Anxiety can affect people in various ways, including sleepless nights, feeling sick, panic attacks, and more. Managing symptoms of anxiety can help keep you grounded enough to think clearly about any next steps. The Mind Ease App is our best overall because it's free and caters to anxiety in various ways for different people and symptoms.
Anxiety is an extremely common but nonetheless very disruptive experience. Having anxiety can mean sleepless nights, missed opportunities, feeling sick, and panic attacks that can keep you from feeling like your full self.
Trying one of the apps for anxiety listed in this article may help you cope with and manage your symptoms. Having the tools to confront or embrace your anxious thoughts and feelings can be a great complement to therapy with a professional. It can also provide a sense of empowerment between sessions.
These apps may help manage any symptoms of anxiety or panic you may be feeling. However, they are not a replacement for emergency mental health services or therapy.
If you or someone you know needs immediate assistance, call the Suicide and Crisis Helpline at 988, or visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration for more resources.
Requires subscription: No
Features: Panic relief activities, journaling and mood tracking, personalized self-care lessons, breathing and meditation
Trial period: N/A
Mind Ease is a free app that helps you face and break down your thought patterns, specifically for those who need immediate panic or anxiety relief.
The app has a toolkit available with guided breathing, reflective writing, grounding exercises, and more.
Mind Ease is also designed to help users manage anxiety over a longer period of time. The app offers many different ways for people to manage their thoughts and anxieties through mindfulness, meditation, gratitude journaling, muscle relaxation, writing, and more.
Mind Ease also has daily activities users can complete for a more structured approach to self-care, along with stress management tools and sleep sounds to help you in an all-encompassing way.
The app has also been developed by experts and is based in research, as well as endorsed by the University of Oxford.
Rating: 5/5 (5k+ reviews)
Requires subscription: No
Features: Goal tracking, mood journaling, breathing exercises, mindful content, customize virtual pet, connect with friends
Trial period: 7 days free trial
The gentle approach Finch offers to self-care can be helpful to those who feel more anxiety or pressure by taking care of or making sure they keep a habit or streak going. You can set your goals and habits as personal as you want, and your pet will help you along the way. The free version is robust enough that you may not need the premium version.
Finch is an app designed to help you take care of yourself and manage goals, anxiety, and other challenges. You're assigned a pet when you first join, and by completing tasks, tracking your mood, and answering prompts, you can gain points to help your pet grow into an adult.
This self-care app is a gentle way to keep track of your habits and moods, and the notifications are a non-fussy and encouraging way to keep you going back.
Finch also has a "First Aid Kit" available with meditations, journal prompts, and other grounding tools you can use when you need help with overwhelming thoughts.
Rating: 5/5 (100k+ reviews from App Store)
Requires subscription: Yes
Features: Sleep stories, guided meditations, music, breathing exercises, stretching programs
Trial period: 7 days
Sleep is important for managing stress, but it's also one of the first things to become an issue when you're feeling anxious. Sleep, meditation, and relaxation are in your hands with Calm, a popular mindfulness app. These guided meditations are good for complete novices and seasoned practitioners, and you have your pick when it comes to how long you can dedicate to the app each day.
Calm offers a mood check-in feature that tracks your mood throughout the day and creates a personalized report. In the free version, the app offers a limited number of guided exercises and meditative audio to help relieve stress.
In the premium version, Calm has a section dedicated to stress and anxiety, and one guided meditation called "Panic SOS" for when you're feeling like your anxiety is growing quickly. It also features nature sounds and sleep stories, some voiced by notable figures like LeBron James and Matthew McConaughey.
Rating: 4.5/5 (4.6k+ reviews from Apple App Store)
Requires subscription: No
Features: Games, meditations, progress tracking
Trial period: Free version can be used indefinitely with limited access
Happify uses cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), positive psychology, and mindfulness to help you understand and process your thoughts and feelings through journals, games, and activities.
Based on the questionnaire you answer when you first join, you're prompted to choose a "track" that provides lessons and games for you depending on your goal. These lessons are created by licensed professionals like PhDs, MDs, therapists, and more who can help provide insight on specific areas.
