With so many relationship apps out there, we wanted to share our honest review of the latest couple’s therapy app, Hey Ritual. Is it worth your time and money?

After years of working in the couple’s health space, we’ve tried loads and loads of couples apps. From games to questions to couples coaching, it’s pretty incredible how many apps are out there. (And how many are corny.)

As two relationship gurus and former engineers who love reading up on the latest couples science and psychology research, our bar is set pretty high when it comes to evaluating couples apps.

Hey Ritual isn’t the first relationship therapy app we’ve used, but it’s hands-down our favorite.

Here’s our honest Ritual app review and experience in 2023 and how it genuinely helped our relationship (plus a discount promo code if you’re interested in trying it out).

How to communicate better with your spouse

HEY RITUAL APP REVIEW

Hey Ritual is a relationship coaching app aimed at making “realistic, real-life improvements to your relationship.”

They do this by connecting each couple (or individual) to a therapist, tackling your challenges through both weekly video therapy calls and structured lesson plans that you do on your own in between sessions.

This may sound standard, but what struck us were the well-thought-out lesson plan pathways you could take and the quality of the therapists. Compared to other apps we’ve used, Hey Ritual is a step above.

We’ll go into our experience below, but first, why choose Hey Ritual or couples coaching at all?

Why Choose Hey Ritual and Couples Coaching?

You may not know this, but nearly 49% of married couples will end up in couples therapy at some point during their marriage, according to MidAmerica Nazarene University. So it’s time to get over that taboo.

Also, speaking of time, the time to seek relationship guidance is now.

Our Hey Ritual relationship therapist told us that most couples seek help 7 years too late.

So, why did we personally choose to start as two 35-year-olds with a happy baby? Here are a few stats that convinced us to go:

  • 67% of couples say that the quality of their marriage decreases after children, according to a study published in the Journal of Family Psychology.
  • If the baby comes within the first three years of marriage, the risk of divorce increases substantially.
  • The Gottman Institute found that when children see their parents fight often, it increases their chances of later developing depression, poor social skills, and conduct disorder.
  • The majority of couples go through their first divorce around the age of 30, although the average age for divorce is 46.

Given that our whole ethos (and business) is to learn how to become as happy and healthy as we can as a couple, we wanted to reach out to a couples therapist to learn skills and exercises to maintain perspective and grow our relationship as our lives changed.

In the last six months, we did significant research on how often couples fight (and why) and we took several courses on how to communicate better as a couple. While we’ve improved, we knew that we needed a professional coach to continue making progress.

How does Hey Ritual work?

Hey Ritual is a couples counseling app that delivers like a MasterClass.

The subscription includes high-quality video lessons, relationship quizzes, and video therapy sessions with a licensed family therapist. This can be done either alone or with your partner — still separately or together during the coaching sessions.

Hey Ritual Quiz & Introductory Session

You start by taking a 5-10 minute relationship quiz.

Hey Ritual Relationship Quiz

The next step is speaking to an assigned therapist on a 20-minute introductory call — either alone or with your partner, your choice. Since the therapist already has your quiz results, this is an efficient 20-minute session. 

Choose a Pathway

Together, you decide which “pathway” you want to start on first. In the image below you can see a few of the options. For us, we began with our therapist “Love After Kids.”

Hey Ritual App Relationship Guidance Pathways

Each pathway is a structured, multi-week program. Our “Week 1” was unlocked and it included several videos relating to the topic and an assessment.

Complete Assigned Sessions and Share Feedback

After completing Week 1, you share your thoughts and answer questions for your therapist through a video, voice recording, or text. That was pretty cool and we highly recommend recording a video response. 

These were our reflection questions after week one.

Hey Ritual Review Relationship App Counseling Questions

Then, you schedule your next weekly session with your therapist before the following week’s activities are unlocked.

In a nutshell, Hey Ritual is far more than an app that connects you to a therapist for virtual video calls. In between you work through your program that comes with videos and assessments like homework.

Each week’s videos give perspective and ways to look at the issue from all angles, keeping you moving forward between calls.

Hey Ritual is the whole package, and it helped Ryan and me immensely in ways nothing else has, despite having researched this topic for years — and used other relationship coaching apps with therapists before.

We’ll go into the various subscription packages below, but first, here’s our personal experience and full Ritual app review.

Our Ritual APP Review and Experience

Here’s why we chose Hey Ritual to coach our relationship out of the dozens of relationship apps we’ve tried.

Honestly, in a way, the Ritual app is our direct competitor. As couple’s health coaches with our own program, Just Duo It, we had high expectations.

So, here is our honest review of this relationship therapy app.

Our Experience with Hey Ritual

The signup process with Hey Ritual is straightforward.

You begin by taking a relationship assessment quiz on their website. Just a few minutes long, you rate your relationship in a variety of ways, answering prompts such as, “The way we fight is really taking a toll on our relationship,” and, “I struggle with managing my own and my partner’s anger.”

From there, you choose to either use the app alone or with your partner. Additionally, you’ll decide if you want to have counseling sessions weekly or bi-weekly. Each option has a different cost. We’ll break down those costs later and also share a special 20% discount promo code for our readers.

