Find Your Calm in the App Store: 7 Free Meditation Apps

10% Happier: Meditation

Here's an excerpt of the app description from the iTunes store:

Voted #1 Top listed app in New York Times 'How to Meditate' guide, you'll love this clear, simple approach to meditation with a NY Times bestselling author and TV personality, Dan Harris and some of the most respected (and cool) meditation teachers on the planet. Designed for skeptics, built to help you keep it going.

What You'll Get:

• Free ongoing access to our 7-session introductory course and mindful meditations.
• Daily videos to teach you meditation in the simplest way possible.
• Guided audio meditations for coping with anxiety and political stress, and for activities like walking and falling asleep.
• New content monthly to keep meditation from becoming a chore.
• Practical advice for applying mindfulness to your relationships, eating, work, and more.
• Quick meditations that fit into your busy life—during your commute, lunch break, etc.
• Free access to a meditation coach (a real human, not a robot).
• Offline access to guided meditations and videos.
• Apple Health App integration for tracking your progress

Get the 10% Happier: Meditation app here. | Free

Headspace

Here's an excerpt of the app description from the iTunes store:

Headspace is the simple way to reframe stress. Sleep trouble? Meditation creates the ideal conditions for a good night's rest. Relax with guided meditations and mindfulness techniques that bring calm, wellness and balance to your life in just a few minutes a day.

Get more from your day through mindfulness, be less distracted and reactive, and focus on the things that matter most to you. Our Basics course is completely free and will teach you the fundamental techniques of meditation and mindfulness. After that, by subscription, gain access to the full Headspace meditation library. Train your mind with guided meditations on everything from stress to sleep, and anxiety to relationships. Bring more awareness to daily activities through on-the-go exercises, and use SOS sessions to skillfully manage moments of panic or anxiety. The Headspace animation library is full of tips and helpful wisdom to keep your practice on track, and you can even add friends to keep each other motivated.

What You'll Get:

• Hundreds of guided meditations on subjects like sleep, focus and exercise
• Everyday Headspace: daily meditations on a new topic each day
• "Mindful Moments" to keep you present throughout the day
• 2-3 minute "mini meditations" for a quick mental reset
• "SOS" sessions for moments of panic, anxiety and stress
• Sleep Sounds to help you drift off
• Headspace animations to teach you new skills and answer your mindfulness questions
• Track your progress and time spent meditating
• Add Mindful Minutes within Apple Health
• Buddy up and add your friends to meditate with you
• Guided meditations and mindfulness exercises for Kids with sessions on Kindness, Calm, and Focus
• Training led by former monk and renowned mindfulness expert Andy Puddicombe

Get the Headspace app here. | Free

Calm

Here's an excerpt of the app description from the iTunes store:

Calm is the #1 app for mindfulness and meditation to bring more clarity, joy and peace to your daily life. Join the millions experiencing less anxiety and better sleep with our guided meditations, Sleep Stories, breathing programs and relaxing music. Recommended by top psychologists and mental health experts to help you de-stress.

Calm is the perfect meditation app for beginners, but also includes hundreds of programs for intermediate and advanced users.

Guided meditation sessions are available in lengths of 3, 5, 10, 15, 20 or 25 minutes so you can choose the perfect length to fit with your schedule.

Features include:

• Daily Calm: a new 10-minute program added daily to help ease you into the day or unwind with before bed
• 60+ Sleep Stories: adult bedtime stories guaranteed to lull you to sleep
• 7 day and 21 programs for both beginner and advanced users
• Breathing exercises to relax
• Exclusive music engineered to help you focus, relax or sleep
• Unguided timed meditation
• Open-ended meditation
• 30+ soothing nature sounds and scenes to use during meditation, yoga or to help you sleep

Get the Calm app here. | Free

The Mindfulness App

Here's an excerpt of the app description from the iTunes store:

Start your journey to a more relaxed and healthier state of mind with The Mindfulness App. Whether you are just starting out or experienced in meditation, The Mindfulness App will help you to become more present in your daily life.

