10 Best Grief Support Apps That Actually Help (2025 Review)

Grief doesn't check for software updates. In the messy, non-linear process of loss, the idea of an app can feel absurd. Yet, our phones are constant companions in our hardest moments, and the right digital tool can offer a lifeline, not by fixing the unfixable, but by providing a space to be with it.

The problem is that searching for "grief support" in an apple or android app store yields everything from clinical-grade therapeutic tools to well-meaning but hollow digital notebooks. It’s a landscape that can leave you more isolated.

We believe a grief app’s value isn’t in its features, but in its philosophy. Does it respect your emotional safety? Is it built on proven therapeutic principles? Does it offer customizability instead of rigid formulas?

We used these criteria to find apps that do more than just exist. The following aren’t just recommendations; they are options vetted for their integrity and utility, sorted by the need they serve when your needs change by the hour.

What Makes a Grief App Helpful?

We looked at many apps and found that the most helpful ones share a few key features. Knowing what to look for can help you find an app that truly meets your needs.

1. A Safe and Supportive Feel
The app should use kind, understanding language. It should make you feel comforted, not judged. It should avoid forcing a positive outlook when you are not feeling positive.

2. Simple and Easy to Use
Grieving can make it hard to focus. A good grief app is easy to navigate with a calm design. You should be able to use its main features without confusion or frustration.

3. Tools Backed by Expertise
Look for apps that use methods recommended by grief therapists or counselors. This can include journaling prompts based on proven therapy techniques, guided meditations made for grief, or other activities designed by mental health professionals.

4. Options You Can Adjust
Your grief is unique. The best apps let you customize your experience. You might adjust the app based on who you lost, how long it has been, or what kind of support you need each day.

5. Strong Privacy Protection
You should feel safe using the app. We preferred apps that are clear about how they use your data. They should offer private modes and protect your personal information, especially when you are feeling vulnerable.

6. Real Community Support
If you want to connect with others, look for apps with well-managed support groups. These spaces should be moderated to keep them respectful and helpful, whether they are peer-led or facilitated by a professional.

How We Used This List
We used these six points to review the top grief support apps available today. In the next section, we have grouped our top picks into categories like journaling, creating memorials, finding community, and sleep support. This can help you quickly find the type of app that fits what you need right now.

Journaling: Writing Through the Grief

When you're grieving, it can be hard to talk about your feelings. Writing in a journal can be a private way to process complex emotions, remember your loved one, and reflect on your experience.

These apps provide a dedicated space for you to write, whether you want to use them every day, only occasionally, or during sleepless nights. They offer guidance and structure to help you begin.

1. Grief Works

• Summary: Based on the bestselling book Grief Works by Julia Samuel, this app blends therapeutic journaling with guided audio sessions, coping strategies and check-ins tailored to the user’s loss.

• Standout Feature: “Ask Julia” tool offers real-time advice based on hundreds of questions people ask during grief.

• Download: iOS | Android

2. Moodnotes

• Summary: even though moodnotes is not designed solely for grief, it helps users explore patterns in their thinking and reflect on difficult emotions using prompts inspired by CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy).

• Standout Feature: Smart mood tracking with insights over time that is ideal for those going through the emotional rollercoaster of grief.

• Download: iOS |Android

3. Gratitude

• Summary: This app encourages gentle reflection through daily gratitude journaling. I feel like this is important in how it helps balance moments of sorrow with small sparks of light.

• Standout Feature: Beautiful interface and customisable prompts for when you don’t know what to say.

• Download: iOS | Android

Memorial: Honouring the Ones We’ve Lost

After a death, comes a funeral then the reality of loss often sets in deeply. Finding ways to remember and celebrate a loved one’s life can be an important part of the healing process.

Memorial apps provide a dedicated space to create a lasting tribute. They can help you preserve memories through photos, stories, and shared moments, offering a place to visit and reflect whenever you need to.

4. Family Search Memorials

• Summary: Operated by the non-profit Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, FamilySearch is one of the world's largest free genealogy and family history platforms. While not exclusively a grief app, it offers powerful, unique tools for remembering and honouring those who have passed by helping you connect them to your broader family story.

