Meditation apps: OAK vs HEADSPACE

Chances are that if you are interested in starting a meditation practice you'll have the bright idea to search for an app for that! I mean, there's an app for everything, why would this be different?! So without further ado...let's start the:

The main app you might find is HEADSPACE. Everyone is on it or talks about it or wants to use or tries or whatever. You heard of it. You might have even installed it. It's a good app.

The first 10 lessons are free, you get the gist and it's "fun". They also have cool animations.Then you can expand in different directions based on what you want to to use meditation for. Of course, it costs money. BLEAH! Abour 13$/month if you pay monthly.
The best part is that it is available on iPhone and Android and web! so it's the simplest option.

The lessons itself are easy to follow, the voices are serene and generally speaking there's nothing really wrong with it. I used to use it and I recommended. But honestly, I do not want to pay for mindfulness. I believe mindfulness and meditations are things that should be free. Guided meditations might be worth paying for at first...and that's what Headspace does well, but not 13$/month well. Maybe a month or two.

That's why when I found this new meditation app called OAK, I was intrigued.
Before I get you too excited about this app ( spoiler alert: I love it! ) please know that it is only available on iOS right now. I have no clue why and it bothers me as well but this is it.

The main selling point of this that it's free forever. But for me the big difference is that the level of details is stunning.
The looks of it is great and calming and everything seems to happen a little slower than normal. It is created by Kevin Rose and he talked a little about it in a podcast with Tim Ferris and I was impressed by his attention to all kind of small things that really matter. For example: chimes. When it starts or ends the session you will hear a chime that can be chosen from a loong list. Is rather cool.

Besides the guided meditation which are similar to one in Headspace, you also have some breathing exercises and some specific meditation like "Loving Kindness". But, the good thing is that the unguided meditation are really good. Now you'd think: Unguided is mainly a timer right? Do I need an app for that?

No.

But also.

Yes. What it does is that it has some really light chimes from time to time to remind you that you're not just sitting there thinking over all the past mistakes but actually meditating which is...for most...focusing on the breath. I really love this feature.

Finally, there is a little gamification thingy. The more you meditate the higher in "rank" you go. Is not very competitive but it's still really cool to "grow" and see the next badges:

As you can see, I suck at actually doing it daily and all that. It's on the list for 2019 but I fail so often with this. But I know the best apps! Must be worth something.

I hope this helps :D