You don’t need to attend a meditation retreat or spend a lot of time or money to achieve better emotional well-being. You might just need the right app. With over 8 million users worldwide, Aura is one of the biggest players in the meditation app market. This award-winning tool features a large subscription library of mindfulness meditations, sleep stories, life coaching, cognitive behavioral therapy and hypnosis sessions. The Aura app also provides relaxing music and sounds to help get you in the right frame of mind.
Aura has good reason to call itself the “all-in-one app for mindfulness and well-being.” It’s recognized as one of the best meditation apps available on Google Play and the Apple App Store. It has also appeared on many national media best-of lists.
But, Aura comes with a cost. Is it worth its subscription fees? Maybe you’re skeptical that meditation apps even work. Keep reading this Aura app review to learn what you need to know about Aura and decide whether it is right for you.
Are Meditation Apps Like the Aura App Worth It?
Before diving into the details of the Aura app, some wonder whether meditation apps are worth the hype. Think about this: major studies have established that meditation has a positive impact on overall wellbeing and even general health. In “Meditation and Mental Wellness,” The Association of Accredited Naturopathic Medical Colleges highlights several areas in which meditation has benefits, including:
Reduced Anxiety
Many people find that meditation helps to be nore grounded emotionally, reducing their anxiety. This makes using a meditation app a powerful way of dealing with the stresses of life. One study found that 10 minutes of using a meditation app daily helped improve anxiety.
Positive Detachment
Some of us think of detachment as negative, but positive detachment can change your life for the better. It can help you stay calm and maintain a healthy perspective.
Enhanced Brain Function
Though individual results can vary, some studies suggest that mindfulness meditation may lead to the development of increased gray matter in your brain. This can help you achieve better mental performance, cognitive ability, memory and motor skills.
Improved Sleep
Doing daily meditation can help you sleep better. If you suffer from insomnia, doing meditation using an app like Aura could be the kickstart you need in establishing better sleep hygiene.
Meditation Apps Can Help Channel the Benefits
Meditation and mindfulness apps provide these self-care benefits but with the added convenience of an app. Plus, you may be able to get help from qualified meditation experts and life coaches in learning how to meditate at any time—right from your mobile device.
These apps guide you through daily meditations by using breathing, relaxation, visualization and other techniques. Hypnosis, sleep tracks and relaxing sounds add further value to mindfulness apps such as Aura.
Benefits and Features of the Aura App
Discover some of the features that make the Aura app a favorite.
Simplicity and Ease of Use
Aura’s design and overall approach offer simplicity and immediacy. Aura’s intuitive design allows users to easily navigate through the app, discover new content and track their progress.
Designed by Professionals Bringing Their Expertise
Aura provides access to experts in varying fields of psychology, life coaching and meditation.The app features top professionals in the mindfulness field, including life coaches, therapists and storytellers. Lauren Ziegler brings 12 years of experience as a meditation teacher. Dorothy Zennuriye Juno is a registered psychotherapist with success in cognitive therapies. Pasha Lyndi brings expertise in nature-based mindfulness and sleep stories.
Access to an Extensive Library of Resources
You’ll also have a massive range of meditation resources and diverse content at your fingertips. The app boasts a vast library of thousands of tracks, encompassing guided meditations, sleep aids, CBT sessions, life coaching, hypnosis and more. Aura offers an impressive range of content options. It provides thousands of meditation and sleep tracks that encompass a wide array of wellness fields. There is a variety of content formats, including short three-minute meditations, longer sessions, sleep stories, music and nature sounds.
Personalized Sessions and Resources Tailored to Your Needs
You can follow your favorite mindfulness health coaches, which makes Aura highly customizable to your needs. Aura also learns from your input to discover what kinds of meditation sessions work best for you. Over time, your featured content will be adjusted to your taste and mental health and wellness needs. You will be able to build daily mindfulness habits without having to feel overwhelmed.
Explore What the Aura App Offers
It’s easy to start your mindfulness routine with Aura, as it addresses an impressive variety of personal mindfulness needs. The Aura app offers support and resources in a wide range of areas, including:
- Emotions
- Meditation
- Hypnosis
- Breathwork
- Sleep
- Coaching
- ASMR
Let’s dive into more detail and how to use the app in the sections below.
