Ordo, the Christian accountability app for small groups

Ordo is an iPhone app for keeping a rule of life with a few people. Each day it asks three small things: a written reflection, a response to the day's scripture and a short check-in. No one reads anyone's words until everyone in the group has written. It follows the church year, and eight companion creatures keep watch with you. There are no streaks, badges or engagement tricks.

Yes. Ordo is a Christian accountability app for small groups. Instead of monitoring your phone, it builds accountability through a shared rule of life: each day everyone writes an honest reflection, responds to scripture and checks in, and the group reads it together once all have written.

Many apps sold as accountability apps monitor browsing and send reports to a partner. Ordo does not monitor your device. It is accountability by honest account: a small group agrees a rule of life, keeps it daily and tells one another the truth about it. Some people use both kinds.

Yes. A group in Ordo can be as small as two people, so it works for a pair of accountability partners as well as a small group, Bible study, discipleship group or covenant group. You can also keep a rule alone.

Not yet. Ordo is an iPhone app, currently in beta through TestFlight ahead of its App Store launch. Join the waitlist at startordo.com to hear when it opens more widely.

A rule of life is a simple, chosen pattern of prayer, scripture and practice that shapes how you live, an old Christian discipline from the monastic tradition. In Ordo a group writes its rule together in six parts (scripture, prayer, reflection, absence, accountability areas and review) and can weight it light, moderate or deep to suit its tradition.

Each day the group's cycle opens and asks three things: write your reflection on the prompt, read the scripture and respond, and check in on your commitments. It takes about ten minutes if given honestly. Ordo draws the day as a timeline that ends in the reveal.

Reflections are held until every member of the group has written, then released to everyone at once. Because no one can read ahead or perform for the others, the reveal produces honesty rather than polish.

Eight hand-drawn creatures (a lamb, owl, fox, hare, deer, sparrow, bear and mouse), each drawn from scripture or the manuscript margin. A companion keeps watch while the day still asks something of you and falls asleep once it is kept. You choose your own; each group's companion is chosen from the group itself. A companion is company, not a game: no levels, outfits or collections.

A breath prayer at the pace of your companion's breathing: four counts in, a short rest, six counts out. The words of the Jesus Prayer ("Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me") or Psalm 46 ("Be still, and know that I am God") appear in time with each breath.

Yes. Ordo follows the Western liturgical calendar: Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Eastertide and Ordinary Time. The app's photographs, prompts and readings turn with the season, and at the close of each season you receive a formation letter drawn from your reflections.

Ordo is for theologically serious Christians across traditions: Anglican, Reformed and Presbyterian, Lutheran, Catholic, Orthodox, Pentecostal and non-denominational groups among them. A group's rule can be weighted to its tradition, and Ordo also offers the Daily Office.

No. There are no streaks, badges, red dots or notifications telling you you've been away too long. Ordo is designed for formation, not engagement: it will be here when you return.

Ordo is in beta on iPhone through TestFlight ahead of its App Store launch. Join the waitlist at startordo.com and you'll be among the first to receive access.

Yes. Written reflections are encrypted at rest, and they are visible only to the members of the invitation-only group you wrote them for, revealed once everyone has written. Ordo has no public feed, does not use third-party advertising trackers, and does not sell your personal information. The full privacy policy is at leqir.github.io/ordo-legal/privacy-policy.html.