Popularity of the “prayer app” skyrocketed during the Super Bowl. I try not to live my entire life through electronic devices, so I wasn’t too interested. Besides, I’d downloaded the free version once before, and didn’t like that all the “good” content was paywalled. It didn’t last long on my phone.

Then, I discovered a free trial. It seemed a good opportunity to try out the whole thing, at least for the next three months. It was right after Easter, and one of the first things I saw was a guided Divine Mercy novena. That seemed as good a sign as any.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been really into this app. More than I expected to be. Not only the novena, but other prayers that are often better with guidance—daily reflections, the rosary, homilies. I recently purchased beads for the St. Michael chaplet, and marveled that it was there to help me figure out how it works. I’ve used the app more for meditation (life certainly is busy), as it forces you to really stop rather than rushing through prayers. And you can set a schedule, so if you forget about that novena after four days, you get an alert!

I thought I’d run out the free trial and then cancel, but it’s really helped me focus throughout the day. There’s a lot I haven’t explored, too, like stories of the saints and sacred music. It helps integrate worship into every day life, maybe turning that hated technology into something good (I can hear an “I told you so” from somewhere…). I wouldn’t use it exclusively, of course. There is still a place for silent, personal prayer. But if this helps guide you toward that, and makes prayer time more “normal,” then I’m all for it.

Hallow offers a free trial on their website, so it’s worth checking out. And who knows… after my free three months, I might not delete the app after all.