Drink Less 17+

There's a lot packed in this app and I learnt to pick and chose what worked for me, or take breaks, as it can otherwise be overwhelming. The fact that it generates reports on money spent as well units and calories intake is very useful, much easier than any of the paper alcohol diaries I've been given by substance misuse and mental health workers. Good options to customise and select drinks. Daily reminders work great, as well as weekly goals and the data it generates from week to week. I found it easy to be honest when updating my diary as the wording in the app is quite gentle. I felt terrified and under motivated after a few weeks of recording very high intakes of booze and being in the red, so I took a break from the app and sought other types of support. Now back on the app and feeling validated when I record alcohol free days and smash my goals. Calendar starting on Sunday can be confusing and I'm not into the mood or sleep trackers. Not fond of the random statistics either but that didn't put me off. Didn't play the game (too paranoid to talk into a phone app -a version where I could tap 'yes' or 'no thanks' would be good). Great app considering it's free and worked on my old iPhone 4s. Excellent as a diary / tracker, other options less so (which is fine, takes more than an app to destroy drinking habits).

Thanks for your feedback on the app, it's very helpful to hear what bits worked or didn't work for users, and we're pleased to hear you've been finding parts of it useful. We're planning on updating the calendar so that it begins on a Monday in the next version of the app.

This is the third app I’ve used to track alcohol intake. For me, this was the best that showed the cold, hard facts about my units, money spent and empty calories consumed. I used the app for three years.

I highly recommend this app… if you can reduce harmful drinking with your rational mind seeing the number of units you’re drinking and money you’re spending on alcohol. You can set goals, track trends over one week, month or year. You’ll be able to create action plans and more. I made some improvements. I spend less money and drink on fewer days but I didn’t achieve long-term sobriety.

My drinking overall actually increased. That’s because I bought larger bottles and drank larger quantities in one sitting. Drinking for me was just a way to avoid feelings about larger issues. I’m working on those things to change my behaviour now. I’m grateful to this app for showing me how I drink and what I really need to do to change. I’m not sure I’d know that without seeing the cold, hard facts so thanks.

Updated response: Thank you for the update - it's great to hear that the app has helped you track your drinking.

Original response: Thanks for the review - it's great to hear you've found it helpful. You can turn off the noises via Activities > Help. Then click 'Enable sounds' under 'App settings' so that there isn't a tick present.

I know that drinkers often play down the amount they drink but even I was surprised to be told that my couple of bottles a week wine habit put me in the top 95% of drinkers and more at risk of harm than 18 other people for every 20 people in the uk. Just look at the national statistics on how many people drink and how much and you’ll know that can’t possibly be true. Not just that but my job brings me into contact with lots of problem drinkers, from moderate to very heavy. But just to test your ‘test’ I reloaded it and answered the questions that put me right within the alcohol consumption guidelines. One bottle of wine a week over three days. Although it told me my level of drinking was lower risk it still proceeded to tell me I drank more than 90% of the population! As if! This type of over exaggerated scare tactics are not necessary and just annoys people - it has me. I’m already trying to help myself cut down that’s why I downloaded the app, I don’t need to be ‘frightened’ into it. But now I don’t think I’ll use it as my overindulgence has now been labelled as one of the worst drinkers in the country. And although I know that’s not true, the fact it’s there accusingly makes me feel like I’m being treated like some kind of idiot. So I won’t be using the app. Next time take a proper cross section of people and don’t base your survey on teetotallers- which is the only way it could have come up with such skewed results. That is just not helpful to peoples mindsets.

Hi, we're sorry to hear that this has annoyed you. We use data from a monthly, cross-sectional survey conducted by Ipsos Mori amongst a representative sample in England (more information here: http://www.alcoholinengland.info/).
It has never been the intention of the app to use scare tactics. The aim of the app is to give people accurate information on the population norms of alcohol use using a test that was developed and validated by the World Health Organisation.