12 Steps Companion

Review by eFreeware

12 Steps Companion is a paid Android app from developer Dean Huff, sold for $1.99 as a reader, sobriety tracker and recovery toolkit in one. It is pitched as the first recovery app, first published in 2008, and the package centers on the first 164 pages of Alcoholics Anonymous, the section many people in the program read and reread.

The main reason to consider it is that the book and the everyday tools sit in the same place. Instead of carrying a paper copy alongside a separate counter or notes app, you get the text, a running sobriety figure, a set of prayers and a contact directory inside one download.

It holds a 4.7 average from 1,823 ratings and more than 50,000 installs, which suggests a settled audience rather than a new arrival. The app is sold to US customers only, and the developer notes it is not affiliated with AA World Services.

The reader and what it covers

The reading material is the core of the app. It covers the first 164 pages with page numbers kept in place, so references people share in meetings should line up with what appears on screen. Beyond that, there are more than 60 personal stories drawn from the first and second editions, along with the original forewords and the appendices from those two editions.

The reading experience has been thought through for a phone or tablet. Dark mode, search, a built-in dictionary, adjustable type and highlighting are all included, and the layout works in portrait or landscape. A collapsible index helps you move around a text this size without endless scrolling.

One thing to note is the scope of the stories: they come from the first and second editions only, so readers familiar with later printings will find a different selection here. If the personal histories are the part you return to most, that is worth weighing before you buy.

Counting days and adding the people around you

The sobriety calculator puts your length of sobriety on the launch screen, so the number is the first thing you see when the app opens. That is a small design decision, but it sets the tone: the app treats the count as something you want in view rather than buried in a menu.

You can also calculate sobriety length for friends you add, which turns the counter into something you can use for other people as well as yourself. It is a modest feature, but it fits the way sponsorship and friendship tend to work in recovery, where milestones get marked together.

Because the figure sits on the launch screen, the app rewards being opened regularly. Anyone who prefers to keep their count in a separate, more private tool may find that the counter and the reading material are hard to separate here.

Prayers, promises and notes on the text

The app collects morning and night prayers, the prayers that appear in the Twelve Steps, and the Prayer of St. Francis, alongside the promises gathered from the text. Having them in one section means you are not flipping through pages to find a passage you half remember.

Notes are the other half of this toolkit. You can attach a note to a passage, which is useful for marking something that struck you in a reading, and then share that note through other apps. That makes it easy to pass a line on to a sponsor or a friend.

The combination of highlighting, notes and sharing covers most of what people want from a working copy of the book. It is a reading and annotation tool rather than a study system, and it does not pretend to be anything more elaborate.

Contacts, calls and directions

It also includes a directory of US central offices, districts, areas and answering services. Entries can be tapped to call, email or open a website, and maps and directions are provided for the ones you want to visit. You can add your own contacts on top of the built-in list.

For someone new to the program, or someone traveling and unsure who to call locally, this is the section that may get the most use. It saves the step of searching for a local office while you are already looking for help.

The directory is US-focused, which matches the app's availability. Anyone outside the United States will not be able to buy it, and the contact list would not serve them in any case.

What it costs and what you get

12 Steps Companion sells for $1.99 as a one-time purchase. There are no ads and no in-app purchases, so the price you pay is the whole cost.

That is a straightforward arrangement for a reference tool. You are not paying to remove advertising, and there is no separate tier of features held back behind a further payment.

The app carries a Teen content rating. The developer also publishes a separate app called 12 Steps Speakers, which is a distinct download rather than something included here.

The app was last updated on September 15, 2026, with a bug fix in that release.

How it compares with other ways of carrying the text

The clearest alternative is a printed copy of the book, which the developer encourages people to buy from their local central office. Paper does not need charging or updating, and many people prefer marking up a physical page, but it will not count your days or hand you a local phone number.

A general-purpose notes or reading app is the other option. That approach can hold any text you like, but it will not reproduce the page numbering, the story selection or the structure of this particular book, and it will not come with the sobriety counter or the contact directory attached.

The trade-off is between a single-purpose app that does one job thoroughly and a more flexible tool that does several jobs loosely. This app sits firmly in the first camp, and its value depends on how much you want the book and the program tools together.

A settled choice for people working the steps

12 Steps Companion is for someone in a twelve-step program who wants the first 164 pages, the stories from the early editions and the day-to-day tools in one place on a phone or tablet. The sobriety counter on the launch screen, the prayers and the US contact directory all point to the same user: someone who reads the book regularly and wants practical help close at hand.

The app has been around in some form since 2008, and the recent bug fix indicates it is still being tended.

Within those bounds it does a focused job, and anyone working the steps who wants the text and the toolkit together will find it a reasonable purchase.

What's new in version 3.5.17

Bug Fix