Used by millions of meditators in over 130 countries, included in The Mindfulness App you will find:

• Get Started: a five day guided practice and introduction to mindfulness
• Timed Sessions: guided and silent meditations from 3 to 30 minutes
• Personalized Meditation: customize your meditation with guided introduction and bells
• Meditation Reminders and Mindful Notices: help you to be mindful throughout the day
• Statistics: keep track of your meditation journey
• Premium section with an additional 200+ guided meditations and courses by some of the world's most influential teachers (available subscription or one-time purchase)
• Health App integration allows you to sync your meditation practice time

Get The Mindfulness app here. | Free

Stop, Breathe & Think

Here's an excerpt of the app description from the iTunes store:

Stop, Breathe & Think is an award winning meditation and mindfulness app that is proven to decrease anxiety and stress. It allows you to check in with your emotions, and recommends short guided meditations, yoga and acupressure videos, tuned to how you feel. Our personalized meditation and mindfulness experience won the 2017 Webby People's Voice Award for Best Health App, and has been featured by the Today Show, Apple, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire and many more.

At Stop, Breathe & Think, we believe that taking a few minutes each day to feel the calm is as important as regular exercise. If we can help more of you develop this simple habit and regularly find peace of mind, we're doing our part to help make the world a better place.

Meditation and mindfulness made easy with:

• Over 30 free activities and 70 premium activities including meditation, breathing, yoga and acupressure
• Customizable meditation timer with choices of chimes and soundscapes
• Customizable breathing timer to focus and find calm
• A daily feed with tips, inspiration and a recommended practice of the day
• Meditate to start and end your day
• Tracker for your emotions pre and post meditation
• Sharing for friends

Get the Stop, Breathe & Think app here. | Free

Simple Habit

Here's an excerpt of the app description from the iTunes store:

Simple Habit is the best meditation app for busy people. Meditate for just 5 minutes/day to reduce stress, improve focus, sleep better, relax faster, breathe easier, and more. Recommended by Apple and Business Insider.

Why Simple Habit?

• Only 5-minutes per day to improve your life through stress relief and improved focus
• New meditation guides by the world's best teachers, from mindfulness experts at Google to former monks
• Perfect for busy lifestyles - meditate with Simple Habit's On-the-Go feature to quickly calm your nerves and/or anxiety to achieve a sense of mindfulness
• Guided meditations for specific symptoms (sleep, stress, anxiety, depression, and more)
• Guided meditations for specific life situations to help you relax and calm down (wake-up, commute, tough day at work, and more)
• Track your progress with Mindful Minutes
• Access meditations offline with Premium subscription so you can meditate at any time

Get the Simple Habit app here. | Free

Mindfulness Daily

Here's an excerpt of the app description from the iTunes store:

Gentle reminders to intentionally pause for a few mindful breaths in meaningful moments, daily lessons to refine and tune your personal path to peace, Healthkit integrated timer to deepen your mindful minutes practice and a lifelong that captures your own journal to discover insights - a complete set of tools, each lovingly designed to support your commitment to practice mindfulness in your unique daily life.

Mindfulness is simple and proven effective; yet it is not always easy to find time to practice when busy, tired, in pain or stressed/anxious - this app helps keep it within reach!

This app supports quick, effective guided practices to reduce stress/anxiety, improve performance and enhance sleep (along with the growing list of other evidence based benefits of Mindfulness like pain management).

Features include:

• Integration with Apple's Health app to track Mindful Minutes
• Simple Start program: 21 days of free mindfulness audio lessons. Themes include mindful breathing, body awareness, kindness, and present moment awareness.
• Pause button: take a 15-second mindful Pause whenever you're stressed or catch yourself on autopilot.
• Timer: for meditation, includes integration with iOS Mindful Minutes.
• Reminders: set personal reminders to nudge yourself to be mindful throughout the day.
• Practice library: select from a library of guided and self-guided practices. Extended practices available for purchase.
• Lifelog: notice patterns and gain insights from your Lifelog as your commitment to mindfulness takes root.
• Remix: after you've completed 21 days of mindfulness, use the unlocked Remix feature to continue practicing mindfulness your way.

Get the Mindfulness Daily app here. | Free