So, you’re curious about all this meditation stuff, but you aren’t quite ready to commit to taking a course that lasts several weeks and a book just doesn’t feel practical. Or maybe you’re already convinced and want to start a practice right away, but you’re not confident you can do it without guidance. Meditation apps are convenient and practical, with a wide variety of guided meditations, and can be a great way to get started, or even to just explore new styles of meditation.
Here we offer a selection of high-quality apps that are completely free (no in-app purchases!), plus two more with paid options that are still worth considering. We’ve also added a handful of free minimalistic timers, method-specific apps, and apps for study. If you don’t find what you’re looking for, join our online Discord community and ask other meditators which apps they recommend.
Full-Featured Meditation Apps
Special Mention: Fab Apps, Free Options
Special Mention: Paid… But Worth It
Minimalistic Timers
Gamified Timers
Method-Specific Apps
Buddhist Sutta/Sutra Study
General Mindfulness/Wellbeing
Previous
Next
Smiling Mind App
Smiling Mind is a FREE mindfulness meditation app developed by psychologists and educators to help bring balance to your life. Just as we eat well and stay fit to keep our body healthy, mindfulness meditation is about mental health and looking after the mind.Our programs are designed to assist people in dealing with the pressure, stress, and challenges of daily life. Listen to meditations as guided by smooth and calming voices. Smiling Mind includes a number of meditations in Indigenous Australian languages (Kriol, Ngaanyatjarra & Pitjantjatjara). We offer programs for all ages including Kids (3-12), Youth (13-18) and Adults (19+).
Previous
Next
UCLA Mindful App
With this easy-to-use app, you can practice mindfulness meditation anywhere, anytime with the guidance of the UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center. Scientific research shows mindfulness can help manage stress-related physical conditions, reduce anxiety and depression, cultivate positive emotions, and help improve overall physical health and well-being.This app offers: (1) Basic Meditations for getting started, in both English and Spanish; (2) Wellness Meditations for people suffering from challenging health conditions; (3) Informative videos exploring how to get started, supportive meditation postures, and the science of mindfulness; (4) Weekly podcasts from UCLA's Hammer Museum--a 30 minute meditation on different themes you can search for and bookmark; and (5) A timer to meditate on your own.
Previous
Next
Healthy Minds Program App
Backed by four decades of research from world-renowned neuroscientist Dr. Richard Davidson and his team at the Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin - Madison & Healthy Minds Innovations, the Healthy Minds Program trains your mind through meditation and podcast-style lessons to develop skills - to gain focus, reduce stress, and maintain positive social connections.The ground-breaking Healthy Minds Program App uses neuroscience, contemplative traditions, and skill-based learning methods to help you develop the skills for a healthy mind.
Previous
Next
VA Mindfulness Coach
Mindfulness Coach 2.0 was developed to help Veterans, Service members, and others learn how to practice mindfulness. The app provides a gradual, self-guided training program designed to help you understand and adopt a simple mindfulness practice. Mindfulness Coach also offers a library of information about mindfulness (for example “What is Mindfulness?”, “How to Anchor Your Attention”), 12 audio-guided mindfulness exercises and a growing catalog of additional exercises available for free download, goal-setting and tracking, a mindfulness mastery assessment to help you track your progress over time, customizable reminders, and access to other support and crisis resources. Mindfulness Coach is free, doesn’t take or share any of your personal information, and doesn’t require add-on purchases.Mindfulness Coach was created by VA’s National Center for PTSD.
Previous
Next
Plum Village Mobile App
Looking to touch peace, calm and ease in today’s frantic and often stressful world? The Plum Village practices are an invaluable support.Use mindfulness meditation techniques taught by a renowned Zen Buddhist Master to connect deeply with the present moment, soothe anxiety, experience more joy and happiness, and taste enlightenment.Explore a wealth of easy-to-use guided meditations, relaxations, and talks.
Previous
Next
Breathr: Mindful Moments
Breathr shows you easy and fun ways to practice mindfulness. It was developed for youth by BC Children's Hospital with experts and the help of young people - but open for anyone to give it a try.Begin to explore and experience practices of mindfulness and self-compassion, choosing from a variety of practices. Breathr can help you to live in the present moment, while providing interesting facts about the many benefits of mindfulness.
Previous
Next
Oak Meditation and Breathing
Oak helps you decompress by transforming your meditation practice from an experiment into a habit. We support you from your first session to your 500th, with mindful, loving-kindness, and sleep meditations as well as unguided sessions and breathing exercises. Individualize your meditations by duration, and customize with silence or calming background sounds. Oak tracks your progress and encourages you to continue building a healthy meditation practice.
Previous
Next
Idanim: Meditate, Sleep, Focus
Start & deepen your meditation journey with Idanim, a meditation app from India that is 100% free. Practice live & guided meditations in Hindi & English.
