During your busy days, it’s advisable to take a break from work to spend some quality time with yourself. Especially, in recent times, when we are getting things done from home due to the Coronavirus outbreak or any other emergency. Among all the home chaos and kitchen noise, it’s essential to keep the mind stress-free and bring-in positive energy with meditation and yoga.
So, how can we achieve that with a closed environment? The answer is simple. Use mobile apps. Both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store are filled with meditation apps that help to calm you down.
We have hand-picked top five meditation apps for both iOS and Android. We will list out meditation-oriented apps as well as software solutions with more functions like weight loss tips, podcasts, and more. Let’s get started.
1. Calm
Calm is the best-looking meditation app out there. Upon sign up, the app takes you to the beautiful home page with nature sounds and background.
As you swipe down, it showcases different sessions categories by mental fitness, sleep stories, meditations, and calm music. Calm offers one the richest meditation and sleep library out there. The sleep menu is divided neatly by different categories, such as kids, nature, non-fiction, maps, and more.
The meditation tab is also categorized in different menus. You can choose from the sections like stress, self-care, inner peace, focus, emotions, and more.
Calm has collaborated with world-renowned experts for the life-changing masterclass. You can find them in the settings menu.
The other features include nature music add-on, Apple Health integration to export mindful minutes data, the ability to customize home page with beautiful wallpapers, Siri Shortcuts support, and more.
My favorite from the bunch is breathing exercises. I use it all the time. Just long tap on the app icon, select breath, set the timer, and start breathing.
Calm is free to download, but the majority of functions come under premium subscription, which costs $70 per year.
2. Headspace
Headspace is the combination of thoughtful UI with the right elements in the right place. New users might find the home page confusing though. There is too much going on it.
The sleep tab changes to a purple theme, and I liked that. You can choose from the ready-to-go sleeping sessions with relaxing music. One can select sleep radio (a mixture of 8-hour sleep audio), soundscape (3D recording from the world’s beautiful places), wind downs, and more.
Headspace has integrated built-in exercise with video tutorials. You can perform quick workouts, cardio, and stress release exercise.
The explore tab is nicely categorized. Headspace did a good job in assorting activities sessions in life challenges, sports, studies, performance mindset, work, personal growth, and more. There is something for everyone.
The list of functions includes Siri Shortcuts support, detailed stats of session, Apple Health integration, social sharing, and more.
Unfortunately, it misses out on iOS widgets and 3D Touch menu on the app icon. Headspace is free to download, but the majority of functions are locked under the premium tag. Pay $100 per year to unlock them (Price varies by region).
3. Simple Habit
Simple habit brings in a calm and relaxed UI over the radical and fancy ones by Calm and Headspace.
The home page is tailored towards the user’s activity, followed sessions in the app. For beginners, it gives you the starter pack and makes you aware of mindfulness, body activities, wandering mind, and more.
The meditate section is fabulous. Unlike dozens of categories, it gives a brief idea about the session from the title. You can browse through sessions of focus, build relationships, Coronavirus anxiety, get help from experts, about family, love, and more.
My favorite function is the drive mode. You can listen to relaxing sound, well-known interviews for building habits, motivational talks, life-coaching sessions, and more. It’s useful for those driving long routes alone.
I like how Simple habit showcases comments from community members. Reading them helps to boost morale in difficult situations. The app supports Apple health integration, dedicated stats, sleeping sessions, and more.
Simple Habit is free for a few sessions. After that, it costs $100 per year.
4. Castbox
If you are not sure about your meditation journey and only want to test the waters without being charged a bomb, then start using the Castbox app.
As the name suggests, the app is primary a podcast app with Zen mode add-on. You won’t have those rich sessions, workouts, and interviews by experts. Instead, it focuses on different backgrounds and a combination of nature sounds.
Go to the library, open Zen mode, which is designed for meditating, focussing, and sleeping better. You can choose from different bundles that change background and sounds. Tap on the filter button below and customize it from the variety of nature sounds.
Apart from that, Castbox offers excellent podcast functionalities with social integration, personalized suggestions, creator tools, and more. The app earned its place in our top podcast apps list.
Castbox is free to use. The premium functions in the podcast category cost $20 per year. However, the Zen mode reminds completely free to use.
5. Oak
If you are tired of costly subscription-based meditation apps, the Oak is a worthy look for its simplicity and affordable price tag.
The home page features the sessions for meditating, breathe, and sleep. Unlike other apps, it won’t throw hundreds of sessions to the user. Instead, the app urges users to try out small sessions, and only after the completion of a milestone, it unlocks the next one from the Settings.
You can also opt for more comprehensive meditation courses. I like how Oak showcases live stats from the community as well as your growth from the settings menu.
The app offers Apple Health integration to move the data. However, it’s short on features like iOS widget, 3D Touch menu, and Siri Shortcuts.
Sit Back and Relax
Each on this list app has uniquely capable. Calm is eye-pleasing, Headspace has an excellent workout integration and driving mode. Simple Habit has nailed the driving mode. Castbox and Oak make perfect sense for the beginners. Now, it’s up to you to try them out and pick the best one that suits your routine.
Next up: Getting confused between Headspace and Calm? Read the dedicated comparison between the two from the post below.
Last updated on 03 February, 2022
The above article may contain affiliate links which help support Guiding Tech. However, it does not affect our editorial integrity. The content remains unbiased and authentic.
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