33 questions
Vow is an iPhone and iPad app for adults quitting smoking, vaping, alcohol, weed, porn, gambling and other habits. These answers describe the app as it is built today. For questions about quitting itself — withdrawal, cravings, relapse — see questions about quitting.
The short version, and what Vow is not.
Vow is an iPhone and iPad app, with a companion Apple Watch app, that helps adults quit habits such as smoking, vaping, alcohol, weed, porn and gambling. It builds a quit plan from your answers to a short questionnaire, anchors each quit to your own reason for quitting, tracks your streak and what you have saved, and guides you through cravings with the Craving Shield, a roughly three-minute urge-surfing session.
Smoking, vaping, alcohol, drugs, weed, porn, gambling, sugar, caffeine, gaming, social media, shopping, binge eating and fast food. Each habit has its own unit (for example cigarettes a day or drinks a week), its own way of counting what you gain back — money saved, money not lost, or time reclaimed — and its own set of quit methods.
Yes. Vow is built for several quits at once: each habit gets its own streak, reason, plan and savings, side by side on the Today screen. The free tier covers one habit; Premium removes the limit.
No. Vow is a self-help and tracking app, not a medical service, and it does not diagnose or treat any condition. For alcohol or drug withdrawal, talk to a doctor before you stop — withdrawal from some substances can be medically dangerous. Vow is designed to sit alongside professional care, not replace it.
Adults. Vow is rated 18+ on the App Store because it deals directly with alcohol, tobacco, drugs, gambling and sexual behaviour. It is written for people who have usually tried to quit before and want structure, support in the moment and a reason that holds.
Not today. Vow runs on iPhone and iPad with iOS 17 or later, with a companion Apple Watch app.
The app is available in 17 languages: English, Arabic, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Dutch, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian Bokmål, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Spanish, Swedish, Turkish. You can switch language inside the app without changing your iPhone's language.
The plan, your reason, the Craving Shield and the numbers.
From your onboarding answers: the habits you choose, how much and how often, what it costs, your triggers, your toughest times and your reason. The plan is put together on your device and includes milestones from day one to one year — with day 66 marked because of habit-formation research from University College London — strategies for each trigger you named, a craving toolkit and notes for the first days. For alcohol and drugs, the plan tells you to get medical advice before stopping.
The reason you are quitting, in your own words — "for my daughter", "for my lungs", "to feel clear again" — tagged as someone you love, your health, work, school, money or self-respect. You can add a photo or a short voice note. Vow shows your why on the habit card, in the Craving Shield, in reminders and at milestones, so the hardest moments meet the thing you care about most.
A guided session for the moment an urge hits. It puts your reason in front of you, then paces your breathing through a roughly three-minute urge-surfing timer with three styles — Ride the wave, Letting go and Box breathing — shows a short coaching line and asks at the end whether the urge passed. Open it from the Today screen, the Craving Shield widget or your Apple Watch. The Craving Shield is part of Premium.
In one place. The Craving Shield can show a one-line coaching message written by an AI model (from OpenAI) through Vow's own server. That request contains only your habit type, the trigger you tapped, your number of clean days and the app's language — never your name, your reason, photos, voice notes or anything you typed. If the service is slow or unavailable, you see a written line instead. Your quit plan is assembled on your device.
From your own numbers. For substance habits, Vow multiplies what you told it you use and spend by your clean time, shown in the currency you choose in Settings. For gambling and shopping it counts money not lost; for porn, gaming and social media it counts the time you are winning back.
Log a relapse from the habit. Vow keeps your best streak, starts a fresh clean run from now and treats the slip as information about your triggers, not as failure. There is no lecture and no reset of your achievements.
Yes. When you set your quit date, choose "I already quit" and pick the day you actually stopped. Your streak, savings and milestones count from that date.
Yes. The Watch app shows your streaks and what you have saved, lets you log a resisted or slipped craving, and runs the Ride the wave breathing session from your wrist. Watch-face complications show your streak; habits such as porn, gambling and drugs appear only as "Your quit" so a glance never reveals them. The Watch app syncs from your iPhone.
Five Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets: Days Clean, Stats, Insights, Motivation and a one-tap Craving Shield. Widgets are part of Premium.
Mostly. Your streaks, plan, check-ins, reason and the Calm library's soundscapes and guided sessions all live on your device and work without a connection. The AI coaching line, purchases and sign-in need the internet.
What stays on your phone, what leaves it, and how to delete it.
No. Vow creates a private, anonymous identity the first time you open it, so you can start without an email or password. Signing in with Apple or Google is optional; it ties your subscription to an account you control.
On your device. Your habits, reasons, photos, voice notes, check-ins, cravings and notes are stored on your iPhone and are not uploaded to Vow's servers. That also means they do not sync to a new phone by themselves — they move with your iPhone backup or device transfer.
Vow's reminders are written to be discreet on the lock screen, and on Apple Watch faces sensitive habits appear only as "Your quit". Whether your reason appears on widgets is a setting you control.
No. Vow has no ads, does not sell or share your personal data for advertising, and does not track you across other companies' apps or websites.
A small amount, listed in full in the privacy policy: an account identifier, your email if you sign in with Apple or Google, app usage events and crash reports (which never include your habits or reasons), your subscription status, and — only when the Craving Shield asks for a coaching line — your habit type, trigger, clean days and language.
In the app, go to Profile → Settings → Delete account & data. It deletes your sign-in account and erases your quit data from the device — habits, reasons, photos, voice notes, check-ins and achievements. It cannot be undone, and it does not cancel an App Store subscription — cancel that separately in your Apple Account settings.
What is free, what Premium adds, and how Apple handles payment.
Vow is free to download. The free tier lets you track one habit with its streak, money saved, daily check-in and breathing exercise, and crisis resources are always free. Premium unlocks everything else. Which features are free can change as we improve the app; the app always shows what is included before you pay.
Unlimited habits, the Craving Shield with its coaching line, the full Calm library (soundscapes, breathing patterns, guided sessions and distraction games), all Insights, and the Home and Lock Screen widgets.
In the US, Vow Premium is $59.99 per year with a 7-day free trial, $12.99 per month, or $6.99 per week. Prices in other countries are set in local currency by the App Store and are shown before you buy.
The yearly plan includes a 7-day free trial for new subscribers. If you cancel at least 24 hours before the trial ends, you are not charged. The monthly and weekly plans do not include a trial.
Open Settings on your iPhone, tap your name, then Subscriptions, and choose Vow — or go to Profile → Settings → Manage subscription inside the app. Deleting the app does not cancel a subscription.
Sign in to the same Apple Account, then tap Restore on the paywall or go to Profile → Settings → Restore purchases.
Payments are processed by Apple, so refunds are handled by Apple under its terms at reportaproblem.apple.com. Vow cannot issue App Store refunds itself.
No. A Vow Premium subscription is not shared through Family Sharing.
When an app is not enough.
Not always. If you drink heavily or every day, or use substances such as benzodiazepines, stopping suddenly can cause withdrawal that is medically dangerous. Talk to a doctor before you stop. Vow reminds you of this in the plan for alcohol and drugs, and it is not a substitute for medical care.
If you are in immediate danger, call your local emergency number. In the US you can call or text 988, the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Vow's Crisis resources screen — free for everyone, from the Craving Shield and your Profile — lists helplines for your region, and heyvow.com/help/crisis-resources lists them too.
Email support@heyvow.com, visit the help center, or read the privacy policy and terms of use.
Free to download on iPhone and iPad, with a companion Apple Watch app. Read the privacy policy first if you like — it lists exactly what leaves your phone.