  Standout Feature: Its massive, free-to-search historical records database allows you to build a multi-generational family tree. For someone in grief, this can be a profoundly meaningful way to honor a loved one by preserving their legacy, discovering their story, and seeing their place in your family's history. It turns remembrance into an act of discovery.

  Best For: Anyone who finds comfort in legacy, history, and connecting their loved one's memory to a larger family narrative.

  Download: Web-based | iOS | Android

5. Find A Grave

• Summary: Find a Grave is a extensive crowdsourced database of burial records and cemeteries from around the world run by Ancestry. Its mobile app allows users to access this vast repository of memorials from anywhere. For those in grief, it serves as a practical tool for locating a loved one's final resting place, viewing their memorial page, and, if desired, contributing to the historical record by creating new memorials or adding photos.

  Standout Feature: Its massive, user-contributed database. With over 210 million memorials, it is one of the most comprehensive free resources for finding gravesites. The ability to virtually "visit" a loved one's memorial from anywhere in the world, and to see photos of their headstone contributed by a global community of volunteers, provides a unique form of connection and closure.

  Best For: Individuals seeking to locate a gravesite, view a headstone photo, or create a durable, public online memorial that contributes to a larger historical archive.

  Download: iOS | Android

6. Keeper Memorials

• Summary: Keeper is a digital memorial platform that allows users to create online tributes complete with stories, photos and GPS-linked cemetery mapping.

• Standout Feature: Collaborative tributes where friends and family can contribute to one shared page, creating a fuller picture of a life well-lived.

• Download: Web-based only

Community: Finding Comfort in Shared Experience

Grief can feel like an island, choking and isolating you from the rest of the world especially when no one else around you understands what you are really going through. But connection (even digital) can remind us that we’re not alone. These apps offer moderated spaces, support groups and storytelling features where people can share experiences, ask for help and listen without judgment.

7. Actively Moving Forward by HealGrief

• Summary: Actively Moving Forward (AMF) is a national non-profit program and app specifically designed to support grieving young adults. It addresses the unique isolation felt during young adulthood by providing a dedicated network for peer support, both on college campuses and digitally. The program empowers members to honour their loved ones by connecting with others and "actively moving forward" together.

• Standout Feature: Its specialised focus on creating community for grieving young adults (typically ages 18-30), an often underserved group. The app facilitates connections with peers at a similar life stage who truly understand the experience, significantly reducing feelings of isolation through both local campus chapters and a national digital support network.

• Best For: College students and young adults who are grieving and seeking connection with peers their own age. It is ideal for those who feel isolated from friends and would benefit from a community built on shared experience and mutual understanding.

• Download: iOS | Android | Instagram

8. Untangle

• Summary: Untangle Grief is a comprehensive platform built specifically for those navigating loss. It recognizes that grief impacts every part of life and offers a multi-faceted approach to support. The app combines a moderated peer community with expert-led resources, a therapist-matching service, and practical workshops, moving beyond simple mood tracking to address emotional, psychological, and practical needs in one integrated space.

• Standout Feature: Its unique, holistic ecosystem. Unlike many apps that specialize in one area (like journaling or meditation). Untangle provides a structured path through grief's complexity. You can share experiences with those who truly understand in a safe community, access content from grief experts to make sense of your emotions, be matched with a specialized therapist, and attend workshops on practical challenges like financial planning or sleep. This all-in-one approach makes it a powerful tool for profound and practical support.

• Best For: Individuals who feel overwhelmed by grief's many facets and are seeking a single, robust resource that offers genuine human connection, expert insight, and tangible tools for managing both the emotional and real-world challenges of loss.

• Download: iOS | Android

9. Circles

• Summary: Circles is a platform that provides access to real-time, professionally facilitated support groups via video. While not exclusively for grief, it offers dedicated groups for various types of loss, including bereavement, pet loss, and anticipatory grief. It connects users with others who share a similar experience in a structured, safe, and confidential setting.

  Standout Feature: Live, video-based support groups moderated by trained facilitators. This model provides the immediacy and connection of real human interaction from the comfort of your home. The facilitator ensures the conversation remains respectful, supportive, and productive, which is a significant advantage over unmoderated online forums.

