What users complain about in meditation apps.
Technical reliability issues overshadow all other friction points, including monetization and user experience design problems.
2,542 reviews · 14 apps analyzed · as of June 18, 2026
App stuck on loading screen or won't load content
Mentioned in 34% of complaints across the 14 apps we analyzed in meditation apps — 12 of 35 counted.
Every complaint, ranked by frequency
Each theme’s share of the counted complaints, with a representative review.
App stuck on loading screen or won't load content
“This app is WONDERFUL….. when it works. Lately it’s been very buggy and takes many minutes to load and often have to kill the app and start over a few times to get it to load. This happens DAILY. If it weren’t so buggy it would get five stars. The content in the app is…”
Ads and pop-ups cannot be dismissed or are excessive
“Two pointless dialog windows appear within the app that I have to click through every single time a session ends and then an ad appears that I have to wait for. Plus there’s always an ad at the top of the app and there’s no premium version, so there’s no way to get rid of them.…”
Forced repetitive questions and unskippable onboarding
“Do you want to be treated like a child with unskippable questions about upselling disguised as concerns for your mental health when you open the app? Download this and enjoy the mindless rage that accompanies you as you are forced to do Data Mining chores for this app before you…”
App crashes when accessing specific features
“Updated today and now the background sounds are not working for me. None of them work. I have the background sound volume turned all the way up and nothing. This is the 2nd major bug I’ve experienced. Really not worth the price paid.”
Aggressive upselling and subscription dark patterns
“I used to love this app, I had subscribe to it annually at one point, and also at other times just purchased meditations, mostly from Michael Stone. Now, all of the things that I purchased are behind a pay wall, they are locked and I cannot listen to them anymore, even though I…”
Login failures and account access issues
“I signed up to use this app over a month ago. I have never been able to login. It says that my email is not a registered email address. They have charged my credit card twice. I sent an email to their support email address over a week ago and still no response.”
Timer functionality broken or incorrect time counting
“This app is glitchy, the timer doesn’t even work properly. You’re better off buying some sort of audio from iTunes for $1.29 and looping it with a timer. It’s annoying that basic functions don’t work properly. It’s pretty ironic that a “meditation” app can make you agitated due…”
Frequently asked
What do users complain about most in meditation apps?
The most common complaint is "App stuck on loading screen or won't load content" — 34% of analyzed complaints across 14 apps.
How many reviews did AppImp analyze for meditation apps?
2,542 real App Store reviews across 14 apps — frequency-ranked and counted, never estimated.
What are the top complaints in meditation apps?
1. App stuck on loading screen or won't load content (34%); 2. Ads and pop-ups cannot be dismissed or are excessive (17%); 3. Forced repetitive questions and unskippable onboarding (14%); 4. App crashes when accessing specific features (14%); 5. Aggressive upselling and subscription dark patterns (9%).
This is the what. The Deep Report is the why.
Root causes behind each complaint, which competitor has already solved it, and whether the gap in meditation apps is still open — the part a model can’t reconstruct.
Every figure above is counted from real, public App Store reviews — never estimated, never LLM-invented. 2,542 reviews across 14 meditation apps.