Insight Timer is a comprehensive meditation app. It boasts the world’s largest library of free meditations that are instantly available to anyone with a smartphone or computer. Meditation offers many benefits to our mental health and overall wellbeing, but it can be difficult to do without support. Insight Timer provides that support.
Practices like meditation and mindfulness can offer many benefits, including helping reduce stress and anxiety. However, if your feelings of anxiety, stress, or depression have been increasing recently or if you’ve began to notice their impact on your life, work, or relationships, it might be time to talk to a therapist.
Therapists can help you develop skills and strategies to better manage stress, anxiety, and depression, as well as uncover the root causes of those feelings. Many of Choosing Therapy’s therapists incorporate mediation and mindfulness into their practice. Click here to get up to three personalized therapist recommendations – it’s free, easy, and confidential.
What Is Insight Timer?
Insight Timer is an app and website designed to help make meditation and yoga convenient, easy, and pleasant to do. Meditation and yoga are practices that unite mind and body to focus attention in order to calm racing thoughts, reduce stress, and improve mental and physical health and well-being.1
In bringing these practices directly to people (no longer do you have to trek barefoot through Eastern mountain ranges in the snow in order to find someone to guide you in a meditation practice), Insight Timer makes stress and anxiety relief as well as quality sleep accessible to anyone with a smartphone (Android or Apple) or computer. Insight Timer offers a plethora of meditations in a variety of topics and styles. You can also listen to pre-recorded talks or participate in any of their frequent live events, meditating alongside others from around the world.
Simply visit the Insight Timer website or download and open the app on your smartphone. Once there, you have instant access to their extensive free library of meditations, sleep programs, yoga classes. Other features are open to those who subscribe to the full Member Plus benefits. Whether free or part of the paid membership, insight timer allows you to treat your mind and body to:
Guided Meditations
Insight Timer offers tens of thousands of guided meditations to meet the needs and interests of nearly every individual meditator. Finding what you want in a given moment is easy because Insight is organized into categories that are clear and easy to navigate.
Browse by topic—there are over 200 topics divided into sections that including benefits, origins (Insight Timer presents meditations from a variety of cultures both religious and secular as well as from scientific disciplines and philosophical concepts), talks, and practices/types (such as movement, mindfulness, repetition, visualization, and more).
For convenience, Insight Timer also allows you to search by meditation length (you’ll find meditations ranging from one minute to more than two hours. You can also filter your search according to voice, as some meditators prefer male voices while others prefer female leaders.
Insight Timer also offers:
- Timer for Self-Led Meditations: Sometimes you may want to sit in silent meditation without being led by a guide. This app has a timer feature for you to do just that. Simply tap on the timer feature, select the amount of time (down to the second) that you’d like to meditate, and choose from six gentle meditation bell sounds that will alert you when your session has ended.
- Daily Insight: Insight timer features a new daily mindfulness meditation every day of the year. This meditation makes it easy for you to develop a consistent practice.
- Playlists: Playlists group meditations into topics, and within each playlist you can find individual mediations or meditation programs that span several days (or even a month or so) so you can immerse yourself in a theme that interests you. Current playlists are Learning to Meditate, Coping with Anxiety, Managing Stress, Improve Your Sleep, Mindfulness at Work, Boosting Your Self-Esteem, For Your Mornings, and For the Advanced.
- Courses: Take your personal growth to a deeper level by taking Insight Timer’s extensive courses. You can choose from over 400 and explore them at your own pace.
- Sleep Programs: Quality sleep is vital to well-being, but it can be hard to settle the mind and body to rest deeply. If you struggle falling asleep or staying asleep, you may enjoy the app’s sleep section. Discover music, soundscapes, meditations, stories, and courses to help you rest and recharge.
- Music: Sound can be an important part of meditation or simply relaxing. Therefore, Insight Timer offers thousands of different tracks to help you achieve peace and calm. Listen to classical music, gentle instrumentals, nature sounds, chanting, and much more depending on your mood.
- Live Events: With Insight Timer, you never have to be alone. You can join free live events held every single day and do yoga, participate in a guided meditation, or receive insights into a topic right along with others from around the world. You can’t see others, but the app does let you know how many people are participating in an event so you now if you’re joined by a small group of just a few or are participating with hundreds of others at the same time.
