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Meditation apps.

11 apps · 4,824 reviews held · 1,465 negative · 2026-09-02 snapshot

The market’s shape

2.5star
How angry
30%
Negative reviews
49%
Room to enter
10 of 11
Willingness to pay

Mostly solved: ads. 8 of 11 apps run below the store’s typical rate on it, while 10 of 11 still carry UX complaints.

4 gaps.

Shares of this market’s 1,465 negative reviews.

UXelevated

7.7% vs 4.9% typical store-wide.

Counted in 113 reviews · 10 of 11 apps · 2.5star mean

What they said · 3 of 113
  • Happier Meditation2star· Aug 24, 2026

    Look of the app is worse. — The latest update makes the text smaller and reduces the visual contrast between text and background. It’s harder for me to see and makes it seem like the app is targeting to a younger audience.

  • Calm1star· Aug 23, 2026

    Less marketing please — First thing I see every time I open the app that I prepaid a year for is a sales pitch. So incredibly lame. And the UI is redundant and totally disorganized. And the fake helping me cues as though it’s a mindfulness app are super annoying. I hate that I bought this.

  • Calm1star· Aug 14, 2026

    Constant frustration — Impossible to get the Premium content to show up. A ridiculous amount of effort to sign in and access the content, even though I paid for a friggin’ year at $70 bucks. An expensive waste of money. No matter how much I did - signed in via email, Apple, deleted and reloaded the app, nothing worked. One time I actually got it to say “Your Premium content is waiting.” And then a

Billingelevated

47.0% vs 30.8% typical store-wide.

Counted in 689 reviews · 11 of 11 apps · 2.5star mean

What they said · 3 of 689
  • Insight Timer: Meditate, Sleep1star· Sep 3, 2026

    values misalignment for the sake of app engagement — I don’t think this app is a healthy meditation app as the developers seem to have forgotten the purpose of it for the sake of selling meditation. When you’re trying to carve out a quiet space for yourself in this chaotic digitally overstimulated world, the last thing you need to do is pick up your phone and log into a social media site. This is

  • Headspace: Sleep & Meditation1star· Aug 29, 2026

    Another paid scam app — $70 to use a meditation app that should be free. Not worth it

  • Aura: Meditation & Sleep, CBT1star· Aug 27, 2026

    Impossible to renew your subscription — I used to have an account, it has disappeared and now I can’t sign up again. I just want to renew for another year but nope. Can’t do it. Guess I’ll go try Calm or another similar app.

Named problems · 4
  • Trial converted without clear consent88 of 689
  • Price judged too high for the value62 of 689
  • Cancellation blocked or broken23 of 689
  • Charge the user never authorised19 of 689

Supportelevated

11.6% vs 7.8% typical store-wide.

Counted in 170 reviews · 10 of 11 apps · 2.1star mean

What they said · 3 of 170
  • Calm1star· Aug 25, 2026

    Beware of billing practices — My wife started with a free account. Recently we noticed they charged our bank card. When we looked through the account further we noticed they have been charging us for the better part of a year every 3 months. Meanwhile their app does not have any billing/account summary. My wife is trying to cancel but their website and lack of customer support is making it very

  • Insight Timer: Meditate, Sleep2star· Aug 20, 2026

    Bigger isn’t better — Still no way to mark the tracks or teachers I don’t like. Bigger isn’t better. Update: Did I just get a pop up about new live yoga right after I started my meditation timer? Yes. Yes, I did. Um, can’t the ads wait until after I’ve done my sitting practice? Updated review: some of the changes are good, but I think now that I've been using guided meditations more I've noticed p

  • Calm1star· Aug 8, 2026

    Misleading Free Trial — They advertise a 30-day free trial, but I was charged for a full year’s subscription on just the 8th day. When I contacted them for a refund, they claimed they couldn’t refund me because Apple wouldn’t allow it. How is it a 30-day free trial if you charge customers after only 8 days? This is extremely misleading. Be very careful before signing up, especially if you only in

Limits & capselevated

2.5% vs 1.9% typical store-wide.

Counted in 36 reviews · 8 of 11 apps · 2.9star mean

What they said · 3 of 36
  • Headspace: Sleep & Meditation1star· Aug 26, 2026

    huge sigh — why do i have to pay for everything like even 3 min videos.. like yeah let me get pass this paywall rq while im actively having an anxiety attack…. Why do u hate poor ppl

  • Calm1star· Aug 16, 2026

    No free options — This might as well be a paid app. Don’t even bother making an account, the entire app is paywalled - front to back. Deleted my account and the app

  • Headspace: Sleep & Meditation2star· Aug 13, 2026

    upsetting — i used to love this app and just recently wanted to try it out again. everything is locked unless you pay. very very disappointing and upsetting

Named problems · 1
  • Core feature locked behind the paywall7 of 36

Also counted

ThemeOf 1,465 negatives
  • Performance193 · 13.2% · 11 apps
  • Login & auth86 · 5.9% · 10 apps
  • Ads69 · 4.7% · 8 apps
  • Sync & data15 · 1.0% · 6 apps
  • Accuracy1 · 0.1% · 1 apps

The tick marks the store-typical rate. A review can mention more than one theme, so these sum past 100%.

Is anyone looking for this?

What Apple and Google complete after meditation apps, in their order.

Who they're for
sleepanxietykidspanic attackskids sleepbusy peoplechildrenbeginners
Google
meditation appsmeditation apps freemeditation apps that are actually freemeditation apps redditmeditation apps for sleepmeditation apps ukmeditation apps for kidsmeditation apps india
App Store
free guided meditation app for wellnessmeditationmeditation app freemeditation for sleepthe mindfulness meditation appmeditation for anxietymeditation for kidsmeditation for panic attacks

Marked App Store phrases are searched, but no app in this market says them in its name. Audiences are what Apple and Google complete after “meditation for” and “meditation apps for”, with the query stripped.

