Oak - Meditation & Breathing 4+

Even monks will love!!

This app is simple and straightforward, and so is meditation itself. Meditation is as simple as closing your eyes and concentrating on your breath. You don’t need a lot of guidance or advices throughout this process. I have used apps like Headspace and Calm in the past but found the interface of those apps to be somewhat cluttered and the content overwhelming. That is obvious as they are too much into marketing and keep adding lots of content (basically unnecessary) in order to retain their subscribers and provide them something new everyday.

In order for your meditation practice to be successful, you don’t need to go through a plethora of content or guided meditations, but an app like this which keeps things simple, helps to track your progress (even integrates with apple health), and provides you a soothing experience with it’s collection of natural sounds and minimal guidance while meditating.

I do 15 mins of mindful meditation in the morning before anything else and then 15 mins of loving kindness meditation in the evening. These 30 mins of meditation everyday is doing wonders for me, which I plan to do for rest of my life.

The only recommendation I would make is to release a version for apple watch as well, so we can meditate or breathe on the go without having to take out the phone from our bag or pocket.

Hassle-free app

So I have tried a bunch of meditation apps like Calm and Headspace (HS), but I liked Oak the most, here’s why
1. Free, pay for extras: The basic package is absolutely free of cost. It offers 6-7 options which may seem less, but it’s quite a lot. No subscription needed. Just download and use.
2. Works offline- no need to download sessions like HS.
3. Beautiful user interface- with minimalistic design that beats all apps. Just looking at it puts you in a good mood.
4. Variety of breathing techniques- even in the free version. You can meditate for 3 minutes or 10 mins. You can choose what you want based on the outcome you want. The Loving Kindness one is my personal favourite.
5. Soothing soundscapes to help you feel sleepy. Not as many options or videos as Calm, but good enough.
6. Syncs with Apple Health app - in case you wish to track mindful minutes

My biggest reason for liking this app is that it doesn’t get you to make meditation a habit. It doesn’t pop daily reminders. I find that approach gimmicky and HS and Calm do that a lot. There are a thousand ways to practice mindfulness. Maybe staring at a tree outside your window. Maybe cuddling with your pet. I certainly don’t want an app to define that for me. But on the days I wish to breathe and relax, Oak is just what I need.

Meditate, Breathe, Sleep!

There're lot of apps you can find for the meditation and fitness purposes. The main problem I’ve found is, they’re enriched with lots of features and options. I’m In a concept like, a person who wants to get meditate or to achieve a state of peace, shouldn’t go through lots of tunnels of filters and options. Oak is different from its competitors. Though you’re staying Ad free and with less features, it is easy to get into the real purpose of this App. May be that’s why this app is getting this much 5 star ratings and positive reviews.

My advice: All you need to do is, stay ad free and release less updates with less options. There’s no competition in meditations, and we don’t need any badges too. All we need is to keep calm with Oak. ✌🏻

Developer Response ,

Thank you for the feedback and great suggestions! Happy meditating.