- Guided meditations, mindfulness meditations, and mantra meditations in Hindi & English for inner peace
- Morning sessions everyday with Live meditations by meditation experts for deep relaxation
- Free meditation app that offers personal guidance by meditation teachers on various topics like mindfulness, focus, stress, and overall health & wellbeing
- Various insomnia battling features like sleep meditations, sleep timer, sleep stories, relaxing music, and more
Previous
Next
Insight Timer
The number 1 free meditation app. 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. Music tracks from world-renowned artists. Join millions learning to meditate on Insight Timer to help calm the mind, reduce anxiety, manage stress, sleep deeply and improve happiness.With 80+ new free guided meditations added daily, more meditation is practiced on Insight Timer than anywhere else. Great for both beginners and experienced practitioners.
Tons of Free Content + Best Free Timer
While some content is paid, Insight Timer still offers the world's largest free library of more than 130k guided meditations from 14k teachers (including us!). The meditation timer is one of the best - highly configurable, with a great selection of bell sounds. The app also offers extensive social features, including groups. Join ours here.
Previous
Next
Waking Up
Discover daily mindfulness and meditation with Sam Harris—neuroscientist, philosopher, and best-selling author—and explore the theory behind meditation practice. Daily guided meditation sessions, lessons on zen, the stoic path, on-demand mindfulness sessions, as well as a practice timer will build your understanding, balance your mind, make your practice shine, and help turn meditation into a new habit. For inquiring and curious minds, learn the related science, philosophy, and ethics in short audio lessons with Sam and through his extended conversations with other influential meditation teachers, scientists, and scholars.
High-Quality Content + Scholarship Options
While most of the content is behind a paywall, the content itself is excellent and covers a wide variety of approaches to meditation and mindfulness from many of the top teachers today. For those who can't afford the price of subscription, both partial and full scholarships are available - no questions asked.
Previous
Next
Brightmind Meditation
Brightmind’s approach to teaching meditation is to “make it as simple as possible, but no simpler". So we take deep and transformational concepts and practices, and explain them in simple and practical ways. Making things as simple as possible, but not any simpler, leads to efficient and effective learning and growth.
Highly Recommended + Community Partner + One Month Free
Brightmind was created by Toby Sola, a member of the Meditation Mind community who hosted a special guided meditation and Q&A in August 2023. While a paid app, many of our staff and community members use and recommend Brightmind. Receive one month free, courtesy of Toby, by visiting https://www.brightmind.com/meditationmind.
Previous
Next
The Way
THE WAY is a new kind of meditation app: a single path, led by an authorized Zen master, that guides you on a deep meditation training program. Study alongside Zen master Henry Shukman as you uncover the deep peace, love, insight and awakening that meditation can bring.The simple path to deeper meditation.
A star among single-path, journey-style meditation apps
While The Way is a relatively new addition to the meditation app scene, it has quickly become a staff favorite as a beautifully executed example of the single-path, journey-style design. Henry is also a fantastic teacher, which makes The Way really shine.
Henry will be joining the Meditation Mind community for a guided meditation, talk, and Q&A in January 2025. Community members can receive 30 free sessions of The Way, courtesy of Henry, by using the special code: MEDITATIONMIND. (iOS users click here.)
Previous
Next
Center Meditation Timer
No unnecessary voice over guide. No background music or ambient sounds. Just you and your mind, the way mindfulness meditation was meant to be.Center is an elegant meditation timer which tracks your sittings in a beautiful and simple way. With HealthKit integration so you can see your daily mindfulness practice stats right from the Health app.The app uses haptic feedback in addition to classic meditation chimes: one chime to start, one chime for intervals, and three consecutive chimes for ending a meditation session.Before you begin you can edit your sit time, set a delay to prepare, plan interval sounds to keep you focused, and get meditation insights. After each session the app tracks your meditation practice and provides custom insights to help you. This is what makes Center a valuable app: simplicity and a tailored experience to improve your practice the more you use the app.
Previous
Next
Simple Meditation Timer
A minimalist timer. Elegant and peaceful way to meditate or practice restorative yoga. Simply counts down your session, then chimes the Keisu zen bowl. No additional "stuff" or distractions. Set your Simple Timer, take a few deep breaths and relax. You can choose to record your session as Mindful Minutes in the Health App.
Previous
Next
Peace Out
A simple, free meditation timer.
- Vibrant UI and sounds
- Count up with no bell, or down with a bell
- Works with screen on or off
- Integrates with Apple Health
- View and add sessions manually
Previous
Next
Jhana Meditation
The Jhana meditation app is built as a free tool to help assist you on your journey. The app is completely free, with no ads, and no tracking. All data is kept locally on your device, and is viewable only by you.The app now has a background audio selection, as well as haptic feedback when pressing UI components.
Meditation Timer Online
Meditation Timer Online is the ultimate meditation timer for the web.Set your desired meditation duration, select the intervals and let the gentle Tibetan bells guide you into a profound state of relaxation.
