How to Use Your Smartwatch for Mindfulness Meditation Timers
Use AppleWatch to practice mindfulness
You can change how frequently you get mindfulness reminders, mute mindfulness reminders for the day, change your breath rate, and choose haptics settings.
Open the Settings app 
on your AppleWatch, tap Mindfulness, then do any of the following:
Set mindfulness reminders: Below Reminders, turn Start of Day and End of Day on or off; tap Add Reminder to create additional reminders.
Get or stop a weekly summary: Turn Weekly Summary on or off.
Mute mindfulness reminders: Turn on Mute for today.
Change your breathing rate: Tap Breath Rate to change the number of breaths per minute.
Choose haptics settings: Tap Haptics, then choose None, Minimal, or Prominent.
Get new meditations: Turn on Add New Meditations to Watch to download new meditations when your AppleWatch is connected to power. Meditations youve completed are deleted automatically.
You can also open the AppleWatch app on your iPhone, tap My Watch, tap Mindfulness, then adjust a setting.
MakeUseOf
You've no doubt heard about the benefits of developing a daily meditation practice. Benefits of a consistent, dedicated practice include being less reactive to your own thoughts, less likely to coast through life on emotional autopilot, and more likely to set an intention between stimulus and response. As a result, mindfulness can seriously improve your mental well-being.
While there are numerous meditations apps on the market that you can access on a smartphone, some apps offer watchOS versions, which means you can have a pocket guru with you wherever you go.
So stop what you're doing, take a deep breath, and check out the following apps.
1. Apple's Mindfulness App
If you're already using an Apple Watch running watchOS 9 you might be familiar with the Mindfulness app that comes pre-installed. The app encourages you to dedicate a few minutes every day to center yourself using your breath.
The Mindfulness app is very simple. Simply open the app and tap Reflect or Breathe. By tapping Reflect, you'll be shown a prompt to help you focus your attention for a set period. For example, you may be prompted to recall a challenge you've overcome at some time in your life, and what you learned from the experience.
By tapping Breathe, you'll be able to train your breath by following an animation that appears on your Apple Watch that grows as you inhale, and shrinks as you exhale.
If you need to change any settings, simply open the Settings app on your Apple Watch, then tap Mindfulness. From here you can adjust a variety of settings, including mindfulness reminders (e.g. start or end of each day), whether you receive weekly summaries of your progress, and change your breathing rate (number of breaths per minute).
If you have an Apple Fitness+ subscription, you can also listen to guided meditations on the Apple Watch.
2. Headspace
Headspace is a popular mindfulness and meditation app that offers a variety of mental exercises to help you manage stress, induce sleep, and improve focus. The app can be used on a variety of devices, including the Apple Watch.
Like most apps on your Apple Watch, simply download the app on your iPhone and sign up for an account. Once you've done that, the app will automatically be installed on your Apple Watch.
You can then use the app to access guided meditations and other mindfulness exercises directly from your watch. By using the app on your Apple Watch, you can set a timer for your daily meditation, track your total meditation time, display your daily meditation streak, set reminders to meditate, and monitor your heart rate.
Download: Headspace for iOS (Free, subscription available)
3. Calm
Calm is a popular mindfulness and meditation app that aims to help you improve your health and happiness. The app offers a variety of mental exercises to help improve your sleep, reduce your stress, enhance your focus, or avoid feeling overwhelmed.
Like Headspace, Calm can be used on a variety of devices, including the Apple Watch. Some of the most useful features of Calm include the 10-minute Daily Practice, which is perfect for those who are new to meditation.
Daily Practices come in two forms: Daily Calm and Daily Trip, each with its own meditative flavor. By using the app on your Apple Watch, you can also access Calm's library of breathing exercises and follow along with morning and evening stretch routines.
Download: Calm for iOS (Free, subscription available)
4. Ten Percent Happier
Ten Percent Happier is a meditation app created and managed by Dan Harris, a journalist who, after experiencing a panic attack live on TV, dedicated his life to exploring the world of meditation and mindfulness to cope with stress and improve well-being. It's a great iOS app for self-coaching and care.
The app is available on a variety of devices, including the Apple Watch. It's designed for beginner and advanced meditators alike, providing a wide range of resources to help develop a regular practice.
By using the app on your Apple Watch you can time your meditation and follow along with the Daily Dose (the app's daily meditation practice), Quick Hits (popular guided meditations), and meditation talks (15-minute inspirational podcasts).
