In many countries, including India, mental health remains a taboo subject. It’s silly to see how our ancestors were very focused on the psychological aspects of our lives through yoga and meditation. While we give special care to people with physical illnesses, mental issues are stigmatized. I don’t know what we need as a society to recognize that it’s a problem, but what I’m trying to convey is that there’s nothing wrong with talking about it. If anyone in your life is making fun of you, you’d better remove those people from your life. You should talk to and seek professional help as early as possible.
That said, I know that talking and asking for help isn’t as easy as it sounds. And I am not a medical professional who can advise you on this issue. But I know that meditation can help you think things through, at least until you’re ready to seek professional help. In an article published in Psychology Today, they write that mindfulness meditation can help you with psychological issues such as anxiety and depression. I urge you to read that article. What are the best meditation software? For my part, in this article, I have listed the best mediation apps that you can use on both Android and iOS devices.
A collection of the best meditation apps for Android and iPhone
I’ve been meditating on and off for years. Although it has helped me, I have experienced firsthand that it is not easy to form a habit. I fell out of the carriage many times. I only started again after the pandemic hit, and I’ve been locked up in the house. So the most I can ask you is to try these apps and see if they can help you.
Meditation is for everyone. Whether you’re a student, a productivity genius, a professional, or anyone else, it’s going to be good for you. Meditation can help you sleep better, focus on your work, clear your mind, and live in the moment. So, whoever is reading this, whether you use these apps or not, I urge you to try meditation. With that said, let’s take a look at the app itself.
Headspace
Best Meditation App Recommendation: I have tried a lot of meditation apps and techniques, and I feel that guided meditation is the best for me. In guided meditation, instead of listening to soothing music, you are guided through the steps through your voice. Headspace is one such app that offers guided meditation. I love that this app allows me to get started in just a few minutes a day and then gets me into longer mediation sessions.
Headspace was co-founded by Andy Puddicombe, who studied meditation for many years in a monastery in the Himalayas. You can hear him talking on YouTube. This will give you a better understanding of his story and teaching philosophy. His voice is soothing and helps you meditate.
Meditation on the surface sounds like a heavy subject, and Headspace’s simple explanation makes you no longer expect:
“Meditation is not about becoming a different person, a new person, or even a better person. It’s about awareness training and getting a healthy perspective. You’re not trying to turn off your thoughts or feelings. You are learning to observe them without judgment. ”
You can get the first two weeks for free and then subscribe. They also offer a 1-year free plan for anyone who has lost their job in the current pandemic. I found this app really helpful. This is one of the best meditation apps and a great place to start your journey.
Price: Free trial, $12.99/month, $69.99/year
Links: Website, iOS App, Android App
Calm
Android & iPhone Meditation Software Download: Calm is a popular meditation app for people who want to reduce stress and anxiety, improve sleep, and increase overall inner well-being. The app comes with calming exercises and breathing techniques that can help you relax. When you launch the app, first you will get a simple meditation explanation that explains the basics. I found this to be very helpful for beginners.
I love that Calm offers different mediation courses for different goals. It will suggest different courses depending on what you want to achieve. You can choose between guided meditation and meditation based on calming music. The app also features guided meditations from celebrities like Matthew McConaughey, LeBron James, and more.
I don’t care about celebrity voices, but if it’s an incentive to keep someone meditating, I’m all for it. Calm is popular, with thousands of users reporting great results. It has high ratings on both the Play Store and the App Store, remember that these reviews are from paid users because it only offers a free trial. If Headspace doesn’t make sense to you, you should give it a try.
Price: 7-day free trial, $12.99/month, $69.99/year
Links: Website, iOS App, Android App
Insight Timer
Meditation doesn’t have to be for people who are capable. It should be suitable for everyone. If you can’t afford to use Headspace or Calm, you should try Insight Timer. The app provides you with over 45,000 free libraries of free guided meditations.
Like Calm and Headspace, it begins with a 7-day course that helps you understand the concept of meditation. After completing the course, you can create your own meditation module. You can choose how long you want to meditate each day. The free library includes guided meditations for everything from meditation experts to monks to sadus to popular actors and actresses.
