Eight apps get named when first responders talk about this. Some your department pays for. Some you download yourself. They do different jobs, and the differences matter more than any feature list.
I make one of them, so weigh that entry accordingly. Every other app here is described from the company's own public materials or independent reporting, with the source linked at the bottom. Features checked September 2026.
Which app is the best one?
It depends on the job you need it to do.
- Lexipol Wellness (formerly Cordico) is the most established department app for resources and peer support in one place.
- PowerLine is the strongest option for anonymous peer conversations outside your own agency.
- CrewCare is the best free self check-in.
- PTSD Coach is free, from the VA, and built around symptoms rather than wellness.
- Neurovus, which we make, reads the wearable you already own and shows strain against your own baseline.
Why first responders need a different kind of app
You carry the same stress as everyone else plus repeated trauma exposure, and a career cost attached to admitting it.
In 2018 the IAFF and NBC surveyed about 7,000 firefighters across North America. The number that gets quoted is 81 percent, who said they feared being seen as weak or unfit for duty if they asked for help.
Two other numbers from that survey deserve more attention than they get. 71 percent said they had never used their department's employee assistance program. Of those who had used it, 63 percent did not find it helpful.
In June 2026 the U.S. Fire Administration published its Firefighter and EMS Behavioral Health Study and found the same shape. Confidentiality concerns, limited access to care, and fear of professional repercussions remain significant barriers, even as stigma declines.
That is why confidentiality is the first thing to check in any app on this list, ahead of any feature.
Does your department already pay for one?
It might. Lexipol Wellness, PowerLine, and Lighthouse are licensed to agencies rather than sold to individuals. A lot of firefighters, medics, officers, and dispatchers already have access and have never been told.
Ask your peer support team or wellness coordinator which platform your agency runs.
Apps you download yourself, including CrewCare, PTSD Coach, and Neurovus, do not depend on your department at all. For anything agency-licensed, read your own agency's confidentiality policy rather than assuming it.
Lexipol Wellness, formerly Cordico
A confidential wellness app licensed to public safety agencies. It carries anonymous self assessments, one-touch access to peer support, chaplains and local clinicians, a therapist finder, crisis lines, and content across more than 60 behavioral health topics.
Best for departments that want every resource in one confidential place. It has no wearable connection, so it waits for the member to decide they need it.
PowerLine
From PowerDMS, licensed to agencies. It anonymously matches you with trained peer volunteers from a nationwide network, sorted by industry, location, rank, and experience. It also includes self assessment tools and a content library.
Best if you want to talk to someone who understands the job and does not work at your station. No wearable.
Lighthouse Health and Wellness
A confidential platform offered at no cost to public safety agencies. It gives anonymous access to your agency's existing wellness programs plus a library of articles, courses, and tools written for public safety.
Best for agencies building a structured program from a standing start. No wearable.
CrewCare
A free app from ImageTrend for EMS, fire, dispatch, law enforcement, military, and healthcare workers. You log short check-ins on life factors, engagement, and mood, then see your own stress charted over time and how you compare anonymously against others in your field.
Best for a free, private self check-in. Its data is pooled anonymously for industry research. It does not read a wearable.
ResponderRel8
A peer-to-peer chat app for first responders only, anonymous and around the clock.
Best for venting to people who get it without involving your own department.
PTSD Coach
Free, from the VA's National Center for PTSD and the Department of Defense, built for anyone who has or may have PTSD, not only veterans. It offers education, a self assessment, tools for managing stress in the moment, and links to professional care.
It works on its own or alongside treatment. It is not a replacement for professional care.
Which one gets you a therapist?
Among general apps, Headspace offers licensed therapy through Therapy by Headspace, in network with more than 45 national and regional insurance plans. It is built for the general public rather than for this job.
Your department's employee assistance program and the clinician directories inside Lexipol Wellness and Lighthouse are the other routes to a therapist who knows the work.
What Neurovus is, and who it is for
This is the part I am not neutral about.
Neurovus is a private early-awareness app built by a firefighter for first responders. It connects to the wearable you already own, learns what normal looks like for you, and uses an AI companion called NAVI to explain changes in plain language by text or voice.
