Drinker s Helper Reviews

So, the quiz they use to measure only allows you to select monthly, weekly, daily or never for most questions. This doesn’t really help a moderate drinker who might say, drink and experience partial memory loss a couple times a year. Either, you never have ever (which, let’s be honest, doesn’t apply to many people) or you do it monthly, and you’ve got a problem. So, really, DrinkersHelper is only for severe drinkers. Not helpful for moderate drinkers.

Also, DrinkersHelper is not free. It’s just free for the first week if you agree to a plan and give them your credit card info.

I’m sorry but if you want ppl to use your app you need to make it more affordable. It’s all automated and you can’t even message individuals or small groups? Uhhh no I’ll use the many free other programs available. Even $5 a month I would pay but there is NO WAY I’m paying $15 a month for this. You don’t even get human interaction from what I can see. I obviously have not combed through the entire app yet as I am not willing to pay this amount for an app- but even the questions they had me fill out in the beginning are all autofill responses and you can’t even get specific about your own problems, only the responses your allowed to give. Most of the answers didn’t even fit what I’m trying to do with changing my drinking. People who are coming to these apps are seriously struggling. There’s no way it takes that much money to run an automated system that just spits out answers and logs how long you’ve been sober.

At first, I loved DrinkersHelper. It gave helpful information to assist in quitting drinking, puts you in a support group with other people that use DrinkersHelper and has a tracker for calories saved/$ saved/drinks had.

An irritating aspect is that the tracker is not a “running total” of these items. I would like to see the tracked items saved to date instead of the tracker resetting back to zero each week. But I could live with that. Now when I post in the online group, none of the posts are saved! It’s quite frustrating when you’re asking for help/feedback from someone just to go back into DrinkersHelper and see the post didn’t even register in the system. I’m emailing this company to ask for my yearly subscription money back, don’t waste your time trying this one.

This is a great app and surprisingly helpful in keeping me focused on my goal. However, it deleted my sober streak because I hadn’t logged in for a week. I’m ticked off because this was a hard-earned effort and watching the number of sober days accumulate was a major factor in keeping me on track. Now DrinkersHelper has reset and I’m back to zero. $&@(!!. Also, there’s no support or option to contact the developers or moderators within DrinkersHelper to ask questions. Super frustrating!

I actually really like DrinkersHelper, and even sprang for the premium/paid version. I think I’ll be canceling, though, because the tracking feature DOES. NOT. WORK. I’d think tracking the number of days you’ve either stayed below your set limit or not drank at all would be a fairly vital feature for most people, but don’t rely on DrinkersHelper for it. Seems like non-drinking days aren’t counted, so apparently my record “streak” is the 4 days in a row I had a drink since downloading DrinkersHelper . Never mind the 10 days prior to those 4, or the 12 since. Nope, my “record” streak is 4 days, period. Doesn’t really help the motivation.

That said, the exercises have some useful info and the group chat thing has been helpful. It’s just a shame that of DrinkersHelper ’s three main features, one is utterly broken and useless - particularly when I’m shelling out a not insignificant sum for the privilege of attempting to use this non-functioning feature.

So I was really encouraged going into this, I liked the question section, getting to know me and explaining the program. Then you get to the part where you are going to be matched with your group and realize you have to pay a subscription to do so. I don’t mind an investment towards better health, but I’m tired of apps that seem really great and then drop the money bomb. Just be transparent in the beginning so it’s not a surprise when you get to the money part.

I’ve been on DrinkersHelper for almost 30 days all of which have been sober. However, even changing “rooms” to be with alcohol abstinent folks most of the chats are about drinking “just one beer”, still blacking out and saying people want to be sober but literally drink everyday and wonder why they feel like garbage. I can’t wait to skip rooms again (you only get so many per 30 days). I did a 3 month Subscription so will use as a tracker and try and give sound advice to others suffering while doing so. Find truly sober folks if that’s what you want. Not DrinkersHelper.

I like the conversation that’s initiated in the beginning and my overall feeling that DrinkersHelper could be helpful is strong. But when they ask for money(which is fine) DrinkersHelper starts to look like a 5-year-old designed it. I want DrinkersHelper. I think the content is good. But design really falls short when you get to the main app area (parts of text are unreadable and badly organized) and I don’t feel confident to spend that kind of money (even if the content/groups appear worth it). Please clean it up and I’ll join!

I’ve been using DrinkersHelper for going on 2 weeks and have liked it enough to spring for the 6 month membership. I love the program and how there is so many helpful resources there. It really helped me the first couple of days staying distracted and reminding me why I got DrinkersHelper in the first place. The group feature is nice and serves it’s purpose as well. The tracker is ok but it could use some tweaks as many have said. I got DrinkersHelper a few days into being sober and wish I could add those dates to my tracker but there doesn’t seem to be an option.

My only other critique, like many others, is the inability to private message people. I don’t understand the point of having “matches” and when you click “send a message” it sends you back to the group to mention them. There are certain people I connect with more than others and I don’t want to derail the group conversation by having sidebar conversations with individuals. I saw feedback from developers over a year ago that said this feature was “on the roadmap” but I’m disappointed to see it hasn’t happened yet. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that within my 6 month membership this becomes a reality, because otherwise I will likely cancel my subscription. Obviously like many said, some sort of block feature would be important, or even a setting in your profile where you could opt out of receiving private messages.

