Mental health awareness has become more prevalent in recent years. And, as a result, tech developers and healthcare professionals have created a range of applications to help people take care of their mental wellbeing.
However, with so many choices out there, it can be difficult to know which ones are worth downloading.
To help you out, we’ve pulled together some of the best mental health apps around…
1. Headspace
[Free basic version, in-app purchases for premium features]
Headspace is a mindfulness and meditation app that was created with one singular purpose, “to improve the health and happiness of the world”. If you’re looking for one app that covers many aspects of mental health, then Headspace is a great choice.
This app aims to help improve sleep quality; reduce feelings of stress, depression, and anxiety; and promote focus, productivity, resilience, and creativity.
The most popular features of the app are the guided meditations and mindfulness exercises. Quick and digestible, these are perfect for newcomers to either of these practices, and some take as little as two minutes to complete.
However, there are various other activities to try, such as ‘sleepcasts’ (which involve calming narration and soothing sounds to send you off to dreamland), and guided runs and yoga sessions, which combine physical activity with mental health best practices.
Headspace provides some of its services for free, such as its wellness articles, but lots of the app is paid for.
You can subscribe to Headspace for £9.99 per month, or pay annually at a rate of £49.99 per year. However, there are also a few free trial options, so you can try before you buy.
2. OCD.app
[Free basic version, in-app purchases for premium features]
Described as the “most credible OCD app” by the International OCD Foundation, OCD.app is a simple but effective way for those living with the condition to limit anxiety, improve focus, and self-manage their condition.
At its core, OCD.app works by helping people with obsessive-compulsive disorder to recognise negative thought habits and challenge them with positive ones. When using the app, users are presented with different thoughts. The aim of the ‘game’ is to discard the negative ones by swiping them off-screen, and embrace the positive ones by dragging them towards you.
By fulfilling this simple task, the idea is that this decision-making process becomes unconscious, so that you can quickly discard or embrace similar thoughts when they arise in your everyday life.
The app features over 50 free exercises. Or, by upgrading to the premium version for £68.99, you can access 1000 more.
3. Finch: Self Care Pet
[Free basic version, in-app purchases for premium features]
There are lots of us that are good at looking after others – whether it be family members, friends, or even pets. However, we can often neglect caring for ourselves.
Finch: Self Care Pet is an app that cleverly uses this impulse to direct some of our energies back towards ourselves.
Upon downloading the app, you’ll be asked to name and dress your digital pet. Then, each day, the app asks you to complete various self-care tasks – which can be as simple as going for a five-minute walk or eating a healthy meal. And by completing these tasks, you can earn energy for your digital pet, which it uses to set off on adventures that help it learn and develop.
Put simply, Finch: Self Care Pet helps you to take care of yourself by taking care of something else. It’s a good alternative for someone who finds traditional mental health exercises (like meditation) dry or daunting – and who’s looking for a whimsical and light-hearted way to improve their mental health.
While you can unlock a premium version of the app for £69.99, the basic version of Finch: Self Care Pet is completely free to use and download.
4. Rootd
[Free basic version, in-app purchases for premium features]
If you suffer from panic attacks, you’ll not only know how distressing they can be, but also how they often come without warning. And unfortunately, there’s not a whole lot you can do in the moment to soothe the effects.
Rootd is described by developers as “anxiety and panic attack relief in your pocket” – and its core feature, The Rootr panic button, is designed to give you immediate relief when you feel an attack coming on by presenting you with soothing and reassuring prompts.
Rootd also has a few other tools to help quell feelings of fear and panic, including The Visualizr (which takes you through things like visualisations and guided body scans), and the Breathr (which provides deep breathing exercises).
You’ll also find a journal section to help you track and identify moods, progress, and triggers; and an educational area called ‘Understanding Lessons’. These are aimed to help users learn more about what panic attacks are and where anxiety comes from.
Designed for panic-attack and anxiety sufferers, by panic attack and anxiety sufferers, Rootd features a free and paid-for version.
5. Happify
[Free basic version, in-app purchases for premium features]
Designed to help you “overcome negative thoughts, stress, and life’s challenges”, Happify provides users with various activities, like quizzes and games, to help them break negative thought patterns and build positive ones.
When signing up for Happify, you begin by answering a quick questionnaire so that the app can select a ‘track’ for you. A track is effectively a wellness path, which is designed to help you achieve the goals you made clear in the questionnaire.
Some of these tracks, like ‘Conquer Negative Thoughts’ and ‘Get Energized About Your Job’, are free. However, others – such as ‘Stop the Worry Cycle’ – are only available to premium members. Happify draws on research from various fields – such as mindfulness, positive psychology, and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT).
Subscription prices are currently £13.49, if you pay monthly, or £124.99, if you pay yearly. They also offer a one-off payment that gives you ‘lifetime’ access – though, this will set you back a hefty sum of £449.99.
Happify is a good choice for those who want to take small, actionable steps each day to improve their mental health.
6. Calm
[Free basic version, in-app purchases for premium features]
Like Headspace, Calm is another multi-purpose mental health app that has a wide range of uses – such as helping us to improve sleep quality and focus, and reducing feelings of stress, depression, and anxiety.
