Support

Edit the date

If the date of your last contact is wrong, correct it: it is not counted as contact.

1. On Today, tap the … button at the top right, then Edit the date. Or open You → Your count → Edit the last-contact date.
2. Choose the day and time of the last contact, then save.

Log a contact

1. On Today, tap the … button at the top right, then There was contact.
2. Choose what happened: I reached out, They reached out, I didn’t answer, or It couldn’t be avoided. Add when it was and, if you want, what set it off.
3. Tap Save.

If you reached out, a new count starts from that moment and the days before it stay yours, in History. In the other two cases your count holds.

Add a widget

The steps are also in the app: You → Your count → Widgets.

On the Lock Screen

1. Touch and hold the Lock Screen, then tap Customize.
2. Tap the row under the clock.
3. Choose Holdfast and pick a size.

On the Home Screen

1. Touch and hold an empty spot until the apps jiggle.
2. Tap Edit, then Add Widget.
3. Search for Holdfast and choose the small or the medium one.

The widgets tick on their own and never show your reasons or anything you wrote. With discreet mode on, they show the number and nothing else. They use the language chosen in the app.

Turn on the lock

Open You → Privacy and switch on App lock. Holdfast then asks for Face ID or your passcode each time it opens. The lock covers the whole app, including a page that was open. The lock is free. Your iPhone needs a passcode for it to work; set one in the iPhone’s Settings if the switch says so.

Discreet mode, just below, keeps notifications from saying anything about a breakup and makes the widgets show the number alone. It is on unless you turn it off.

Export what you wrote

Open You → Privacy → Export everything I wrote, then save or share the file. It is one text file with your count and its history, the contacts you logged, your reasons, your journal, your unsent messages, your check-ins and your conversation with the coach. Photos are not included.

Delete everything

Open You → Privacy → Delete everything and confirm. Your count, your reasons and their photos, your journal, your unsent messages, your conversation with the coach, your settings and any export file the app made are removed from the phone for good. Nobody, including us, can bring them back, so export first if you want a copy.

A purchase stays with your Apple account: use Restore purchases afterwards. Your Support ID stays too. To have the coach counters on our relay and your purchase record deleted as well, write to us and quote it.

Restore purchases

Open You → Holdfast Plus → Restore purchases. The same button is at the bottom of the screen that shows the plans. Use the Apple account you bought with. If a purchase is waiting for approval (Ask to Buy), the app says so; Plus unlocks by itself once it is approved, and it may be charged then.

Cancel a subscription

Only the yearly plan renews, so it is the only one to cancel. Do it at least 24 hours before the renewal date, or before the end of the free trial, to avoid the next charge:

• on your iPhone, open Settings → your name → Subscriptions → Holdfast → Cancel Subscription; or
• in Holdfast, open You → Holdfast Plus → Manage subscription.

You keep Plus until the end of the period you paid for. Deleting the app does not cancel a subscription. The 30-day pass ends by itself and the lifetime purchase has nothing to cancel.

When a pass or a subscription ends, Plus content locks again. Everything you wrote stays readable.

Ask Apple for a refund

Apple handles every payment and every refund. Go to reportaproblem.apple.com, sign in with the Apple account you bought with, choose “Request a refund” and pick the Holdfast purchase. Apple makes the decision; we cannot refund a purchase ourselves, but write to us if something went wrong and we will help.

The coach

The coach is a text conversation for the minutes in which you are about to write to your ex. It listens, helps the urge pass and reminds you of what you decided. It is software: not a person, not a therapist, and it can be wrong. It will not speak for your ex or help you write to them.

You find it in Hold on and in You → Help → The coach. Before the first message, a screen says what is sent and where it goes; nothing is sent until you agree. Three messages are free; the rest is part of Plus, up to 150 messages a day. The Privacy Policy has the details.

Clear the conversation

In the coach, tap the … button at the top, then Clear the conversation. The conversation is kept on your phone only, so clearing it there removes it.

Share your reasons, or stop sharing them

In the same menu, open Voice and what is shared. Share my reasons with the coach is off unless you turn it on. You can change the voice, gentle or direct, in the same place.

Withdraw your agreement

In the same place, tap Withdraw my agreement. Nothing more is sent until you agree again. The conversation stays on your phone unless you clear it.

Report a reply

Touch and hold any reply of the coach, then tap Report this reply. The app opens an email to app.holdfast@proton.me with the reply’s text. Nothing is sent unless you send that email, and it contains what you choose to send.

Crisis help

If you are in danger, or think you might harm yourself or someone else, call your local emergency number or a crisis line now. Holdfast is not an emergency service, and nobody reads what you write in it.

• In the app: You → Help → Real help lists crisis lines for your country, with a call button. The same page opens from Hold on. You can change the country on that page.
• If your relationship was violent or controlling, read You → Help → If the relationship was dangerous before you cut contact.
• If your country is not listed, findahelpline.com is a directory of helplines around the world.

The numbers in the app were checked against official sources on 2026-10-12. Services change, and we cannot promise that every one is still current. If a number does not answer, call your local emergency number.