Daily Journaling
A minimalist writing space to record your thoughts. Each entry is tied to a specific date, building a chronological history of your mental well-being.
The private OCD app for journaling & ERP
See the loop.
Choose your next response.
Patterns is a private OCD app that helps you journal, track OCD events, practice CBT-based ERP, and spot trends - without accounts, cloud sync, or anyone else reading your notes.
Built from lived experience Created by someone who lives with OCD and uses ERP tools in ordinary life. Meet the builder Evidence, with sources Educational claims are checked against reliable guidance and published research. Read the policy Private and inspectable Your OCD content stays on your device, and the app is open source. See how privacy works
You're not alone OCD is a loop.
OCD is a loop.
Naming it is how you loosen it.
Intrusive thoughts aren't who you are. OCD keeps you stuck by making one thought feel like a threat - and making a ritual feel like the only way out. The relief never lasts, so the loop tightens. Seeing the pattern clearly is the first step to breaking it.
What is happening
A thought, image, urge, sensation, or doubt arrives and feels unusually important.
How the loop tightens
Trying to prove, suppress, or completely resolve it can teach the brain that it required an answer.
A possible next response
Name the thought without deciding what it means, then notice what OCD asks you to do next.
General education, not personalized treatment advice.
PATTERNS FOR ORDINARY MOMENTS
Support that fits into a real day.
Make room to notice what happened, or pause before responding to an urge. Patterns is designed to help briefly, then let you return to your life.
FEATURES OCD tracking, ERP support,
OCD tracking, ERP support,
and private journaling.
Patterns helps you record intrusive thoughts, compulsions, triggers, responses, and distress levels without accounts, ads, or cloud uploads.
OCD Tracking
Document obsessions and compulsions as they happen. Record the nature of thoughts, actions taken in response, and distress levels on a 0-10 (SUDS) scale.
Pattern Analytics
Visualize distress trends over time with intuitive charts and heatmaps. See anxiety rise and fall, and prepare clear information for therapy and ERP sessions.
Privacy First
Your journal entries and OCD records stay on your device. No cloud sync, ads, or third-party analytics SDK. Optional anonymous feature-use analytics never include personal OCD content.
Dark & Light Modes
Switch between carefully crafted dark and light themes to match your environment and reduce eye strain during late-night reflections.
iPhone & Android
Built for iOS and Android, so your journal and ERP tools are available when a trigger or urge happens.
MOBILE PREVIEW
See Patterns in action
Real screens from Patterns on iPhone and Android, designed for the moments when you need to capture a trigger, delay an urge, or reflect on the day.
IN YOUR POCKET
A useful next step, wherever you are
Capture obsessions, log distress, and write a quick journal entry from your phone. Your entries stay on your device, with no account and no cloud upload.
BUILT FOR MOBILE
Recovery tools when the moment happens
Delay a compulsion, practise an exposure, or review your patterns without waiting to get back to another device.
OCD SEVERITY SELF-CHECK
Track change across weeks - not one difficult hour.
Patterns includes a plain-language self-check informed by the severity dimensions used in the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS). Record how obsessions and compulsions affect your week, then notice what changes across later check-ins.
- About ten minutes
- Separate impact and trends
- Saved locally on your device
- Optional PDF for a clinician
Background: the original Y-BOCS publication.
Designed around ERP
Built to support the work that works.
Exposure and Response Prevention is the CBT-based therapy with the strongest evidence for OCD. Patterns turns its core moves into a calm daily habit you can keep between sessions.
Delay the urge
The Compulsion Delay Tool helps you pause and ride out a wave instead of acting on it - the core move of response prevention.
Rate your distress
Log distress on a 0–10 scale (SUDS), the same language used in ERP, and watch anxiety rise and fall over time.
See it get easier
Charts and history make progress visible, so you arrive at therapy sessions with clear, concrete notes.
Recovery toolkit Beyond tracking:
Beyond tracking:
tools to actually practise recovery.
Patterns now includes a full recovery toolkit built around ERP - the same moves a therapist would guide you through, turned into a calm daily habit you can keep on your own terms. Start free, and unlock the rest when you are ready.
Free tools
IncludedGuided ERP
Guided exposure and response prevention exercises to practise at your pace. The goal is to sit with discomfort without doing the compulsion.
Compulsion Delay
Put a pause between the urge and the action. Delay a compulsion for a set time and watch the urge rise and fall - proof you can tolerate the feeling.
Emergency Toolkit
Fast grounding techniques for the hard moments, when distress spikes. Kept a tap away, because you should not have to think clearly to use it.
Coping Library
A reference of coping strategies and reframes you can return to anytime. Save the ones that land for you and revisit them when you need them.
Patterns Pro tools
One-time unlockExposure Hierarchy
Build your ladder: list feared situations and rank them from easiest to hardest, then work up one rung at a time instead of all at once.
Exposure Materials
Store the scripts, images, loop tapes, and notes you use during exposures, so everything you need for practice lives in one place.
