Our everyday world can be incredibly overwhelming, with constant obligations pulling us in all directions. Whenever we have a spare moment, it seems that we immediately fill it with something to keep our minds busy. Often, we are left completely exhausted, frazzled, and stressed because of our hectic environments.
Perhaps we yearn for a break or escape of some sort, if not simply from our own thoughts and feelings. Thousands of years of meditation masters and spiritual guides have attested that the resolve is to turn inward, listen to our own thoughts and carefully organize them within our minds and hearts. This practice, known as meditation, is learned as a skill over time; thankfully, it has become even easier to engage in meditation these days with designated apps available right on our phones and other devices.
These apps are filled with guided tracks detailing how to meditate, how to progress in meditation, or simply how to overcome stressful and anxiety-inducing circumstances. With meditation apps, the power to become present and peaceful is right at our fingertips.
Benefits of Meditation Apps
The benefits of a meditation app can be extremely powerful, making a momentous impact upon our daily lives. The most remarkable advantages include:
- Minimizing concerns, worries, and stressors
- Managing mental health issues such as anxiety or depression
- Altering negative moods and perspectives
- Improving mental clarity and focus
- Boosting productivity and creativity
- Easing tension or stress in tough circumstances
- Increasing self-awareness or self-knowledge
- Becoming more grateful and happy
- Improving sleep quality and ability to relax or rest
- Enhancing overall physical and mental health
Certainly, all these benefits sound amazing. Let us take a look at the Top 7 Meditation Apps that can help you achieve some or all of these improvements; you will soon be well on your way in your meditation journey.
Best Meditation Apps
Calm
- Membership Price: $70 per year
- Special Features: Sleep Stories from Celebrities, Kid Friendly, Free 7 Day Trial
Calm is a constantly-growing meditation app which is dedicated to providing hundreds of short, calming exercises that have a loose and relaxed structure. Meditation should evoke a feeling of freedom and peace; these guides accurately interpret that message, feeling like a breath of fresh air.
Additionally, the app can cater to any individual. It offers many different categories depending on what you are looking to receive clarity on; for instance, you can choose Stress or Relationships. After choosing a category, you can then select either a guided or unguided meditation.
If you are more skilled at the art of meditation, you may wish to listen to peaceful musical tracks or nature sounds. They even have unique tracks such as sleep stories narrated by familiar, soothing voices like Bob Ross or Idris Elba. Furthermore, they have an easy-to-use interface suitable for any age and every ability level. On that note, it also has a kids-friendly portal; it is definitely an app that can accommodate the whole family.
Insight Timer
- Membership Price: Free / $60 per year for Premium
- Special Features: Large free library, Live events, Free 7 Day Trial
Insight Timer has an enormous library of free meditations and yoga exercises, offering over 45,000 different tracks. Unlike some other platforms, this app has some live talks that you can sign up for; if you are an individual who likes the atmosphere of a yoga studio or classroom aesthetic, this may be right up your alley.
Furthermore, true to its name, Insight Timer offers a timer for self-guided meditations; this is ideal for individuals who are looking to advance their skills in meditation or who love to go at their own pace.
Ultimately, we would recommend this app to those who already have a good handle on the basics of meditation practices. It can be quite an overwhelming experience as a beginner.
Headspace
- Membership Price: $70 per year
- Special Features: Levels of Meditation, Free 14 Day Trial
Headspace is an excellent meditation app for those who are just starting out on their meditation journey, seeking easy-to-follow guides and looking to improve their skills over time.
If this sounds like you, this may be the perfect app; you can choose exercises based on levels, and follow along with increasing difficulties or complexities. Furthermore, this app is very pleasing by way of design. Likewise, it is not overwhelming because it contains a small collection of tracks.
Ten Percent Happier Meditation
- Membership Price: $100 per year
- Special Features: Free Beginner Guides, Free 7 Day Trial
Ten Percent Happier Meditation is an optimal platform for any beginner who needs help understanding how to begin meditating or practicing mindfulness. The free version of this app, including the free trial period, gives access to how-to guides such that you can see if you like the style of the app and the feeling of meditating in general. Additionally, it is excellent for individuals who do not feel like they have enough time or energy to dedicate to meditation.
The meditations are short, designed to fit into any spare time you may have, even if it is when you are commuting to work or standing in a grocery line!
Buddhify
- Membership Price: $30 per year + app download cost ($5 from Apple and $3 from Google Play Store)
- Special Features: Personalized Meditation Wheel, Targeted Mental Health Features
Buddhify is a popular meditation app, perfect for those looking for a personalized experience. You can custom-design your own Wheel of Meditation; this is a wheel of exercises or guides that fit with your daily life, particularly excellent for those who have predictable emotions in certain scenarios.
For instance, if you know that you often begin to feel overwhelmed or anxious while walking to a friend’s house, you can have tracks that help you calm down and de-stress ready for those times. In this way, the app directly targets mental health features and you can reap the benefits almost immediately. Furthermore, this platform offers one of the more affordable memberships available.
Unplug
- Membership Price: $60 per year
- Special Features: Meditation Progress Tracker, Free 7 Day Trial
Unplug is the best meditation app for those who are always on-the-go; they have very short meditation tracks, with key focus on their 10 minute transformation tracks.
When practiced regularly, even short meditations can create positive impacts on our lives. Furthermore, if you have a productive or achievement-based mindset, this app provides a progress tracker that can help you to stay motivated, and daily reminders to keep you on your journey.
Simple Habit
- Membership Price: $90 USD per year
- Special Features: Personalized Questions, 5 Minute Meditations
Simple Habit is a versatile meditation platform that can fit into anyone’s lifestyle, even if you are extraordinarily busy; additionally, if you have any difficulties keeping promises to yourself, this is the ideal meditation app for you.
Many of their exercises are only 5 minutes long, and the app can easily be accessed even when you are offline. Further, it has a progress tracker to keep you focused and on task. An additional unique feature is specialized tracks for specific difficulties and situations; when you open the app, it asks you personal questions in order to suggest relevant exercises.
How do meditation apps work?
Meditation platforms offer guided or unguided lectures, teachings, and sessions that can help you understand how to organize your thoughts and feelings. While some apps offer a general database of tracks, others provide focuses for sessions that can help you tackle specific issues. Over time, you will master the basics of mediation and be able to pursue self-guided meditations, with the help of timers and calming music or sounds. Some meditation apps have further helpful features such as reminders, progress trackers, and personalized content. We believe the app you choose should cater to you and your personality; for instance, if you are goal-oriented, you may enjoy receiving updates about your progress or using an app that allows you to level-up.
What are the advantages of using a meditation app?
Meditation apps can be incredibly helpful for individuals looking to be more mindful and present in their everyday life. The benefits can be as simple as seeing small perspective changes, to serious impacts such as drastic anxiety relief. Ultimately, it all depends on how often you practice meditation and what you are open to achieving. Even if you start off knowing absolutely nothing about meditation, you can feel better in as little as one to two sessions.
Certainly, a major advantage of using an online meditation platform is the accessibility factor. In the past, individuals had to either attempt to learn to meditate on their own or find a meditation master to guide them on their journey. Meditation apps are easy to download and install, and simple to use regularly. It gives anyone the opportunity to master the art.
Are meditation apps worth the price?
We absolutely believe these meditation apps are worth every penny. As the saying goes, it is a small price to pay for peace of mind.
That said, there are a specific few on our top 7 list that appear reasonable for any budget; additionally, many of the apps listed have a free basic version available for anyone. In any case, the value that you receive from regular practices of meditation will be immeasurable in the long term.
