Every morning, for 1,005 days and counting, I have spent at least a half-hour praying with the popular Catholic prayer app Hallow — Rosaries, chaplets, Lenten and Advent devotions, lectio divina (prayerful reading of Scripture), and much more.

Millions of Catholics use this app, but a streak of a thousand days isn’t typical. Hallow’s founder, Alex Jones, confirmed to me that just 2,000 people have ever reached a thousand-day streak.

“Prayer apps” aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, and if you've never used one, you may well wonder what “praying with an app” even means. (EWTN has a free one with numerous Rosary options that you can try, by the way.) The premise is actually pretty simple, and not particularly novel, either. Prayer apps, which provide a compact and convenient audio library of prayers that can be accessed any time, are a kind of spiritual successor to the televised Rosaries that Mother Angelica pioneered and which still air today.

Just like Mother Angelica appearing onscreen, the human guide speaking through a prayer app can serve as a companion and accountability partner — albeit one that fits in your pocket.

Like so many “lifestyle” apps these days, Hallow and other prayer apps seek to “gamify” positive practices in the hopes that users will stick with them. The strategy of encouraging users to build up “streaks,” spending time with an app on consecutive days, is employed by many secular apps like Duolingo for language learning and Strava for fitness. Hallow allows you to set “routines” — for example, a Rosary every day at 2 p.m., or the Divine Mercy Chaplet every day at 3 p.m. — and sends friendly reminder notifications to your smartphone in an effort to build your prayer habit.

Most of the prayers I do each day are fairly simple and traditional, like a short “Morning Offering,” giving my day to God right at the start, and a Rosary in the afternoon. I also prayerfully listen to the daily Gospel readings, which is a blessing as a parent of small children since I can’t often make it to daily Mass. Hallow produces many pieces of original devotional content as well, often based around spiritual books or the lives of the saints. I feel I have grown in appreciation of and closeness to saints such as Ignatius of Loyola and John Paul II thanks to Hallow’s excellent audio series about them.

After a couple of five- or six-day fits and starts back in 2023, using Hallow sporadically and without any real intention, I settled into a habit — and never looked back. There have certainly been highs and lows since then, but I’ve never gone a day without pressing “play.” To be sure, there have been a couple of close calls where I nearly lost my streak: the day my second child was born, almost exactly two years ago, comes to mind.

If I had an overarching takeaway from my prayer app experience so far, it would be this: God honors our commitment to prayer. Christ doesn’t ask us to pray perfectly, but He does, unequivocally, tell us to pray. In Scripture, we are further exhorted to “pray without ceasing.” The discipline, however small, of tapping “play” each day and giving that subsequent prayer time to God — time I could have spent listening to a frivolous podcast or pointless YouTube video — has certainly helped me grow in relationship with Him. I didn’t need Hallow to teach me how to pray, but it’s been invaluable for me in building a daily good habit.

Even after a thousand days, I still have much to learn about prayer. In some ways, my prayer-app experience has exposed my weaknesses when it comes to prayer, not my strengths. I prayed plenty before I started using Hallow — especially with my children, and during Mass and adoration — but not so consistently throughout each day as I do now. I’ve developed a muscle memory in the past 1,000 days that I think will benefit me for years to come.

I’ve also been reminded throughout this experience of how technology, when viewed rightly as a tool and not as a master, can help, rather than hinder, us on our walk with Christ. Most people, if they own a smartphone, find it to be an obstacle to growing in holiness. Prayer apps seem to me a great way to prudently use the best elements of technology and put them in Christ’s service.

As I said, prayer apps aren’t for everyone, and that’s okay. But if you’d like to get started using one, I have some advice.

At times where you would otherwise be mindlessly scrolling social media or watching YouTube, put on a prayer or Bible passage instead. Even if you’re not fully engaged mentally, I believe that simply beginning to pray is half the battle.

Using the features on the app, build up a prayer routine and set goals for yourself. We do it with our educational and fitness apps — why not for our spiritual fitness? It’ll take a little while to build up a habit, but it will be worth it.

Without getting into all the personal details, my daily use of Hallow began at just the right time for me. Emerging, as we all did, from the societal weirdness of COVID, my wife and I had just moved halfway across the country with our young son. As we adjusted as a family to many new realities of life, the solace of consistent daily prayer was just what I needed.

Finally, on Feb. 11, the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, I prayed the “Morning Offering” with my children as the orange winter sun peeked through our blinds and was greeted with a banner congratulating me on my 1,000-day streak. It was cheesy, sure, but it got me emotional.

Will I continue using my prayer app forever? Definitely so, but I could never sell God short. It’s very likely that He’ll send me an even better spiritual aid in the future, exactly when I need it.