It might be challenging to establish and stick to a mindfulness routine, but meditation applications can be helpful. You can maintain a routine by using these accessible and user-friendly mindfulness applications. Mindfulness applications can enhance your daily wellness routine, whether you’re looking for fundamental activities like deep breathing exercises, mindfulness exercises, and relaxing sleep stories, or you want to go all in with guided meditation.
Studies suggest that meditation may be beneficial in lowering stress, anxiety, depression, and sleeplessness. Additionally, there are certain physiological advantages to meditation, including lowered blood pressure and enhanced heart rate variability—a measure of your ability to manage stress. Additionally, research has demonstrated that sleep meditation can help you sleep better and more peacefully. When used in conjunction with healthy lifestyle choices, meditation apps are an effective way to enhance mental well-being. In summary, you can begin your journey towards wellbeing by utilizing one of these meditation applications.
Many people find it challenging to dedicate the necessary time or energy to a mindfulness practice. While classes and guided sessions at meditation studios might be very beneficial for certain individuals, they may not be the best way for many others to begin regular meditation. Numerous methods for finding calm are available through meditation applications, which may be used almost anywhere. Zen could be reached in as little as three minutes if you have the assistance of a decent meditation app. A monthly or annual subscription is available for the majority of apps, and many also offer a free trial. We’ve compiled this list of the top meditation apps to assist you in selecting the ideal one for your requirements.
1. FitMind
Cost: $12 per month, $90 annually, or a one-week free trial.
FitMind, often known as “CrossFit for the Mind,” was created by Liam McClintock when he found that meditation allowed him to stop using his OCD and ADHD medication and therapy. McClintock believes that the next big health revolution will be centered around “mental fitness,” or taking care of and training our minds. If he is correct, it would be a good thing.
With a 30-day mental fitness meditation exercise challenge that includes charts and graphs to help you track your progress toward mindfulness, FitMind assists you in becoming a master meditation practitioner. FitMind is an iOS or Android software for mindful health that includes daily challenges and other standard features for meditation. However, what I really like about FitMind is that it provides clear, scientific explanations for why the meditations are effective. FitMind may (positively) refute your preconceived notions if you’re not a big believer in meditation.
2. Unplug Meditation
Cost: $13 per month, $60 annually, or a one-week free trial.
The Unplug Meditation app, which was created after the immersive Unplug Meditation Studio in Los Angeles became extremely popular, features over 700 mindfulness and meditation videos, ranging from one-minute quick meditations to nearly one-hour guided sessions. Meditations can be filtered based on length, mood, goal, or teacher. With the help of the Unplug app, you can create objectives, keep a gratitude diary, and see the total number of days, hours, minutes, and seconds you’ve spent meditating.
The Unplug app offers guided meditation sessions that are all recorded at the Los Angeles studio, giving you the immersive classroom experience that some other guided meditation apps lack. This software is excellent for those who prefer images over audio in their meditation routines and require a lot of discipline. However, Unplug offers ambient sounds, including nature sounds, and a meditation timer if you would rather meditate alone.
3. Meditation Studio with Muse
Cost: $8 a month, $18 every three months, $50 annually
There are two types of guided meditation: EEG guided meditation and regular meditation. Muse is a sophisticated headband that uses Bluetooth to link to your smartphone and monitors your heart rate, respiration rate, and brainwave activity. Its seven sensors gather information and convert it into visually appealing statistics regarding your mental well-being.
You may study how your body and brain react to different meditation tracks with the Muse headband and app. You can also learn how seemingly insignificant variables, like your posture, can have an impact on the effectiveness of your sessions. In addition, Muse interprets your physiological data—such as heart rate, respiration rate, and brainwave activity—and converts these into relaxing and focused sounds.
In collaboration with the Meditation Studio app, Muse offers activity-based meditation exercises like “falling asleep” and “morning intentions,” along with guided meditation sessions led by knowledgeable meditation teachers. Alexa is also compatible with the meditation studio. The wearable Muse headband is not necessary to enjoy Meditation Studio (you may use them independently), but it does provide a special feature for those who want to squeeze every last bit of value out of their daily sessions.
4. Apollo Neuro
Cost: $349 for the Apollo wearable; the app is free.
Apollo Neuro differs in that it isn’t meant to be used as a meditation app alone and that you shouldn’t use it inactively. Apollo, on the other hand, is a wearable device designed to counteract anxiety and stress symptoms and bring your body back into balance. You get a free app linked to a wearable device that you have to pay for instead of a free trial. This mindfulness-based stress reduction software was created by doctors and neuroscientists at the University of Pittsburgh. It reduces tension by gently vibrating your body through touch, which improves heart rate variability and safety signals.
Apollo is worn on the ankle or wrist. Select the desired result from the app (energy, focus, mindfulness, sleep, relaxation, socializing, or recovery) and set a timer for up to half an hour. Apollo will emit vibrations at frequencies that assist your body in reaching that goal. You can either take a moment to pay attention to the vibrations or carry on with whatever you’re doing.
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5. Calm
Cost: $15 a month, $70 annually, or $400 for a lifetime membership
Unlike some other meditation applications that aim to stimulate deep thought or creativity, the quiet app offers a wide variety of guided meditations that are primarily designed to help users rest (or quiet down).
You can choose how long to meditate for, with sessions ranging from three to twenty-five minutes. Try Daily Calm, the app’s 10-minute meditation session that you may use before or after work if you’re serious about starting a daily meditation routine. Calm has a talent for forming intriguing collaborations with celebrities. Take the recently launched Train Your Mind series, which centers around mental health and features LeBron James.