Meditation
Meditation isn’t a cure-all for everything, but it can help you create a profound feeling of tranquility and calm. It could also help you better deal with your emotions, reduce anxiety and sleep better.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
As the American Psychological Association explains, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a system based on the idea that changing our thinking patterns can alleviate psychological problems and make us happier.
Life Coaching
Aura has expert life coaches on staff who can provide guidance and support during life’s ups and downs. Life coaching isn’t just a trend. It could actually help you achieve better well-being and emotional health.
Nature Sounds
Sometimes the simplest things can be the most useful for keeping us centered and calm. Aura provides a library of soundscapes, such as rain falling and a fireplace crackling.
Breathwork
You can find instruction and guidance for your breathwork on Aura. Breathing practices can help you feel more relaxed and better able to deal with stress.
Plus, there is hypnosis, music, ASMR and other options.
An Overview of How to Get Started With the Aura App
To get started using the Aura app, follow these simple steps:
- Download the Aura app on the App Store or Google Play.
- Set preferences based on your goals and needs.
- Decide on your subscription level and create an account.
- Browse suggested recommendations customized to you.
- Select a session and choose your desired length.
- Set a daily routine if desired (reminders are also optional).
- Track your progress.
Let’s dive into the details below.
Set Your Preferences
Aura prompts you with questions and topics to help give you the most benefit. After downloading and launching the app, you’ll be prompted to select four or more areas on which you want to concentrate. Choose from among areas like:
- Beginner to Advanced Meditation
- Health Coaching
- Burnout
- Chakras
- Resilience
- Depression
- Work
- Pain
- Gratitude
- Learn Mindfulness
- Calm Anxiety
- Restful Sleep
- Reduce Stress
- Improve Focus
- Relaxation
- Anger
- Parenting
- Recovery & Healing
It follows with private questions to help tailor the experience to fit your personal well-being needs, including:
- Why your chosen topics are important to you
- What type of content you are interested in
- What content length you prefer
- Spiritual preferences
- Identity-based questions
- Voice preferences
You’ll also get an option to choose when you would like to get a daily feed of personalized recommendations, which you can skip and set up later after you’ve created your account.
Decide on a Subscription and Set Up Your Account
Next, you’ll create an account (using Google, Apple or your email and password). The subscription levels include a free seven-day trial that includes access to all content, an Individual Premium plan with full content access for $69.99 per year, and a Premium Family plan that allows those in the same household to access content for $129.99. Aura also offers a free version when using the mobile app, limited to one new three-minute session every two hours daily.
From there, you can explore and make more decisions on the types of exercises that will be part of your mental wellness and mindfulness journey.
Once you’re done exploring, you’re ready to set up a routine and reminders.
Create Daily Reminders
If you’re interested in establishing a wellness routine with Aura, you can create custom email reminders and push notifications to remind you of your exercises and goals. To set these up, go to “Settings” and then “Notifications.”
You can choose to have daily email feeds or opt out, as well as to receive surveys and updates from Aura. Under “Push Notifications,” you can choose when to receive your daily reminder feed (you can alter the times for weekdays and weekends), as well as breather reminders and other notifications. These include things like additional daily reminders, likes, comments, new posts, new tracks from channels you’re following and badges.
Get Personalized Support With Everything You Do in Aura
The personalization options don’t end there. Other options in Aura include:
- You can easily filter content based on more details.
- Set timers for background video and sounds.
- Engage in challenges that fit your goals.
- Customize tabs to remove content areas you’re not interested in.
Explore More for You
The “Me” tab on the home screen provides some of the best features you’ll find on the app. For example, you can discover your recent mindfulness sessions, favorite tracks, playlists and even the tracks you’ve downloaded for offline mindfulness practice. You’ll find your favorite life coaches and meditation teachers there, too.
Gratitude Journal
The “Me” section in Aura even has a gratitude journal designed to help improve your resilience, positivity and overall happiness. This is one of the app’s many hands-on features. To use the gratitude journal, simply tap the icon and answer Aura’s question, “What are you grateful for today?”
It fills in the “I am grateful for” and you fill in the rest. You can also use this feature as a simple diary while enjoying the privacy and security of your mobile device.
Mood Tracker
Use this tool to increase your self-awareness of your emotions and moods. Use a simple reference for how you are generally feeling, then add in notes on your emotions and Aura will keep track with a graph to help you monitor your moods.