It connects to WHOOP today, with Oura and Garmin planned. Your department never sees your individual data. It does not diagnose, it is not therapy, and it is not a crisis service. It is newer and less proven than the established apps on this list.
How the eight compare
| App | How you get it | What it does | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lexipol Wellness | Licensed to public safety agencies | Anonymous self assessments, peer support, chaplains, clinicians, crisis lines | Departments that want every resource in one confidential app |
| PowerLine | Licensed to agencies by PowerDMS | Anonymously matches you with trained peer volunteers nationwide | Talking to a peer outside your own agency |
| Lighthouse | Free to public safety agencies | Anonymous access to agency wellness programs and public safety content | Agencies building a structured program |
| CrewCare | Free download from ImageTrend | Tracks self-reported stress and mood over time, compares you anonymously to your field | A free, private self check-in |
| ResponderRel8 | Download, first responders only | Anonymous peer-to-peer chat around the clock | Venting to people who understand the job |
| PTSD Coach | Free download from the VA | PTSD education, a self assessment, in-the-moment coping tools | Anyone who has or may have PTSD symptoms |
| Headspace | Paid subscription, therapy covered by 45+ insurance plans | Meditation, the Ebb AI companion, licensed therapy | Insured access to a licensed therapist |
| Neurovus | Individual subscription, iPhone and Android | Reads your wearable, compares you to your own normal, talks it through with NAVI | Seeing strain in your own data before you notice it yourself |
Features checked against each company's public materials, September 2026. Neurovus is made by the publisher of this article.
Do these apps actually work?
The honest answer is that nobody knows yet, and you should be suspicious of anyone who tells you otherwise.
The most-cited trial in this space tested the GUIDE app in 2025. 115 first responders, military personnel, and veterans, randomized against a waitlist, with 107 completing the post-trial assessment.
Its primary outcome was not met. There was no significant group-by-time interaction on the main wellness measure. Post hoc comparisons did show the GUIDE-only group improving over the waitlist group on wellness, emotional wellbeing, depression, and anxiety. The authors flagged that dropout may have overestimated the effect, and called for longer studies.
That is the strongest evidence the category has. Most apps on this list, mine included, have published no controlled trial in first responders at all.
Treat any app as one tool next to peer support, your EAP, and professional care. Not a replacement for them.
Can a wearable help you notice stress?
It can show you changes in sleep, heart rate variability, and resting heart rate against your own history, which gives you something to notice before you have words for it. It cannot diagnose stress, burnout, or PTSD, and no honest product will tell you it does.
One practical caveat. Physical work in turnout gear lowers heart rate variability on its own, so an overnight reading tells you more than a reading taken on shift.
What to ask before your department buys anything
- Find out what your agency already licenses. You may be paying twice.
- Get the confidentiality terms in writing, in language a 25-year member believes.
- Ask whether the tool waits for the member to raise a hand. Given an 81 percent fear number, that is a heavy thing to build a program on.
- Ask every vendor for the trial. Accept "we do not have one yet" as an answer. Do not accept a claim dressed up as one.
Sources
- NBC New York and IAFF firefighter mental health survey, 2018
- U.S. Fire Administration, Firefighter and EMS Behavioral Health Study, 2026
- Police1, Cordico profile and Cordico, now Lexipol Wellness
- PowerDMS, PowerLine
- Lighthouse Health and Wellness
- Virginia Office of EMS, resiliency resources
- JEMS, CrewCare announcement
- Apple App Store, Cordico Wellness and PTSD Coach
- U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, PTSD Coach
- Managed Healthcare Executive, Therapy by Headspace
- Journal of Medical Internet Research, GUIDE randomized controlled trial, 2025
Product names are trademarks of their respective owners. Descriptions reflect each company's public materials as of September 2026.
About the author
Gary Roberts is the Founder & CEO of Neurovus and has served 20 years with Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue. He built NAVI to track each firefighter’s drift from their own baseline, helping fire departments spot burnout before it becomes a crisis. Connect on LinkedIn