- Tracks for Kids: People of all ages can benefit from meditation, so Insight Timer has included programs made for kids and teens. You can help a child in your life cultivate calm, handle stress, and develop a lifelong meditation habit to keep them centered through their ups and downs. Stories, meditations, yoga classes, music, and courses geared toward children and adolescents appeal to and help even the youngest among us.
- The World’s top Meditation Teachers: Respected experts and leaders in meditation, yoga, and sleep from around the world and across cultures and backgrounds present meditations and courses, and renowned musicians compose and perform the app’s sounds.
Insight Timer has free meditations for everyone. You do need to create an account, but you aren’t required to provide any personal information. With the free version, you have access to over 60,000 meditations, including those for kids and teens. Currently, Insight Timer offers the largest free library of meditations of any app or service. With the free version, you can also use the timer, listen to a variety of music tracks, and join the live events. Further, there are no ads to disrupt your experience, even in the free version.
To gain full access to all of the app’s features, including the Daily Insight, you do need to purchase the Member Plus edition (see below for pricing information). Your yearly subscription provides unlimited access to everything Insight Timer has to offer, including their comprehensive courses and playlists.
Insight timer is an extensive meditation app with tracks and programs for people of all ages, cultures, and backgrounds. Whether you’re new to meditation or are a seasoned meditator, the wide variety of offerings on this app will keep you engaged and interested for a very long time. This app makes developing a meditation practice simple rather than stressful, and the quality of its content is outstanding. Meditations and courses are led by world-renowned experts who are there to guide you in your own unique practice.
Scientific Basis for Meditation
Insight Timer may make marked improvements in your mental and even physical health. Ongoing scientific research (over 6,000 studies and counting2 is shedding light on just how beneficial mediation can be to our wellness and quality of life.
Meditation slows your thoughts, reigns in your emotions, and teaches you to focus fully on your present moment. It’s an approach to total health and wellness that is thousands of years old and is part of traditions both religious and secular.3 When you meditate, you intentionally focus on deep breathing and focus your attention on a sight, sound, sensation, or visualization, thus intentionally shifting your focus away from your racing thoughts and roiling emotions.
You create space inside of you and slow your thoughts and emotions, soothe sensations of stress in your body, and free yourself to respond more calmly to the people and situations in your life.4 Mindfulness has been shown to directly impact the structure and functioning of the brain,5 reduce anxiety,6 and improve sleep.7 Meditation has even been shown to improve physical health conditions, including (but not limited to) high blood pressure,1 digestive conditions,1and immune system functions.8
With its breadth of meditations for a variety of purposes and in a variety of styles and traditions, Insight Timer offers meditations for each unique individual. Some people prefer to keep meditation practical rather than spiritual, while for others, meditation is an integral part of their spiritual life. Insight Timer offers both secular and spiritual styles and traditions. You can seek and discover your own personal meaning to your meditation practice while simultaneously reaping mental and physical health benefits.
Who Is Insight Timer Right For?
Insight Timer is great for anyone interested in learning to quiet their mind to improve mental health and wellbeing through meditation. With meditations and courses for reducing anxiety and stress, improving sleep, boosting self-confidence, heightening self-compassion and compassion for others, helping with specific challenges like addictions or relationship difficulties, and more, Insight Timer can help anyone meet their personal self-growth goals.
Because of its extensive free meditation library, Insight Timer is also useful for people who are simply curious about meditation and want to give it a try. This app is great for people of all ages and can be useful for families who want to encourage their kids to use mindfulness and meditation to focus and remain calm despite problems and strong emotions.
People who want to connect with others around their meditation practice may enjoy this particular meditation app because of its live events. Additionally, users are allowed (but not required) to join groups and participate in meditation communities. These communities are created and led by members, and anyone can join. There are numerous groups with a variety of themes and purposes. You might choose to participate in a mindfulness group, a group focusing on Buddhism, some that emphasize gratitude, one focusing on enlightened humor, and much more.
