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Getty Images / fizkes
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Headspace offers a little bit of everything and high quality content. Read More
This app's sleep-specific content, white-noise and sound-machine features are impressive. Read More
Calm has a large and versatile library of content, along with a broad range of voices. Read More
It's easy to use and navigate, but requires users to create an account in order to access content, even on the free version of the app. Read More
Watch out for an onslaught of marketing emails from this company. Users must register to gain access to content. Read More
It may seem like everyone is ohming and ahhing about meditation these days. In recent years, the practice has grown in popularity as a tool for people to relax and destress. Moreover, smartphones and their apps have made guided meditation sessions widely accessible, and ready on demand. But there are so many meditation apps out there, it can be overwhelming to pick the best one for you. Sure, they all offer guided sessions, but what makes one better than another?
Breathe easy: We tested eight of the most popular meditation apps, and looked at their library size, how effective meditations were, and the overall user experience. In our testing, Headspace came out on top, because of its user-friendly interface and variety of quality, guided sessions that are good for anyone who wants to develop, and stick with, a meditation habit.
I’m Lindsey Vickers, the senior staff writer covering sleep here at Reviewed. Like most people, I’m a seasoned sleeper. Getting a good night’s rest, whatever it takes, has always been a priority for me. I also tend to be on the stressier side, so using apps to explore mindfulness exercises and meditation practice was an exciting endeavor to change my mindset and improve my outlook. I’m not one of those people who can meditate without guidance, as my mind starts bouncing all over the place, or I’ll just quit early (likely because my brain came upon something else I need, or want, to do slightly more than meditation). Using guided sessions was the only way I could break into meditating, and as a newbie to the practice, I was able to experience the apps as a true beginner.
Meditation apps are tricky to test, because they’re so subjective and based on personal experience and mental health. Moreover, certain people are likely looking for different functions. There is no “one size fits all” in the meditation world.
That said, I worked with Reviewed’s scientist, Julia MacDougall, to develop questions and assessments that consider the app’s user friendliness, versatility, library of sessions, and, of course, the effectiveness of the meditation sessions. The testing was broken into three stages.
For the first round of tests, I used the free versions of each app. I tried various meditation sessions, types, and lengths, when possible. I also used apps’ sleep specific content (including sleep stories and sleep meditations), if available, and left them running overnight to see if any took a significant toll on my phone’s battery. I looked at how much information the apps provided on why users were doing certain things throughout their meditation sessions. And, of course, I considered how effective the content was overall. A final and key consideration was whether I, as a normal user, would be motivated to continue using the app.
In the second round of testing, I tried the paid version of every app. With full access, I tried additional meditations, guided sleep sessions, and used sleep stories or sleep meditations from different apps on a nightly basis. In this round, I considered additional questions, like whether the apps allowed for customization of meditation sessions in terms of the speaker voice, and length, and the content available behind the paywall.
In the final round, I assessed my overall experience with the apps. With every subscription comes a cancellation, so I went through that process for each app and considered how easy or difficult it was. I also finalized my overall impressions of the paid to unpaid versions, taking into account the breadth of content, any glitches I experienced, and my experience overall.
Fortunately, I liked most of the apps I tried, just for different reasons, and I can see how certain users could benefit from each one. Some apps offer versatility, while others are really inexpensive (or completely free). Even our lowest scoring app has noteworthy merits.
People meditate for a variety of reasons: to reduce stress, cope with events in their life or the world, wind down for sleep—the list goes on. If you’re new to the practice and want to reap the full benefits, it’s best to meditate on a daily basis. The duration of a single meditation session doesn’t matter so much, it’s fine even if you can only briefly meditate once a day, says Dr. Bassam Khoury, an assistant professor in educational counseling and psychology at McGill University and director of the university’s Mindfulness Research Lab. What’s most important is that you actually do it.
Building meditation into your daily schedule by doing it at the same time everyday is a good way to keep yourself on track and practicing regularly, he says. Any meditation is better than none, but people who meditate regularly will see the greatest benefit.
While most of the apps we reviewed primarily use meditation sessions based on breath, there are also other ways to meditate. You can meditate by keeping your focus on a single, external object, like a photo, Khoury says. For people with anxiety, especially those who feel chest tightness or have difficulty breathing when they’re stressed, shifting meditation away from the breath may be a good option.
Some types of meditation include the practice of “body scanning,” in which you direct your focus to your muscles and sensations you’re experiencing, or to feeling the weight of your body in space. While this is relaxing for some, these kinds of sessions have the potential to be triggering for people with eating disorders, or those who are in recovery, says Jennifer Rollin, a therapist who specializes in working with adolescents and adults with eating disorders, and founder of the Eating Disorder Center in Rockville, Maryland. In that case, breath-focused or object-focused meditation exercises might be a better choice.
Meditating can also be difficult for people who have experienced trauma, she says. For this group she recommends, “being aware of specific triggers and whether meditation, closing your eyes, and going inward feels safe to you.”
This all goes to say: Meditation is a personal experience, and choosing the right app and types of sessions for you will come down to a variety of factors, from personal preference to experience level. Fortunately, all but one of the apps we tested have a free trial period, so you can try them on for size before committing.
Pleasant background sounds
Lots of narrators
Reasonably priced
Glitchy at times
Less consistently effective sessions
Easy to use
Sessions by different speakers
Less polished interface
Expensive
Limited free content
Beginner friendly
Too many emails
Expensive
Hit and miss effectiveness
Large library
Affordable
No daily meditation
Serious limitations in free version
Explains theory
Easy interface
Expensive
No free trial
Less versatile sessions
Lindsey writes about sleep, lifestyle, and more for Reviewed. In her waking hours, she likes to spend time outside, read, cook, and bake. She holds a master’s in journalism from Boston University and bachelors' degrees in English Literature and Anthropology from the University of Utah.
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