10 Best Meditation and Mindfulness Apps to Download
We rarely hear the inward music, but we’re all dancing to it nevertheless- Rumi
In my previous posts on free meditation classes in Sydney, I talked about what is meditation, different types of meditation and why meditation is essential. Many KRIYA blog readers want to know about the best meditation apps so that they can use them to learn or meditate using their smartphones.
These apps can be found at app stores, be it iTunes or Google Play, and you can download them from the link provided according to your device. Many such meditation apps are free to download, and few might cost you a few bucks as subscription services to use their full features.
Also, the best meditation apps are classified according to category. Some might be useful for calming your mind or lowering your anxiety; many are best for sleep or newbies. You can check the app features and select the best meditation app to meet your needs.
- The Mindfulness
- Headspace
- Calm
- Insight Timer
- Ten Percent Happier Meditation
- Stop, Breathe & Think Kids
- Buddhify
- Unplug
- Simple Habit
- Sattva
1. The Mindfulness
With a rating of 4.8 at the app store, the Mindfulness App will help you to become more present in your daily life. Millions of meditators use this app in over 130 countries
Features:
- Start with five days of guided practice and introduction to mindfulness
- Silent meditations from 3 to 30 minutes
- You can customize your meditation with a guided introduction
- Also, keep track of your meditation journey
The app is free to download but offers a premium section with an additional 200+ guided meditations and courses by some of the world’s most influential teachers (available subscription or one-time purchase)
1 One-month subscription costs US$9.99, and 12 12-month subscriptions cost US$59.99 after the free trial.
Click here to download it for iPhone.
Click here to download for Andriod.
2. Headspace
With a rating of 4.9 at app stores, this is the best meditation app for letting go of stress and getting a better night’s rest. Here, you learn to relax with guided meditations and mindfulness techniques that bring calm, wellness, and balance to your life in just a few minutes a day.
Features:
- Hundreds of guided meditations on subjects like focus, exercise, and sleep
- Sleep by Headspace to help you drift off
- Everyday Headspace: daily meditations on a new topic each day
- 2-3 minute “mini-meditations” for a quick mental reset
- “SOS” sessions for moments of panic, anxiety, and stress
The Basics course is completely free and will teach you the fundamental meditation and mindfulness techniques. After that, gain access to the full Headspace meditation library by subscription. Headspace offers two auto-renewing subscription options: US$12.00 per month and US$69.99 per year.
Click here to download it for iPhone.
Click here to download for Andriod.
3. Calm
This app has a rating of 4.8 at app stores and won the 2018 Best Meditation App award. Here, you can find guided meditations for better sleep, lower stress, and less anxiety. You can also get Sleep Stories, breathing programs, stretching exercises, and relaxing music.
Calm is recommended by top psychologists, therapists, and mental health experts. Calm is the perfect mindfulness app for beginners, but it also includes hundreds of programs for intermediate and advanced users. Guided meditation sessions are available in 3, 5, 10, 15, 20 or 25 minutes, so you can choose the perfect length to fit your schedule.
Features:
- 10-minute program added daily to help ease you into the day or unwind before bed
- 7 and 21-day mindfulness programs for both beginner and advanced users
- Life-changing audio classes featuring world-renowned experts
- Mindful stretching and movement to relax your body during the day
- Exclusive music engineered to help you focus, relax or sleep
- Breathing exercises to help you relax
- Use mood check-in to reflect on your feelings daily and receive meditation recommendations based on your moods.
Calm offers a monthly subscription at $14.99/month, a yearly subscription at $69.99/year, and a Lifetime subscription at $399.99.
Click here to download it for iPhone.
Click here to download for Andriod.
4. Insight Timer
With a rating of 4.9 at the app store, this is another award-winning best meditation app. This app offers guided meditations and talks led by the world’s top meditation and mindfulness experts, neuroscientists, psychologists and teachers from Stanford, Harvard, the University of Oxford and more.
There are 80+ new free guided meditations added daily; more meditation is practised on Insight Timer, which is good for both beginners and experienced practitioners.
Features
- Thousands of music tracks and ambient sounds are used to calm the mind, focus, sleep better, and relax.
- Thousands of discussion groups and community features
- Stats and milestones for tracking your progress
- Integration with Apple Health Mindful Minutes
You can choose to have the app free or go for the annual subscription for US$59.99/year or US$9.99/month.
Click here to download it for iPhone.
Click here to download for Andriod.
5. Ten Percent Happier Meditation
With a rating of 4.8, this award-winning app helps you sleep better, be more mindful, improve your relationships, and become about ten per cent happier. It offers guided meditations, videos, talks, and sleep content to boost your meditation practice.
Features:
- Video and meditation combos that make it fun and straightforward to learn to meditate.
- You can find the right meditation for the moment in our library of 500+ guided meditations on topics ranging from anxiety to parenting to focus.
- The sleep section is filled with relaxing meditations that make falling (and staying) easy.
- There are bite-size stories, wisdom, and inspiration that you can listen to while on the go – for those moments when you’re not feeling like meditation but want some mindfulness.
Though free, monthly and yearly subscription membership options allow full access to 500+ videos and guided meditations.
