The 8 Best Mental Health Apps to Build a Positive Mindset in 2024

Want to improve your mental wellbeing on the go? Discover the best mental health apps to help you build a positive attitude and live a happy life

Maintaining good mental wellbeing is crucial for living a happier life.

The state of your mental health has a knock-on effect on every other aspect of your life. It affects how you perceive yourself and everything around you.

After this crazy year, one thing that’s apparent to us is that we need to start taking better care of our mental health.

It’s not enough to just look after our bodies, we need to look after our minds too!

Around 1 in 4 people experience mental health issues each year. Even with this high statistic, many people still delay or refuse to seek professional help.

Although, there are reasons why people choose to not get professional help, for example, societal expectations, or internalised stigma surrounding mental health struggles.

Perhaps you are just not ready to talk to someone.

If you feel that you are not yet prepared to pursue expert advice for any reason, then we hope that you find this article useful.

Remember that you are not alone in this as over 792 million people are affected by mental health issues worldwide.

Some mental health experts believe that our reliance on technology is to blame for the deterioration of our mental wellbeing. However, we can also use technology to our advantage to help manage mental health struggles.  

Social isolation and anxiety caused by the pandemic have negatively affected our mental wellbeing.

Getting help from therapists has become increasingly difficult with the months-long waiting list and inability to access a face-to-face consultation.

These mental health apps – although, not always free – can provide a cheaper alternative to costly, traditional therapy. 

To be honest, having this resource can make an enormous difference to your daily happiness.

The convenience of having a support resource in your pocket whenever you need it can be a huge help in finding support and developing a positive mindset.

Read below to discover some of the best apps for cultivating happiness and capable of changing your life.

1. Gratitude Happiness Journal

Price: Free (Premium: £4.99 per month, £9.99 per quarter or £29.99 per year)

Ease of use: 5/5

Pros:
✔︎ Easy-to-use
✔︎ Gratitude diary in a journal style
✔︎ Make gratitude a habit
✔︎ Track your gratitude streaks
✔︎ Great free version

Cons:
✘ Nothing, it’s amazing

Practising gratitude is proven to elevate happiness and wellbeing.

When times are tough, it’s important to be thankful for what you actually have. Otherwise you spend your life desiring what you don’t.

Gratitude Happiness Journal offers a no-frills approach to gratitude journaling. It’s the perfect way to keep a journal for busy people.

Before you go to bed at night, try listing 5 things that you are happy to have in your life or things that you are grateful for.

You’d be surprised at how this simple action can have a tremendous effect on your life’s perception and mental wellbeing.

Download: Android, iOS

2. Habit-Bull/Habit Tracker

Price: Free (Premium: £4.99)

Ease of use: 5/5

Pros:
✔ Simple and easy-to-use
✔ View your streaks on a calendar
✔ Statistics and graph for each habit
✔ Community discussion and support
✔ Track up to 5 habits for free

Cons:
✘ Can only track 5 habits on the free version

A straightforward app for habit tracking, whether you want to break bad habits or form positive ones. 

The app is simple, but with excellent granular features where you can set how often you want to repeat the habit – for specific days or times per week – with a streak counter to encourage forming a routine. 

Use this app to keep yourself accountable for keeping up with your exercise routine, daily reading and more.

Simply tick the boxes to make sure you are continuing the habits daily.

Download: Android, iOS

☆ You may also like:
– 14 Simple Tips to Form Good Habits and Break Bad Ones

3. Calm

Price: Free (Premium: £28.99 per year)

Ease of use: 4/5

Pros:
✔ Masterclasses on mindfulness and meditation
✔ Mood tracking calendar
✔ Sleep stories
✔ Beautifully designed app
✔ Content voiced by celebrities like LeBron James, Lucy Liu and Stephen Fry
✔ 7-day free trial

Cons:
✘ The amount of content can be overwhelming
✘ Most of the content is not available for free

An all-purpose app that helps with reducing anxiety/stress, improves sleep and develops gratitude. 

The meditation courses are particularly useful for newcomers – they’re focussed on a variety of issues such as calming anxiety, mindfulness in daily life, and managing stress. 

Restless sleepers will love their sleep stories with a vast choice of soothing tales, transporting you to the lost city of Atlantis or Serenity at Sea.

The majority of the contents are only available for premium users, with a yearly subscription fee. 

However, when considering the quality of Calm content, the £28.99 fee seems like a steal. The 7-day trial should be more than enough for you to make up your own mind though.

Download: Android, iOS

☆ You may also like:
– The 8 Best Meditation Apps to Help You Practise Calm and Focus

4. Sanvello

Price: Free (Premium: £26.99 per year)

Ease of use: 2/5

Pros:
✔︎ Uses Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) techniques
✔ Mood and health daily tracker
✔ Weekly assessments
✔ Guided journeys to build long-term life skills
✔ Coping tools for challenging moments
✔ Use thought journals and CBT techniques to analyse negative patterns
✔ Set goals – to build confidence, decrease anxiety, live healthier and more

Cons:
✘ Need to be familiar with CBT techniques to fully take advantage of the app
✘ Might not be for beginners, best to use it alongside therapy or post-therapy

I’ll admit – Sanvello is not one of the easiest mental health apps to use. In order to get the full benefits, the app requires daily commitments and a fair bit of time.

However, those benefits make it well worth the effort, especially for anxiety sufferers.

