Top 3 free meditation apps to boost your happiness

Meditation is not only great if you’re trying to calm down after a stressful day. The practice has a lot of benefits, one of which is that meditating can actually make you feel happier. If you’re not sure where to begin and need a little guidance, there are a few great apps out there to get you started. We’ve tested a bunch and these three are not only some of the top apps out there, they’re also totally free.

Smiling Mind

Smiling Mind free meditation apps
Image: Smiling Mind

First on the list is Smiling Mind, and isn’t that exactly what we need this year? Smiling Mind is an Australian non-profit that has set out to make future generations happier and healthier through mindfulness meditation. The app has meditations for different ages and situations. You might want to get a better sleep routine or keep anxiety at bay. It’s all there and more. You can even use your Google Home speaker to guide you to full mindfulness.

Download app: iOS / Android

Insight Timer

Insight Timer mindfulness meditation
Image: Insight Network INC

Next up is Insight Timer with 70.000 free meditation and music tracks. The app also features live events to get deeper into the material and even the possibility to participate in group meditations. And if you don’t mind paying there are also insight courses about pretty much anything you could think of.

Download app: iOS / Android

UCLA Mindful

UCLA Mindful meditation app
Image: UCLA Health

The last free meditation app on the list is UCLA Health. The app was developed by the Mindful Awareness Research Center at UCLA and has different features to boost your mindfulness. If you’re just getting started there are basic meditations to get going. They also offer wellness meditations for various health conditions, informative videos and a weekly podcast.

Download app: iOS / Android

Synctuition

Synctuition meditation app
Image: Synctuition OÜ

Unfortunately Synctuition only has a few free tracks. We did want to mention it though, because the tracks in question are very effective. The app combines 3D sounds with binaural beats and rhythmic entrainment to help you get into a deep state of meditation faster. It might sound a bit markety, but we’ve tried it and it does seem to work.

So that’s it for the free meditation apps. There are a lot of good applications out there, but for most of them you need a premium subscription to really get something out of it. That said most of them do have a free trial period and a few free tracks to get started. If you want to try it you should definitely check out Headspace, Aura, MyLife, and Inscape.

Ilona Braam

Ilona is a Digital Media Design graduate, content writer/creator and a whole bunch of other things. A few words that would describe her are jolly, creative, nerdy, curious and a bit dark.