Over the past couple of years, mindfulness is one wellness trend that has stood out from the rest. Not only has mindfulness become widely popular amongst many with a massive following of dedicated followers and fans across the globe, but it has also become a very lucrative industry to be in, creating a billion-pound business market. Mental health awareness has helped to develop and promote mental wellness and looking after ones-self. The importance of concentrating on ourselves and how we think and how our actions affect us has become more prominent.

Taking time out of your day to look inwards and concentrate on yourself can help to increase your health and your happiness. Mindfulness is paying more attention to your present self. This includes your thoughts and feelings as well as noticing the world around you. Doing this is being mindful and can help improve your mental wellbeing and help you enjoy and understand life better.  

As a result of the boom, there are now numerous apps on the market to help people begin or continue their path to mindfulness. In most cases, the apps are free, to start with, but have a paid-for option for their premium services. The apps offer short, guided meditation for a range of different people looking for different or similar outcomes. The mindful apps also come with plenty of extra functions such as nostalgic bedtime stories, calming background noises and winsome animations which offer theory learning. 

Before downloading, it’s worth thinking about what you need as well as what you want from the app. For example, some apps can send you motivational messages on your smartphone when your stressed and others which can change your phone interface to include mindful messages. To help you find the perfect one here is a list of some of the best mindful mobile apps that are currently available on the market today.

Calm

Free to download & 7-day free trial with an optional annual subscription 

Calm is a mindful app which varies from person to person, which helps individuals on their path to relaxing. When the app is clicked on, you are immediately greeted with the gentle sound of the outdoors. If this isn’t your vibe, you can change the background music to pouring rain, rolling waves or crackling firewood. 

The app offers Daily calm sessions which are designed to help you unwind and refocus your attention on yourself, overtime creating mindfulness. There are also programs on the app which is catered for users looking for either immediate level mindfulness or advanced level mindfulness.

The app also gives its users the ability to pick from exclusive music tracks which and designed and engineered to help you focus, sleep or relax such as ‘Calm Body’ which consists of a series of 10 minute guided videos on mindful movement. The app also has Sleep Stories, which are calming tales narrated by celebrities such as Mathew McConaughey and Stephen Fry. 

Headspace 

Free to download & 2-week free trial with an optional annual subscription

Known as one of the best meditation apps on the market following its launch in 2010, Headspace as acquired 36 million members across 190 countries. If you are looking at learning the essentials of meditation and mindfulness, the app offers a free 10-part basic course along with its own lovable animation to help you find your way. 

The mindful sessions come in three, five or ten-minute chunks and are easy to follow. They focus on breathing and using your mind to scan through your body to check in on how you’re feeling. The sessions use easy to understand and comprehend language with less jargon in comparison to other apps alike which can help make the user experience more enjoyable. Included in the app are ‘Minis’ which are shorter exercises, such as one-minute long breathing exercise and themed sessions which help to add to your regular sessions for more mindfulness.

Headspaces premium service also offers users hundreds of specialised meditations for targeted mindfulness in areas of stress or sleep all on your smartphone from Smartphone Checker. The app also lets you save your favourites for when your offline meaning you won’t ever need to miss out on a session. 

Stop, Breathe & Think

Free to download with an optional annual subscription

Stop, Breathe & Think unlike many of the other mindful apps on the market that asks you to ‘Check-in’ with it before meditating. This helps the apps gather information through the use of adjectives about how you are feeling both mentally and physically, which is a great way to get into the right mindset to carry out the sessions for mindfulness. 

Once the app has collected the necessary information from you, it then uses it to recommend a short, guided meditation or yoga session, which can last between five minutes to more extended sessions. The sessions are meant to help you deal with anxiety or to relax and clear your head. The app offers 30 free activities at its basic level and more than 100 others which are available if you upgrade. The upgrade also includes acupuncture videos for heightened relaxation. The app is thought to be an emotional wellness platform for all ages and allows users to set reminders and track their progress on smartphones form Smartphone Checker.  

Insight Timer

Free to download with an optional annual subscription

The apps more like a social networking app for meditators as it shows it uses a world map of how many people are meditating at any one time via the app. Insight Timer allows you to see nearby meditator and will enable you to invite friends to join in with you. The app consists of thousands of ‘Insight Groups’ which are community groups that users can join and are encouraged to discuss all things mindfulness and meditation.

In terms of content, Insight Timer claims to offer the most extensive free library of guided meditation ranging from beginner levels to sessions focused on self-love, conquering addictions and better relationships. The apps customisable timer feature is perfect for short meditations when on the go and users can even choose if they want ambient background sounds or ending bells for their sessions. 

The Mindfulness App

Free to download with an optional annual subscription

Without too much speculation this Mindfulness app does exactly what it says on the tin. Users get a five-day introduction to mindfulness along with a range of guided and silent timed sessions to choose from. The app also offers users a three-minute refresher session and a half-hour session for deeper mindfulness. The app will generate daily reminders and statistics so you can stay focused on your practice and keep up with up to date with your level of progress. ‘Mindful Notices’ are also generated from the app as a means of helping to stay grounded throughout the day. These help users keep mindfulness in their thoughts.

The app, like some of the above lets users, save their favourite sessions which means you will still be able to practice mindfulness when offline, perfect for long commutes underground.