An anger tracker and daily journal for iPhone
Anger is the steam. The journal finds the heat.
Kettle is an anger tracker for iPhone. Once a day it asks you five questions about what frustrated you. Over a few weeks, your answers show you the patterns underneath. It takes about three minutes, and nothing you write leaves your phone.
Coming soon to iPhone
See how it works
Five questions, about three minutes
Every entry is the same five questions. Type your answers, or tap the mic and talk.
- What did I get frustrated about today?
- How frustrated did I get?
- What else was going on?
- What about the circumstances upset or frustrated me?
- How stressed am I in general today?
Two of them are a number from 0 to 10. The rest are a few words, or as many as you need. On a calm day, tap “Nothing frustrated me today” and the entry is two steps instead of five.
One entry in the app’s sample journal reads: “A client moved a deadline up by a week with no warning.” Frustration 6. “Slept badly. Skipped lunch.” Stress 5. It isn’t a real person’s entry, but it’s about how long one is.
See your frustration and stress over time
One entry tells you about one day. A few weeks of them start to show you which days run hot, and what tends to be going on when they do.
Kettle keeps a streak of the days you’ve written and charts your frustration and stress for the last 14 days. If streaks make you feel worse, you can turn them off.
“What seems to help”, and what it can’t tell you
With Kettle Plus, the app also compares your average frustration on days you exercised or meditated with the days you didn’t. That’s a pattern in your own entries. It’s worth noticing, and it doesn’t prove what caused it.
Cool down
A meditation timer and a workout log, if you want them
After you save an entry, Kettle offers two ways to cool down: a meditation timer with a background sound and a slow breathing guide, and a simple log for a walk, a run or whatever you did to move.
The timer is the one with research behind it. A 2024 review of 154 studies found that calming activities such as slow breathing and meditation reduced anger, while raising your heart rate with something like a run made no reliable difference.
Both are optional. Turn either one off and it disappears from the app.
Questions
Common questions
Does Kettle send my data anywhere?
Kettle doesn’t store any of your data outside your phone.
- There’s no account and no sign-in.
- Your journal is stored on your iPhone. Kettle has no server to send it to.
- Dictation happens on the phone.
- Notifications never show what you wrote.
- You can lock the app with Face ID.
How much does Kettle cost?
Nothing, unless you choose to pay. The journal is free for good: all five questions, voice or text, reminders, streaks, widgets, Face ID lock, the 14-day chart, the meditation timer and the workout log.
Kettle Plus adds “What seems to help”, your full journal history, and a few extras for the meditation timer. It’s one yearly subscription at $14.99, $24.99 or $49.99, and every price unlocks the same thing. If you can’t pay right now, you can say so in the app and get the same Plus.
What happens if I miss a day?
Your streak starts again and your entries stay where they are. Kettle won’t chase you about it. If streaks make you feel worse, you can turn them off in Settings.
How many notifications does Kettle send?
None unless you ask for them. If you turn on the journal reminder, it arrives once a day at most and skips days you’ve already written. Meditation and exercise have separate reminders that stay off unless you turn them on.
What happens to my entries if I lose or replace my phone?
Kettle has no sync and no backup of its own. Its data is included in your iPhone’s own backup, like other apps’ data, so restoring a new phone from that backup is how your journal comes with you. If a phone is lost and there’s no backup, the journal is gone and I can’t recover it.
Tools
Prefer paper? Free printable anger worksheets
You don’t need the app to start noticing. These print on one or two pages, and there’s no sign-up.
- Anger iceberg worksheet Look at what might be sitting under the anger.
- Daily anger log One page a day. The closest thing to Kettle on paper.
- Anger thermometer Put a number on it, from 0 to 10.
- Anger triggers worksheet List the situations you get angry in, and what else was going on.
There are guides too. Start with Why am I so angry? or Journaling for anger.
Why I built Kettle
I’ve struggled with my anger my whole life
I’m Andrew Askins, the creator of Kettle. Most people who know me think of me as a chill, happy person. But my anger has been a constant challenge throughout my life.
After a birthday trip with my partner ended in a huge fight, I decided to treat my anger the way people treat an addiction: something you have to manage every single day. My therapist laid out five questions and a daily journal practice, and that practice became Kettle.
I’m not a clinician. I built Kettle to help me keep up with my practice, and to help anyone else who struggles the way I have.
Important disclaimer
Kettle is a journal, not a therapist
Kettle doesn’t diagnose anything, it isn’t treatment, and it doesn’t use AI. If anger is hurting you or the people around you, it’s worth talking to a professional. Here’s where to start, including what to do if you need help right now.
Coming soon to iPhone