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'Calm' Became Top Meditation App After Apple's 2017 App of the Year Award, 'A Touchy Subject' at Rival Headspace

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ersan191 said:
The amount of money both apps cost is outrageous for what they do - paying more than the cost of Apple Music to access a few meditation tracks, and Calm had hardly any downloads before it won app of the year. I always thought the choice was weird and completely out of left field.
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Agree! App highlights seem more and more to be the product of who knows somebody at Apple. I mean, a calculator was the highlight app a few months ago. Because that needs re-inventing? Nah. The choice was great for Calm, but wow is it expensive.

Boring Books for Bedtime is a free podcast that does relaxed reading that will knock you right out. There's also Sleep With Me; although I personally find its lack of structure annoying, lots of people seem to like it. No credit cards, no personal info, just relaxation.
 
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tys said:
In my opinion Insight Timer is better than either of those and it’s entirely free. I use it at least once a day!

The developers claim it’s the most used meditation app in terms of time spent actually using the app:
“you might be surprised to learn that when Headspace tweeted a record 186,000 hours of meditation in a single June 2017 week, our community meditated for 350,000 hours in the same week”
https://medium.com/insighttimer/theres-an-elephant-in-the-meditation-room-854696eb0967

I think the name is a little misleading, making it sound like it’s just a timer, but it has thousands of guided meditations.
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I've used Insight Timer for quite some years of consecutive meditative days, it’s many hours of insights. To add to all the meditations I did long before I found this app.

Both with only the timer, with own guided meditations, and exploring the always free guided meditations in the app.
Very pleased with it, and see no reason to change. I like their policy.
Also appreciate the community in periods in the app.
 
ipedro said:
I’d like to see Apple develop Breath a little further on AppleWatch. Mental health is just as important as physical health. The physical workout app is very well done and while the Breath app’s idea to use the Taptic Engine to guide you through breaths is fantastic, it could use some sounds and/or guided meditation via AirPods or HomePod. The Breath app should also be given a spot on the Apple Watch’s rings — perhaps a green dot in the centre.
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Calm has one where it’s a one time price for the lifetime. They had a deal on Black Friday and it was 50% off also.
 
Mr. Heckles said:
They (Insight Time) have inApp purchase also. Calm is free, but it also cost money if you want more. I personally liked Calm more and went with it.
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Regarding Insight Timer:
In the App Store it says there are in-app purchases, but I've never been able to actually find them within the app. I would actually like to give them money because I like the app so much :)
 
Mansu944 said:
I don't want to spend .99 (...)
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So you tend to work for free? Or you prefer to get paid for your work?

.99 is close to nothing. You hesitate to spend .99 for an App (which requires skill to build, right) but likely have no issues spending 2, 3 bucks for your coffee-to-go a couple of times per day? Am I the only on who finds this kinda weird?

That said - yes, 12 bucks per month for a subscription is not exactly cheap. This is, though, because I cannot see what value - if any - a "meditation app" could possibly provide
 
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The voice of Andy Puddicombe alone is worth the monthly fee for me.
Not sure what’s up with that but his voice just calms me down like nothing...
Team Headspace over here! :)
 
09872738 said:
So you tend to work for free? Or you prefer to get paid for your work?

.99 is close to nothing. You hesitate to spend .99 for an App (which requires skill to build, right) but likely have no issues spending 2, 3 bucks for your coffee-to-go a couple of times per day? Am I the only on who finds this kinda weird?

That said - yes, 12 bucks per month for a subscription is not exactly cheap. This is, though, because I cannot see what value - if any - a "meditation app" could possibly provide
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How are they working for free if I don't use their App? Lighten up man...
 
The big push I have heard from calm appears to be their audio bed time stories and associated readings. I have plenty of parents who receive their inner peace without a meditation app and they want calm to help out kids to sleep with the stories. Don’t know if headspace has that but no parent has ever spoken to me about it but they have calm.
 
