Here are our picks of the best apps to share with your patients who need to de-stress as part of their medical health and wellness therapy. Try one or two for yourself, too!

The Mindfulness App

$2.99 iPhone/$4.99 Android, plus in-app purchases

Advertised as “meditation for everyone,” this nifty app provides simple daily meditations you can tag for later recall. Offers over 400 minutes of mindfulness audio with 16 basic guided meditations, including 20-minute walking, mountain, or lake meditations and sitting meditations of shorter or longer durations. The app can be coordinated with other mind-body health programs, including yoga.

Simply Being

$1.99 iPhone/ $1.99 Android

Simply Being is a daily, guided meditation app developed by Richard and Mary Maddux, creators of the popular Meditation Oasis® podcast and CDs. A great beginner app that users love, it offers four meditation times and meditation with or without music. Other meditations for relaxation, anxiety, and to help you sleep can be purchased separately.

Headspace

Subscription-based after free trial.

Headspace takes the most elementary approach to meditation. It provides essential explanations of how meditation works and encourages tips on how to move past early obstacles. It is even called “meditation made simple.” It’s a good place to start, but you may outgrow it quickly.

Calm 

Subscription-based after a free trial or a lifetime subscription for $299.

Apple’s choice for the 2017 iPhone app of the year was significantly updated in 2018. This app gives you multiple series of guided programs (seven days of Calm, seven days of Sleep, Breathe) and teaches people new to meditation the basics of mindfulness. Start with a limited-time free trial, with purchase options as you advance your practice to seven- and 21-day programs targeting stress, anxiety, self-esteem, happiness, and gratitude. A monthly subscription is $12.99/$4.99 with a year’s contract. 

Mindbliss

Free base app or a lifetime subscription of $49.

Advertised as “mind-freeing technology at your fingertips,” Mindbliss offers

10-minute guided meditations to soothing music. Its big claim is that it uses the best teachers to “help you cultivate a daily practice.” The programs also approach mindfulness differently, allowing for a unique, customized program. Users seem to love the meditations, but several reviews on the Apple app store point to problems with the app itself and billing problems that caused it to lock inappropriately. The developers released a new Version 2.12 to fix the bugs.

Buddhify

$4.99 iPhone/$2.99 Android, plus in-app purchases, optional $30 annual membership.

The Buddhify concept is the “on-the-go meditation,” where opportunities can be found in everyday moments and places. It is particularly well-suited to urban dwellers and working people and offers coaching tips for improvement and tracking. The best feature is the color wheel of meditations to meet everyday needs, like work breaks or traveling. And you can “give” a meditation to someone you know.

Mind Valley

$99 monthly or $499 annually.

Mind Valley is a good app for users who already know what they want because it houses a massive assortment of meditations. It’s an excellent add-on to expand your practice after starting with another app.