14 Best Apps for Young Adults with Autism

Here's a list of helpful apps for young adults on the autism spectrum and with learning differences - and anyone else interested in using technology to do more - level up, and make life easier. 

One of several “gamification” apps out there, this one can function as your daily checklist. As the name suggests, this app combines tracking habits and to-do’s with elements from RPGs (that’s role-playing games, for non-gamer folks) such as creating your own avatars to progress along the habit-forming journey. When you complete your tasks, you gain experience points (XP) and level up your (adorable!) pixel-art avatar character. While the app has ever-increasing depth to it like joining a party and taking on challenges, it is incredibly easy to use for the basics of getting things done.

We find it especially helpful that the app uses three categories: Habits (e.g. ”Work out”), Dailies (“Take medicine”), and To-Do’s (“Call Grandma”). Nobody wants to add “Work out” to their to-do list every day, and yet it is still important to keep tabs on the good habits you are maintaining or trying to get into.

We recommend putting all Dailies as Habits at first, because if you don't do your Dailies, your character takes damage. They regularly update the content, and the development team is responsive to the community. Who knew that the same system for slaying monsters in dungeons would be so effective for wishing Grandma a happy birthday?

How do you get a bunch of gamers to go outside? Turn outside into a game! Ingress is an amazing Alternate Reality Game app that we’d encourage you to try on a walk wherever you live. There are two teams globally, Green (The Enlightened) and Blue (The Resistance), and there are Portals that can be captured located at places of interest around your city. This commonly includes murals, monuments, sculptures, fountains, and storefronts.

If all of this sounds terribly confusing, think of it like a complicated GPS-based global game of capture the flag. The interface and design is sleek, and the sound effects are perfect. We love bringing up the app for the first time with people who haven’t seen it; it makes us look like futuristic spies. If you are into games and technology, it is hard not to get giddy about what a few years of development might bring to an already exciting concept.

It seems these days that Fitbits are as ubiquitous as iPods in '07, but they are well worth a mention here for their excellent interface for tracking not only steps but also sleep, diet, and weight.

Zombies, Run! is a running app that we would describe as (mostly) a “timed audiobook” where you are a supply "runner" for a small community during the zombie apocalypse. Several times during a mission, you hear an alert that the zombies are close by, and you have to pick up the pace to escape them. We love running with this app around dusk when families tend to walk around the local park trail. It's easy to imagine their silhouetted figures as the undead… the creep-out factor definitely adds a pep to our steps. 

What a great alarm clock! While everyone has had the misfortune of hitting the alarm clock off without truly waking up, sleep inertia can be especially tough for individuals with ASD. "I Can’t Wake Up!" features options like having puzzles and math problems to complete before the alarm (or song of your choosing) can be turned off.

PillPack sends you your medication presorted into personalized packages. It couldn’t be simpler: no bottles to open, pills to sort, or med sets to fill. Important note: this service can’t be used with controlled substances (Adderall, Ritalin, etc.)

Facebook is the obvious choice for connecting with organizations, businesses, theaters, or the like, but if you haven’t checked out Meetup.com, you might be surprised at the diversity of clubs, interest groups, workshops, and outdoor activities happening in your area. Meetup is great for writing workshops, board game groups, and also for regular outdoor activities like hiking and kayaking.

Every time we’ve attended a Meetup Group we've found the other members to be friendly, welcoming, and warm. In other words, for people who typically have a difficult time socially, this is an especially great way to do a weekly social activity and make connections - even friendships - with others.

Mint is hands-down the best way to organize your finances and see your monthly budget visually. In less time it takes to read this sentence, you can bring up a chart of five years of your pizza purchases and compare it with the pizza purchase average in your local area. It's as fun as budgeting gets... which, it turns out, is actually kinda fun!  

Amazon Prime (and yes, the associated apps - Android | iOS) probably either seems like "Huh?" or "D'uh!" The grocery store can be a sensory overload and a bit of a social nightmare for folks with ASD (and, of course, plenty of those off the spectrum.) On top of that, the whole business of making-a-list-and-getting-everything-on-it is a Herculean feat for those who are easily exhausted by executive skill demands. 

Make things easier and lessen executive demands by ordering necessary household items like dish soap, laundry detergent, toilet paper, and body wash on Prime. Get a three-month subscription so you don't even have to worry about it. Having an extra bottle or two of shampoo is better than not having any. Focus on food at the grocery store. Leave the rest to Amazon. In fact, they've already put together some college essentials to get you started. *College students get a free 6-month trial and 50% off the regular membership price.

Emotions, like endangered wildlife and packages from Amazon, can be tracked. MoodPanda is the app to track your fluctuating feelings with a simple 1-10 rating. Hypothetically, regular assessment of your moods can increase your emotional awareness and metacognition (i.e. get smarter). It's wonderful to have a discrete way to "stand back" and look at the ebbs and tides of your daily blues and joyful moments, and maybe even have a better shot of making sense of it all. The data can be quite useful to a psychiatrist or therapist working with you. For this reason, we'd highly recommend MoodPanda for individuals who are changing medications or doses of medications. We particularly like checking in on the "Global Mood," which tends to hold somewhere in the middle. It could be worse! *Hugs*

Public transportation can be a sensory challenge and immensely difficult for those who struggle with time-related thinking. Both Lyft and Uber are perfect for those who can't drive and aren't lucky enough to have public transportation or can't take advantage of it for whatever reason. The possibility of developing a friendly relationship with a couple of drivers can mean the difference between a trip you dread to a trip you look forward to.

The Transit app shows departure times for all transit lines (bus, subway, streetcar, etc.) close by for more than a hundred cities in the US and abroad. There is also support for planning A-to-B trips, favoriting trips, notifications for disruptions in service, and alarms to help you get to whatever station in time. 

Fabulous is an app designed to help individuals build routines, achieve goals, and overcome challenges. Your journey with Fabulous begins with a contract to, “Make the most of tomorrow… Remember that I will not live forever… and that every fear and irritation that threatens to distract me will become fuel for building my best life….” The app includes a daily planner for added structure to life that can be customized individually. As an added bonus, if someone doesn't know where to start with a routine, the app includes pre-defined routines matched to a participant based on quizzes to help someone start off with a routine, and redefine overtime. The app includes a daily coaching series, personalized to-do lists, journaling options, short workouts and breathing exercises, daily affirmations and meditation sessions, goal tracking and progress monitoring. Need the motivation to build a morning routine? Want to increase your daily energy to get things done (without anxiety, fear, motivation getting in the way?) This may be the app for you! 

These days nearly every major grocery store chain has an associated app to help shoppers build lists, locate items, clip coupons, and even pay. From someone who has been known to forget their wallet at home, the Kroger Pay option on their app has been a lifesaver. Grocery stores can also be challenging to navigate, especially when at a new store. Many grocery store apps have lists that include the aisle shoppers can find an item. The grocery store can be overwhelming, so we love that you can create your full list ahead of time which sorts your list by aisle. Super helpful! 

Of course, we can’t talk about grocery store apps without also discussing pick-up orders. What’s better than not going to the grocery store? Having someone else shop for you! Simply pick up your groceries during a designated slot. Don’t want to deal with the grocery stores at all? Instacart hires third-party shoppers to do your shopping for you and delivers directly to your house! (For a small fee.) This is the hey-day of grocery shopping for people with EF challenges! 

Updated: 5-18-2023