Designed by psychologists to teach life skills, the guided paths help with building confidence, mindfulness and taking control.

This app uses mindfulness and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) to reduce stress, anxiety and depression with an array of tools and resources to support your progress. 

CBT can help you recognise your negative thoughts and question their validity. This can help change your thinking pattern to develop a balanced mindset and reduce your long-term anxiety.

Before seeing a therapist, I relied on Sanvello a lot to manage my daily anxiety.

It provides comprehensive mental health tools and support for people unable to pay for traditional therapy, those on the waiting list, and those wanting to maintain their progress post-therapy.

Download: Android, iOS 

☆ You may also like:
– Social Anxiety: What it Looks Like and 5 Simple Steps to Improve Daily

5. Headspace

Price: Free (Premium: £9.99 per month or £49.99 per year)

Ease of use: 3/5

Pros:
✔ Great introduction to mindfulness for beginners
✔ Meditations for stress, anxiety, work and more
✔ Sleep stories
✔ Exercise mode for mental and physical health
✔ 1-2 weeks free trial

Cons:
✘ Meditation courses could be clearer
✘ The subscription model is quite expensive
✘ The app can be a little confusing to navigate

New to mindfulness? Headspace can help you start practising mindfulness daily with sessions on mindful eating and mindful cooking.

Learn these lifelong skills in a series of meditations to help you live a more joyful life. 

Headspace has created content for various situations, from falling asleep to managing difficult emotions.  

Similar to Calm, Headspace’s sleep casts and sleep music are helpful tools to help you wind down and put your mind to rest. 

As a unique concept to Headspace, ‘Move’ offers a variety of guided workouts to boost your mood and improve your physical health. 

Need help focusing on your work? There’s also a collection of music to help you concentrate.

Needless to say that Headspace has all the bases covered when it comes to enhancing your overall mental health.  

Download: Android, iOS

☆ You may also like:
– What is Mindfulness? Discover 9 Benefits and How You Can Get Started
– 14 Tips for Getting Started with Meditation

6. Adidas Training by Runtastic

Price: Free (Premium: £45 per year)

Ease of use: 4/5

Pros:
✔︎ Over 180 bodyweight-only workouts
✔︎ Neighbour-friendly exercises
✔︎ Choose body parts and the duration of your exercise
✔︎ Some guided workouts are available for free
✔︎ Participate in challenges alongside other app users
✔︎ Track progress through pictures

Cons:
✘ Some exercises can be hard to do for beginners
✘ Might not satisfy hardcore gym-goers
✘ Some videos can take a while to download
✘ Not enough health and nutrition guides

Start exercising at home without equipment to accomplish your fitness goals: get fit, build muscles or lose weight.

Find personalised workouts based on your body weight and fitness level or follow guided workouts. 

The app might not be suitable for complete beginners with repeated exercises such as squat, plank and push-up. So, make sure you can do those!

Adidas app has built a sense of community with its users as they can share a post-workout selfie among friends and partake in their regular challenges.

Download: Android, iOS

☆ You may also like:
– The benefits of regular exercise
– 6 Best Home Workout Apps for Every Goal

7. Daylio

Price: Free (Premium: £2.49 per month or £18.99 per year)

Ease of use: 4/5

Pros:
✔ Create trackers for daily moods, fitness, diet, sleep and more
✔ Daily self-reflection
✔ Unlock the pattern for a happier life
✔ Build positive habits
✔ The look of the app is customisable
✔ See the statistics and counters for every activity
✔ 7-day free trials

Cons:
✘ A fairly pricey subscription fee

Daylio encourages self-reflection by tracking your moods and daily activities.

See the correlation between what you choose to do and how it makes you feel. From this, you should be able to see a pattern of holding positive habits and making good choices which can lead to a happier life.

If you notice that eating an unhealthy diet and living a sedentary lifestyle have a negative impact on your mood. You might feel more motivated to make a change.

Also, journaling helps you remember great experiences which can have a positive effect on your mental wellbeing.

Download: Android, iOS 

8. MyLife Meditation

Price: Free (Premium: £9.99 per month, £54.99 per year or £249.99 for lifetime)

Ease of use: 3/5

Pros:
✔︎ See recommended activities based on your moods check-in
✔︎ Content suitable for children and young adults
✔︎ Courses available in Spanish and English
✔︎ Cartoon explanation of meditation and mindfulness
✔︎ Meditate and collect stickers
✔︎ Calm coronavirus anxiety content is available for free

Cons:
✘ The amount of content available can be overwhelming
✘ A lot of courses are available only with the subscription fee

MyLife Meditation provides a good introduction to meditation and mindfulness for young people, with easy-to-follow comics and a reward system.

The daily check-in uses physical and emotional information to give recommended meditation exercises. Or explore other meditation activities such as breathing, sleep and calming anxiety.  

Use the app upon completion of the therapist sessions or as a way to practice mindfulness, build resilience and maintain progress. 

Download: Android, iOS

– Contact your GP
– Talk to a friend
– Call helplines such as Samaritans and Mind
– More information on other mental health charities here
– Take a relaxing beach holiday (when it’s safe to do so)

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Wanischa Sirivarangkun

Wanischa is a big believer in the importance of wellbeing and uses her experience with mental health challenges to inspire others to live their happiest lives. She's also a self-confessed foodie. Currently she works as a Senior Marketing Manager at The Unseen.

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