Laudate

First Impression

I downloaded Laudate about a year ago when the other Catholic app I was using started pushing annoying ads and a subscription. I was skeptical—free apps usually have a catch. Opening it up, my first thought was that it looked pretty basic, almost plain. The menu is just a list of text links. But I tapped on “Today’s Readings” and bam, there they were. No login, no pop-up, just the scripture for that Tuesday morning. I remember thinking, “Okay, this might actually work.” I spent the next week poking into every corner, fully expecting to hit a paywall for the good stuff like the Liturgy of the Hours or the Catechism. I never did.

What It Does Well

It puts an entire Catholic library in your pocket, and it’s fast. That’s the biggest win. Last month, I was visiting my sister in Denver and realized I hadn’t checked Mass times for Sunday. I opened Laudate, used the parish finder, and had three options within a 10-minute drive in under a minute. The daily rosary feature is my most-used part. I walk my dog every evening, and instead of fumbling with beads and a pamphlet, I just pull out my phone, tap the rosary section, and the prayers are right there to follow along. It remembers where I left off, too. Having the full Bible and a searchable Catechism is huge for when I hear something in a homily and want to look it up later. The value for the price of free is just insane.

Where It Falls Short

The design feels like it’s from 2010. It’s functional, not pretty. Sometimes finding a specific prayer takes more digging than it should because the organization is a bit old-school. The audio options for prayers or the rosary are hit or miss—some are clear, others sound like they were recorded on a very old phone and can be hard to understand. I also wish there was a way to customize the home screen or pin my most-used features, like the daily readings, to the top. You get used to the layout, but it could be more intuitive. For a free app, these are minor complaints, but they’re noticeable if you’re used to slicker modern apps.

Is It Worth the Price?

Let’s be real, it’s free. So yes, absolutely. As someone who refuses to pay for an app before testing every free feature, Laudate is the holy grail of that philosophy. There are zero hidden costs, no “premium” tiers, and no ads cluttering up your prayer time. I’ve seen other apps charge a monthly fee just for access to the Liturgy of the Hours, which Laudate gives you for nothing. You’re not paying with money, and you’re barely paying with your data since it doesn’t seem to track much. The trade-off for the dated interface is more than fair for what you get.

Developer & Support

The developer, Aycka Soft, seems to run this as a labor of love. Updates come regularly, mostly to keep the liturgical calendar on track. I had one issue last Advent where the readings for a specific day seemed off. I emailed the support address listed in the app, not expecting much. I got a reply about four days later—not instant, but they apologized for the delay and explained it was a known glitch with that year’s calendar that was fixed in the next update. They were helpful and polite. It’s clearly a small operation, but they do care about the app working correctly.

Privacy & Safety

This is a big one for me. The app doesn’t ask for any permissions on my iPhone 14, which is a great sign. It doesn’t need my location, contacts, or anything else to function. I used the parish finder manually by entering a city, so it didn’t even ping my GPS. There’s no account to create, so they have no email, name, or password from me. As far as I can tell, it’s just a standalone bundle of texts and links. It feels safe and private, which is crucial when you’re using an app for personal prayer and reflection. No creepy data collection here.