Stress and anxiety can make you feel powerless. If you feel that way, you’re not alone. In the United States alone, over 40 million adults are dealing with anxiety disorders. In a culture where we are constantly online and overstimulated, how should we manage our mental health? While traditional counseling can sometimes be an effective way to get to the root of anxiety, it is not always realistic in today’s busy schedules. Even researching helpful anxiety tools online can cause you added stress with all the conflicting information out there. Acupuncture, meditation, essential oils? It is hard to figure out where to start.
We’re here to ease some anxiety. We’ve put together the best apps to help you thrive every day. You will quite literally have an anxiety remedy kit in your back pocket. Let’s get into it:
1. Sanvello
Price: Free with in-app purchases.
Why it’s awesome: a one-stop-shop for all your anxiety needs.
Sanvello is an app designed using cognitive-behavioral therapy and mindful practices to support people with anxiety, depression, and stress. This app features an array of tools, including a health tracker, guided exercises, goals tracker, and journal to log your dreams and thoughts. You can keep track of your mood and read articles written on Sanvello’s blog.
2. Calm
Price: Free with in-app purchases.
Why it’s awesome: teaches you how to be more present.
Calm is a super user-friendly app for meditation and mindfulness. Calm battles anxiety with deep breathing, relaxing music, and guided meditations. You can choose from hundreds of podcasts to find the right one for you while taking lessons on mindfulness to enhance your anxiety coping skills. This app takes minutes to use and gives you the freedom to sit back and savor the moment.
3. Jour
Price: Free with in-app purchases
Why it’s awesome: positivity packed in the dairy you always needed.
Self-care is essential to overcoming anxiety. Jour is a step by step journal made to nudge you to self-love and happiness. This app uses mindfulness to encourage users to log events or emotions of the day. Jour aims to help you find more clarity about your emotions and how influenced they are by the events occurring around you. Unlike typical anxiety apps, Jour asks users questions to help them better understand the source of their emotions. Through journaling and reflection time, you will soon not be bothered by the latest work crisis. With Jour, you will start to feel calmer and in the driver seat of your emotions.
4. Rootd
Price: Free with in-app purchases
Why it’s awesome: designed for when you’re having a panic attack.
Rootd is an easy to use app geared towards users who are struggling with panic attacks and anxiety. The app has several lessons on what exactly anxiety is, and step by step guided meditations and visualizations. Rootd app even has a panic button for when you are experiencing panic attacks to guide you through with positive self talk and access to a help hotline if needed. Plus the blue monster adds fun and lightness to relieving anxiety.
5. Talk Space
Price: $65/weekly with in-app purchases.
Why it’s awesome: high quality counseling at a price that won’t break your bank.
Let’s face it, therapy can be expensive and hard to block out in our hectic schedule. So many who would benefit from counseling do not have access due to high costs, location, and lengthy wait times for therapists. Talk Space App was created precisely for this purpose. Talk Space matches you with a licensed therapist from your state to talk, text, or video chat five days a week. You can send them messages at any time of the day and hear back at least once a day. Talk Space is an excellent resource for affordable counseling right at your fingertips.
6. Headspace
Price: Free with in-app purchases.
Why it’s awesome: created by a Buddist monk to teach you mindfulness.
Ever had a long day and just needed a breather? Headspace will help you do just that. This app features a free ten-day course for beginners meditation, guiding you toward better health and happiness. The app has a clean and straightforward design, making it easy to use for everyone. Headspace explores your physical and mental health with quick mini reset exercises to keep you calm on a crazy day.
7. Think up
Price: Free with in-app purchases
Why it’s awesome: fights off negative thoughts and motivates you to new levels.
Negative talk can be a huge barrier to managing anxiety. Think up is the perfect self-improvement app focused on positive affirmations to fight stress and anxiety. You can listen to motivating statements, record your voice for affirmations, and listen to upbeat music to lift your mood. A positive mindset can make all the difference in overcoming stress. Think up will set you on a more centered and peaceful path.
8. Sayana: Thoughts & Feelings
Price: Free with in-app purchases
Why it’s awesome: an app that feels like your best friend
Sayana app uses AI to start conversations to help you better understand your emotions. Sayana even gives you coping tools to master your negative thoughts and anxiety. You set a time on the app for talking, and she checks in with you each day. This app’s animation is so cute and leaves you with a sense of comfort after each chat.
9. Shine
Price: Free with in-app purchases
Why it’s awesome: has a support group within a support group.
This female-founded app is all about personal growth through daily meditations and self-care. Unlike other anxiety apps, Shine has a digital community of users you can join to share your stories, get advice, and feel heard. This app is all about encouraging users with anxiety through community building and self-care. If you are feeling alone in your journey through stress and anxiety, this is the app for you.
10. Relax Melodies
Price: Free with in-app purchases
Why it’s awesome: helps you quiet your mind while you gently drift off to sleep.
Sleep can have a huge impact on anxiety. Relax Melodies is an app featuring hundreds of calming music to keep you asleep and better rested. You can choose from nature sounds, bedtime stories, binaural beats, and more.
11. Happify
Price: Free with in-app purchases
Why it’s awesome: gets you on a gratitude train that’s hard to get off of.
Parachute your way into a stress-free life. Happify is an app using games and exercises to knock out negative thoughts. They used evidenced-based research to create engaging activities to identify your stressors and build on your positivity and gratitude. You soon will find yourself clicking positive words on balloons while passively fixing your brain’s negative bias.
The bottom line: While these apps may not cure your anxiety, it’s a great way to get started. Try one or two out for a week and let us know your results!
