteries of the Holy Rosary
• Examination of Conscience
• Butler’s Lives of the Saints –complete with an optional audio version (English) you can download separately for each saint or holy day.
  

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Meditation on the Passion of our Lord is a particular devotion during the season of Lent, but is a wonderful focus any time of year, really. The Passion of Jesus app ($1.99) Apple  and Android is designed to help you develop a tender daily devotion to Jesus Christ and his passion by taking you through the last 24 hours of his life–literally. Based on your time in your time zone, it offers meditations on where Our Lord Jesus was and what he was doing at that time.  You can also collapse the time to 8-hour and one-hour time spans. Other prayers and devotions are included like Stations of the Cross. Its developers note:

“The primary goal of this reflection is to engage believers to ponder and reflect on each aspect of the Passion by allowing time & eternity to intersect, by allowing the power of the cross to pour into our daily lives, no matter where we are or what we are doing….for a few moments, to pause and cast a glance at our Lord and permit this awesome, life-changing reality to bear fruit, to illumine, to set free & to save.”

Languages: English, French, Taglog, Spanish, Hindi, Italian, German, Portuguese

Take a look at how the app works.

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Divine Mercy app (Free) also contains a beautiful Way of the Cross.  Android or Apple.

The Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception, who have promoted the authentic message of Divine Mercy since 1941, offer the OFFICIAL Divine Mercy App. This app covers the entire mystery of Divine Mercy–Origin of the devotion, detailed information on messages surrounding the devotion and much more. Easy to navigate in a beautiful display format, you get:

• Interactive Chaplet of Divine Mercy with an audio option
• Detailed explanation of the three ways to observe the Hour of Great Mercy
• Stations of the Cross, complete with images and the text of St. Faustina’s Way of the Cross
• Images of Divine Mercy
• Explanation of the Feast of Divine Mercy, also known as Divine Mercy Sunday, complete with answers to frequently asked questions
• Novena to Divine Mercy and other popular Divine Mercy prayers…and more!

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Laudate  (Free) Apple and Android, Kindle Fire

This probably is the #1 free Catholic app because it is the most comprehensive and at the best price! You get Daily Mass Readings, New American Bible, Rosary, Chaplet of Divine Mercy (on Rosary screen), Stations of the Cross, various prayers and prayers in Latin with English translation. Podcast for Rosary and Stations. Daily Meditations. Podcasts of Daily Readings and meditations. Launcher for iCatholicRadio. Ability to bookmark prayers and create own categorized prayers. Export/Import for prayers. My Prayers lets you store your own prayers. About the rosary on this app…it is unique in that it is a giant photo of a rosary with animated hot spots that indicate which one you are to touch to pray. It visibly keeps track of the beads for you as you pan the screen to cover the rosary that is pictured in its entirety. Consider it a 2-D version of the rosary. Available in English, Español, Português, Italiano, Bahasa and Polski.

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ClickToPray (Free)  Apple |  Android

Pray with Pope Francis! Did you know that each month the Pope announces his specific prayer intentions?  These prayers are generally aimed at particular challenges facing humanity and the mission of the Church. Click To Pray app is designed to help people around the world to pray along with Pope Francis in these particular intentions of his. To encourage you stay engaged in daily prayer, the app gives you the ability to send reminders to your smart phone three times a day, morning, afternoon and evening–a different prayer or reflection each time. Brought to you by the Apostleship of Prayer, a Jesuit organization, the Click To Pray app is available in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and French enabling people from around the world to unite their prayers with the Pope’s. In addition to the prayer reminders, registered users may post a prayer on the app/website Prayer Wall and share them on social media.

The prayers for each day take a component of the Pope’s general prayer intentions for the month and focus them on a particular element of concern for the day. The prayers are brief and well-written with heart and compassion. When you open the app, you can see how many people around the world have prayed the very prayer you are holding in your hands (on your mobile device). Here’s a screenshot of a prayer for the morning which follows the them of the Pope’s intentions for the particular month.

 

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  iMissal ($4.99) in Apple , Android, Blackberry, Windows Phone, Kindle  Contains a wide variety of Catholic prayers and devotions like the Rosary. With this app you also get an excellent  daily missal (English 3rd ed.), a Catholic news feed (requires internet to access), daily Scripture verses, audio of the readings for Mass each day and an interactive Catholic liturgical calendar you can access at any time. Most elements are accessible off line.

