Apps That Help You Remember Your Sins for Confession (and Notice the Ones You Repeat)

Yes, several apps keep a list of what you want to confess, so you don't have to remember it all on the day: Confess, Shrive and Holier add to one list over days or weeks, and Metanoia, Reconcile and ConfesGuide let you build a list as you examine your conscience. To notice the sins you repeat, look for an app that lets you note how often (Reconcile, Confessio: Confession Prep, Contrite) or one that adds each evening's examen to the same list, as Holier does. Here's how they compare, according to each app's store listing as checked on October 12, 2026.

We make Holier, one of the apps below. We've tried to be fair, including where another app is the better pick.

Is there an app that helps you remember your sins?

Yes, and it's one of the most common reasons Catholics use a confession app at all. You walk into the confessional, the curtain closes, and the mind goes blank. A list fixes that. The Church asks you to confess your serious sins by kind and roughly how often (CCC 1456, can. 988 §1); it doesn't say how you must remember them.

Apps help in two ways. Some guide an examination of conscience just before you go and turn what you mark into a list. Others let you add to a list over time, as you notice things, so it's ready whenever you are. If you go often, or if a week tends to blur, the second kind helps more.

Paper vs phone notes vs an app

• Paper never syncs anywhere, which makes it private in one way. But it can be left on a desk or slip out of a missal, and it doesn't remind you of anything.
• Phone notes are free and always with you. Many notes apps sync to the cloud, so check where yours goes, lock the note, and delete it after.
• An app can guide you, keep the list across several evenings, show it on one screen in the confessional, and sometimes clear it for you afterward. Check how it stores what you type before you trust it.

We go into each option in is it safe to keep a list of your sins? and cover reading from your screen in can I read my sins from my phone in Confession?

Apps that keep your list, compared

Prices are US prices. Privacy is each app's App Store privacy label (Google Play's Data safety for Android-only apps): the developer's own statement.

Can an app show which sins I repeat?

Some can help you notice, which is different from analyzing you. This idea is older than any app. St. Ignatius of Loyola taught a particular examen in his Spiritual Exercises (nos. 24 to 31): pick one fault you want to overcome, resolve in the morning to guard against it, and check yourself at midday and again at night, marking each time it happened. Comparing one day with the next, and one week with the next, shows whether it's slowly giving way.

Apps that support something like this, according to their listings:

• Reconcile lets you mark items and note how many times; its Premium tier adds Confession Insights.
• Confessio: Confession Prep lets you note frequency, and mark anything with "?" to ask the priest.
• Contrite (Android) keeps marks, private notes and counts.
• Lumen adds statistics in its paid MAGIS tier, and is built for people prone to scrupulosity, with no streaks.
• Appsolution CatholicConfession (Android) offers "How Not to Repeat" strategies for temptations and triggers in its Premium tier.
• Holier takes a simpler route: every evening's examen chat feeds the same list, organized by the seven deadly sins, so you can see when the same thing comes up again.

Noticing a pattern is useful. It tells you where a near occasion of sin might be, or what kind of day tends to go wrong, and it gives you something concrete to bring to a confessor. It isn't a verdict on you, and it isn't a measure of how much God loves you. Habits change slowly; the priest has heard it before. We say more about this in confessing the same sins over and over and what priests want you to know about the same sin.

How Holier keeps your list

Holier: Catholic Confession is an iPhone app by Reconciled Software (iOS 17.6 or later; there's no Android version). Each night it guides a short examination of conscience as a chat in the Ignatian examen tradition, and anything you name goes onto one numbered confessional list that opens with "Bless me, Father." Because every evening adds to the same list, what comes up again is there to see. Since version 1.3 (October 2026) you can review what the chat found before it's saved, and set a daily reminder time. Holier also helps in the moment of temptation, with a chat that offers encouragement and a prayer, and shows the days since your last Confession and examen. Your sin list is encrypted on your iPhone with a key that never leaves it; conversations are processed to power the AI, then discarded. You sign in with Apple, and there's a passcode lock. It's a free download; full use takes a subscription of $7.99 a week, $79.99 a year, or $149.99 once, per its App Store listing (October 2026), with no free trial. It's new. It helps you prepare; only a priest absolves.

It isn't the best pick if you're on Android (Metanoia or ConfessIt), if you want free (Confess, Shrive or Metanoia), if you're choosing for a child (ConfesGuide and Confessio: Confession Prep have children's examinations), if you don't want AI involved (Confess says it has no server communication, and Lumen says no AI touches your entries), or if you're after audio prayers (Hallow or Pray As You Go).

What happens to the list after Confession?

Once you've confessed, those sins are forgiven, and many people like the list to go too. Apps handle this differently:

• Confess can delete confession summaries automatically after a period you set.
• Lumen deletes your transgressions after Confession by default.
• Contrite has a "Burn" button that destroys your preparation.
• Appsolution deletes its sin list two hours after your Confession check-in.
• Metanoia and Confessio can keep a history with dates only.

If you want to notice patterns, you'll want to keep something, even if it's only the kinds of sin and roughly how often. If you'd rather start fresh each time, choose an app that clears itself. Both are fine.

If keeping a list makes you anxious

For some people, a list turns into a source of worry: checking it again and again, adding things just in case. If that's you, the answer isn't a better app. Keep the list short, let one confessor guide you, and trust that anything you honestly forget is forgiven with the rest. If a serious sin comes back to you later, simply mention it next time. A gentler tool can help; Lumen and Confessio: Confession Prep both describe help for an anxious conscience. Our page on scrupulosity goes further.

For a wider look at the field, see the best examination of conscience apps and the best Catholic confession apps.