Urge Buddy FAQ

Urge Buddy is an iPhone app for breaking bad habits. When an urge hits, you tap your buddy and get something quick to do, 1 to 5 minutes, until it passes.

Tap your buddy the moment an urge hits. Say where you are (at home, out but private, or out in public) and how you feel (stressed, anxious, bored, lonely or low). Your buddy picks a task that fits, like 15 squats, a glass of cold water, a long exhale or a text to someone you love. After it, you say how you feel. Better counts as an urge beaten.

Any habit you want to break. You can choose alcohol, nicotine or vaping, weed, porn, gambling, scrolling on your phone, or something else, like sugar or shopping.

Your buddy is a capybara you can name and dress up, with a beanie or headphones, glasses, a scarf and a sweater, hoodie or puffer in eleven colours. Everything is open from day one.

Yes. The "I’m craving" shortcut opens the task straight away from Siri, Spotlight, the Shortcuts app or the Action Button.

Yes. The tasks are kept on your phone, so tapping your buddy works without a connection.

Every urge you beat (that count only goes up), and, if you set a quit date, your days clean, your best run and the money you didn’t spend.

Your days clean start again, kindly. Your best run and every urge you’ve beaten are kept.

A short chat with your buddy in the morning ("How are you feeling today?") and at night ("How did today go?"). By default they’re at 7:00 AM and 9:00 PM, and you can change the times.

Yes, if you want. Choose the apps that pull you in, and they lock at your check-in times until you open Urge Buddy and answer your buddy’s question. It uses Apple’s Screen Time.

Urge Buddy starts with a 3-day free trial, then it’s a yearly subscription. The App Store shows the price in your currency before you subscribe, and you can cancel anytime in your iPhone’s Settings.

No. There’s no sign-up and no email. Each install gets an anonymous ID.

Yes. Nothing you write is ever shown to another person, and there’s no community or feed. Most of what you do stays on your phone.

Your buddy’s replies in the check-in chats can use AI (Anthropic’s Claude). You can turn that off in Settings, and then nothing you write leaves your phone.

Not yet. Urge Buddy is for iPhone, on iOS 17 or later.

No. It’s a habit tool, not medical care. If you’re struggling or in danger, call your local emergency number or a crisis line; in the US and Canada you can call or text 988.

Velyus Inc. You can reach us at [email protected].