Behavioral Experiment

Anxious thoughts make confident predictions. I will freeze. They will notice. I won’t cope. Behavioral Experiment gives you a way to check a prediction like that against what really happens, instead of taking the thought’s word for it.

It’s for anyone working on anxiety, worry, or avoidance, on your own or with a therapist. Behavioral experiments are one of the core methods of cognitive behavioral therapy, and the app guides you through one in four steps.

You start by writing the worry as a belief and rating how true it feels. Then you plan a test. You pick a situation that would put the belief to the test, say what you expect to happen in terms you could see or count, and decide which safety behaviors to leave out, the small precautions that feel helpful but keep you from finding out. A plan can have a date and time, or it can wait until the situation comes up.

While it’s happening, one screen holds your plan, your prediction, and the safety behaviors you’re leaving out, with room for a few notes that carry into the review. Afterward you record what happened, see it next to what you predicted, and rate the belief again. If you write down a next step, Plan this turns it into the next experiment.

When something feels too big to attempt, build a step ladder. Break the goal into rungs rated for expected distress, plan any rung as its own experiment, and move up when a rung feels solid enough.

Nine short articles with references explain the ideas behind the method, from how anxiety works and the cycle of avoidance to safety behaviors, predictions, and ladders. Each step has plain guidance and a finished example you can open and read. If you see a therapist, flag experiments to talk about and share a session summary as a PDF, or copy any belief or experiment as text.

Reminders are optional and say only that it’s time, or that it’s coming up and when, unless you choose to show your plan in them. On iOS 18 and later, add Record an experiment to Control Center to write down something that just happened while it’s fresh.

Free, with no account or ads. What you write stays on your device unless you turn on iCloud sync to see it on your other devices. You can lock the app with Face ID, Touch ID, or your passcode, and delete everything whenever you like.

In English and Spanish, with ratings from 0 to 100 or 0 to 10.

Behavioral Experiment is a guided worksheet with educational articles. It is not a medical device and does not diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any medical condition. It is not therapy or medical care, it is not for emergencies, and using it does not create a professional relationship with us. For medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment, talk with a healthcare professional. If you work with a therapist, plan experiments with them. You decide whether to do any experiment, and you do it at your own risk.