I’ve been using DrinkersHelper for a few weeks and for the most part I really like it. It has helped me immensely. I especially love the group I’ve been assigned to. Everyone is very encouraging and it’s interesting to hear others’ stories, and gather ideas and tips.

I have some suggestions that I feel would make DrinkersHelper five star+:

Add a calendar so that we have a visual of our drinking, sobriety or urges. Use symbols. Perhaps one color for a drink, another for a dry day and another color for urges.

**I’ve also had an issue with insights and reminders. I have found insights to be incorrect on several occasions. Plus, I’ve received several notifications that I have x number of drinks left towards my goal, and usually they’re off by at least one. This is frustrating when one is relying on this information for encouragement to quit or moderate drinking.

The other issue is that when entering a drink or an urge, I cannot go back and correct mistakes.. even while I’m still in that particular function of DrinkersHelper . And I can’t go back and edit an entry.

So if these things were to be implemented or corrected, I will happily change my rating to 5 stars. :)

Thank you for DrinkersHelper. It is wonderful but will be GREAT with these improvements!

So far I do like DrinkersHelper . The “program” and information has been very helpful. I do enjoy the group chat, especially that you can change groups if necessary.

However, I think it is lacking in some features. I’m not the first to say there should be a calendar. I can’t see which days are being accurately tracked or even go back to see the dates I last drank. The tracking itself is sometimes inaccurate and it’s a fight to update it. I also don’t understand why you have “matches” with others within the group chat if you cannot DM those people. What is the point?

It would be nice also if there were a chat search feature. I would like to be able to search another persons older posts so I can understand their backstory or if people already exchanges where they are from.

Since most of DrinkersHelper it automated it shouldn’t be so much to ask for these updates.

DrinkersHelper has a lot of really good strategies and has been very motivating for reducing my unnecessary weekday drinking. I was really excited about the social component and during the free week I really enjoyed it. I paid for the 3 months and since then it has been a huge let down. Essentially me and one other person are the only ones who use the chat. New people get added, don’t participate and leave after a week. I was really looking for a lot more insight, support and success stories from others. If the group was more active I would give it 5 stars.

Really loving DrinkersHelper but finding it a little difficult to actually keep an accurate tally of my days without drinks, pledges, or days where I did drink. Wish it was a little more straight forward as mentioned back in April. Doesn’t seem like that change has been implemented yet but I love the group chat and courses. Both are very helpful! I also can’t figure out how to extend my plan after the 7 day trial. I believe I set it to 1 month but would like to change it to 3. Any idea?

I enjoy DrinkersHelper based on not feeling judged, interacting with like minded souls that understand the struggle. My suggestion is to allow scrolling up to read previous dialogue without the message thread jumping to the bottom and showing the last message. There’s nothing worse than trying to chime in on a conversation and provide support, but you can’t successfully scroll up and stay there to read previous messages. Great app otherwise!

I’ve only been using this for a few days but it’s helpful. I find some of the exercises to be quite thoughtful. But if you accidentally make a mistake in the tracker you can’t change it - it adds drinks rather than correcting the number, lol. I also wish I could set different drink limits for weekdays vs weekends. I can’t figure out how to track urges. Also I wish there were separate threads in the group as opposed to all messages in one long thread.

Please add the “change the date” so you add unexpected sober days. I managed to have 4 this week although my goal was 3. Even though I tracked Zero drinks on 4 days it still shows only 3 sober days. A little petty but these important milestones mean a lot to someone who is trying to cut back or abstain. You have the “change the date” for tracking urges and tracking drinks already.

I’m not an alcoholic but I do drink more wine than I should- especially since the pandemic started. DrinkersHelper is GENIUS and really well thought out. It has really helped me learn about why I drink and has given me tools to smarten up and stop drinking . It actually works. Thanks to the creators of DrinkersHelper - you’re saving people’s lives.

So far DrinkersHelper is really great at keeping me distracted and constantly in touch with people I can actually relate to during my idle time hours through the day and evening. I just wish there always a way to start a private conversation with a person you just naturally click with and relate on a more personal level.

My app suggestion would be to create a messaging system so you can privately talk to a single individual or create a small group of say 4-5 people that you always vibed and just clicked with and connected with on another level.. this messaging app would still be anonymous and I’d prefer that and there should be a feature to report a person that becomes a creep or crosses boundaries and a way to report and send the chat history to admins

I’m chatting with folks right now about how to get through this evening without a drink. The community has incredible ideas! We’re all focused on similar things. The sense of support is stunningly wonderful. I feel like I don’t need to be ashamed anymore of my drinking because I have people who understand and will help me solve my issues in real time. Don’t hesitate to sign up with DrinkersHelper if alcohol is running your life. Together we can change that!

I spent 30 min answering all the questions, only to be presented with a screen asking me for money in order to acquire a membership.

I do not think this is fair, nor transparent, advertising. I never again want to put in effort and time only to find myself charged AFTER I did so.