Calm
Calm is a wellness app designed to support meditation, relaxation, and better sleep, helping users lower stress, sharpen focus, and improve overall well-being. It offers a wide variety of tools, including guided meditations for stress, focus, and anxiety, as well as narrated Sleep Stories to promote deeper rest.
Our Verdict
What is Calm
Calm is a wellness app designed to support meditation, relaxation, and better sleep, helping users lower stress, sharpen focus, and improve overall well-being. It offers a wide variety of tools, including guided meditations for stress, focus, and anxiety, as well as narrated Sleep Stories to promote deeper rest. Users can also enjoy calming soundscapes and music from nature or well-known artists, along with breathing exercises to quickly relax in stressful moments.
The app provides a Daily Calm—a fresh 10-minute meditation on themes like gratitude or resilience—plus structured mindfulness programs covering relationships, habit change, and inner peace. Beyond meditation, Calm includes gentle movement and stretching videos, mental fitness masterclasses, and kid-friendly content tailored for children. With offline mode, sessions can be downloaded for use anywhere.
Is Calm worth registering and paying for
Calm can be worth paying for if you use it regularly, since the premium subscription unlocks the full library of guided meditations, sleep stories, music, masterclasses, and offline access, with high-quality content updated often. Many users find it especially valuable for improving sleep, reducing stress, and maintaining a consistent mindfulness routine, and options like the yearly plan or family plan can make the cost more reasonable. However, the free version is very limited, and the app’s pricing is on the higher side compared to alternatives, so it may not feel worthwhile if you only meditate occasionally, prefer simpler tools, or are on a tight budget.
Our experience
As a group striving to reduce stress and improve our mental well-being, we’ve been using Calm, and it’s been a soothing and versatile addition to our daily lives. The app’s comprehensive approach to meditation, relaxation, and sleep has made wellness feel approachable and enjoyable, even for those of us new to mindfulness.
Getting started with Calm was effortless. The app’s sleek, calming interface immediately set a relaxing tone. The Daily Calm, a 10-minute guided meditation with fresh themes like gratitude or resilience, became a favorite ritual for many of us, offering a quick way to center ourselves each day. The variety of guided meditations—covering stress, focus, anxiety, and even relationships—was impressive, with sessions ranging from 3 to 30 minutes to fit our schedules.
The Sleep Stories were a standout, especially for those of us struggling with restless nights. Narrated by soothing voices (including celebrities like Matthew McConaughey), these stories helped us unwind and drift off more easily. The calming soundscapes and music, from nature sounds to ambient tracks, were perfect for creating a peaceful environment during work or relaxation. We also found the breathing exercises, like the 4-7-8 technique, incredibly helpful for quick stress relief during hectic moments.
Calm’s structured programs, such as those for building mindfulness habits or improving inner peace, gave us clear paths to follow, making our practice feel purposeful. The gentle movement and stretching videos were a nice bonus, helping us loosen up physically while staying mindful. For those of us with kids, the kid-friendly meditations and stories were a hit, making it easy to introduce mindfulness to younger family members in a fun way.
The offline mode was a game-changer, letting us download sessions for use during travel or in areas with spotty internet. The app’s integration with wearables and health apps also allowed us to track how our mindfulness practice tied into our overall wellness.
That said, there were a few drawbacks. The free version offers a taste but locks most content behind a subscription (around $14.99/month or $69.99/year), which felt a bit pricey for some of us. While the content is beginner-friendly, advanced meditators in our group occasionally wanted more depth or unguided options. Also, navigating the vast library could feel overwhelming at times, though the app’s search and categories helped.
Overall, Calm has been like a wellness sanctuary in our pockets, helping us lower stress, sleep better, and stay focused with its diverse and engaging tools. It’s made mindfulness feel accessible and rewarding, and we’d recommend it to anyone looking to build a consistent, soothing wellness routine.
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