In exchange for this review of the Love Nudge app, my husband and I received access to the app along with a copy of The Love Languages Devotional Bible (see the Giveaway section to discover how you can be entered to win a copy of your own!)

Since we first read The 5 Love Languages nearly a decade ago during our first couple of months as a married couple, we were excited to retake the quiz.

We were a little surprised because my husband’s primary and secondary love languages weren’t quite what he’d assumed they are through the years.

Likewise, my primary language – Physical Touch – remained the same, but I had a tie between Words of Affirmation and Quality Time.

The app rated Words of Affirmation as my secondary love language and Quality Time as my tertiary love language. In my original results, Quality Time was my secondary language.

I’m not displeased with the results because I find it hard to know exactly which of my two secondary love languages is stronger.

I suppose as a Homemaker, where the work can often be endless (and sometimes thankless), Words of Affirmation help me to feel valued by my husband and our children. So, I don’t mind that LoveNudge thinks that is more of an important way for my husband to communicate his love to me!

After my husband and I found each other on the app, we scrolled through the goals to find 2-3 we wanted each other to get started with. I decided to make a couple of custom goals that I didn’t see reflected in the pre-populated list of goals.

I think it would be helpful if end users could vote to add certain goals to the pre-populated list to help inspire the love tank-filling activities of others.

Each time we chose a goal, we could adjust the settings so that we would be reminded to perform those activities according to the frequencies of our choosing.

As an avid user of apps, I really liked the LoveNudge setup and looked forward to trying out the different goal ideas over the next couple of months. My husband, who is a bit more skeptical and warier of apps than I am, wasn’t quite as enthusiastic. He brought up some pretty valid criticisms of how the app could be misused by certain couples that are worth sharing.

First, he felt that there is a danger that the gamification of expressing one’s love can cheapen it for both the giver and the recipient. In other words, one could use the app as a means to check off an item on a list rather than as a timely reminder to pour one’s heart out. He demonstrated this by quickly performing my goals within about 15 minutes’ time in one evening and checking them off.

Second, since the Love Tank graph is highly subjective, he felt a spouse could use it as a petty dig at the other spouse. He demonstrated this by setting his to 29 then putting it back to 100 before and after I served him “a delicious lunch” (can you tell my hubby is a jokester?!)

In summary, he didn’t feel that a mature couple should need an app to nurture their relationship. Fair enough, but that argument can be made about any app that is on the market.

Using an app for your relationship is as useful as using an app to help you work out more, track your fertility, cook delicious meals, stay connected to your friends, or save money while grocery shopping (all of which I do with the aid of apps!)

Growing apart from your spouse is easy to do in our very busy modern age. I think LoveNudge.app is a great way of remaining aware of how attentive you are towards your spouse, no matter what stage of your relationship you’re in or how long you’ve been married.

I figured I’d continue to use LoveNudge on my own even if my husband was no longer interested. It really is better with your spouse’s participation, but there’s a lot of value in it even if you’re the only partner in your relationship who is using it.

To my surprise, he actually did continue using LoveNudge, despite the concerns he raised, because he’d promised me that he’d give it a fair shake. I can honestly say that I think he’s enjoying it far more than I am at this point!

I really think the best thing about LoveNudge is the list of goals and reminders within the app. I think they’re a great way to start a conversation about each other’s needs in an easy and non-threatening way. Yes, the app could be misused by an immature couple, but that’s the case with any tool, in my opinion.

I’d love to see LoveNudge integrate challenges in the future or some other more interactive feature to encourage one’s relationship growth.

I understand that the point of the app is for a married couple to focus on each other, which explains the lack of a community aspect to the app. But it would be nice if there were a daily scripture or book excerpt within the app that could be read and discussed whether between the couple or in forums with other couples. I’m not sure how that would work, but it’s something for the publishers to consider!

Overall, LoveNudge has a lot of great potential. I’m glad I’ve had the chance to use it and I will continue to do so for awhile.