Just went to recommend Golden Thread Tarot to a friend who’s learning, and it’s completely gone from the app store!
This was honestly the best free tarot app I’ve found - clean interface, beautiful artwork, and the interpretations were actually helpful for beginners without being overly simplistic.
I’ve been using it for my morning card pulls for at least three years now. Does anyone know what happened to it? More importantly, has anyone found a decent replacement that doesn’t bombard you with ads every two seconds? I need something with at least basic spreads and preferably card meanings included. Really bummed about this.
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There’s a good list of Tarot apps, but I’ve been using Mystic Mondays (paid version). Didn’t like to switch at first, but once I got used to it, I think I prefer it.
I ended up getting Galaxy Tarot with the yearly subscription. $15 for the year seemed reasonable to reach everything. The artwork is pretty standard Rider-Waite style, which some people might find boring, but it works fine for me.
There are a lot of different spreads to try, and extra reading material is included. The manual shuffle feature is nice, makes it feel more like using a real deck, even though it’s just an app.
So the same person who made Golden Thread (Tina Gong) has another app called Labyrinthos that’s still around. It has this academy theme where you learn through lessons, which works well with my Wicca studies.
The interface is clean like Golden Thread was, and it has all the basic spreads and card meanings without ads. Been using it for about a week now, and I like the learning approach better than just pulling cards. It’s free, but there’s a paid version for extra stuff like custom spreads.
I’m in the same boat. Been using Labrynthos but it’s just not the same, you know? Let me know if you find something better.
We should all make a new free one together with the collective wisdom of a hundred Tarot readers.
Mystic Mondays was always my backup, their art style is nice 
So the shift wasn’t too bad.
Disappeared from German stores sometime last year. Pretty annoying. I’ve been using Galaxy Tarot, which works offline, and it’s like 12,99 a year on iOS. Does the job fine. Mystic Mondays is there, but you gotta switch your store to UK. Not worth the hassle imo. Just grab Galaxy and call it a day
If you want something polished without pop-ups, The Fools Dog apps are solid.
They’re ad-free with multiple spreads and built-in guidebooks. The Rider-Waite one works well for learning. For free options, Galaxy Tarot has a good meanings library.
I’ve still got GTT on my old phone, saved like a pressed rose. If you have it installed, turn off Offload Unused Apps and autoupdates or iOS will delete it when you’re not looking.
That sucks about the app. Physical decks are an option but I get why you’d prefer digital, easier to carry around and practice with. The whole ‘barrier between reader and cards’ thing feels overblown to me. Use whatever works for you.
One thing that’s annoying, if you work with Thoth or use elemental dignities and decans, most of the replacement apps are really focused on RWS.
Even the good ones like Labyrinthos and Galaxy won’t let you add custom positional meanings or planetary decans. The accessibility is also worse. VoiceOver reads most card images as ‘unlabeled’, so you don’t know what you drew. Golden Thread just used plain text, which worked way better.
Same here. It sucks watching everything just vanish. GT users losing their reading history and personal spreads with no backup or warning is rough. Years of notes and readings gone. Youd hope the dev would treat peoples tarot records with more care.
I’ve been using the Fool’s Dogs apps for a while now. Yeah, they’re not free - usually a few bucks each. But they come with the full companion books built in, which is pretty useful if you’re trying to learn properly.
The Android versions haven’t been updated in ages though. They work fine but the interface looks dated. Still, the content is good if you can get past that.
I remember when Golden Thread was part of my morning routine. I’d grab my phone and shuffle the digital deck to set the tone. The readings felt accurate and the art was beautiful. Then one day I opened the app and. nothing. Errors and blank screens.
My heart dropped, like pulling the Tower out of nowhere. All those saved spreads and journal notes were just gone. It felt like a trusted reader closing shop without warning. Still stings.
Virtual tarot pulls feel off to me, like they miss the spirit of tarot. For learning, I keep Labyrinthos next to my physical deck and set an intention before a digital draw, same as with real cards.
Hey, I’ve had good luck reaching out to Labyrinthos through their Instagram. They’re pretty active there and usually respond within a day or two. You could try DMing them or commenting on one of their posts. Their social media person seems to check regularly.
Here’s a workaround, on iOS/Android you can add the Labyrinthos card-meaning pages or LearnTarot.com to your home screen as a mini web app. Then save them for offline reading. I also made a deck album in Photos with my favorite cards.
Use shuffle/slideshow to let the universe pick the image, instant daily draw with art you love. I pair it with my notes app as a journal and it works pretty well without ads.
I stumbled onto Let’s Tarot last month while looking for alternatives. It’s new (2022) and the interface is clean. It has a Nakshatra-based prediction feature that adds another layer to readings. I haven’t seen that in other tarot apps. The look isn’t the same as Golden Thread. Ad-free so far.