You’ve seen them before, they’re everywhere….‘Top 5 best meditation apps’ and other 'best lists'. They are great but they don’t really tell you much about the products. So here we have the two heavyweights of the meditation app world. The two apps that are always at the top of the lists. And are the best ranked in the iTunes chart. The two apps that have had the most investment in them and require the most investment from you. If you want to take meditation seriously, you are going to chose one of these two apps.

What are they?

Both apps are a way for you to learn how to meditate. They have intro packs for you to follow and make progress with. They are great for beginners and intermediates, as they give a lot of instruction and tips on how to make meditation easier and more effective. Of course, meditation is no good for meditations’ sake. You want to notice the benefits off of the meditation matt. Fortunately, they both have useful tools to allow you to do this. Hopefully, you are already sold on the idea of meditation, so I won’t go into much detail of why meditation is good for you. I will just compare the apps.

Gamification of meditation

We love to compete, we love rewards and whether we know it or not, we love gamification. What this means, is that we love to play life like a computer game. Gamification is a way to increase engagement, participation and loyalty through using computer game mechanics. CrossFit has turned the gym into ‘The Sport of Fitness’, NikeRun have done it with running, Giff Gaff have even done it with a mobile phone network.

With meditation you get ‘run streaks’, badges for completion, and rewards from other meditators. Seeing my journey and all my stats is a visual reward that makes me feel like all the time spent meditating is being counted and therefore not lost in the sands of time.

Headspace does gamification better than Calm. With Headspace I can see all the packs I have done and feel a sense of accomplishment. While Calm has a useful way of tracking; it doesn’t make me feel as much of a mediation bawse as Headspace.

Usability

Both apps are incredibly simple. There are very clear guidelines for beginners. There are plenty of packs to explore for experienced meditators. In terms of getting the most out of the app, Headspace wins out. There is a clear path, there are useful guidelines and I know what I have to do to become a better meditator. Calm has so many features and extras that I am sometimes left with FOMO. Perhaps if I had spent as much time with Calm as Headspace I wouldn’t have this problem. If you are someone who will use all the extra music and stories then you may prefer Calm but if you just want to get stuck into meditation and feel supported, then Headspace is the one for you

Comparing the visuals of the apps, Headspace’s bright orange, zesty interface invigorates me and keeps me coming back. Calm is too generic looking. Its nature pictures are cliched. Headspace uses cartoons and makes the esoteric world of meditation more friendly and relatable. Given that so many people come into meditation with a sceptical view of the hippy-dippy stuff, I think Headspace works better.

The Voices of Meditation

Now you may not realise this now, but you are going to develop a pretty deep relationship with one of the narrators of these apps. If, like me, you get to spend 180 hours meditating you are going to get pretty intimate with Andy or Tamara. They are going to be with you in some of your most blissful and emotional moments; so it's pretty important that you like who you are going to spend all this time with.

Andy is the co-founder of Headspace and has a very relaxing, English, zen-like voice, born out of his time as a Buddhist Monk. While Tamara is the head of meditation content at Calm. She delivers your sessions with a lovingly enthusiastic American accent. In the past, Headspace’s instructional videos were of Andy speaking to the camera but they have recently been overhauled with some nice cartoons. While this served to heighten the connection with Andy, the cartoons are easier to gain an understanding of the concepts of meditation.

This is just a personal preference but I prefer Tamara of Calm’s loving kindness when I am trying to relax. I often found myself longing for the sessions to last a bit longer to soak in more of her nurturing tones.

Guidance

Calm has some nice stories that help you understand the hows and whys of meditation. The intro packs are at the beginner level, but it is always good to be reminded of important messages. Calm came with a very simple message, that it’s okay just to sit and do nothing. We have become addicted to progress and productivity. We have forgotten this with all the self-help hashtags and motivational IG photos telling us to #nevergiveup.

There is a great Buddhist saying that you will see this wise old lion telling you. I like to think it’s Aslan and he was actually a Buddhist lion.

This image goes out to all the people who believe they are too busy to meditate. AKA the people who need meditation the most.

The guidance from Headspace is very well structured.

With Headspace, you will do the same meditation technique over a 10 or 30-day pack. This is great for learning these practices, however, I worry that our society’s attention span is so short, people will not stick to it.Headspace is giving people what they need rather than what they want. Calm tends to mix things up more and will be easier for the noob to stick to.

Calm has some lovely nature sounds as well as healing gongs. These things can help to relax you. However, if you are thinking that you want the long-term benefits of meditation, then being able to relax yourself in any situation then the silence that Headspace offers is more useful. Headspace trains you for the outside world whereas Calm gives you the shorter term relaxation that we sometimes need.

As a purist, I would prefer to see people going with Headspace here.

Extras

Calm certainly wins out here. They have loads of bonus features like Sleep Stories, Music for focus, relaxation and sleep plus the options to meditate with just nature sounds for a set time period. They also have lectures by experts in the areas of emotions and meditations etc.

Headspace has a lot more singles focused on things like fear of flying, sports, productivity, anger etc but they are all relatively similar techniques of meditation with different pieces of advice.

What matters most

Headspace has a clear path of progress in meditation. You know where you are going on your 30 day journey and this gamification makes me want to keep coming back and maintain my streak of consistency. Calm has so much variety that you can get a bit lost with what to choose. We make so many choices in our daily lives that it's nice to have meditation decided for me. If you are someone who gets overwhelmed with choice and eventually gives up then Headspace is going to be the one for you. Given that consistency is the most important aspect of meditation, then Headspace’s platform is a big winner here.

STATS

Calm 1 year =£93.99 or £9.99 for 1 month

Headspace is £9.99 for 1 month £83.88 for 1 year

Reviews

Calm - 4.7/5 stars on iTunes from 13.6k reviews

Headspace 4.8/5 from 58.5k reviews