Click here to download it for iPhone.
Click here to download for Andriod.
6. Stop, Breathe & Think Kids
This is a beautiful new meditation app for kids that helps them discover and develop their superpowers in sleep, calmness, breathing, and conflict resolution.
Stop, Breathe & Think Kids is a mindful game app for children ages 5 – 10. Using fun emojis, kids can check into how they feel and try recommended mindful missions and meditations tuned to those emotions. Stickers reward their progress and keep mindful activities engaging.
Features:
- 15 + free mindful activities for every situation
- 30 + premium missions for more meditation and mindful activities
- Mindful sleep stories to ease into bed
Stop, Breathe & Think Kids offers two auto-renewing subscription options: $9.99 per month and $58.99 per year.
Click here to download it for iPhone.
Click here to download for Andriod.
7. Buddhify
This best meditation app has 4.8 ratings at the app store and helps you bring more calm, clarity, and kindness to all parts of your life. Whether you’re looking to reduce stress and anxiety or get a better night’s sleep, buddhify has easy-to-follow guided meditations to help you live happier and healthier.
Features:
- Over 200 meditations to help overcome life’s challenges, including anxiety, stress, sleep, pain and difficult emotions
- You can do mindfulness exercises wherever you are, in categories such as travelling, at work, waking up, eating, and even online.
- Sessions for complete beginners and those with more experience, with lengths from 3-40 minutes
- A range of experienced teachers so you can choose the voice and style that’s right for you
- Buddhify integrates with Apple Health to track your meditation using the Mindful Minutes category within the Health app.
Brand new buddhify Membership available as an optional in-app purchase with a range of additional features for those looking to take their meditation practice further
Click here to download it for iPhone.
Click here to download for Andriod.
8. Unplug
With a rating of 4.9 at the app store offers guided meditation videos led by world-famous teachers. Unplug Meditation is the world’s first drop-in meditation studio, with thousands of people walking through the door every month, packed classes and a class line-up that is simple, modern, interesting and engaging. In this app, you’ll find guided meditation sessions for any situation!
Features:
- Meditation sessions range from 1 to 45 minutes
- Meditation timer & ambient sounds for self-guided sessions
- You can access curated video playlists from meditation teachers or create your own
- Browse through a range of categories with meditations for every situation. Whether you need better sleep, less stress and anxiety, a quick break at work, or meditation for kids, Unplug has it!
The app is free with subscription pricing $59.99 a year with a 7-day free trial, and Pay $7.99 a month with a 7-day free trial, renewing monthly.
Click here to download it for iPhone.
9. Simple Habit
This app also ranked 4.8 ratings at the app store and helps you breathe easy and relax with guided meditation chosen for your life and situation. Meditate for just 5 minutes daily to reduce stress, improve focus, sleep better, relax faster, breathe easier, and more. Work through daily struggles with guided meditation sessions for any situation.
Features:
- New meditation guides by the world’s best teachers, from mindfulness experts at Google to former monks
- Track your progress with Mindful Minutes.
- Meditate with Simple Habit’s On-the-Go feature to quickly calm your nerves and/or anxiety and achieve mindfulness.
Access meditations offline with the Premium subscription so you can meditate anytime. Monthly: $11.99/month and Yearly: $7.99/month, one payment of $95.99 billed every 12 months
Click here to download it for iPhone.
Click here to download for Andriod.
10. Sattva
With a rating of 4.8 at the app store, this app now offers a Meditative Wisdom collection – soothing, calming and meditative music tracks overlayed with topic-based wisdom delivered by Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.
You will find deeply profound meditations, drawing from Vedic principles that millions of people have benefitted from for thousands of years. The meditations, sacred sounds, and music on Sattva are delivered by Sanskrit scholars who have mastered the subtle inner workings of the mind.
Features:
- Find deep meditations starting from just six minutes, and you can set goals and reminders to build up your practice.
- For seasoned meditators, there are 100+ Guided Meditations, Sacred Sounds (chant and mantras) and Music tracks to meditate to, or you can set yourself challenges, gain milestone trophies and track your meditation journey via in-depth stats.
- Sattva offers curated collections and playlists to eliminate the confusion about what to meditate on. You can close your eyes and meditate according to mood, feeling, or time of day.
- Join Meditation Community – interact, communicate, motivate, and meditate together.
Sattva offers two subscription options: $12.99 per month and $49.99 per year (approx $4.17 per month)
Click here to download it for iPhone.
Click here to download for Andriod.
Besides these, good meditation apps like Breethe, Omvana, Meditation & Relaxation Pro, Simply Being, and others exist.
Remember, many apps are freemium; they have free basic meditation classes and require a subscription service to load all the app’s features. If you go for the premium features, the subscription will automatically renew unless turned off in your iTunes Account Settings or Google Play settings at least 24 hours before the current period ends. You can go to your store Account settings to manage your subscription and turn off auto-renew.
Your store account will be charged when the purchase is confirmed. If you subscribe before your free trial ends, the rest of your free trial period will be forfeited as soon as your purchase is confirmed.
Did you experience anything doing spiritual meditation? Stay tuned to hear and read the wonderful stories of meditation.