Hallow Alternative: A Non-Catholic, Focus-First Option

I'll say the awkward part first: I make one of the apps in this comparison. So I'm going to try hard to be fair to the other one, and tell you plainly when Hallow is the better pick. It often is.

People look for a Hallow alternative for two very different reasons. Some aren't Catholic and want something that fits their own tradition. Others keep finding themselves on Instagram five minutes into a guided Rosary. Different problems, different answers.

What Hallow actually is

Hallow is a Catholic audio prayer and meditation app with a very large library of guided sessions. Its App Store listing describes over 10,000 sessions covering contemplative prayer, Christian meditation, Catholic Bible readings, sleep content and music.

The core of it is guided listening. You pick a session, choose a length (usually 5, 10 or 15 minutes), and a voice walks you through it. Daily options include Lectio Divina on the day's readings, the Rosary and the Divine Mercy Chaplet. There's the Ignatian Examen, novenas and litanies, Taizé and Gregorian chant, homilies, and seasonal group challenges like Pray40 for Lent and Pray25 for Advent. Recent updates added highlights, bookmarks and notes to a Bible tab.

Hallow is open about its identity. Its listing says the content is developed by Catholic theology and spirituality guides, reviewed by senior leaders in the Church, and based on the approved Catholic Bible. It also says the app is meant as a resource for people of all faiths. Both things are true at once, and that's worth holding onto as you read the rest of this.

What Hallow costs

According to Hallow's own help center (updated August 2026), the app is free to download and the free version includes hundreds of sessions, such as Bible in a Year and Catechism in a Year with Fr. Mike Schmitz, the Daily Rosary, the Daily Gospel and the Examen. The paid subscription unlocks the rest of the library, more challenges, music and other premium features.

US pricing listed there:

• Individual monthly: $9.99/month
• Individual annual: $69.99/year
• Friends & Family annual: $119.99/year for up to 6 people

Individual plans start with a free trial. Prices vary by country and store, so check your app store before you decide.

Why people look for a Hallow alternative

The two reasons I mentioned show up again and again, and it helps to know which one is yours before you download anything.

Reason 1: you're not Catholic

If you're Protestant, evangelical, or from a non-denominational church, a lot of Hallow will feel unfamiliar, and some of it will sit outside what your church teaches. That's not a flaw in Hallow. It's a Catholic app doing Catholic things well.

A few concrete differences you'll notice quickly:

• Marian prayer and the saints. The Rosary, prayers to St. Michael, novenas and litanies are central to the daily experience. Most Protestant churches don't pray this way.
• The Bible itself. Catholic Bibles include the deuterocanonical books (Tobit, Judith, 1 and 2 Maccabees and others), which most Protestant Bibles leave out or print separately. Hallow's readings follow the Catholic lectionary.
• Liturgical rhythm. Daily Mass readings, Night Prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours, Lent and Advent challenges. Many Protestants will find some of this enriching. Others will find it doesn't match their Sunday.

Plenty of non-Catholics use Hallow anyway and skip what doesn't fit. If that works for you, don't switch.

One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.

— Romans 14:5

Reason 2: the app isn't the thing that's failing

This is the one people don't say out loud. You downloaded a prayer app, you meant it, and you still check your phone in the middle of praying.

A guided audio session is something to listen to. It doesn't stop a notification from lighting up the same screen. A message arrives, you read it while the voice keeps going, and ten minutes later the session has "finished" and you can't remember a word of it.

Hallow's store listing doesn't describe any feature that blocks other apps during a session, and that's fair. It wasn't built to do that. But if distraction is your actual failure point, a bigger library won't fix it. That's the gap a focus-first app is built to fill.

What "focus-first" means

A focus-first prayer app starts from a different question. Hallow asks: what should you pray? A focus-first app asks: what keeps stopping you from praying at all?

For a lot of us, the honest answer is the phone. The phone is designed to win small decisions, and prayer is a long string of small decisions to stay put. I have ADHD, and "just ignore the notification" has never worked for me.

