How It Works:
When you first download Calm, you’re prompted to sign up for the platform. Once your account is established, the app greets you with a quick breathwork exercise to help get you in that mindful state. From there, it prompts you to answer a series of questions, which helps tailor your experience specifically to you. While the app’s offerings are not as intuitive for beginners, the content is well-organized. It has categories like focus, self-improvement, and sleep front and center for you to easily tap and explore.
Features:
Calm allows you to create the meditation experience you want, with both guided and unguided meditations. With easy-to-navigate categories, you can choose the practice that best suits your needs. Whether it be stress, inner development, anxiety, or sleep, there are plenty of topics for everyone to explore. The app also features a few programs, such as the 7 Days of Calm series, that are designed to help beginners get the most out of the app.
In addition to its meditations, Calm offers breathwork practices to help reset your nervous system. There are also sleep stories to take you on a meditative journey as you drift off, and musical soundtracks for relaxation, focus, and more. One of Calm’s most impressive features, however, is its Masterclass offering, which is led by mindfulness experts such as Tamara Levitt and Elizabeth Gilbert.
Cost:
The annual subscription for Calm is $69.99. This is one of the most affordable options and breaks down to $5.83 per month. Those who wish to subscribe monthly will pay $14.99 per month, which adds up to $179.88 annually. Like Headspace, the app also offers a student plan, at a slightly more affordable price of $8.99 per year. If you love Calm and plan to make meditation a regular practice, you might want to upgrade to the lifetime subscription. With a one-time payment of $399.999, you’ll have access to the app forever.
What Customers Say:
Calm is renowned for its more flexible approach to meditation, with guided and unguided offerings, as well as an impressive Masterclass lineup of excerpts. Its current rating is 4.8 in the Apple App Store, and 4.4 on Google Play, with customers raving about the content offerings, excellent sleep stories, and calming playlists. Many also praise the app for easing their feelings of anxiety and helping promote better sleep. “Calm allows me to find hope in my current predicaments and is amazing at calming me down,” one user notes.
The app is best known as a platform for experienced meditators, but it does have several programs in place designed for people who are newer to the practice. Additionally, there are several free offerings, which you can try without any subscription. While the app does have an excellent kids meditation offering, all of those meditations are behind the paywall—so you’ll need to go the free trial route if interested in testing out content with your kids.
Still want more information? Check out our full Calm App review.