Previous
Next
Shellevate
Make meditating into a habit with Shellevate, the meditation app you'll get addicted to. Build a streak by meditating consecutively, earn gems to purchase streak freezes in case you miss a day, and coolest of all, collect and raise turtles from their eggs. The longer you meditate, the rarer the turtles you can find.It's turtle-y awesome. Hopefully you have a shell of a time building one of the most useful habits you can.
Previous
Next
The Headless Way
Explore this portal into the Headless Way - a modern path to the one faceless Self we are all looking out of! Enjoy the many short video clips that are nowhere else available, be inspired by the randomly chosen quotations, do the experiments, read the articles, and set your alarm to remind you about your Self!
Previous
Next
1 Giant Mind (Vedic/Mantra)
Learn to meditate in 12 easy steps, then take the 30 day challenge to make meditation a daily habit.The 1 Giant Mind app is for anyone who wants to feel less stressed, more calm, present, and experience greater health and wellbeing. Our approach to meditation is easy and effortless. and no previous experience is required. Anyone can learn this technique in 12 short steps and begin to experience the benefits immediately.
Previous
Next
Humanly (NVC/Atomic Habits)
Identify your feelings. Connect your feelings to underlying needs. Develop habits to support your underlying needs. Allow your mental health to flourish.Humanly combines Spiritual, Philosophical, Scientific, and Practical perspectives to create a comprehensive guide towards mental health.Through guided journaling, habit tracking, lessons, exercises, and insights users learn how to fulfill their needs and help make life wonderful for themselves and those around them.
Previous
Next
Inner Giraffe (NVC)
Practice self empathy with nonviolent communication (NVC).For those of us who grew up in a dysfunctional environment, learning to communicate with empathy is like learning a new language, and practicing new vocabulary is part of the journey.This app is designed to make the practice as convenient as possible.
Previous
Next
Mediate Your Life (NVC)
Transform conflicts into connection with people in your personal, work, and societal life, and with yourself, with empathic communication.The Mediate Your Life (MYL) app is an audio guide to help you when you are in conflict with someone in your life, or with yourself. Listening to the audios you feel better and find new insights and solutions to the difficulty you are facing. The MYL approach is based in the international work of Nonviolent Communication (NVC) and integrates a mediation framework and mindfulness.The app is free and fully accessible to use. And there are options within the app to support the work of Mediate Your Life if you would like.
Previous
Next
Access to Insight (Pali Canon)
This is the entire offline version of John Bullitt's widely recognized and highly recommended Access to Insight (www.accesstoinsight.org) web site, a massive compilation of material about Theravada Buddhism and Buddhism in general.Herein are contained over 1,000 *actual suttas* (skt: 'sutras') from the Tipitaka (body of Buddhist canonical texts) translated into contemporary English with scholarly rigor and precision by recognized subject domain experts.
Previous
Next
84000 (Tibetan Canon)
Access a dynamic collection of teachings on the mind, straight from the source. The 84000 app offers a growing digital library of the Buddhist sūtras set within a minimal, functional design for a clean reading experience.84000’s interactive Reading Room is a leading resource for accurate and nuanced translations of the words of the Buddha used by scholars of Buddhist Studies, Tibetan Buddhist teachers of the living tradition, and practitioners.
Previous
Next
How We Feel
How We Feel is a free app created by scientists, designers, engineers, and therapists to help people better understand their emotions and find strategies to help them navigate their emotions in the moment. Conceived in conjunction with Yale University's Center for Emotional Intelligence and based on the work of Dr Marc Brackett, How We Feel helps people find the right word to describe how they feel while tracking their sleep, exercise, and health trends using HealthKit in order to spot patterns over time.
Previous
Next
Gratitude Journal
Welcome to the original Gratitude Journal app, designed to help you cultivate a daily gratitude habit with its simple design, user-friendly interface, and enjoyable experience. Gratitude becomes a habit that transforms your perspective on life.
Previous
Next
Inner Therapist
A simple way to track and improve your mental health.
Track seven major categories of needs and see how they influence feelings when met or unmet, so you can better understand why you feel the way you feel.
Previous
Next
Breath Ball
Transform your well-being with Breath Ball, the ultimate app designed to guide you through scientifically proven breathing exercises that help reduce stress and anxiety, improve concentration, and promote mindfulness. Whether you're a beginner or an experienced practitioner, Breath Ball adapts to your pace, helping you find calm and balance in just a few minutes a day.
Previous
Next
Breathe2Heal - Conscious Breathing
Breathe2Heal is a modern breathing app rooted in ancient wisdom. Whether you're looking to reduce stress, improve sleep, enhance focus, or simply find a moment of tranquility, Breathe2Heal is here to support you.
- 4 breathing modes with 12 different rhythms
- Clean, elegant interface with light and dark themes
- Available in Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, and English
Previous
Next
ScreenZen
PAUSE before opening a distracting website or app. The most customizable app blocker. FREE. Easy to setup.
Tags:
Previous Article
