Grief support · Android · free to start
For the nights grief wakes you.
Firlight is a private grief companion. Breathe through a wave when it hits, keep a journal for your kind of loss, write to the person you miss, and be ready for the hard dates.
Firlight is in its last weeks of closed testing. Testers get Firlight Plus free for life.
Awake with grief right now? What helps at 3 am. In danger: 116 123 (UK and Ireland), 988 (US and Canada), or your local emergency number.
- No Firlight account
- Nothing you write is sent to us
- No ads, no streaks
- Not therapy, and it says so
One slow breathAbout fifteen seconds. Tap to begin.
What's inside
Help for the moment, and company for the months.
Made for the loss of someone you love: a parent, a partner, a child, a pregnancy or baby, a sibling, a friend or a pet.
At 3 am
When a wave hits, the Wave is one tap away.
Three minutes of guided breathing, in a calm voice or in silence, or a 5-4-3-2-1 grounding exercise. At night the screen dims, the breath slows, and you can park a thought until your morning check-in. Crisis lines for your country stay on the screen the whole time.
The Grief Path
Twenty-four short lessons, drawn from bereavement research.
Read or heard, in an unhurried voice. Each ends with one small thing to try. Seven are free, including the hard-dates guide, sudden loss, and when to look for more support.
- When it is newWhat grief does in the first weeks and months.
- Living with itThe swing of grief and the hard feelings.
- The people around youFamily, friends and work.
- Carrying them forwardKeeping a bond and finding meaning.
Private by design
Mourning is personal. So is Firlight.
There is no Firlight account and no server that stores your words. Continue with Google and Firlight keeps a private copy in your own Google Drive, so a new phone brings it all back. Or use it without an account.
- Check-ins, letters, journal, memories and photos stay on your phone
- Optional backup to a hidden folder in your own Google Drive, which we never see
- App lock with your fingerprint or phone PIN
- No ads and no profiles; anonymous usage counts, with no identifier, only if you turn them on
- Export everything as a file, or erase it all, from Settings
Free where it matters
Everything you need in a bad moment is free. For good.
Free
- The Wave, day and 3 am, with the voice guide
- Check-ins, Looking back, and your fir
- Letters, journal and the memory box
- Hard dates with gentle reminders
- First days: plain guides for the week after a death
- Seven of the twenty-four lessons
Firlight Plus
- All twenty-four lessons, read or heard
- Every exercise, kept in your journal
- Pay once and keep it, or pay for a year
- No subscription nagging, no countdown, no "best value" tricks
Prices are shown in the app, in your currency, before anything is charged.
Questions
Things people ask first.
Is Firlight therapy?
No. Firlight is self-help support for grief, bereavement and loss: a breathing tool for the hard moments, a private journal, letters, hard-date reminders and short lessons drawn from bereavement research. It is not therapy, a medical device or an emergency service. If grief is stopping you from eating, sleeping or getting through the day for many weeks, a doctor or a bereavement counsellor is the next step, and one of the free lessons is about exactly that.
Is it free?
The parts you need in a bad moment are free for good: the Wave, check-ins, the journal, letters, the memory box, hard dates, the First days guides and seven of the twenty-four lessons. Firlight Plus opens the rest of the Grief Path, paid once or yearly, with the price shown in the app before anything is charged.
Where does what I write go?
It stays on your phone. There is no Firlight account and no Firlight server that receives your words. If you choose Continue with Google, Firlight keeps a private copy in a hidden folder of your own Google Drive, which only the app can read and we never see. You can export everything as a file, or erase it all, from Settings.
Does it work on iPhone?
Not yet. Firlight is on Android first, made by one person. If you would like an iPhone version, say so by email; the asks decide what comes next.
What happens at night?
Between 23:00 and 05:00 the whole app wears its night palette. The Wave opens on a slower 4-7-8 breath with softer words, the screen dims over a few minutes, and you can park a thought there until your morning check-in. Crisis lines stay on the screen.
Who makes Firlight?
An independent developer in Portugal, after his own losses, with the content checked against bereavement research (Stroebe and Schut's dual-process model, Klass and Silverman's continuing bonds, Worden's tasks). Firlight has no investors, no ads and nothing to sell but Plus.
Whenever you're ready. Or at 3 am.
Firlight is free to start, needs no Firlight account, and never sends what you write to us.