How Does Aura Compare to Other Meditation Apps?
Aura has several advantages that make it rank among the best meditation apps, along with Breethe, Calm and Headspace. However, Aura (like Calm) unfortunately only offers a seven-day free trial of its full version. This falls short of the 14-day trial provided by Breethe and Headspace with an annual membership trial.
While Aura does offer one-on-one coaching, it also comes at an additional cost, which could be a deterrent for some people. The therapy feature also uses pre-recorded content, which could be a con for those looking for live sessions.
Here’s a quick chart to see other differences at a glance:
Feature | Aura App | Breethe App | Calm App | Headspace App |
Focus | Personalized mindfulness & sleep | Meditation, sleep, stress & daily wellness | Meditation, sleep, relaxation & mindfulness | Meditation, mindfulness, stress & productivity |
Content Types | Guided meditations, music, stories, CBT, coaching | Guided meditations, hypnotherapy, coaching, bedtime stories | Guided meditations, soundscapes, music, stories | Guided meditations, animations, courses, music |
User Experience | Highly personalized with AI recommendations | Structured programs with daily meditations | Clean, nature-themed interface | Friendly, playful, science-backed approach |
Best For | People looking for personalized, diverse tools | Users who want easy-to-follow meditations and mindfulness | Sleep, stress reduction, relaxation | Beginners, workplace mindfulness, mental fitness |
Free Version | Limited free version; seven-day free trial | Limited access; 14-day free trial | Seven-day free trial | 14-day free trial |
Costs | $69.99 Individual annually/$129.99 Family annually | $3.99 weekly/$14.99 monthly/$89.99 annually | $14.99 monthly/$69.99 annually | $12.99 monthly/$69.99 annually |
Aura Customer Reviews
Aura has garnered many positive user reviews on Google Play and the Apple App Store. Let’s take a look at what users are saying below.
Reviews From Google Play
Reviewers from Google Play appreciate many aspects of the Aura app, including the customization, different content options and ease of use. Users comment that they appreciate the options for content and resources that go beyond mediation, such as hypnosis and cognitive behavioral therapy.
On the downside, some reviews noted technical issues such as the app crashing or meditations not playing properly.
Reviews From Apple App Store
Reviewers from the App Store mention Aura’s benefits for better sleep and its ability to help improve physical and mental health. Users also comment on how helpful it is to have content and resources for their changing needs and schedules, and the positive impact on multiple areas of their lives.
Some app stores users reported technical issues, being unhappy with the cost and difficulty canceling.
Where Can I Find the Aura Meditation App?
You can use the Aura app on your mobile device, laptop or desktop. Download Aura today on Google Play or the Apple App Store. If you’d still like to learn more about the app, you can do so at www.aurahealth.io.
Access Calm, Clarity and Mindfulness With Arua
Mediation apps can be a helpful tool in helping you work on mindfulness. They have multiple benefits, including helping you reduce stress and anxiety, sleep better and be more mindful in your daily life. The Aura app is a popular option in the world of meditation apps with a variety of features and benefits. It’s no magic wand, but it could help in many areas of life. With it’s free trial, there’s no risk in trying out to see if it’s right for you.
Frequently Asked Questions About the Aura App
You may still have some questions about the Aura app, so we will answer some of the most frequently asked questions below.
Why should I get a Premium Aura account?
When you have a Premium Aura account, you get full access to all of the app’s features, including the full range of mindfulness meditations, coaching, hypnosis and other tracks. The free trial only lasts for seven days, and the program’s free version is limited.
What is the Aura app?
The Aura app’s makers describe it as “Spotify for mental health and wellness.” It offers an enormous premium library of meditation, mindfulness, coaching, hypnosis, CBT and other tracks to help you achieve a calm and centered state of mind.
How long is Aura’s free trial period?
Aura offers a standard trial period of seven days for its full version. After that, you can decide whether you want to get a Premium account.
Can I get a one-on-one coaching subscription on the Aura app?
Yes, one-on-one coaching subscriptions are available on Aura. It’s an additional option that you can add to your subscription when you have an annual Premium plan. Get the Aura app on Google Play or the Apple App Store.
Photo by @kent/Twenty20