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Novena ($.99) Apple A Novena (Latin: Novem, meaning Nine) is a pious devotion of public or private prayers repeated for nine consecutive days calling on Our Lord and his saints for help with various earthly struggles. This app lists no less than 100 different dilemmas and concerns divided into four categories: health, occupation, situations and states of life. The app helps you locate the particular saint the Church has chosen for intercession in your concern along with his/her inspiring story–pious, vintage holy card artwork supplied for each saint. Don’t look for elaborate novenas that serve up a different prayer/reflection for each day with this app. You get a single simple prayer that you offer each day with your intention inserted. Search feature included. We would love to see future updates with new saints like St. Therese of Lisieux’s parents -Louis & Zelie Martin (October 18, 2015 canonization). Developers report that Android format and Spanish language option are in the works.

I don’t think Fr. Stephen Mimnaugh, OFM would mind our quoting parts of his eloquent review of this app on iTunes to help us understand the beauty of how a Novena works:

Often, we think of saints as having been very different from us. However, their lives and ours bear striking similarities. They suffered loss, disappointment, rejection, disease, heartache, or addiction just like us, the not-yet-so-saintly. Where they differed is perseverance. You and I are still in the thick of it. For the saints, obstacles were no less real, but they did not discourage their faith in a God who loved them, and through that love transformed ordinary human beings into exemplary models.

Meditation Apps

3-Minute Retreat ($.99) Apple only –Loyola Press’s highly popular 3-Minute Retreat is available for iPhone or SECOND generation iPod Touch. Loyola’s web site has full overview of this app. “Enjoy a daily reflective prayer retreat wherever you are… Each day, a new retreat featuring soothing music, Scripture verses, and reflective thoughts and questions comes your way…meaningful time with God is always just a touch away.” You control the pace of the retreat. English.

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Pray as You Go (Free) Apple and Android  Produced by Jesuit Media Initiatives out of Britain, this app invites you to spend about about 11 minutes per day in a systematic method of prayer which you follow in an audio format. A new prayer session is produced for each day of the week and one for weekends with material written by a number of Jesuits and other experts in the spirituality of St Ignatius of Loyola, according to developers. Although the content is different every day, it keeps to the same basic format of gently weaving together music, a passage of scripture and a few questions for personal reflection in a each prayer session. Developers say the framework of prayer allows you to:
* become more aware of God’s presence in your life
*listen to and reflect on God’s word
*grow in your relationship with God

The wide variety of music in this app is a significant feature, as this app review noted. Music is used as a conduit to help with your meditation. You WILL enjoy some pieces so much you will want them for you collection. No problem. Go to Pray as You Go’s web site to purchase/ download any of the music you discover on the app.

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Magnificat (first month Free; in-app subscription purchase $1.99 for each subsequent month) Apple Enjoy the popular daily devotional on your Apple mobile device for half the price of the print booklet subscription. (Developers have promised to produce an Android version for a long time). Just as with the print booklet, you get the daily Mass readings along with antiphons, Collect, Preface, and closing prayer. But Magnificat doesn’t stop there. You also get all their other popular spiritual resources at your fingertips: Scripture reflections, saint of the day, blessings, morning and evening prayer based on Liturgy of the Hours, hymn texts and music, Lectio Divina, liturgical calendar and more. You will be impressed with the spiritual value of much of the content in this classic devotional.  While you will miss the beautiful art that the print version offers, many find this app version easier to read and navigate (especially on a tablet device) than the little 4 1/2″ x 6 1/2″ booklet. This US English edition also comes in Spanish and French.

Audio Prayer Apps

Catholic Prayers (Free for sample talks–upgrade to full version for a fee)  Android. This app is not a collection of audio prayers, although you will have recording of the Rosary and Divine Mercy Chaplet. This app offers instruction about prayer and meditation along with a history of popular devotions like the Rosary. The recordings are all vintage and sound it. Expect to hear scratches and pops as you would listening to an old record on a turntable.

Hare’s a video demo of this unique app.

You’re not alone when you pray.

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Mary App (Free) Apple | Android The Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception who brought you the Divine Mercy app (above) have produced a full-resource Marian app. Our Blessed Mother is a big topic, so developers broke the subject of Our Lady into three categories: Doctrine (Church/Scriptural teachings about her and reasons for our devotion with FAQs); Devotion (including various prayers – audio rosary included- and feast days etc); and Mary Plus (images, pilgrimage sites, apparitions, etc.). As one reviewer put it, this app is comprised of three great apps rolled into one. Why are apps like this important to have on your device? As the Fathers state on their web site: Mary’s whole task is to lead us closer to Jesus. The more we get to know her and have a fervent devotion to her, the better she can lead us to her Son. For this reason, the Second Vatican Council states, “Everyone should have a genuine devotion to [Mary] and entrust his life to her motherly care.”