Download: Ten Percent Happier for iOS (Free, subscription available)
5. Insight Timer
The award-winning Insight Timer offers many useful features for meditators. The app includes a wide variety of guided meditations and mindfulness exercises, as well as a social network for connecting with other meditators. It is available for both iOS and Android devices and is worth checking out if you want to improve your well-being.
The Apple Watch version of the app includes several useful features. Like other apps on this list, Insight Timer offers a basic meditation timer as well as reminders, but also offers yoga and meditation courses that you can access from the watchOS app.
Download: Insight Timer for iOS (Free, subscription available)
6. Spotify
While not a dedicated meditation app, Spotify offers tremendous value for those looking to practice mindfulnessespecially for people who already use the app for podcasts and music. Spotify offers a vast library which, you may be surprised to learn, includes a variety of meditation and mindfulness content.
Mindfulness content that you can access from your Apple Watch includes guided mediations, ambient music, and nature sounds that can all be used to supplement a sit.
Spotify also has a variety of playlists and podcasts dedicated to meditation and mindfulness, including content produced by independent creators and meditation teachers who share their own guided meditations on Spotify.
You can find meditation content on Spotify using the search feature. Content that might be of interest includes Mindful Meditations by Mindful.org, the Meditation Life Skills podcast, and the Insight Hour Podcast with Joseph Goldstein.
Download: Spotify for iOS (Free, subscription available)
Find Inner Peace with These Apple Watch Meditation Apps
There are many ways to find inner peace with the help of your Apple Watch. At a minimum, you should be using the Mindfulness app to help center yourself every day and focus on your breathing.
If you're looking to take your practice to the next level or need help making it a habit, you should download one of the many meditation apps that can lead you through guided meditations with daily practices designed for beginners.
Finally, if you're more advanced, consider checking out one of the apps such as Insight Timer or Spotify to listen to dharma talks and podcasts that can take your practice deeper by teaching you about the philosophy behind it. Learning about Buddhist philosophyeven from a secular perspectivecan lead to some of the most meaningful insights you can have. Whatever you do, don't forget to breathe.
Manage Your Mindfulness with Samsung Health
While many look forward to the cooler weather and the sight of falling leaves in autumn, its easy to get stressed out as summer vacation season winds down and back-to-school planning and the daily grind begin again. Samsung Health[1] can help keep away the post-vacation blues with a suite of meditation and mindfulness features that are designed to help you manage your body and mind in collaboration with Calm.
Samsung Health recently expanded its language support of its Mindfulness service in collaboration with Calm[2], the number 1 sleep and meditation app. Now more people can easily access a variety of guided programs in different languages, from English to German, French, and Spanish. To make sure you stay relaxed this season, here are some helpful tips for using Samsung Health to manage your stress.
Make Time for Mindfulness
When stress levels rise, meditation and mindfulness practices are a great way to unwind. Studies have shown that mindfulness can improve your overall well-being, reduce anxiety and depression, and even improve physical health.
Mindfulness techniques include everything from quiet meditation, breathing exercises and directed attention. Through the Samsung Health app, you can enjoy a variety of mindfulness and meditation activities to help you get back into the swing of work and school.
Keep Calm and Carry On
Just open the Samsung Health app, select Discover, and tap Mindfulness. From there you can select guided meditation programs, Sleep Stories, and a wide selection of relaxing music. And thats not all using Galaxy wearables[3], like the Galaxy Watch Active, you can pause and play meditation sessions and measure your stress levels before and after to see how much your stress levels have improved.
MakeUseOf
The increased focus on prioritizing mental health and self-care has led to the creation of dozens of guided meditation apps. These apps give everyonefrom meditation newbies to prosinstant access to resources and guides to help them with their meditation journey.
Calm, one of the most popular meditation and mindfulness apps, has features designed to help you fall asleep, reduce stress, and practice positive mindfulness.
Lets explore how this app can help you prioritize your mental health and improve your wellness.
What Is Calm?
Calm is an award-winning app for sleep and meditation. It aims to help walk you through mindfulness meditation with the help of technology.
Calm features music, scenes, courses, stories, and meditations to help you on your journey to becoming more happy and healthy. You can use Calm to help you achieve many wellness goals, such as the following:
- Improve your sleep
- Reduce your stress
- Enhance your focus
- Avoid feeling overwhelmed
- Build or improve on your skills
Calms library offers a wide range of content organized into themes like Stress, Self-Care, Inner Peace, and Relationships, allowing you to choose specific content depending on what you need.
Users can access guided meditations and other features on Apple and Android devices or on the Calm website.
