Best Mindfulness Apps 2023

The Headspace app makes it easy for users to incorporate mindfulness into their daily life. For instance, the “Today” Hub offers a personalized program that promotes a mindfulness exercise or class throughout the morning, afternoon, and nighttime.

Headspace includes science-based mindfulness strategies in its other main Hubs, which are “Meditate,” “Sleep,” “Move,” and “Focus.” The “Meditate” Hub provides much more than just guided meditations. There are educational courses on various topics, like using mindfulness to manage anxiety, reduce stress, or boost self-esteem. It also has a special “S.O.S” section that delivers quick access to mindfulness tips or meditations when you’re feeling overwhelmed or panicked.

The “Sleep,” “Move,” and “Focus” Hubs help users understand that mindfulness is not just about sitting still. It can be applied throughout your day when working, commuting, exercising, eating, or preparing for sleep. Headspace has a diverse and extensive library of content that’s regularly updated. Overall, Headspace creates numerous paths for users to learn about and utilize mindfulness to improve their well-being.

To learn more, check out our in-depth Headspace review.

The Mindfulness App primarily focuses on meditation and its role in mindfulness. While it has plenty of options for advanced meditators, it’s a great fit for beginners because it provides a ‘Get Started’ five-day course that includes tips covering meditation’s fundamentals. The teachers explain meditation in an accessible way and help new users build a practice through attainable steps.

Users can choose to do silent or guided meditations that cover various topics, like forgiveness, gratitude, acceptance, and self-care. When you click on a category, you’ll see a list of unique topics that help you be more present in specific situations. For instance, when you click on “Focus,” you’ll find meditations on dissolving procrastination, shifting attention, and relaxing while at work. The Mindfulness App helps members learn how to apply mindfulness to their daily lives through a growing meditation practice.

If you want to take a deep dive into mindfulness theory and its roots in ancient wisdom, Waking Up would be an excellent choice for you. Waking Up was created by neuro-scientist and author Sam Harris, who aims to bring mindfulness into the mainstream. Waking Up goes beyond meditative relaxation techniques –it provides talks, lectures, and Q&As with experts, philosophers, authors, and scientists to help members gain a deep understanding of mindfulness.

Waking Up has three main sections; “Theory,” “Practice,” and “Life.” “Theory” is an incredible learning section that features lectures on several topics, like free will, the self, and enlightenment. “Practice” provides guided meditations, and “Life” is a newer section that Harris recently released that offers tips and strategies for a more fulfilling life. Together, these three sections ensure that users understand what mindfulness is and why it works.

The Healthy Minds Program app is an excellent choice for beginners because it provides a straightforward step-by-step journey that goes through the pillars of mindfulness. It begins with the “Foundations” and then moves to “Awareness,” “Connection,” “Insight,” and “Purpose.” Each section provides a series of lessons followed by a meditation practice correlated to the lesson’s topic. Users can choose to do guided active or seated meditations and set the practice between 5-30 minutes.

In addition to the path, there’s an “Explore” section with single-session meditations and lessons that cover various topics, like stress, relationships, and emotions. There’s also an unguided practice timer tool that allows you to try silent meditations. The Healthy Minds Program is an inviting and explicit introduction to mindfulness. Because it’s free, it’s great for beginners who are curious about mindfulness but don’t feel ready to pay for a subscription.

One of the reasons why Calm earned our award for the best app for those familiar with mindfulness is that it has more of a free-flowing choice system than other apps. For instance, many mindfulness apps have a specific starting point and assume that most users are beginners, which forces many seasoned members to listen to mindfulness fundamentals before moving on to the next stage. Calm gives users access to all of the content from the start, allowing experienced users to bypass the basics and find exactly what they need.

Calm also has a “Masterclass” section that offers intermediate mindfulness courses on a wide range of topics like sleep, gratitude, and stoic philosophy. All of these courses are taught by knowledgeable experts, doctors, and authors. The Calm app also has meditations on “Mental Fitness” that currently feature celebrities like LeBron James. James shares how he manages high-pressure situations and utilizes mindfulness for better health and well-being.

To learn more, check out our in-depth Calm app review.

