PrayerMate#
Available on iOS, Android, and Amazon TV devices (not sure who is using this last one, but why not!)
Overview#
This app is a bit of a mixed feeling. The feature set is rich, and while the UI is clean, it lacks some things that would make the introductory experience a bit easier. Overall, it’s a good app, but there are some idiosyncrasies you will have to overcome to be comfortable in this app on a regular (and presumably daily) basis.
List vs Subject vs Note#
This is the one thing that is particularly cumbersome within this app. You have lists to break prayers into separate groups (such as a list for personal prayers, a list of prayers for your church, etc). Then within lists are subjects (which often I put as individual people). And finally within subjects you can list notes which is what finally corresponds to individual prayers.
This is a bit odd, and I think I probably quickly swiped past this explanation in the beginning tutorial for the app. But this actually sets it up nicely for the actual prayer sessions. When you click “start a new session” it will automatically grab some number of subjects (for me this corresponds to people) and then you can quickly add more or less (depending on if you want to spend a long block in prayer, or you have a 10min walk to work that you want to devote to God). Additionally, you can select particular lists to pray instead of the app picking the list (which it appears to try to cycle through all your prayers, with allowance for setting additional priority).
Final Notes#
If you are willing to spend the time to learn the UI (which would take ~10-15min of playing around) then this is a great replacement for all the random pages in a physical journal filled with prayer lists. I also appreciated that the organizational prayer lists appear to be well updated (I follow the GAFCON prayer list which appears to be updated regularly, but results here may vary). While I didn’t try it, it appears that creating a group is free and easy. Of course, if you do regularly use this app, I would recommend giving a donation.