In addition to these lessons, Happify also offers a community hub where you can connect with other users, apps that are meant to help reframe your negative thoughts, journaling prompts, guided meditations, and other educational articles you can read on your own time.
Happify does not have a free trial at the moment, which can make it difficult for folks to understand whether they should spend $14.99 per month for Happify Plus.
Requires subscription: No
Features: Vibration and audio feedback for all tools; breathing exercises, virtual fidget tools, color-by-number option, soundscapes, journaling or venting option
Trial period: 3 day free trial
Stress Ball is an app that uses the phone's vibration and haptic features to keep you grounded while you interact with this app.
It comes with five different tabs you can use to manage anxiety or panic, with a specific section dedicated to immediate relief or help. The tabs are:
Breathe: This tab offers various breathing exercises, and each one is customizable. The app uses the haptic feature to vibrate when to breathe in and when to breathe out so you stay focused on breathing.
Fidget: This screen has six or seven virtual fidget tools with sound and vibration that can help let out and distract any anxious energy you may be feeling.
Feel: This section allows you to choose a soundscape, and the app uses haptic feedback to simulate that soundscape. For example: A rain-stimulated soundscape shows raindrops on the screen, and the vibrations make it feel like it's raining.
Color: If you're feeling anxious, color-by-number in this app may help relieve some stress. While you color in, the phone vibrates when you're coloring which can help soothe your mind.
Reflect: This tab allows you to journal, vent, or rant about anything you're feeling. There is also a StressBot, a virtual therapist based in AI that you can chat to. There are also quotes you can swipe through or look at to help keep you motivated.
No matter which tab you're in, the Stress Ball app plays soundscapes to help you feel calm. You do have the option to turn off the music, audio, and vibrations in the settings.
The premium version costs $5.99 per month, and it includes unlimited access to color-by-number templates, sound- and feelscapes, and unlimited messages with the AI StressBot.
| App Name | Subscription Cost | App Availability | Free Trial |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calm | $14.99/month or $69.99/year | iPhone, Android | Yes; 7 days |
| Finch | Starts at $5.99/month or $39.99/year | iPhone, Android | Yes; 7 days |
| Happify | $14.99/month or $139.99/year | iPhone, Android | No |
| Mind Ease | N/A | iPhone, Android | N/A |
| Stress Ball | $5.99/month or $29.99/year | iPhone, Android | Yes; 3 days |
Anxiety is your body's natural response to stress. For many people, it can manifest in a number of ways, like increased heart rate, rapid breathing, restlessness, trouble concentrating, and difficulty falling asleep.
You may feel anxious and nervous if you're taking a test or starting a new job. However, anxiety can become extreme when it affects your day-to-day life for an extended period of time.
If you have an anxiety disorder, you may feel fear, anxiety, panic, or worry at all or most times. They are the most common form of emotional disorder and can affect anyone at any age.
If you have anxiety, you can get help from a mental health professional who can help you identify the routes of your anxiety and how to manage it.
Talk with a doctor if you're experiencing symptoms like ongoing irritability or sadness, extreme mood swings, social withdrawal, sleeping or eating habit changes, anxiety that prevents you from living your daily life, or anxiety or panic attacks.
Remember, you're not alone and mental health professionals are specially trained to help you. It's also important to remember that using an app isn't a substitute for seeing a mental health professional or taking medication.
When considering different mental health apps for anxiety, it can be tricky to know which is the best one to choose. The truth is that people will benefit from each app differently, so trial and error may be the best way to know what's right for you. Most apps come with a free trial period or a free or low cost plan.
When shopping around, consider what you want out of the app experience, such as guided meditation, relaxation techniques, or an engaging, intuitive way to record thoughts and feelings. Doing this can help you determine which app suits you best.
A number of anxiety apps are on the market, and many of them aim to help ease anxiety in a number of different ways. With the many options available, choose the app that works best for you.
It's also important to keep in mind that some of these apps may not work for you at all. If you find that an app isn't successful for you, consider trying a different one.
It's also important to note that none of the apps listed here are meant to replace sessions with a trained mental health professional.
If you find that you need more mental health support while using these apps, be sure to schedule an appointment with a trained professional.