Download: Calm for Android | iOS (free, subscription available)
Best Mindfulness Features of Calm
The Calm app includes a wide variety of features and activities that you can use to practice mindfulness and add to your wellness routines.
Daily Practice
Calm releases a new 10-minute meditation, called a Daily Practice session, each day. These short meditations focus on various concepts that beginners and pros can use to guide their meditation.
Daily Practice sessions include two types: Daily Calm and Daily Trip. The former is led by Tamara Levitt and is more heartfelt, earnest, and grounding. The latter, which is more adventurous but still casual, is led by Jeff Warren.
You can find daily Practice sessions under the For Today section of the app.
Meditations
Calm contains a vast library of guided meditationsthey're its central feature. Meditations vary in length and range from 3 minutes to 30 minutes. Some are stand-alone sessions, while others are part of a course or series.
You can easily navigate to and select a meditation of your liking by tapping one of the categories, like Sleep, Anxiety, Emotions, Work, and Relationships.
Calm Kids
Calm Kids is a separate category in the app that contains stories, lullabies, and meditations designed for kids. The feature comprises content from Thomas and Friends, Trolls, the Minions, and others.
Related: The Best Calming Apps to Relax, Destress, and Clear Your Mind
Calm Music
Calm Music contains tracks that are specially curated for Calm. These come in various lengths, ranging from 10 minutes to more than an hour. Some include vocals, while others are instrumentals or mixes.
Calm Body
If youre into mindfulness exercise and movement, the app offers Calm Body, a collection of 10-minute sessions that aim to help you release body tension, relax through movement, and recharge your mind.
Calm Body includes several sessions that you can squeeze in between appointments and other items in your schedule. Examples include Back Care, Morning Wake Up, and Evening Wind Down.
Sleep Stories
Sleep Stories contain a range of stories from categories such as Nature, Fiction, Trains, and Non-Fiction. These stories are designed to lull listeners to sleep.
You can also use Calms Nap Stories, which last about 30 minutesjust enough for a quick nap.
Calm has stories told by over 50 different narrators, including Harry Styles, Kate Winslet, and other popular artists. The app adds a new story every week.
Breathing Exercises
Deep breathing exercises can help you relax your body and mind, feel more energized, and help you prepare for the rest of your day.
Calm offers six kinds of breathing exercises that use different breathing techniques to target different goals. For example, Restore aims to bring back your energy, while Energizing aims to boost your alertness level.
Related: Meditation and Relaxation Apps to Beat Stress and Anxiety
Meditation Timer
Once you become more comfortable in your meditation routine, you might realize that you no longer need guided sessions. You might even become distracted by the apps sights, sounds, and narrations.
If you simply need a timer for your own mindfulness practice, Calm has both a timer and an open-ended meditation tracker.
For the Timed Meditation feature, you can set up a fixed period for your meditation, and the app will use a gentle bell chime to tell you when the time is up.
On the other hand, choose an Open-Ended Meditation to keep time while gentle bells chime at specified intervals to let you stay present with your meditation.
The Spark
As the name implies, The Spark aims to spark your interest, engage you, and give you a fresh perspective. This feature includes bite-sized recordings of information between host Steve Goldbloom and different people, including thought leaders, athletes, and entrepreneurs.
While most of Calms features are accessible through the web and mobile apps, The Spark is only available in the mobile app.
Calm Masterclass
Calm has partnered with renowned experts in their fields, like teachers and authors, to give exclusive lessons in a series called Calm Masterclass.
While each Masterclass includes a free introductory video that anyone can view, only those with an active Calm subscription can access the entire series.
These audio classes dig deeper on topics like stillness, sleep, addiction, gratitude, screen addiction, and parenting.
Calm Free vs. Calm Premium
You can download Calm for free and use its core features, or purchase a subscription to Calm Premium to gain access to more activities and content.
There's also an option to purchase a lifetime license if you see the app as a potential long-term companion on your wellness journey. And families can share a premium subscription at a special rate.
Calm offers a free trial that lets you test its full feature set and decide whether it's right for your mindfulness routine.
If you decide to stick to the free account, you can still access some features, including daily check-ins for the eve like gratefulness, sleep, and reflections, clocks for timed and open-ended meditations, and select guided meditation sessions.
Tapping Technology For Better Mental Health
Mental health is an essential aspect of human health that's worth prioritizing. And meditation is an excellent wellness practice that can help you slow down, focus at the moment, and drown out the noise.
With many features that you can incorporate into your day-to-day mental health practice, Calm is one of the best apps that can you can use on your mindfulness journey.