  Best For: Those who crave real-time, face-to-face connection with a small group of people who truly understand their specific type of loss, and who benefit from the structure and safety provided by a trained guide.

• Download: iOS | Android

Sleep & Relaxation: Finding Rest in Restlessness

Grief has been known to disrupt sleep. The never ending racing thoughts or the simple ache of absence can make nights unbearable. Sometimes we simply cannot stop dreams of the deceased. This app offers sleep stories, meditations and sounds crafted to soothe the nervous system and help mourners find moments of peace.

10. Calm

• Summary: Calm is a leading wellness app focused on reducing anxiety, improving sleep, and promoting mindfulness. It hosts a variety of resources that can be valuable for grieving users. This includes guided meditations for processing difficult emotions, sleep stories to ease restlessness, and music soundscapes designed for relaxation.

• Standout Feature for Grief: Its extensive library of sleep content and expert-led meditations addressing themes of loss and sadness. To find this content, open the app and use the search bar with terms like "grief," "sadness," or "loss." This will pull up relevant sleep stories, music, and meditations. This makes it a powerful tool for managing the anxiety and insomnia that often accompany grief.

• Best For: Grievers who struggle with anxiety, insomnia, or a restless mind, especially at bedtime. It's ideal for those who find solace in audio-based guidance.

• Download: iOS | Android

Special Mentions

DayNew

DayNew is a grief support platform created by two widows who understood that loss brings both emotional pain and practical overwhelm. The app blends task management, emotional reflection, and community connection.

Key Features:

• Organize Tasks: Personalized checklists for bills, insurance, and legal follow-ups.

• Process Emotions: Journaling prompts, goal setting, and access to expert content.

• Find Community: Buddy system, community journals, and group retreats for connection and support.

Standout: Combines emotional healing with practical guidance, helping users manage both the heartache and the responsibilities of grief.

Best For: Anyone facing the dual challenge of mourning while handling financial, legal, and household tasks.

Download: Web-based | iOS | Android

Apart of Me: A Safe Space for Young People

Apart of Me is a UK-based charity that creates free therapeutic apps co-designed with bereaved young people. The focus is on turning grief into compassion and resilience through safe, youth-friendly tools.

Key Features:

• Apart of Me (App): A game where you explore a peaceful island, meet supportive characters, hear stories from other young people, and practice mindfulness.

• Nadiya (App): A parent-and-child app that helps families process trauma together through guided activities, reflective prompts, and connection exercises.

• Guide Me (Programme): A peer mentoring initiative that trains bereaved young people to support others in schools and communities.

Standout: Blends evidence-based therapeutic methods with a calm, game-like environment. Designed not just for private reflection but also for family connection and peer support.

Best For: Children, teens, and families looking for approachable, safe, and creative ways to understand grief and feel less alone.

Download:

• Apart of Me – iOS | Android

• Nadiya – iOS | Android

Final Thoughts: Grief Support in the Palm of Your Hand

Grief is a natural reaction to losing someone or something you love or value. It's a normal, though deeply painful, part of life that includes emotional, physical, and mental responses. Whether you're grieving the loss of a loved one, your health, your employment, or your sense of security, your experience is unique and there is no right way to grieve.

While no app can replace human connection or take away the ache of loss, the right grief support app can offer meaningful companionship and practical tools when you need it most. These digital resources can help you feel less alone on your grief journey through features like:

• Guided journaling to process thoughts and emotions

• Meditation and mindfulness exercises for emotional regulation

• Daily check-ins to track your healing over time

• Educational content about grief stages and coping strategies

• Community forums to connect with others who understand

It's important to remember that apps may not be suitable for everyone. If your grief is accompanied by severe depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts, or self-harm behaviours, please seek specialised professional support. Similarly, if you're not comfortable with technology or if an app doesn't reflect your cultural or religious context, it may not be the right fit for you.

There are many apps available, so if one doesn't feel right, you can explore alternatives. Some offer free trials before subscription so be sure to read terms carefully to avoid unexpected charges.

Most importantly: Be patient with yourself. Your grief is as unique as your love was, and there's no timeline you must follow. These apps aren't about "fixing" your grief, but about helping you honour it in your own way, at your own pace.