Support

Questions, problems, and feedback: hello@behavioralexperiment.com. One person reads and answers, usually within a few days.

The online worksheet and step ladder

Where is my worksheet saved? In your browser, on this device only. Nothing goes to a server. If you open the page on another device, or in a private window, it will be empty.

How do I keep a copy? Use “Print or save as PDF” on the page. Your browser’s print dialog lets you save a PDF instead of printing. That file is yours to keep or share with a therapist.

I cleared my browser and it is gone. The worksheet is kept in your browser’s site data, so clearing that data removes it. There is no way for us to recover it, because we never had it. Saving a PDF after each review is the safest habit.

Can I use it on my phone? Yes. It works in any modern browser. If you plan to use it often, the app for iPhone, iPad, and Android is a better fit, with reminders, ladders that track progress, and a session summary you can export.

Help for the app

Getting started

Add a belief you would like to test, rate how much you believe it, and plan an experiment. The planner walks you through choosing a situation, writing an observable prediction, deciding which safety behaviors to drop, and setting a date. If you need to stop partway, Save and close keeps what you wrote, and the plan waits as Plan not finished until you come back to it. After the experiment, open it and tap Record what happened.

If you would rather see a finished example first, the empty Home screen offers a finished example you can explore, edit, or delete.

How an experiment works

1. Name the belief. Write the worry as a belief and rate how true it feels.
2. Plan the test. Pick a situation, say exactly what you expect to see, and decide which safety behaviors you will drop.
3. Do it and watch. Keep your attention on what is actually happening, not on how you feel.
4. Review and learn. Record the facts, re-rate the belief, and write down what it tells you more generally.

Then back to step 2. A belief usually loosens over several experiments, so repeat the test, change the setting, or test the “yes, but.” Several short experiments over a few days teach more than one big one. A belief is ready to rest when it stays low across a few different situations. Try one harder test, then archive it and move on to the next belief. If it comes back, start again at step 2 with a small test. The belief page shows which step you are on, and its How it works link opens this overview.

What the parts are

• Belief. The worry being tested, written as a rule you live by, such as “if I speak without rehearsing, people will get bored.” You rate how true it feels and update the rating after every experiment.
• Experiment. One planned test of a belief, with one specific prediction: situation, prediction, safety behaviors to drop, then outcome, re-rating, and learning.
• Already happened. For something you did without planning it. Choose Record something that already happened, then fill in the same pages and the outcome in one pass. You can also add Record an experiment to Control Center or the Lock Screen on iOS 18 and later, or to Quick Settings on Android, and record something there while it is fresh.
• Step ladder. An optional list of situations, rated for expected distress, so you can climb toward a bigger goal one rung at a time. Any rung can become an experiment. A rung counts as done when you mark it done, usually after you have repeated it a few times.

Ratings

Every slider starts empty, so no number is suggested before you give your own. Tap or drag along the line to rate. Ratings run from 0 to 100. If you prefer 0 to 10, change Rating scale in Settings. Your earlier ratings are kept and shown on the new scale.

Reminders

When you give an experiment a date, you can turn on a reminder to do it and another to record what happened afterward. For the first, choose at the time, 15 minutes before, 1 hour before, the day before, or a time you pick. For the second, choose from an hour after to the next morning, or a time you pick. Automatic times don’t land late at night unless the experiment itself does, and a time you choose is kept as is. Each can be on or off. A plan can also wait for a situation instead of a date. Choose When it comes up, and the app can check in on the days and at the time you choose until you record it. Settings also has an optional weekly check-in for weeks with nothing planned. The app asks for notification permission the first time. If you said no, you can allow it later. On iPhone and iPad, open the Settings app, then Notifications, then Experiment. On Android, open your device settings, then Apps, then Behavioral Experiment. Reminders say only that it is time for your experiment, or that it is coming up and when. What you wrote stays inside the app unless you turn on Show my plan in reminders in Settings, and even then it stays hidden while the app lock is on. Reminders are scheduled on your device and nothing is sent from anywhere else.

Sharing with a therapist

Open a belief or an experiment, tap the menu in the top corner, and choose Share as PDF or Copy as text. To bring an experiment to your next session, choose Flag for next session in the same menu. The Home screen then shows how many are flagged, with a link to make a session summary. Settings also offers Export everything as PDF. The PDF follows the worksheet layout, so it is easy to read through in a session.

Sync

Sync is off unless you turn it on in Settings. On iPhone and iPad, your data is stored in your own iCloud account, under your Apple Account, and appears on your other devices signed in to the same account. If the switch will not stay on, make sure you are signed in to iCloud in the Settings app on this device.

On Android, your data is kept in a private folder inside your own Google Drive and appears on your other devices signed in to the same Google account. The app can only see files it created in that hidden folder, nothing else in your Drive. If the switch will not stay on, make sure a Google account is signed in on this device and try again. Turning sync off removes the app’s access to your Google Drive, and the app offers to remove the copy there too.

Either way, the developer has no access to your data.

App lock

Settings can require Face ID, Touch ID, or your device passcode to open the app on iPhone and iPad, or your fingerprint, face unlock, or screen lock on Android. While locked, the app’s contents are hidden in the app switcher. The check is performed by iOS or Android, and the app never sees your biometric data.

Language

The app follows your device language. To use English or Spanish for this app only, choose it under Language in Settings. The change applies right away. On iPhone and iPad, Siri, Shortcuts, Control Center, and the quick actions on the app icon follow your device’s language. On Android, the app’s name, the shortcuts on the app icon, and the Quick Settings tile do.

Deleting your data

Delete a belief from its page using the menu, or choose Delete everything in Settings. Deleting removes the data from this device and, if sync is on, from your iCloud account or your Google Drive folder. Deleting the app also removes its data from the device.

Something not working?

Email hello@behavioralexperiment.com with what you expected and what happened. There are no accounts, so please do not include anything you would not want in an email. We read every message.

If you are in crisis

This app is not a crisis service and nobody monitors what you write in it. In an emergency, call 911. If you are in crisis in the United States, call or text 988. Outside the United States, contact your local emergency number.

Help now, in Settings and in the menu while you plan, do, or review an experiment, puts these lines one tap away.

About

Behavioral Experiment is made by Everyday Insight LLC, a small California company that builds free, private psychology tools that therapists can use with clients and people can use on their own. Everyday Insight’s tools are for education and personal reflection. They are not therapy or medical care, and they are not for emergencies. The other tools are Thought Record, Activity Record, and Values Card Sort.