Drink Less app: an app to help us drink less alcohol

If you are looking to cut down your drinking, rather than take a break, then mobile apps can be quite hard to come by. Especially ones that actually support you in that journey (rather than just monitoring what you drink). We think this new Drink Less app could be just right for you. We would also like to hear your views – what apps have you found the most useful?

Drink Less app

Drink Less is a new alcohol moderation app created by a team of psychologists at University College London, aimed at helping you to reduce your drinking. We know the team behind this app, and they have been really helpful for Club Soda too!

Drink Less app features

The drink less app is easy to use and has lots of features. It is also based on the latest scientific evidence. It lets you:

• Keep track of your drinking, so you can see the changes over time
• Set your goals, and get feedback on your progress
• Complete a daily mood diary to understand the effects of hangovers
• Play games to strengthen your resolve to drink less
• Create plans to prepare for difficult situations
• Complete exercises to help change your relationship with alcohol.

Behaviour change techniques

If you download and use the app, you can also take part in a study, looking at which behaviour change techniques are best in helping people to moderate their drinking. You will be asked if you want to be part of the study, and can still use the app fully without taking part too. The study findings will be published in academic journals, and will obviously not mention your name or personal details anywhere.

The app is completely free (it doesn’t have ads either), can be downloaded from the AppStore, and you can read more about the app and the team behind it on their website. Unfortunately, this app is currently only available for iPhones.

Other drinking apps

Some other popular alcohol apps (available for both iPhones and Android) are:

• The Drinkaware app lets you track numbers of units you have drunk, their calories, and as a new feature also the cost of them. The app also provides some feedback on your alcohol consumption.
• The NHS (with Public Health England) offer a set of “One You” apps. In addition to the One You drinks tracker app, they also have a “Couch to 5k” exercise app, a quit smoking app, and a meals and recipes app.
• Drinksmeter gives you feedback on how much you drink, gives you a comparison to other people, has an interesting “what you think about your drinking vs. where you really are”. In addition to the basic drinks tracker, you can also keep tabs on the equivalent number of cheeseburgers eaten (calories), and there is lots of health information, as well as info about drinking alcohol while taking various medicines.

And of course, there are many many more apps out there. Depending on your personal goals (to moderate, quit, or stick to your achievements) and circumstances, you may want to try to a couple of them to see which one you like best.

If you’re more of a learner than a phone user, why not take one of our online mindful drinking courses to help you achieve your drinking goals?