Response Prevention
Plan and log how you held back from a compulsion. Response prevention is where exposures do their real work.
Structured Programs
Multi-day programs that sequence exposures for you - follow along when you want structure instead of deciding each step yourself.
Urge Surfing
Urges rise, crest, and fall on their own if you let them. Surf one out here instead of acting on it.
Uncertainty Training
Short practices for tolerating doubt instead of seeking reassurance. OCD feeds on certainty; this starves it a little.
BUILT FROM LIVED EXPERIENCE
I live with OCD. I built the tool I needed.
Patterns grew from the gap between understanding ERP in a session and recognizing the loop in ordinary life. I am a developer with lived experience, not a therapist or doctor. The app supports reflection and practice; it does not replace professional care.
EARLY COMMUNITY FEEDBACK
Made with care. Used in real life.
“The layout is really nice and simple enough that I can actually see myself sticking with it.”
Anonymous Patterns user
“I'm excited to use Patterns to better understand my thoughts and notice recurring patterns.”
Anonymous Patterns user
“Downloaded it and made my first entry. Really useful app.”
Anonymous Patterns user
“I really appreciate the care you've put into creating something that helps people support themselves.”
Anonymous Patterns user
Excerpts lightly edited for length and clarity. Individual experiences are personal and are not evidence of a clinical outcome.
Patterns Pro price drop: was $39.99, now $19.99
Price dropPatterns Pro, one time, in the US
- One payment
- No subscription
- Yours for good
Already own Pro? Nothing changes and you are never charged again.
LATEST FROM THE LIBRARY
See all articles Understand the loop in plain language.
OCD at Work: Symptoms, Disclosure, and Helpful Support
OCD at work is often invisible. Learn how checking, reassurance, and mental rituals can affect a working day, and how to consider support without compromising real safety.
Read articleWhat Causes OCD? Genetics, Brain, Learning, and Stress
No one factor explains why a person develops OCD. Here is how researchers distinguish possible risk factors from triggers and the compulsions that keep a cycle going.
Read articleCan OCD Go Away? What Recovery Actually Means
OCD recovery is not measured by never having another intrusive thought. Here is what research says about improvement, remission, setbacks, and living with more freedom.
Read articleCommon questions
A few things worth knowing.
Clear answers about privacy, the self-check, pricing, and where the app's limits are.
Is Patterns a replacement for therapy?
No. Patterns is a self-reflection and tracking tool that supports your own journaling and ERP practice. It does not diagnose, treat, or cure OCD, and it is not a substitute for care from a qualified clinician. The most effective treatment for OCD is Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), ideally guided by an OCD-trained therapist.
Is my data private?
Yes. Your journal entries, intrusive thoughts, compulsions, exposures, notes, ratings, and other personal OCD data stay on your device. Patterns has no accounts, cloud sync, ads, or third-party analytics SDK. Optional anonymous product analytics are off by default and send only a random installation ID, platform, app version, and whitelisted feature-use event names and times. Personal OCD content is never included, and uploaded events expire within 90 days. The app is open source, so anyone can verify this.
How much does Patterns cost?
Patterns is free to download, and the journal, the OCD log, the Y-BOCS self-check, guided ERP, the compulsion delay tool, and the emergency toolkit are all free with no time limit. Patterns Pro is an optional one-time unlock for the deeper ERP tools: exposure ladders, exposure materials, urge surfing, response prevention, structured programs, and the extra insights. Pro is $19.99 in the US on iPhone and Android, down from $39.99, with local pricing elsewhere. It is one payment, never a subscription and nothing to renew. If you already own Pro, nothing changes and you are never charged again. Patterns is open source, and optional tips and GitHub Sponsors are there if you would like to contribute beyond that.
I think I might have OCD. What should I do?
Only a qualified mental-health professional can assess and diagnose OCD. If intrusive thoughts and compulsions are affecting your life, consider reaching out to a clinician or an OCD specialist. Reaching out for help is a sign of strength. Patterns can help you track what you are experiencing so you can share clear notes with them.
What is the OCD severity self-check?
Patterns includes a private, plain-language self-check informed by the severity dimensions used in the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS). It can help you record how obsessions and compulsions affect your week and notice changes across repeated check-ins. It is not a diagnosis, and a qualified professional should interpret symptoms in their full context.
What if I need urgent help?
Patterns is not a crisis service. If you may be in immediate danger or unable to stay safe, contact local emergency services or a crisis service in your country now. Find A Helpline can help you locate verified services where you live.
iPhone & Android
Take Patterns with you
Track obsessions, delay compulsions, and journal in a calm private space on your phone. No account, no cloud sync, and nothing you write leaves your device.
Available on iOS and Android
Capture a trigger when it happens, keep your ERP notes close, and review your patterns wherever your day takes you.
Requires iOS 14 or later · Android 8 or later
Support Patterns
Patterns is open source, independent, and ad-free. If it has helped you, a small tip keeps development going.