Live on web

Free and Forward is live on the web right now — free to start, no card. Also on the App Store and Google Play.

Put it on your phone in about ten seconds

Get it from the App Store or Google Play — or skip the stores entirely: open the app in your phone's browser and save it to your home screen, and it opens with an icon just like any other app.

Step 1 — open the app on your phone

Step 2 — iPhone or iPad (Safari)

Tap the Share button at the bottom of the screen.
Scroll down and tap “Add to Home Screen.”
Tap “Add.” The icon lands with your other apps.

Step 2 — Android (Chrome)

Tap the three-dot menu in the top right.
Tap “Install app” or “Add to home screen.”
Confirm. The icon lands with your other apps.

It's free, it takes seconds, and nothing is shared with probation, parole or any agency. Your document photos are encrypted on your phone before they are uploaded, and we cannot open them.

For partners, friends, family and anyone in their corner

Set someone up before they come home

You don't have to be family. A friend, a partner, a parent, a mentor, someone from a church or a program — anyone who wants to help can do this, and it takes an afternoon. Setting the account up is free. No card, no trial clock, no time limit — the 27-step checklist and the calendar are yours on the free tier and stay that way. The hardest part of the first week is not knowing where to start, and you can take that off their plate right now: create the account, fill in what you already know, and have it waiting for them on day one.

Four steps, one afternoon

Start the account — free

It costs nothing to set one up. No card, no trial that runs out, nothing that lapses while you're waiting for a release date to move. The 27-step checklist and the calendar are free, and they stay free.

Create the account for them

Set up an email and password on their behalf, so everything is ready before they ever open the app. If you decide to add a paid tier — Basic adds email reminders — it's a one-time purchase attached to that same account. Never required, and nothing that renews.

Give them a head start on the checklist

You can see exactly what's coming — state ID, Social Security card, birth certificate, housing paperwork, the first check-in — and fill in what you already know. Release date, county, appointments that are already scheduled, documents you're holding for them. They wake up to a list that's already half sorted instead of a blank page.

Hand over the credentials

When they're out, give them the email and password. Everything you set up is there waiting. Have them change the password once they're signed in — from that point the account is entirely theirs, and what they add is their business alone.

Why the head start matters

What the national number shows

This is a national figure and individual states vary widely. We do not claim this app reduces recidivism.

37%

Of people released from state prisons in 34 states in 2012 were arrested again within the first year (Bureau of Justice Statistics).

The number of people it takes. Not a program, not a caseworker with eighty files — one person who set the thing up before release day.

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Recidivism of Prisoners Released in 34 States in 2012: A 5-Year Follow-Up Period (July 2021) — the most recent national follow-up BJS has published.

Why this matters more than money in an account

Many people leave with a bus ticket and a folder. What they don't have is a plan, and the offices that issue the paperwork keep business hours that run out fast. An afternoon of your time now is worth more than almost anything else you can send in.

What they see, and what you see

Once you hand over the credentials and they change the password, the account is theirs. You won't see what they add after that, and nothing in it is shared with probation, parole or any agency. That's deliberate. The head start is a gift, not a leash.

Start their account — it's free ← Back to home