Insight Timer also offers paid plans to support its free users. If you can afford it, you can pay $60 per year for an advanced meditation course. The money is split between the app and the course creator, so you support your teacher as well. There’s also a generous 30-day trial that you can use to check it out.
The only thing I don’t like about the app is the constant reminders of the upgrade schedule. As you can see above, it appears on every homepage. This is the opposite of keeping you stress-free in spirit. If you can ignore this, you should give it a try.
Price: Free, $60/year
Links: Website, iOS App, Android App
Serenity
Collection of Best Meditation Apps: Serenity is a meditation app that uses a minimalist design language, and I love its approach. Even the app’s user interface is calming. Like other apps, it offers guided meditation sessions. You’ll learn a variety of meditation and mindfulness techniques designed to bring a sense of calm, calm, and well-being to your life.
The fundamentals are taught in a free 7-day course. You don’t need to subscribe to a free trial to access it. You don’t need to create an account to download the app and use the free materials. There are guided meditation sessions for sleep, stress relief, mindfulness, daily meditation, self-awareness, and more.
I also like that it offers several pricing plans. You can get a monthly subscription for $6.99 or unlock level-based courses by purchasing them. My favorite plan is a one-time purchase of $74.99, which unlocks everything and every future update. While it’s cheaper, be aware that the amount of content is lower than what you’ll find on sites like Headspace and Calm.
If you want celebrity-guided meditations or thousands of hours of meditation content, this is not for you. On the other hand, this is great for those who are feeling overwhelmed by the amount of content on other apps and want a simplified and effective one-time payment.
Price: Free, $6.99/month, $19.99/6 months, $74.99/permanent
Links: Website, iOS App, Android App
Aura
Best Meditation App Recommendation: Aura is a mindfulness meditation app designed for people who are in a hurry. You can start a meditation session with tracks as small as 3 minutes. One of the great features of Aura is that you can choose to meditate based on how you’re feeling at the moment. It suggests different meditation routines based on your current mental state.
Choose whether you’re sad, stressed, okay, or feeling good, and it will suggest you meditate. You can get guided meditations, listen to stories, or even just relax and listen to the environment and nature sounds. There’s also a catalog for relaxation music, life coaching advice, and more.
The app helps you reduce stress and anxiety, improve focus, and improve sleep through daily mindfulness meditation. It will also send you personalized recommendations at a fixed time each day so you don’t forget to meditate. I also like that you don’t need to create an account to use the free version.
The meditation sessions on this app are made by top life coaches and therapists. The free version offers a rich selection of content. If you want more, you can get the paid version for $4.99.
Price: Free, $4.99/month, $59.99/year
Links: Website, iOS App, Android App
Meditation Studio
Android & iPhone Meditation Software Download: Meditation Studio is another great guided mindfulness meditation app for iOS and Android devices. With this app, you have access to more than 500 different teachers and styles of guided meditation. There are also different series for different life improvements.
Whether you want a healthy attitude, become more grateful and generous, sleep better, reduce anxiety and stress, or be kind and curious, you can find the same mediation sessions here. I like to take the foundation course. They do a great job on the path of getting you started meditating. One thing I like about this app is that it allows me to subscribe to teachers.
You can follow the teachers who have had the most influence on your mediation habits. You can also sort courses by instructor, duration, type, favorites, and more. Other features include the ability to create playlists, conduct unguided meditations, and more. The app offers a great user interface and I love its minimalist approach. The free version has a ton of content to choose from.
Note that the Android version of the app is still in the old version. This means that you need to pay $3.99 to purchase the app. The downside is that you don’t get new content and new features (such as playlists). You can get everything on Android for free, and more on iOS. If you want new monthly content and pro features, you’ll need a paid subscription.
Price: Android $3.99 – Free, $7.99/month, $49.99/year iOS
Links: Website, iOS App, Android App
Inscape
What are the best meditation software? Inscape is a real mediation studio in New York City. According to their website, “The studio incorporates ancient techniques that span time and culture into meditations that are accessible and relevant to everyone”. Well, the studio realized that not everyone could afford to visit the studio in person, so they created an intermediary app.
The app takes old-fashioned meditation techniques and combines them with modern discovery and research to give you the best mediation experience. Guided meditation can help you reduce stress, anxiety, depression, aggression, and more. Like other apps, it also focuses on improving the quality of your sleep.
