Self-care is one of the most important aspects of a healthy lifestyle. When you take care of yourself, you’re able to better take care of those around you.
But what happens when you don’t have time for a full-blown yoga session or an hour-long meditation session? That’s where self-care apps come in! These apps provide access to wellness practices right at your fingertips.
So, take out your phone and give a few of these a try, go with the ones that resonate with you the most. Trust your intuition that you know what you need best.
Apps to Help with Self-Care
1. Headspace
This app offers guided meditations, sleep sounds, and exercises to help manage stress and increase mindfulness. It also includes special series focused on specific goals, like improving relationships or increasing creativity.
Paying only $12.99 a month, my favorite series to date are the ones geared toward BIPOC communities and meditations around the theme of body positivity.
Where can you find it: Apple, Youtube, Google Play
2. Finch
With the help of an interactive virtual pet, Finch can change how you take care of yourself. It’s a fun and easy way to complete small tasks for your daily wellness routine while also fitting in with whatever goals or reminders are most important to you to maintain at any given time!
Two months into using this, I found that the virtual pet slowly started rewiring my negative thoughts and occasional days where I felt least motivated to do anything, into more positive and productive moments where I could check off small tasks for self-care.
Where can you find it: Apple, Google Play
3. I am
Greeted with self-esteem and confidence-based affirmations each day, this mental health app promotes personal growth and positivity.
It also includes unique features where you can personalize your background, and add their widget directly to your phone. Plus I am app offers effective approaches to reinforcing affirmations that I don’t see often on apps for self-care.
Where can you find it: Apple, Google Play
4. Medito
Get this, Medito is a 100% free daily meditation app that you can use to help reduce stress, improve focus, and enhance overall well-being. And with that comes a plethora of fantastic offerings, like breathing exercises, relaxing sounds, daily meditation exercises, and more.
Started out of the co-founder’s own bout with depression, this free self-care app has been praised for its simplistic and user-friendly approach to daily mindfulness practices. I highly recommend that you give it a try for those day-to-day moments when you need a little more support.
Where can you find it: Apple, Google Play
5. Insight timer
Insight Timer offers a variety of free meditations for both beginners and experts alike. The easy-to-navigate app features an extensive collection that can be modified to suit your needs with ease, whether it is calming or focus-enhancing meditation techniques or specific meditation practices like loving-kindness or self-compassion, this app offers a lot of options for the everyday user.
Where can you find it: Apple, Google Play
6. Calm
Similar to headspace, Calm is an app that offers guided meditations and sleep sounds. It also includes calming exercises to reduce stress and anxiety, along with bedtime stories for adults.
If you’re not completely sold on it, the app is free for 7-days and you’ll be able to immerse yourself in their extensive library of meditations and sounds before deciding if you want to pay for the subscription.
Where can you find it: Apple, Youtube, Google Play
7. Gratitude, journal affirmation
One of the few journal apps on the list, Gratitude and journal affirmation allows you to build habits around affirmations and journaling. Some of the distinct features that set the Gratitude app from others is that you have the option to add music and your voice to your affirmations.
Can we just pause for a second and reflect on how amazing it is to have the option to add personal touches like that? Inside the app, you’ll also find this meditation journaling section that guides you through your daily life with prompts and self-reflection.
Where can you find it: Apple, Google Play
8. Balance
With 3+ million customers using the Balance app, it’s safe to say that it’s a favorite amongst the self-care app community. As part of Balance’s mission to “increase access to mental wellness tools”, you can get your first year for free by simply answering a few biosocial questions and setting up a profile for yourself.
This app offers a personalized self-care plan that covers ground on 5-minute meditations, stress reduction techniques, and strategies to help improve your mood. The free one-year subscription alone should prompt you to give Balance a try.
Where can you find it: Apple, Google Play
9. Smiling mind
The Smiling Mind app is the perfect way to take care of your mental health. Listen as meditations are guided by soothing voices, partake in mindfulness programs, or even track your mood throughout the day.
Created by psychologists and educators, Smiling Mind is a non-profit organization that aims to bring mindfulness into mainstream culture for all ages. If you’re wondering if there is a free version to experience over 300 meditations in their library, you won’t need to because this app is 100% free.
Where can you find it: Apple, Google Play
10. Liberate
“Supporting daily meditation app for the Black experience”, the Liberate app believes that meditating can be a liberating experience. I got the immediate feeling after listening to one meditation that they also believe when we express ourselves with our own medicine, we are able to heal and become more at home in the process of living life.
It’s such a fundamental right of ours to access this kind of healing which benefits BIPOC communities. You can choose to pay $9.99 per month or $71.99 a year to access all of their meditations, but you can try their 7-day free trial to see if the app resonates with you.
Where can you find it: Apple
Self-Care meets healthy productivity
Incorporating self-care apps into your daily routine can have a positive impact on your mental and emotional well-being. I’m happy to see how the self-care community has evolved to include various forms of meditation, journaling, and affirmations.
Whether you’re looking for a free or paid option, there are plenty of options to choose from on this list. What self-care app will you download today?
