Recovo vs. I Am Sober for Gambling: Is a Sobriety Counter Enough?
I Am Sober is a free, general-purpose sobriety counter with a large community, and gambling is one of many habits it can track. Recovo is built only for gambling: it blocks betting sites and apps through Apple's Screen Time, and adds a streak and journal. A counter records the bet; a block stops it.
If you've searched for a quit-gambling app, you've probably already found I Am Sober. It's one of the best-known recovery apps on the App Store, it's free to start, and gambling is on its list of habits you can track. So the fair question is whether you need anything else.
This is a head-to-head written by the team that makes Recovo, so read it with that in mind. We've tried to describe I Am Sober from its own App Store listing rather than from memory, and to be plain about where it's the better choice.
The short version
- I Am Sober is a sobriety counter for any addiction: alcohol, drugs, nicotine, gambling, and dozens more. It tracks your days, your reasons for quitting and the money you've saved, and connects you to a large community of people quitting alongside you. Free, with an optional Sober Plus subscription. On iPhone and Android.
- Recovo is built only for gambling. It blocks sportsbooks, casinos and betting apps at the system level using Apple's Screen Time, and puts the off-switch in someone else's hands. Streak, money saved and a journal sit alongside the block. iPhone only; a free 7-day trial, then a subscription.
The real difference is not a feature list. I Am Sober helps you want to stay bet-free. Recovo makes it harder to place the bet when you've stopped wanting to.
What I Am Sober does well
It would be dishonest to pretend I Am Sober is a weak app. It isn't. From its own listing, the free version gives you a sober-day tracker, a daily pledge you take each morning and review each night, a place to store the reasons and photos that remind you why you quit, a calculator for the money and time you've saved, a milestone tracker, and an end-of-day recap meant to help you spot your triggers.
The part no gambling app can match is the community. At each milestone you can read how other people felt at the same point, and when you're struggling you can post and ask for help. For a lot of people, hearing from someone a week further along is what gets them through tonight. Sober Plus adds private groups, a Face ID lock, cloud backup and tracking for more than one habit.
If you're quitting more than one thing at once — drinking and betting often travel together — having both counters in one app is a genuine advantage.
Where a counter runs out for gambling
Gambling is different from most of what I Am Sober was built around in one practical way: the casino is already in your pocket. You don't have to drive anywhere or find a dealer. The sportsbook app is two taps away, it's open at 2AM, and it will take a deposit faster than you can talk yourself out of it.
A counter's job is to make you not want to break the streak. That works right up until the moment it doesn't — and in that moment, nothing in a tracking app stands between you and the bet. You can open DraftKings with your I Am Sober streak sitting on the next screen. The streak resets afterwards, which tells you what happened but didn't stop it.
That isn't a flaw in I Am Sober. It's a tracker, and it says so. It just means a tracker on its own leaves the door open.
What Recovo adds: a block you don't control alone
The block. Recovo uses Apple's Screen Time framework — the same system Apple built for parental controls — together with a Safari extension that comes pre-loaded with a hand-curated list of 380+ gambling and sportsbook sites, plus every .casino, .bet and .poker address. You pick the betting apps in Apple's own picker and they're restricted directly, not just their websites. It holds even when Recovo is closed.
Someone else holds the key. Ending a block early takes a code sent by SMS to an accountability partner you chose. You never see the code. Turning the block off means texting a person you trust and asking them to help you gamble — which is exactly the pause an urge can't survive. If you'd rather nobody could end it, Lockdown Mode runs the block until the timer runs out, with no unlock at all, not even for you.
The recovery side is gambling-shaped. The streak, the running total of money you didn't lose, and the journal for logging cravings and what set them off all live in the same app as the block. If you already have time clean, you enter the date you actually stopped, so installing an app doesn't send you back to day 1. And if you slip, your best streak stays on record. A relapse is information, not a verdict.
The honest trade-off: Recovo has no community feed. If talking to other people in recovery is what keeps you going, you won't find that inside Recovo — pair it with Gamblers Anonymous, a peer group, or I Am Sober's community.
Side by side
| I Am Sober | Recovo | |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Any addiction | Gambling only |
| Blocks betting sites and apps | No | Yes, via Apple Screen Time |
| Who can turn the block off | No block to turn off | Your partner's code, or nobody (Lockdown Mode) |
| Streak and money saved | Yes | Yes |
| Journal or daily recap | Yes | Yes |
| Community | Yes, large and active | No |
| Tracks more than one habit | Yes, with Sober Plus | No |
| Platforms | iPhone and Android | iPhone |
| Cost | Free, optional subscription | Free trial, then subscription |
Which one should you pick?
Pick I Am Sober if gambling is one of several things you're quitting, if you're on Android, if cost rules out a subscription right now, or if what you need most is other people who understand. It's free to try, and it's a good app.
Pick Recovo if gambling is the thing, you're on an iPhone, and your honest history is that you mean it every morning and bet anyway by midnight. That gap — between deciding and the 2AM version of you — is the one a block exists to close, and a counter can't.
Or use both. Nothing stops you from running I Am Sober for the community and the daily pledge, and Recovo for the block. The tools don't compete for the same job: one keeps you motivated, the other keeps the sportsbook out of reach on the nights motivation isn't enough.
Whichever you choose, an app is one piece of a larger setup. The rest — cutting off the money, telling someone, and having a plan for the craving itself — is in how to stop gambling when willpower isn't working. If you're choosing a blocker specifically, we've also compared Recovo, Gamban and BetBlocker.
If you need help right now
- National Problem Gambling Helpline: call or text 1-800-522-4700, 24/7, free and confidential.
- Gamblers Anonymous — in-person and online meetings, free, no signup required.
Common questions
Does I Am Sober work for gambling?
Yes, as a tracker. Gambling is one of the habits you can choose, and the day counter, pledge, money-saved calculator and community all work for it. What it doesn't do is block gambling sites or apps — nothing in the app stands between you and placing a bet.
Can I use I Am Sober and Recovo together?
Yes. They do different jobs, so there's no conflict. Many people find a block easier to keep in place when they also have a daily habit, like a morning pledge, reminding them why it's there.
Is there a free way to block gambling on iPhone?
Yes. You can set Screen Time content restrictions yourself and hand the passcode to someone else, or use BetBlocker, a free charity-run blocker. Our guide to blocking gambling sites on iPhone walks through the free options step by step.