The Fabulous app helps users build daily mindfulness habits through the habit stacking method. Habit stacking is when you begin with a simple, achievable practice or task, and build upon it until it becomes a daily habit. This approach has proven to be very effective and can help users learn to be mindful throughout their day. 3 Fabulous provides a structured daily routine on the home screen that makes the program easy to follow.

Fabulous uses gamification terms and techniques to help users stay committed. For instance, it presents “Journeys” where you climb metaphorical “Mountains” as you progress through each phase. You begin with “Foundations,” which teach you how to build structure and strengthen rituals. The second mountain is the “Struggle,” which shows you how to make healthy changes in your environment. “Mastery” is the third mountain that teaches users how to reframe and rethink approaches to stress. It’s highly recommended to purchase the premium version to gain access to all of the journeys and challenges the app has to offer.

To learn more, check out our in-depth Fabulous app review.

Aura users begin by answering questions in an onboarding survey that helps target mental health goals and areas of focus. Aura then uses its personalization algorithm to push recommendations that match up with your needs. It also uses gamification techniques to help users stay committed to their program.

Aura has an extensive library of guided meditations, insightful stories, and sleep-enhancing tracks. They also release new content weekly, so you can always find new inspiration on your mindfulness journey. Unlike other mindfulness apps, Aura offers one-on-one sessions with licensed therapists and mindfulness coaches for an extra monthly cost of $149.

The Smiling Mind app introduces mindfulness in a way that children, teens, and young adults can understand. The developers explain that the goal of Smiling Mind is to teach mindfulness at young ages so that children learn the skills they need to manage emotions, build resiliency, improve focus, and have strong mental health. The app begins with an introductory lesson that provides a clear and digestible definition of mindfulness and its benefits.

When choosing the “Explore” section, the content is broken down into ages to make it easier for kids and teens to find meditations that match their needs. For example, there’s a section for preschool-age children that has meditations that use teddy bears to teach breathing techniques, and meditations for teens that prepare them for making new friends in high school. Smiling Mind is a great choice for families to use together and build a collective understanding of mindfulness.

The Mindfulness Coach app is a terrific free resource for anyone curious about the benefits of mindfulness. It has all of the basics, which include an introduction to mindfulness training, a practice area to build meditation skills, an expertise section that goes deeper into mindfulness topics, and tools to track your progress.

The tracking tools are a great perk because they allow you to log your practices, set personal goals, and take mindfulness mastery assessments to see how far you’ve come. The practice log includes a notes section, which can be used for journal-like entries to help you monitor your thoughts and emotions before and after your practice. As you move through meditations and lessons, there’s a mindfulness tree on the home page that grows with the completion of each exercise.

Alo Moves stands out as a yoga app that encourages mindfulness training alongside a yoga practice. Yoga involves mindful breathing with movement, so it’s incredibly valuable to use a yoga app with a comprehensive mindfulness section. The mindfulness section includes breathwork, meditation, sound baths, classes on personal growth, yoga nidra (preparing the mind and body for sleep), and reiki (a form of energy healing).

Members can try traditional guided meditations or silent meditations with various ambient or nature sounds. You can find mindfulness courses and inspiring talks on diverse topics, such as embracing change or practicing gratitude.

To learn more, check out our in-depth Alo Moves review.

Breathwork plays a significant role in mindfulness. It regulates our nervous system and calms the mind, which is why the Breathwrk app can be so valuable to anyone wanting to learn mindful breathing techniques. Breathwrk can be used to build a practice, or as a quick tool to manage stressful situations or panic attacks. It’s easy to navigate and can be helpful for breathwork experts or beginners.

Breathwrk provides a wide range of breathing exercises under five main categories, which are “Calming,” “Nighttime,” “Energizing,” “Performance,” and “Health.” In addition to guided breathing exercises, they also provide classes taught by breathwork experts that explain how the techniques benefit the mind and body. Members can build a customized mindful breathing routine by selecting a goal and scheduling a breathing exercise for each part of their day. Breathwrk sends notifications to help you stay on track and commit to your daily mindful breathing practice.

To learn more, check out our in-depth Breathwrk app review.