App Profile – Sway

Sometimes subtlety is the best medicine.

Meditation is experiencing a bit of a moment. What may have once been dismissed as eastern mysticism for hippies, this calming ritual has a struck a chord with a new generation yearning for a respite from an always-on culture. Having hit mainstream acceptance, meditation has grown well beyond zen retreats and into our offices, schools and, increasingly, mobile devices.

Out of the new crop of meditation apps, Sway stands out. Created by the developers behind the hit game Monument Valley, in collaboration with the wellness company Pausable, Sway is a beautiful mobile experience that helps you calm your mind by moving – or, perhaps, swaying – your body. While apps such as Headspace boast a huge library of guided meditations and lessons, Sway instead aims to build your meditiation practice through a minimalist, hands-on experience.

So, what can we learn from Sway?

Show the Value

Mobile attention spans are thrifty, and a user will close the app and never return if they don’t see immediate value. While Sway has an element of gamification, it’s secondary to calming the mind as quickly as possible, as the user is immersed in ambient sounds and animations only moments after launching the app.

Leverage Mobile Technologies

Rather than relying on traditional guided meditations, Sway uses the phone’s gyroscope and accelerometer to respond to subtle body movements and guide the user into a meditative state. And although Sway features beautiful animations alongside ambient tones, this is an app that can — and perhaps even should — be used with eyes closed.

Focus on Learning, not Earning

Gamification needn’t be a dirty word. In fact, it can be subtle and intrinsically motivating. There are no high scores, streaks or power-ups in Sway. Instead, the focus is on personal growth as you pass through stages with names like “Discovery”, “Balance”, and “Harmony”. As with meditation itself, there’s no real destination in Sway.

It should be no surprise, then, that Sway was met with ethusiam from the MUX panel. “I have never seen an app successfully accomplish movement-based meditation the way Sway has”, said one of our panelists. ”From the beautiful music, to the changing of gradients and planes as you scroll through different levels, Sway has focused on the small things that, when added up, form an experience unlikely to be forgotten.”

Namasté.

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The 2018 MUX Awards are open until June 27th