ROME — This week a Catholic prayer app beat out TikTok and other major social media apps in an unlikely Lenten surge.
On Ash Wednesday, “Hallow” — a Catholic meditation, prayer, and sleep app — took a remarkable third place on the list of top free iPhone applications on the Apple store, the Western Journal reported Sunday, surpassing Google, Netflix, Spotify, Instagram, and TikTok.
According to the report, by Saturday, Hallow had fallen by just one slot and ranked fourth, just behind TikTok, the Chinese shopping site Temu, and the video editing software Capcut.
On Sunday morning, Hallow was still holding strong in the top 20.
On its website, the app invites users to “pray with millions around the world leading up to Easter alongside Mark Wahlberg, Jim Caviezel, Fr. Mike, and more on Hallow, the #1 prayer app in the world.”
Catholic Actor Mark Wahlberg appeared on NBC’s Today Show Wednesday to talk about Hallow, as well as the importance of prayer and fasting.
Sporting ashes in the form of a cross on his forehead, Wahlberg told Today Show co-anchor Savannah Guthrie that “God knows the things he wants you to detach from.”
Faith means “everything” to me, said Wahlberg, who leads listeners in lessons on the practice of fasting as part of the Hallow’s Pray40 Lent Challenge, adding that “God did not come to save the saints but to save the sinners.”
“I checked out the app; it’s a great way to jumpstart your own reflections,” Guthrie chimed in.
Hallow is the brainchild of three alumni from Notre Dame University who launched the app in 2018: Alex Jones (not the Alex Jones of Infowars), Alessandro DiSanto, and Erich Kerekes.
According to Jones, “God is doing something pretty incredible.”
“We never thought in a million years that we might have this many people from all around the world gathered together in prayer,” he said.
“To be top 5 in the App Store is truly unbelievable. Praise be to God!” he said.
Hallow posted on Facebook that it was “feeling truly blessed.”
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