3-APPS-A-WEEK, issue #5: mindfulness

As we approach the new year and all are in flames of the pre-Christmas rush, we all need a little more peace of mind. This week I’m reviewing some mindfulness apps UI. Whether you’re new here or just joining in, I’m your host, Sofia, I do product management and design at aaply.

App #1: Take a deep breath with Calmaria

*Calmaria is available on iOS and Android for free + the browser-based app.

Questions with no answers inevitably create anxiety. The good news is that there is a simple way to reduce it, just breathe. It works!

Calmaria concept is simple: it is a breathing exercise app for you to keep calm. The mechanics are also as simple as they can get.

• Tap to start
• Follow the count
• You’re done (and, hopefully, more calm)

First of all, I always love myself a naming with a meaning and a little education on the side. But what I love more, is stunning UI.

As you are guided through the exercise you are lead by a stunning minimalistic animation. Besides that everything is based off simple, yet beautiful typography: slogan, instruction, breath count and the current task name and count. Very simple and very effective.

If you want a little bit of spice, you can switch the visuals and “rock the to 80’s theme” as it says in the app :)

There is a variety of presets so you can find the perfect one. In the meantime, I will enjoy my congratulations confetti moment. How simple it is to make a girl so happy…

App #2: Hapday, the happiness app

*Available on iOS for free with in-app purchases

Hapday’s positioning is that it’s an app to become a happy person. Before I proceed to give kudos to their design quality, I first need to address the contents of the app. So, here goes a disclaimer:

Similarly to some reviews on the app store, I wouldn’t suggest an app to people with mental health issues. Some of Hapdays questions and tasks made me feel depressed and anxious. Their design is cute though, so I am here to address that. Maybe it will fit you, but it didn’t fit me too well. Let’s proceed to talk UI interactions and animation.

On the first launch of the app the way the app presents itself is stunning. Extremely well-done animations transitions and the quality of the images themselves in terms of style is awesome.

One of the first things you are invited to do is a little breathing exercise (even my therapist recommended that so I myself say it’s pretty effective). It is presented here very beautifully and super smooth.

Another interaction that has caught my eye is the part where you agree to challenge yourself. This small action of holding the finger to confirm and the animation that follows it is great.

After the onboarding you enter your space with a little task list. Overall the aesthetic of the app is similar to what people do on dribbble, but work there is 98% of the time is imaginary. Here it is applied to a real app and it is something I appreciate.

App #3: Track moods and habits with Daylio

*Daylio is available on iOS and Android for free with in-app purchases

Daylio is self-care bullet journal with goals and mood diary. The concept is explained even better this way by them:

Keep a diary and capture your day without writing down a single word!

When you just set up your newly-downloaded Daylio app, you can choose a theme. I really liked how it shows immediately how the theme will affect the whole interface and you don’t have to just imagine that.

The main thing you do a simple: add an entry and just tap the mood you have to keep track of how the things go for you over the day.

When you do an entry you can track other things like what activities has affected your mood in a way or you can just pick any other things you want to track.

Consistency of using this app is important to the way the best part works: analytics of you progress and how are you doing.

What this stats page is also doing well is that it puts in gaming mechanics in. Besides your graph of mood and other stuff you collect in-app achievements that can motivate some portion of the users to keep it up!

This was 3-A-A-W-#5. If you have any app recommendations for me to review, please DM me on twitter (or just follow, I would love that). Tune in next week to see which 3 apps I will review.

Question of the week which one out of 3 apps would you like to try?