After signing up, I received a link for my partner to join me on the plan (since we did counseling together), and then we scheduled our first call with our assigned therapist (we’ll call her Shirley although that’s not her real name, for privacy).

We had no idea what to expect, but the following Tuesday we logged in to our first Zoom video call with Shirley. This call, just a 20-minute introductory call, was to get to know each other, and most importantly, get to know our problems.

Shirley, a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist with a Master’s degree in psychology, was warm, friendly, relatable, and smiley. We liked her immediately.

Shirley started asking questions about our relationship and the reason why we joined Hey Ritual. After explaining how we wanted to maintain our relationship after kids, we decided that our first topic to tackle was, fittingly, called “Love After Kids.”

She unlocked Week 1 of “Love After Kids” and gave us an additional homework assignment: to discuss connecting questions. We agreed to meet in one week for our next 40-minute joint couple’s session on Zoom.

There’s something extra comfortable about talking to a therapist from our living room sofa, on video, thousands of miles away. It felt more like a coaching or business call. No stereotypical box of tissues or velvet chaise lounge anywhere in sight. We were relaxed and nothing felt rushed.

Our Hey Ritual Journey Began

We committed to relationship counseling, laid the foundation by taking the quiz, and set our goals on the introduction call with our therapist. Now the work begins. 

Throughout the week, we went through Week 1 of “Love After Kids.” This included 4 short videos covering topics like, “Expectations and Reality,” and “Embracing Reality.”

Hey Ritual Review Weekly Video Lessons

The videos were high, studio-quality videos that felt like a MasterClass. Led by Galit Romanelli, a certified Life Coach pursuing her Ph.D. in motherhood and well-being, they were short but impactful.

Our favorite part came next, with another relationship assessment and two questions from Shirley that we could answer individually through a video, voice, or written response. This was the first time when I stopped to think and record a video with what I learned, what has changed, and what I realized.

And I realized that I probably needed to change tracks, because “Love After Kids” wasn’t resonating as much as I thought it would — not because of the program quality, but because I realized that our relationship didn’t actually change that much after our daughter… at least not yet. Ryan felt the same way.

On our next video call with Shirley, we told her that “Love After Kids” didn’t seem to be a problem yet. So she asked, “Ok, I get it, you guys have a great relationship and lifestyle. Why are you here and what’s going on?”

Tell Me Your Problems Now!

As a professional with 15 years of experience in her private practice, Shirley knew two things. One, we weren’t on a productive track. Two, we didn’t just sign up for relationship counseling to chat.

We appreciated her assertiveness and decided to tackle something that every couple has: the recurring argument(s).

Ryan and I glanced at each other, with smiles that said, “You probably can’t help us but here goes anyway,” and started explaining what we fight about most.

According to Shirley, 70% of the recurring arguments couples have do not have a solution. We suspected ours didn’t but we went into depth with what our problem was.

OK, Ryan and I are extremely well-read when it comes to relationship psychology. Yet, for the first time, Shirley was able to solve our problem. It’s not like the reoccurring argument we’ve had for the past twelve years will completely disappear.

However, we now have the perspective to handle the issue as a team and a strategy to plan ahead, tackling our recurring issue far more productively. And we finally felt at peace with it for the first time in a dozen years.

A Huge Breakthrough

Shirley kept asking, “Why, why, why?”

OK, I might as well share that our recurring problem involved how we divvied and spent time amongst extended family. I know, perhaps not a “big” deal or a “big” problem, but it was the thing that we argued the most about and was a touchy subject for both.

As we went deeper, Shirley gave us a new perspective and reminded us to stop looking at our problem as if it needs a solution today, but how our problem would change over the course of our marriage and lifetime.

She urged us to view these trips less transactionally, like if we spent one week with Ryan’s family then we had to spend one week with mine. Instead, we learned how to increase quality time on those trips and think about it over a several year, if not a lifetime, of patterns.

Those sessions with Shirley were groundbreaking and within 60-minutes and two weeks of Hey Ritual, we had a solution to the main problem within our 12-year-old relationship.

We got off the call feeling excited and lighter than ever. We even went out for a special date night to celebrate.

Before this, we’ve looked to other apps for help with our recurring argument, but none of them came close to being helpful. Through one relationship coaching app (our previous favorite), we were able to discuss our issues with a therapist via email.

It just didn’t work. Probably because our conversations were too pre-meditated and lacked real connection and non-verbal communication.

Other apps provided incredible insight, scientific findings, and loads of great relationship information. Did we learn a lot from them? Yes. Did our relationship improve using these apps? Sure, a little. But did they help us solve our recurring issue? No.

Nothing changed our relationship in a more meaningful way than Hey Ritual. Speaking of other apps we’ve used…

How Hey Ritual Compares to Other Apps We’ve Used

Ryan and I joined Hey Ritual after using other therapy apps before, like Hello Relish, another couples coaching app and likely their top competitor.

In the past, the apps we’ve used have also been okay, but focused more on video content, quizzes, and cute graphics, as opposed to the meat and potatoes of couples counseling. Like Lasting. So-so.