Guided meditation is suitable for everyone, including beginners, intermediate, and advanced meditators. You can start with a 5-minute meditation and aim for a longer duration (up to 85 minutes) as you progress. There are also habit-forming exercises that can help you stay active in your mediation life.
I love that it automatically shows different meditation sessions depending on the time of day. For example, if you turn it on at night, it will show you meditation sessions for better sleep. In terms of pricing, the monthly subscription price is a bit high, but the annual plan is in line with the rest of the apps.
Price: Free, $9.99 per month, $58.99 per year on iOS
Links: Website, iOS App, Android App
Buddhify
Collection of Best Meditation Apps: If you can’t find even five minutes of quiet time, then you should try Buddhify. Buddhify is an app that lets you meditate on the go. Whether you’re traveling, waiting in line at Starbucks, or waiting for food at a restaurant.
Buddhify focuses on mobile or mobile meditation that can be done no matter where you are and whatever you’re doing. The good thing about Buddhify is that it’s a family-owned business. So you won’t be upsold all the time. There is pre-pricing, and you can unlock all mediation courses. If you want more and need more interesting features, there’s an annual membership, but that’s completely optional.
The annual membership costs half as much as other apps. So, yes, the app is reasonably priced and has good courses. It has good reviews on both the App Store and Play Store, and many users recommend it. If you don’t want to pay for a subscription and like the concept of mobile meditation, you should give it a try.
Price: $2.99 for Android, $4.99 for iOS, and $30 per year for membership
Links: Website, iOS App, Android App
Sattva
Android & iPhone Meditation Software Download: Sattva is another great meditation app. It brings features like guided meditations, ancient chants, Vedic mantras, meditation timers, time trackers, and more. If you want a traditional mediation experience, this is the app for you. You can even learn to mediate mudras (hand positions or gestures that facilitate the flow of energy).
I love the time tracking feature in this app. It shows your mediation journey in a rich calendar view. Seeing your progress is a great way to keep your winning streak going. There is also a community of meditators. You can join groups, follow their playlists, and even invite your friends and take them on this journey.
You can find courses to reduce stress, increase focus, energy, and clarity, manage emotions, and even address higher-level issues like your purpose in life. I don’t know how much this helped the last one because it’s an esoteric subject, but I can tell you that mediation sessions are good.
Pricing is where this app gets a little shaken. There is no free version, and the subscription cost is high if you pay monthly. You can buy a lifetime pass for $399, but I don’t think a lot of people can afford it. Thankfully, they offer significant discounts on their website from time to time, and you can get them for as little as $108. If you want to go back to the ancient roots of meditation, you should give it a try.
Price: 3-day free trial, $12.99/month, $49.99/year, $399.99/lifetime
Links: Website, iOS App, Android App
Mindfulness apps
Best Meditation App Recommendation: The final app we have selected for this list is the mindfulness app. It brings professional guided meditation, offering a variety of courses for all kinds of meditators – from beginners to professionals.
You’ll enjoy a 5-day guided meditation session that introduces you to meditation. Lessons can be as small as 3 minutes, so anyone can start with it. If guided meditation is not a fan, you can opt for silent meditation. The library is filled with quality meditation courses taught by professionals.
Whether you want to relax, calm your mind, improve your concentration, or sleep better, this app can help you achieve these goals. One feature I like about this app is the ability to add background ambient sounds to guided meditations. You can add sounds from forests, rivers, beaches, etc.
The app is well-built and offers a good user interface. You can connect it to Google fit to aggregate your health data and set friendly reminders to remind you to meditate. The free tier offers a wealth of content. If you want more, you can purchase a subscription with a 31-day free trial.
Price: Free, $9.99/month, $54.99/year
Links: Website, iOS App, Android App
Live a better life with these mindfulness meditation apps
This concludes our article on the best meditation apps for Android and iPhone. I use Headspace and recommend it to everyone. That said, all of the apps on this list offer a great selection of mediation courses. They are all great at getting you started on your mediation journey and getting you on track.
If you feel stressed out of your life and don’t have enough focus or energy to do what needs to be done, you should try meditation. No matter which app you use, this simple exercise can help you a lot. I know it helps me, even when I do it intermittently. So, try this.