Calm provides calming background music, breathing techniques, and tale choices for bedtime to aid in a restful night’s sleep. All of it and more are included in the premium subscription, along with Calm Body courses, monthly Calm Masterclasses, and unique music. This can be among the greatest meditation applications for beginners who want to unwind, lower their stress levels, and improve their sleep.
6. Headspace
Cost: $13 a month, $70 for an annual plan, or $100 for a family plan; free trial available.
A list of the “best guided meditation apps” wouldn’t be complete without Headspace, the mindfulness app created by Andy Puddicombe, a former sports scientist who is now a Buddhist monk. Headspace, which began as an events company, is now one of the most well-known and well-liked meditation apps in its category. It provides guided meditations, animations, essays, and videos to help both novices and specialists with their meditation practice.
Compared to most other apps, the free trial alternatives are superior. Headspace’s Basics course, which offers 10 meditation sessions to teach you the basics of meditation and help you establish a mindful rhythm, is free to try out. Additionally, many of the guided meditations on the app are available for free trial.
And if you’re a runner, you should definitely check out Andy Puddicombe’s guided runs on Nike Run Club. These tracks are a great way to meditate if that’s the only time you can fit it in during your run.
7. Simple Habit
Price: $12 monthly or $96 annually.
In May 2019, the World Health Organization officially recognized burnout as a medical illness, proving that it exists. The creators of Simple Habit know you’re busy, so they’ve made it as simple as setting aside five minutes each day for meditation. The meditations on the app are centered around daily stress management. To help with burnout symptoms, the app even provides a playlist with songs on “staying calm with a busy schedule” and “relieving morning anxiety.” For commuters, there is even a guided meditation session.
8. The Breathing App
Price: Nothing.
The Breathing App, as its name suggests, is solely focused on breathing and the physiological advantages of slowing down your breathing. These advantages include improved emotional balance, lower blood pressure, reduced stress and anxiety, and enhanced pulmonary function, all of which are advantageous for general health and sleep patterns.
The Breathing App, created by Eddie Stern and author Deepak Chopra, is easy to use and ideal for people who wish to reap the benefits of mindfulness without going too far into spirituality. The length of practice and breath ratio are the only two program settings that you can change.
9. Declutter the Mind
Cost: $220 for a lifetime subscription to Plus, $8 per month, $80 annually, and free version
A straightforward meditation program called Declutter the Mind focuses on eliminating unneeded, distracting ideas. The majority of people have experienced the sensation of racing through their minds, unable to truly concentrate on one significant idea at a time or one work at hand.
The goal of Declutter the Mind is to teach your brain to stop hopping around and teach you how to bring yourself back to the one subject you should be concentrating on. There are many other subjects you can browse through to find guided meditations on: stress, anxiety, body scans, depression, sleep, relaxation, focus, clarity, and cravings are just a few. Additionally, it’s one of the few choices with a free version.
10. Soundly
Cost: $8 each month, $3 every week, or $60 annually
Following functional fitness, there is now “functional music.” With soundtracks that are more than simply a great song, Soundly promotes relaxation, focus, and sleep. These intentionally composed recordings feature calming narrators, ambient noise, and soundwaves that have been scientifically shown to reduce brain activity.
While the idea of functional music isn’t new, Soundly is the first to apply it to meditation. People have long used music to improve their focus and strength during exercises. The app allows you to find mixes according to function, save your favorite mixes, make playlists with several tracks, adjust the narrator’s speed, and much more.
11. Mindwell
Cost: $50 annually or $10 monthly
Unlike many other meditation apps, which primarily attempt to encourage relaxation, Mindwell integrates spoken words, isochronic tones, and solfeggio frequencies to stimulate creativity and focus.
You can use the meditations provided by Mindwell to help you decompress after encountering stressful or upsetting situations during the day. For instance, if you had a bad client meeting at work, you may utilize a Mindwell meditation, which is intended to help you deal with negative emotions and carry on with your day.
Additionally, the app has a function called MoodShift that lets you track your progress in meditation as well as map your mood over time.
Bonus: Breathe
With in-app purchases, it’s free.
Because it’s even more practical for people who are often on the go than apps for iPhones or Android devices, I included this breathing and meditation app. With the Apple Watch mindfulness app Breathe, you can fit in quick meditations without ever taking out your phone.
By selecting from three settings, either classic, concentrate, or tranquil, you can synchronize your breathing with the onscreen animation. Your watch will not credit you for that session if you answer a call or text or move around excessively while performing the workout.
Breathe is not available in the iTunes store because it is a native software for the Apple Watch Series 4, Series 5, and the most recent Series 9. Android devices are incompatible with Breathe.
How I picked these apps
The applications for breathing exercises, mindfulness, and meditation that have earned some of the highest ratings on Google Play and the App Store are included in our list of the top meditation apps.
Apart from ratings and positive reviews, I searched for Android and iPhone apps that provide a feature set beyond audio meditation when searching for the best meditation app. You can choose from a variety of customisable meditations, wordless background music, stimulating activities, motivational push alerts, and extra podcasts for meditation or relaxation on this list. Certain apps are designed to work in tandem with immersive experiences, like a multi-sensor headband or vibrating anklet that converts body data (such your pulse) into sounds. Although it’s uncommon, some programs also have a free version available.
Finally, almost all of the apps on this list were created by organizations or individuals with strong ties to mindfulness and meditation. These organizations and individuals don’t just jump on the meditation bandwagon to make a few bucks; instead, they tout formal training or developed their app in response to a personal revelation related to mindfulness and meditation.