For example, with Hello Relish (a highly rated app that we enjoyed until realizing that Hey Ritual was better) we could choose to just go through the content without a therapist, text with our therapist, or have videos with our therapist.

The fact that two options were available that didn’t push video calls with the therapist was honestly, a waste of time and money.

These coaching/therapy video calls are the most important part and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. That’s the problem with many other relationship apps where you just go through quizzes and complete little challenges — they likely won’t make a big difference in your relationship.

If you need help (or just some coaching), use the best and get proper help. It’s surprisingly affordable and with our promo code RYANANDALEX20, you get 20% off the first month.

Using an App vs. Seeing a Therapist In Person

Let me just say that you won’t connect with every therapist and that’s completely normal.

The benefit of going with Hey Ritual is that we can attest to the quality of their therapists, and since there’s a team, you can always change without fear of embarrassment or telling them in person at an office.

Today, we’re actually on our second round of therapy after stopping for a few months while we traveled. So now, we have a new therapist. Both she and Shirley are great.

Ryan and I found comfort in doing our sessions from home and on our couch with a cup of tea. It felt like a normal personal development video call (which we do a lot of).

We wanted the calls to feel casual, but you can make it as focused as you want. But there’s a lot of comfort and privacy in calling in through video as opposed to going into an office.

Plus, not only do you save time and gas money, you’ll save therapy money too.

While the cost of in-person couples therapy varies, in the US it is around $150-$300 per hour on average. Anecdotally from friends and family, they’ve paid closer to the $300 end (and more).

Comparing that to Hey Ritual, given that each month you and your partner each have 60 minutes of therapy plus a 40-minute joint session, the cost is $97 per hour (or $78 per hour if you use our 20% off discount code RYANANDALEX20).

Plus, that doesn’t include the video sessions, assessments, journaling, and additional “homework” that our Hey Ritual coach assigns for us.

How Much Does Hey Ritual Cost?

There are several plans you can sign up for. Here are the prices of each.

If you sign up for Hey Ritual as an individual, the price is $100 or $160/month, depending on either weekly or bi-weekly therapy sessions, respectively. This is before our promo code for 20% off.

Hey Ritual cost for individual counseling

When you sign up with your partner, the price is $260/month per couple, including 3 private sessions (20-minutes each) and 1 joint session (40-minutes).

You can take advantage of 20% off with our referral link and promotion code RYANANDALEX20 for the first month. Here is a summary of the pricing options.

Hey Ritual Pricing for Individuals

For bi-weekly therapy sessions:

  • $100/month with 3-month commitment
  • $80/month with 6-month commitment

For weekly counseling sessions:

  • $160/month with 3-month commitment
  • $128/month with 6-month commitment

Hey Ritual Pricing for Couples

For weekly counseling sessions:

  • $260/month with 3-month commitment
  • $208/month with 6-month commitment

Hey Ritual has a 14-day money-back guarantee if you’re not satisfied with the service.

Hey Ritual App Review: Is it Worth It?

Hey Ritual is the best relationship therapy or relationship counseling app we’ve used. Hands. Down. And we’ve used dozens, including other paid relationship therapy apps, like Hello Relish.

No matter where you are in your relationship, we could all use guidance and coaching. Whether you’re tackling those recurring problems that seem like they have no solution, fighting about it every few months, or if you need a lot of help and are on the brink of divorce, just take the plunge and do it.

Ryan and I, with our work at Ryan and Alex Duo Life, have done it all: we’ve read dozens of relationship books, taken all of the Love Language quizzes, and even a sex and communication MasterClass.

We’ve watched the movies recommended by relationship psychologists and talked about all things life, love, money, and happiness.

Before we got married, we underwent forty hours of marriage prep as required by our church (that’s what you get for living in Texas!)

While every little bit helps, nothing compares to having video calls with a couples therapist, and the best experience we’ve had in that department so far was with Hey Ritual.

Truly, it’s been great and we’re on another round of couples therapy with them right now.

Closing thoughts on RItual 

Just how you work out to strengthen your body, consider strengthening your relationship with a professional coach. No matter how well-read you are in couples relationship and psychology, like us, coaching can always help.

Hey Ritual is an incredible value and has helped us immensely. We highly recommend it and we hope our Ritual review has helped you decide if it’s right for your relationship.

If you have any additional questions or feedback, please share them with us in the comments below. If you have questions, but the background information is too personal, feel free to send us an email at ryanandalex@ryanandalex.com.

For more resources for couples, such as our ‘5 Ideas for a Memorable Movie Date Night At Home’ or how to give your partner a good massage, head over to our Healthy Couples page.

Or, download our Proven Tools for Healthy Couples below.

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Download our guide for the best books, movies, apps, date night ideas, quizzes, questions, and games for healthy couples.

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A husband-wife duo, two engineers, and the creators of Ryan and Alex Duo Life. 

After eight years working in the corporate world as engineers, we left to tackle our true passion:

Helping highly motivated couples optimize their relationship and health by cutting through the muck and sharing what the research says works.

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