What if you made your smartphone your best friend to help you relax, improve your physical and mental health, develop healthier habits, and above all, stick to them?
You may have already noticed that there are many wellness apps on Android or the App Store. We're here to help you make sense of them by sharing our favorite free wellness tools: discover the Horus X team's favorite apps for taking care of yourself every day.
Meditation apps
Petit Bambou
You probably know what this meditation app is called, and for good reason: it's the first French meditation app, launched in 2015.
The free version gives you unlimited, ad-free access to a selection of meditation and breathing sessions, as well as soothing sounds and soundscapes. A great way to try mindfulness meditation from home and incorporate it into your routine to relieve stress!
Insight timer
Another must-have: Insight timer offers over 100,000 free guided meditation sessions, led by experienced teachers.
You'll find sessions to get restful sleep again, learn how to meditate if you're a beginner, and also banish negative thoughts and cope with anxiety.
Headspace
Even though it's a paid app, we couldn't miss out on Headspace, downloaded by over 70 million people worldwide.
The free version is quite comprehensive: it allows you to discover (among others) hundreds of guided meditations on different topics, exercises to relax, fall asleep, or boost your concentration. The duration is limited to 7 days (monthly subscription) or 14 days (annual subscription).
The way: meditation path
The team's little favorite: a minimalist tool focused on meditation.
As the name suggests, it offers you a unique journey with only one meditation at a time : no risk of getting lost in the choice of sessions, you just have to let yourself be guided! Super easy to use, it allows you to refocus and improve your mental well-being simply every day.
Calm
It's all in the name: this tool not only offers to help you clear your mind, but also reduce your stress, improve your sleep or concentration. In short, an all-in-one app that we especially wanted to tell you about for its meditation and relaxation side.
The meditation programs are quite well designed: they last one week, at a rate of 10 minutes per day. You can also opt for off-program sessions, a bit à la carte, to choose according to your desires. But you'll also find stories told by stars (yes, really) to help you relax. Finally, Calm's big plus is its soothing soundscapes: a feature that combines videos and customizable soundscapes.
The free trial version allows you to discover all the content for 7 days. Beyond that, you'll need to subscribe if you want to continue.
💡 Good to know: if you want to know what type of meditation is right for you, we advise you to read our complete guide on the different types of meditation.
Relaxation apps
Respirelax +
Created in 2012 at the Thermes d'Allevard, this app offers relaxation sessions, breathing exercises, heart coherence and stress management. The format is short and practical: 5 minutes a day with a customizable program according to your desires.
Tide
Inspiring quotes, soundscapes, relaxing stories to sleep better, meditations: this wellness app combines several tools to regain inner peace, or simply reduce stress.
Daily health apps
In this category, we chose to group several topics related to health, nutrition, physical activity, and daily well-being.
Digital well-being
Let's continue this selection of digital wellness apps with… Digital well-being. It's no joke, that's really the name of this app: available on Android, it allows you to limit your smartphone usage time. You can set a time at which your phone cuts off notifications and switches to distraction-free mode, in shades of gray. Practical for reducing your usage or boosting your productivity, depending on how you want to use it.
The app also allows you to understand how the digital habits you have every day can impact your life and your well-being: tracking the time spent on this or that app, how often you unlock your phone, the number of notifications received, for example.
💡 Good to know: if you like this type of application, don't hesitate to check out Minimalist Phone. It is also only available on Android (indeed) and it's a paid alternative that might interest you.
Yazio
We now move on to a very well-known nutrition app: available for free on Android and IOS, Yazio combines a calorie counter, 2500 recipes adapted to your diet, and tips for a healthier diet. You'll also find a whole section dedicated to intermittent fasting on the app as well as an analysis of macronutrients, vitamins, and minerals for meals with optimal nutritional quality.
Lifesum
Here too, we're talking about a calorie counter that does its job really well, and even more! Macronutrient tracking according to your preferences and goals, tips for better nutrition, and customizable programs, this app offers a bunch of easy-to-use features for a healthier diet.
Daily Yoga / Daily Yoga
Let's move on to sports with this free app that allows you to get into yoga or simply wait until your next class. Daily Yoga (or Daily Yoga if you are English-speaking) offers different classic yoga programs, but also chair yoga, wall pilates, and other sessions around these disciplines.
The free version offers varied classes, just to give you an idea before going further with the yoga app downloaded by over 60 million people!
Fit and strava for sports
Let's stay on the topic of physical activity: depending on your favorite sport, you'll have the choice between a whole bunch of dedicated apps to define and above all accomplish your goals.
- Google Fit: available on Android, it's an easy-to-use activity tracker, practical and customizable
- Strava: designed to follow you during your hikes, runs, or bike rides, it's a very popular app among athletes. The community side is also very nice to motivate yourself
Lumosity
We continue with training, but brain training this time! Designed to develop your brain capacities, it's a fun tool with daily concentration exercises in the form of little games. You can set a program according to your goals: work on your memory, solve problems, or any other cognitive skill you would like to improve.
Habits, to track and help follow healthier habits
It's really nice to have wellness apps to meditate, relax, sleep well, eat better, or exercise, but the whole thing is to stick to it!
If you want to set up new healthy habits, know that here too, your smartphone can help you. You can simply use the built-in tools (such as health in IOS or Health Connect on Android), but you can also download an app that will go a little further in tracking your habits.
There are several, it's up to you to see what suits you best:
- Habitudes: minimalist and complete, does its job well
- Habit tracker: just the same, but on Android
- Atoms: on Android and IOS. Created by James Clear, the author of Atomic Habits, it's a tool that catches our eye, but we haven't had the chance to test it yet
The best thing is a customizable app, with reminders to keep you on track and above all the possibility of integrating all your other tools for complete tracking.
💡 Good to know: you'll notice that we haven't listed any sleep tracking tools here. That's because we have listed them all in a complete folder right here: the best apps to sleep better, which we advise you to read right after this one!
Final word: wellness apps that change lives
- There are many tools and apps dedicated to wellness: whether for better physical and emotional health, to exercise regularly, help sleep well, or simply adopt new habits.
- To meditate, we advise you to try Petit Bambou, Insight Timer, Headspace, The Way: Meditation Path, or Calm.
- If you are looking for an app to relax, take a look at Respirelax or Tide.
- Want to take control of your diet? Yazio or Lifesum are made for you!
- On the Yoga side, we recommend you try Daily Yoga for personalized routines.
- For sports in general, we advise Google Fit or Strava, complete and effective.
- And to frame all this, a daily habit tracking app can also be useful to you. Habitudes, Habit tracker, or Atoms allow you to follow healthy habits every day.
- Finally, we still remind you that digital well-being is precisely knowing how to disconnect: disabling notifications with do not disturb mode or certain tools like Minimalist Phone or Digital well-being can help you regulate your screen time.
