My Daily Prayers

My Daily Prayers is a small, simple app. It holds a set of twenty written prayers and lets you read one whenever you want. That is really all it sets out to do.

The prayers cover the ordinary ground of daily life: giving thanks, asking for help, owning up to your faults, and turning the day over to God. You can mark each prayer as you read it, which leaves you a simple record of the ones you have prayed through. The text resizes for tired eyes, following whatever you have set in your phone's accessibility options, and you can share a prayer with family or friends in a tap or two.

There is something to be said for a short list. Some prayer apps pile on so many features that you spend more time tapping than praying. This one stays out of the way. You open it, you read, you are done. On a busy morning, that plainness is a strength rather than a shortcoming.

It is a fair fit for someone new to daily prayer who wants a gentle start, or for anyone who likes having a few dependable prayers in their pocket for the commute, a lunch break, or a spare minute in a waiting room. It would also work for an older child learning to pray on their own.

The prayers here are general Christian rather than Catholic. You will not find the Hail Mary, the rosary, or the Mass readings, so a Catholic will want to keep something else alongside it. It is also a young app from an independent developer with only a handful of ratings, so keep your expectations modest and do not be surprised by rough edges.

Free, made by Maria Chua. Available on the App Store: My Daily Prayers. A modest app that does one small thing, and for some people a small nudge to pray each day is exactly enough.