Calm features a wide variety of relaxing exercises, such as guided meditation, mindfulness, breathwork, stretching, and movement activities – as well as some more passive ways to help you relax, like nature sounds and music.
The activities are less digestible than Headspace’s (the quickest ones usually clocking in at around 10 minutes) but Calm does seem to have a bit more content for those with previous experience of meditation and mindfulness practices.
Calm is also praised by its user base for its sleep features – one of which is its ‘sleep stories’. These involve silver-tongued celebrities like Matthew McConaughey soothing you into slumber with well-told yarns. They’re great for those who find themselves bothered by intrusive thoughts at bedtime.
From daily meditations to a mood tracker, Calm has lots of features that you can access for free. However, you’ll have to pay to get the full experience. Right now, you can subscribe monthly for £14.99, or yearly for £49.99.
7. Stay Alive
[Free]
Developed by Grassroots Suicide Prevention – a charity that works to prevent suicide in various communities across the UK – Stay Alive is described as a “pocket suicide prevention resource”.
This free, NHS-recommended app is aimed at people who are at risk of suicide and their loved ones – and it provides helpful information such as advice and links to local and national crisis resources.
There are also some other helpful features, including a customisable safety plan, a life box (where you can store photographs and memories that mean a lot to you), and breathing exercises for when you or your loved one is feeling overwhelmed.
To find out more about the impact of Stay Alive, there are plenty of reviews to read through – one of which reads, “This app literally saved my life today and I am eternally grateful 
.”
8. I Am Sober
[Free basic version, in-app purchases for premium features]
I am Sober is a sobriety tracker app that helps you count the days you’ve stayed sober and connect with a supportive community of people who are also on the road to recovery – so you don’t have to embark on your journey of sobriety alone.
I Am Sober is aimed at people with all kinds of addictions – from online shopping to alcohol. Its main feature is the sober day tracker, which encourages you to form a new habit simply by counting the days you abstain from it.
However, it also features other helpful tools, including daily pledges (where you make a commitment to yourself each morning to stay sober for that day) and a daily review (where you can look back on the day and identify any triggers so that tomorrow can be easier).
The app also features a calculator where you can see how much money you’re saving by staying sober, and for new users, a withdrawal timeline, so you’ll know what to expect from the first days/weeks of abstinence.
I Am Sober is free to use, though there’s a Sober Plus premium subscription available, which gives you access to things like improved tracking and the ability to create a private support group. At present, this costs £37.99 per year.
Of course, this app isn’t a substitute for getting professional help. So if you suffer from addiction, and you haven’t already reached out, take a look at this page on the Mind website to find some useful contacts.
9. Moodfit
[Free basic version, in-app purchases for premium features]
Moodfit is a mood tracker that’s designed to help you keep a record of how you’re feeling.
Using tools like mood and gratitude journals, you can log how you’re feeling at regular intervals – which is great for helping you to spot triggers that cause negative emotions.
For example, by looking back over your mood over a number of weeks, you might notice that you feel significantly worse on mornings after you’ve been on a heavy night of drinking. Knowing this, you can make changes accordingly to keep your mental health on track.
Once you learn what affects your mood most, Moodfit has a range of features that you can use to target these causes – such as breathing exercises, educational content, mental health assessments, and more!
Though, it’s worth mentioning that many of these features are hidden behind a paywall. To access them, you’ll need to upgrade to Moodfit Premium, which costs £9.99 per month, £19.49 per three months, and £38.99 per year.
Moodfit was voted best overall Mental Health App by Verywell Mind (the largest online mental health publication in the world) three years in a row. It might be useful if you’re looking to give your overall mental health a boost.
10. BetterHelp
[Free to download, in-app purchases]
Getting professional help is undoubtedly the best thing we can do for our mental health. But there are lots of reasons why it might be difficult to do so.
For example, maybe you can’t find the right therapist or afford the fees, or perhaps you’re struggling to fit a weekly trip to a therapist’s office into your busy schedule.
If any of this sounds familiar, you might benefit from looking into BetterHelp. It’s a great alternative to traditional therapy that can allow you to get the help you deserve as conveniently as possible. BetterHelp is the largest network of licensed, accredited, and experienced therapists in the world – and hopefully, they’ll be able to help you no matter what your situation.
BetterHelp’s service is all online, which means you can access therapy on your own time via instant messaging, phone calls, and video chat. It’s also more affordable than lots of traditional therapy alternatives, as prices start at around £40 per week.
BetterHelp also offers plenty of extra services, such as group seminars and an online journal, which you can try out if you want to.
If you’re interested in BetterHelp, why not download the app today? And to find out more, check out Heathline’s review of the service here.
Final thoughts…
From general wellbeing apps like Headspace to more focused ones like Rootd, there’s a large variety of apps out there that you can use to keep track of your mental health and improve your quality of life.
However, it’s important to mention that unless you’re using something like BetterHelp to access accredited treatment, then mental health apps shouldn’t be used in place of seeking professional help. So if you’re struggling at the moment, it’s important to have a look at what services are available on the NHS website.
For more helpful information on how to improve your mental wellbeing, why not check out the healthy mind section of our website?