Group guidelines seek to keep conversations and topics positive, supportive, and focused on the theme of the group. Only group members can see and post comments, so there’s a feeling of privacy in addition to community. Insight Timer is also experimenting with a Teams feature for businesses or other groups who want to bring their people together in meditation and growth. Teams is currently in Beta release only, and is available on the website.
Who May Want an Alternative to Insight Timer
Insight Timer is made for people at all levels of the meditation experience, and people who purchase membership can access playlists at beginner or advanced levels. However, Insight Timer may be best suited for people who have some experience with meditation or who have clear, focused meditation goals.
People who practice at intermediate or advanced levels may find that Insight Timer helps deepen their practice, but beginners may find the app to be overwhelming. Someone very new to meditation or just dabbling in it may prefer a simpler app such as the Calm app.
It’s worth noting that like all mental health and wellness apps, Insight Timer isn’t meant to be a substitute for treatments such as psychotherapy or medication. People facing specific mental health disorders may indeed benefit from meditation apps like Insight Timer, but apps only supplement other forms of treatment. In many cases, the top teletherapy platforms that allow clients to connect in video therapy sessions with licensed therapist, like BetterHelp and Talkspace, will offer more effective support than a mindfulness app.
How Much Does Insight Timer Cost?
Insight Timer has an extensive free version as well as a Member Plus subscription for $59.99 per year or $9.99 a month. Everyone who uses the app can access over 60,000 meditations, and new free tracks are always being added. This may be enough for people who simply want to meditate on their own. For those who want to participate in a like-minded community for connection and support, or anyone wanting to expand their experience with courses and playlists, a yearly subscription is required.
Insight has two plan options:
- The free version
- A Member Plus subscription for $59.99 per year paid upfront, or $9.99 per month
Insight Timer offers a free seven-day trial of the Member Plus subscription. You need to enter a credit card for the trial, but you won’t be charged until the end of the week.
How to Get Started With Insight Timer
Once you’ve decided to give Insight Timer a try, here’s a look at what to expect.
Step 1
Download the app and complete the sign up for free. You do need an account to use the app’s features, but you don’t have to supply your credit card information in order to have an account.
Step 2
You’ll be taken to the starting screen where you’ll see a menu of options: Timer, Guided, Courses, Sleep, Music, and Kids. With the free version, you can access the Timer, Guided meditations, Music, and the Kids areas. Not everything in the kids area is available in the free version, however. Otherwise, you’ll have full use of the timer, music, and guided meditations. You can also join groups if you so desire.
Step 3
Sign up for a free seven-day trial if you’d like to explore everything the app has to offer, including unlimited courses, playlists, and advanced features of the audio player. If you don’t cancel your membership before the end of the trial period, your credit card will be charged $59.99 and will automatically renew every year until you cancel.
Step 4
Begin exploring and meditating. Build your own unique meditation practice over time by selecting meditation types, topics, lengths, and instructors. You can bookmark your favorite meditations so you can find them easily in your library whenever you want them. Recent meditations also appear in your library, so if you want to repeat something you’ve recently done, you can access it quickly. If you are a Member Plus meditator, your library will also contain any courses and playlists that you select.
Step 5
You can see some basic stats to track your progress when you click on your account icon at the bottom of the app screen. The app lets you know how many consecutive days you’ve meditated, your total number of minutes, and any milestones they’ve defined for you.
In your profile, you can also follow your favorite instructors and receive notifications when they publish a new meditation or course on Insight Timer. You’ll find access to your groups and friends, too, if you decide to use the community feature.
Pros & Cons of Insight Timer Based on User Reviews
To help you decide if Insight Timer may be right for you, we sorted through user reviews available in the app stores and online. Here’s a summary of what people are saying:
Pros
Insight Timer’s reviews are overwhelmingly positive. The app has over 77,000 reviews on the Google Play Store with an average rating of 4.8 stars. Apple users seem to love it even more than Android users, with 257,000 reviews and an average star rating of 4.9.
Common positives include:
- There is a great deal of quality, free content—more so than on any other app
- People mention that the app has helped them with specific problems like anxiety, stress, and sleep
- The app boasts a huge variety of options and features
- There’s great diversity in content and instructors
- It’s great for all ages
- The ability to choose meditations by length makes it easy to use the app anywhere, any time
Cons
While Insight Timer has overwhelmingly positive ratings, not everyone reports a great experience with this app.