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09872738 said:
Is there really any benefit? I have hard times believing that
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Meditation has been part of Western culture since Meditations by Marcus Aurelias. It appears in Christian, Jewish, Islam, Buddhism and millennial atheism traditions. Anyway - you are probably trolling and I took bait but a time to sit and ponder your world thoughtfully is not some crazy new Age San Francisco invention. No, that’s the magic crystals. Meditation is so normal as to be boring. But don’t tell the young cool kids they are doing something as old as time - might not like it.
 
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jimbobb24 said:
Meditation has been part of Western culture since Meditations by Marcus Aurelias. It appears in Christian, Jewish, Islam, Buddhism and millennial atheism traditions. Anyway - you are probably trolling and I took bait but a time to sit and ponder your world thoughtfully is not some crazy new Age San Francisco invention. No, that’s the magic crystals. Meditation is so normal as to be boring. But don’t tell the young cool kids they are doing something as old as time - might not like it.
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You bore me. Anyone who does not share your opinion is - according to you - a troll? Yeah, sure.

Just in case you didn't realise: religious beliefs are part of ANY culture, even the oldest ones (as far as we can tell); however, this does not mean there is any truth in it at all.

Paraphrasing Voltaire:
If one person suffers from delusions people call it psychosis.
If a large number of persons share the same delusion it is called religion.

In other words: how long a culture exercises its tradition is irrelevant, as it does not prove anything at all.
Of course, anyone is entitled to follow his/her delusions or beliefs if so desired.

That said, this will certainly not stop me from asking questions.
 
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The "market" of calmness. Yes, someone is trying to "grow" the market of "selling" calmness to you, too.

Funny how we are paying for things with our hard-earned money, which bring us the calmness that is already within ourselves, if we just tune in to it.
 
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It's great that these apps are helping people. When I started meditation there were no apps. I did a course at the local hospital and got going that way (MBSR). Eventually I found it helped me to find a group and start learning some of the philosophy and applying that to my life. Stress reduction is an essential start and these apps can help. I think Sam Harris has an interesting app that is probably for more serious practitioners. I heard some tracks from it and it seems worth checking out.
 
Mr. Heckles said:
If you like it, next year for Black Firday look for deals. I got a life time for 50% off. I’ve been using it for a few years and it has helped me a lot too.
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Yep, like I said I did get it 50% off (only $29.99 for an annual membership instead of the normal $59.99) during cyber week, so the nice part of that is I should be able to renew next year around the same time (if I find I am still using it) and hopefully it will be on sale for cyber week once again.
 
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What about Thunderspace, Windy, Sunny,... all great apps by the same developer. They cost 1,09 euro and seem to offer very similar functionality. Much more realistic pricing as I’m not paying more for a meditation app than for my Apple Music...

http://windy.fm
 
I actually really liked both when I tried them as free apps. I use Brain Sync / Kelly Howell mp3 tracks for regular aided / guided meditation.

I did get Calm because they had a year for $29.99, I've been using it mostly daily until I caught a bug the last few days and haven't used it. I enjoy the daily calm in the am and the sleep tracks at night but don't consider it meditation the way I think of meditation, though I haven't really explored the app yet.

I did favor some of the guidance on headspace when I tried it but didn't get an email about a Black Friday sale, sooo...
 
Headspace all the way. Their animations are brilliant.

(Not loving their new Library design tho...)
 
09872738 said:
You bore me. Anyone who does not share your opinion is - according to you - a troll? Yeah, sure.

Just in case you didn't realise: religious beliefs are part of ANY culture, even the oldest ones (as far as we can tell); however, this does not mean there is any truth in it at all.

Paraphrasing Voltaire:
If one person suffers from delusions people call it psychosis.
If a large number of persons share the same delusion it is called religion.

In other words: how long a culture exercises its tradition is irrelevant, as it does not prove anything at all.
Of course, anyone is entitled to follow his/her delusions or beliefs if so desired.

That said, this will certainly not stop me from asking questions.
Click to expand...

Even if you don't believe in the religious aspect, meditation is proven psychologically to bring mental benefits / reduce stress.
 
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