So a focus-first app does three things:

1. It blocks distracting apps on a schedule. Not a reminder to stay off Instagram. Actual blocking through the operating system's screen time permissions, so the app you'd drift to simply doesn't open during your prayer window. (Here's how app blockers actually work during prayer time if you want the mechanism.)
2. It leaves the content to you. Your Bible, your church's reading plan, your own words. The app protects the time instead of filling it.
3. It treats a missed day gently. Because the real enemy of a prayer habit isn't one bad morning. It's the guilt that turns one bad morning into three weeks.

And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.

— Mark 1:35

Jesus went somewhere without the crowd. A blocked phone is a small, modern version of that: a desolate place you can carry in your pocket.

Sacred Hour vs. Hallow, side by side

Sacred Hour is the focus-first app I built, and it's narrow on purpose. Here's how the two compare on the things that actually differ.

Prices are what each company lists at the time of writing. Both change, so treat the store page as the final word.

These apps barely overlap. Hallow is mostly about what fills your prayer time. Sacred Hour is mostly about keeping that time from being stolen. You could reasonably use both.

What Sacred Hour does well, and what it doesn't

Where it's strong:

• Blocking that holds. Three default windows (Morning Prayer, Midday, Evening Prayer) are ready on day one, and you can set your own. To unlock early you pray, scan a verse, or hold for 15 seconds, so leaving is a choice instead of a reflex.
• Pausing without quitting. You can pause today's block without switching off the whole schedule.
• Sunday that lasts past Tuesday. Record or scan the sermon, get an AI transcript and summary, and turn your notes into flashcards.
• Questions while you read. Ask about a passage inside your notes and get an answer that points back to Scripture, so you can check it yourself.
• Grace Mode. For grief, burnout or dry seasons, it swaps streaks for rest prompts. Streaks are still there if you prefer them.

Where Hallow is better:

• If you want a voice to guide you through prayer, Hallow is far ahead. Sacred Hour doesn't try to compete with 10,000 sessions.
• If you're Catholic and want the Rosary, the Examen, daily Mass readings and the liturgical year in one place, Hallow was built for exactly that.

I'd rather you pick the right app than mine.

How to choose in two minutes

Before you compare anything else, finish this sentence honestly: "My prayer time usually breaks down when…"

• "…I don't know what to pray or how to start." You want guidance. A guided audio app fits. If you're Catholic, that's probably Hallow. If you're not, look for a guided app from your own tradition.
• "…I pick up my phone in the middle of it." You want a boundary, not more content. Try a focus-first app with real blocking.
• "…Sunday's sermon is gone by Monday." You want capture and review. Look for sermon notes with transcription.
• "…I miss one day and then quit for a month." Look for how the app handles failure before you look at anything else.

If more than one fits, start with the one that breaks first. That's the same test I'd apply to any app, and I've written more about it in why most Bible app comparisons won't help you choose.

Common questions

Is Hallow only for Catholics?

No. Hallow describes itself as a Catholic app that is meant as a resource for people of all faiths, and many non-Catholics use it. Its content is Catholic in practice, though: the Rosary, saints, the Catholic Bible and the liturgical calendar run through the daily experience. Whether that's a fit depends on how comfortable you are skipping what your own church doesn't practice.

Can I use Hallow and Sacred Hour together?

Yes, and they don't really compete. One way to do it is to let Sacred Hour block distracting apps during your morning window and allow Hallow through as the exception, so the guided session plays while everything else stays locked.

Does Sacred Hour have guided audio prayers like Hallow?

Not in the same way. Sacred Hour has a prayer timer, daily reflections and Scripture drawn from your own notes, but it doesn't have a large library of narrated sessions. If guided audio is the main thing you want, Hallow or a similar audio app will serve you better.

Is there a free Hallow alternative?

Both apps have free tiers. Hallow's free version includes hundreds of sessions. Sacred Hour's free tier includes app blocking during three default prayer windows, prayer reminders and a starter set of daily reflections. Here's exactly what Sacred Hour's free tier includes.

Which app is better for ADHD?

It depends on where your attention leaks. If you lose focus because you don't know what to do next, guided audio helps. If you lose focus because your phone is right there, blocking helps more. For me it was clearly the second one, which is why I built what I built.

What to do now

Write down the one sentence about where your prayer time breaks. If it's "I don't know how to start," try Hallow's free version or a guided app from your own tradition this week. If it's "my phone wins," set one blocked prayer window tomorrow morning, just one, and see what happens to the next fifteen minutes when nothing else can open.