Primary complaints include:
- Technical glitches such as not being able to enter some live events or not updating individual milestones frustrate some users (many reviews mentioned that the app’s functioning seems to worsen with each new update)
- Some reviewers lament that you have to pay for some of the app’s content
- There are too many choices, making it hard to know where to begin or what to do
- Some users find the app difficult to navigate
hese comments are specific to the Insight Timer app. There are other meditation apps available. Next we’ll look at how Insight Timer compares to two other popular apps: Headspace and Calm.
Insight Timer vs. Headspace vs. Calm
Insight Timer, Headspace, and Calm are all popular apps designed to reduce stress and anxiety and enhance mental health through meditation. With their free trials, total cost, meditations, sleep tracks, courses, and section for kids, the essence of these three mental health apps is very similar.
They seem so similar, in fact, that deciding which one of them is right for you can be confusing. While in the end it’s a matter of personal preference (which do you find easiest to use, which is most visually and auditorily appealing to you, etc.) use this brief overview of how Calm compares to Headspace and to Insight Timer to help you decide.
We recommend that after reading about the apps, you try the free version of each one to see how it grabs you. Then, explore the free trial of your favorite (or try all of them) to make sure you like the complete program before buying a subscription—just remember to cancel the subscription before the trial period ends so you don’t incur an unwanted charge.
Insight Timer vs. Headspace
If your primary goal is to build a meditation practice, then Insight Timer may be the better of these two choices for you. Insight Timer helps people use all types of meditation from numerous traditions (secular, spiritual, religious, and philosophical) in order to focus and quiet their mind and feel centered. Headspace, on the other hand, involves practices and activities other than meditation and is designed to enhance focus, performance, and happiness.
Visually, there is much more to Headspace than Insight Timer, and this is intentional. Again, insight timer is about meditation and turning inward to quiet and focus the mind. Accordingly, the app relies more on beautiful music and other audio tracks than on visual experience. Headspace is very interactive and uses bright, cheerful drawings and graphics to draw users in and invoke a sense of playfulness and happiness.
Those seeking meditation will appreciate Insight Timer. People wanting more than meditation will likely prefer Headspace.
Insight Timer vs. Calm
Both Insight Timer and Calm focus primarily on meditation. While both offer meditations for all levels (beginner through advanced), Insight Timer appears to be oriented primarily for those at more advanced levels, while Calm seems more suited for beginners and intermediate meditators.
Aesthetically, Insight Timer is more about content and less about visuals and graphics. Calm relies on natural scenes to contribute to the overall user experience, and users can even select their own scene and background sound from a large number of options.
Insight Timer’s library of meditations and courses has much more depth than does Calm’s. The number of free meditations offered by Insight Timer tops 60,000 different tracks with more added continually, and people can select sessions by topic or length of time.
Users may find Calm’s meditations to be simpler and more guided than those found on Insight Timer. With its vivid graphics, large selection of backgrounds and soundscapes, and simple tracks to target anxiety and stress, Calm may be more inviting and helpful for those new to meditation whose main goal is to relieve stress rather than to develop a rigorous meditation practice. Insight Timer, in contrast, is geared to serious meditators.
Final Verdict on Insight Timer
Meditation is growing in popularity for good reason. Research continues to show that the practice benefits our total health and wellbeing. While meditation doesn’t require a teacher or a guide, many people find guided meditations easier and more pleasant than simply sitting in a quiet room trying to focus their attention on their own. Insight Timer does an outstanding job of offering a world of meditations (teachers and traditions from around the world are part of Insight Timer) with the inexpensive and easy convenience of a smartphone or desktop app.
If you are brand new to meditation, Insight Timer can be useful but may be overwhelming with all of its choices (even if you stick to the free version). If you have tried to build a practice but have abandoned it or are an experienced meditator looking to enrich your practice, Insight Timer may be the right app for you.
Insight Timer makes meditation affordable for everyone, and it makes it instantly accessible, too, as long as you have a smartphone or computer. You don’t have to travel to an expensive meditation retreat in order to have a quality experience. Simply download insight Timer, set up an account, and begin your meditative journey to inner peace and wellbeing.
