Calm is a leading mental wellness and mindfulness app designed to help users manage stress, improve sleep, and enhance overall mental health. Developed in 2012 by Alex Tew and Michael Acton Smith, Calm has garnered over 100 million downloads and more than 1.5 million five-star reviews.
Key Features and Functionality
Meditations
Calm offers a vast library of guided meditation sessions, categorized into themes such as sleep, anxiety, stress, work, relationships, and more. These sessions range from 3 to 30 minutes and are available as stand-alone sessions, courses, or series. Beginners can start with the introductory programs “7 Days of Calm” and “21 Days of Calm” to build a strong foundation in meditation.
Sleep Resources
The app is renowned for its sleep-focused content, including:
- Sleep Stories: Bedtime stories narrated by celebrities like Harry Styles, Matthew McConaughey, and LeBron James, designed to help users fall asleep.
- Sleep Meditations: Guided meditations specifically tailored for falling asleep.
- Sleep Music: Curated soundtracks for relaxation and sleep.
- Soundscapes: Unique soundtracks that mimic specific scenarios or settings to aid in sleep.
Breathing Exercises
Calm features six types of audio breathing exercises: Relax, Balance, Restore, Focus, Energize, and Unwind. Users can customize the volume, speed, and duration of these exercises, ranging from 1 to 60 minutes.
Music and Soundscapes
The app includes hundreds of curated soundtracks categorized into focus, lullabies, relax, sleep, soundscapes, and nature melodies. Users can also customize background music and sounds, such as rain on a window or a campfire, to enhance their relaxation experience.
Daily Calm
This feature offers a new 10-minute guided meditation every day, focusing on different wellness topics. Premium users can access previous sessions, while free users can access highlights from popular Daily Calm sessions.
Calm Masterclasses
These are deeper discussions on mindful learning, taught by experts in the wellness field. These masterclasses provide advanced insights and techniques for mental wellness.
Additional Features
- Panic SOS and Body Scan: In-the-moment calming exercises for acute stress or anxiety.
- Mood Tracking: Users can track their mood over time to monitor their mental health progress.
- Calm Body Program: Easy movement and stretching exercises.
- Calm Health: A clinical health offering that includes self-screening for anxiety and depression, medication tracking, and the ability to share information with healthcare providers.
Accessibility and Plans
Calm is available for download on iOS, Android, and desktop devices. While some content is available for free, a premium subscription unlocks the full library of meditations, sleep stories, music, and other features. Subscription options include monthly, yearly, and lifetime plans, with discounts available for students, teams, and family plans.
User Experience
The app boasts an easy-to-use interface, regular updates with new content, and personalized recommendations based on user goals. It also includes features like meditation reminders, kid-friendly content, and real-life visuals and nature sounds to enhance the user experience.
Overall, Calm is a comprehensive mental wellness platform that offers a wide range of tools and resources to support users in achieving better sleep, reducing stress, and improving their overall mental health.