Potential customers

People the apps here do not serve, and what they asked for.

  • Wants lesstoo many features 33 · just a basic one 19 · it used to be simpler 1142
  • Wants it to plug inApple Watch 23

Counted in 1 to 4 star reviews. The small numbers are how many reviews named each thing. What they wrote is in the free trial.

Who’s in it

All 11 apps counted in this market · 2026-09-02.

Aura: Meditation & Sleep, CBT is the biggest app here that has stopped shipping. Last update 6 months ago, at 1,677,816 installs.

Installs are Google's own count, captured 2026-09-06. 6 of 11 apps have an Android listing we could match. A dash means we could not pair the two stores, not that the app is absent from Play. Amber marks an app that has not shipped in over 90 days, the 90th percentile across every market we hold.

What they charge, and what it costs them

Prices from Apple’s public pages; the share counts payment-mechanics language only.

AppMoney complaints
Aura: Meditation & Sleep, CBT$4.99–$69.99 · 7 tiers35.6% of 115
Breethe: Sleep & Meditation$3.99–$89.99 · 3 tiers19.5% of 103
Balance: Meditation & Sleep$11.99–$69.99 · 6 tiers19% of 58
Waking Up: Meditation & Wisdom$19.99–$229.99 · 7 tiers18.1% of 66
Happier Meditation$9.99–$99.99 · 6 tiers12.4% of 105
Calm$14.99–$79.99 · 6 tiers11.3% of 220
Headspace: Sleep & Meditation$12.99–$94.99 · 6 tiers10.1% of 376
Unplug: Meditation$12.99–$69.99 · 3 tiers9.4% of 32
Insight Timer: Meditate, Sleep$1.99–$99.99 · 8 tiers4.2% of 193
InnerNow: Meditation & Joy$14.99–$69.99 · 10 tiers4.2% of 167

What each one owns, where each is exposed

Owns. Massive reach (973,887 ratings), brand name, wide content library

Exposed. 73% negative share — highest anger in category; deceptive trial charges reported repeatedly

Owns. Largest reach (1,972,169 ratings), ambient audio strength, celebrity narrators

Exposed. Charges $79.99 then denies access; zero in-app support path; ads inside paid tier

Owns. Free-tier depth, 444,337 ratings, huge teacher library

Exposed. Feature bloat driving longtime users to quit; saved content wiped by updates

Owns. Lowest anger (14% negative), personalization angle, 120,145 ratings

Exposed. Lifetime membership delivers no more than free tier; instant-refund rejections

Owns. Described as 'life changing' content, 10 IAP tiers up to $69.99

Exposed. 46% negative; rebrand caused lockouts; purchased meditations disappear; support silent

Owns. Lowest anger (15% negative), intellectual depth, premium ceiling $229.99

Exposed. Content perceived overpriced post-intro; founder controversy accelerates churn

The Deep Report on this market

Each rival’s exposed weakness, what not to build, and the call, argued from the same reviews counted above.

Read the Deep Report

Browse the apps behind these counts

Every app we count, with the complaint it runs furthest above the store’s typical rate.

Open the app library

Is there a market for a new meditation app?

11 apps compete on this shelf, holding 4,824 App Store reviews. And the widest unfixed complaint, ux, runs in 10 of 11 of them at 7.7% of negative reviews against 4.9% typical. Those are counts, not a verdict. The page shows what is unfixed, not whether to build.

What do users complain about most in meditation apps?

1. UX: in 10 of 11 apps, 7.7% of negative reviews; 2. Billing: in 11 of 11 apps, 47% of negative reviews; 3. Support: in 10 of 11 apps, 11.6% of negative reviews; 4. Limits & caps: in 8 of 11 apps, 2.5% of negative reviews.

How many meditation app reviews did App Imp count?

4,824 US App Store reviews across 11 apps, 1,465 of them negative. Counted on the 2026-09-02 snapshot, never estimated.

How markets are ranked

We give each market a mark out of 100 for seven things (nobody's fixed it 20 · above the norm 15 · how angry 10 · room to build 15 · room to enter 15 · getting bigger 20 · willingness to pay 5). Then we multiply the marks together. We do not average them.

Averaging lets a market hide one bad problem behind good numbers. Multiplying means one bad mark pulls the whole score down. That is the point. A market you cannot win is still a market you cannot win, however badly it is served.

Each mark has a fixed rule. Nobody’s fixed it and willingness to pay are plain shares. Above the norm maxes out at 4 times the store’s usual rate. How angry runs from star3.0 down to star1.5. Room to enter is what the biggest app does not own. Getting bigger hits 100 at 10% growth. Room to build is different. It is a sweet spot, not a size. A market can be too small to live on, or too big to break into.

If we cannot count something, we leave it out. We never guess it. The score only sorts this list. Every other number you see on a market is counted.

How this is counted

Every number is arithmetic over the reviews we hold, re-counted weekly: nothing modelled, nothing scored. Themes come from a frozen pattern classifier rather than a model reading reviews, so the same review always lands in the same bucket. A market rate is pooled across every app here; the store rate is the same count across 12,728 apps. A complaint is only called a gap when at least half the market carries it, at least 20 reviews are behind it, and the market’s rate is elevated above the store’s, the same cutoff used everywhere on this site, because a problem concentrated in one app is that app’s bug, and a problem every app on the store shares is nobody’s gap.