Smiling Mind: Meditation App 4+

Wish I found it sooner

Tried this app a few days ago and have found it to be amazing. Felt instantly calm following the first session and looked forward to the next. Amazing amount of programmes and all free with no annoying ads. Choice of male or female voice, choice of lesson length, good for when you have less time and you are also able to save favourites for easy access. Like that you can choose to have music at the end of the session if you want to meditate for longer. It makes you focus on breathing and being aware of what your mind is doing, easy to forget to pay attention to these things when everything else is going on, 5 minutes out of your day can make a difference to your wellbeing. I’ve had a paid for app before but this is so much better. Thank you!

Started well, then collapsed

Initially was really pleased to find a free, simple meditation app, but things quickly got frustrating. After a couple of weeks, the app routinely signed me out and I had to keep entering and saving new passwords until in the end I could t remember them and the very act of accessing the app was fraught and so defeating the object. It seems quite glitchy after an initial period of finding voices on the app not annoying- it was all just nicely low key and there was none of this weird lack of speaking ability you get on some other high profile apps. Sad to part company with this, but it’s become too faffy to access, often late at night when I’m trying to sleep. All it says is ‘your session has expired’ when I’ve only just signed in, plus the swirl of doom appears and nothing loads once signed in, which is the their problem. Plus, during meditations I found the recordings randomly stop. I removed anything which might be overloading my phone and still the app didn’t work. It could be really good if these problems were sorted out. I liked the lay-out and the subject areas and types of meditation-use being laid out so I hope they manage to fix them.

Developer Response ,

We are glad to hear you largely enjoying our app. We are sorry that this issue is effecting you, we are aware of the bug causing you to keep logging in and working to resolve it as soon as possible! Thanks for hanging in there while we work on it.

EDIT: A fix has been rolled out for this issue and you should not be logged out of the app at random anymore. Please contact info@smilingmind.com.au if the issue persists.

Best I've found

At 67 years old, and with over 40 years of seeking (hoping, wishing and, occasionally working towards) enlightenment or at least becoming a better human, I've tried a few meditation practises. Man, am I glad to have found this! I pretty much like everything about this app, the simplicity of presentation, a guide voice devoid of smugness (why do so many self help or wellness "guides" sound so bloody pleased with themselves!) the wide range of content and the layout, to name but a few. I've only just started the programme, 10 sessions so far, but this feels like one I'll keep. I'll edit this review after a couple of months with an update. Big thanks to the people behind smiling mind!