Happier Meditation reviews
What users love and hate, from real reviews
Formerly «10% Happier» — a meditation app with a strong roster of teachers and podcasts, torn between the devotion of long-time subscribers and resentment over its redesign, the exit of co-founder Dan Harris, and stalled content.
What users love
The teachers are the core value: many voices, many styles
Again and again people come back for the variety of teachers — you can pick a voice and an approach to match your mood that day. Joseph Goldstein, Sharon Salzberg, Oren and others are named by name as the reason to love the app.
love having different meditation teachers bring their different styles to each meditation
The best meditation teachers & courses I've found. Very professionally produced.
I love Jeff, Cara, Dawn and Susan for the times I want to be easy going. I love Oren and Sebene
The best app for a meditation beginner
The «explanation first, then practice» format and short sessions make the entry gentle — many reviews come from total beginners who finally built a regular practice for the first time. It also suits experienced meditators who want light guidance.
I very much like the format of teaching, then meditation, in this introductory meditation sequence.
From beginners to seasoned meditators, Happier gets it exactly right.
Once a fidgety skeptic, now a daily practitioner.
No jargon, no music, no «spirituality» — just practical
People are won over by the down-to-earth tone: no jargon, no background music, calm teachers who don't pose, meditations that don't ramble for half an hour. You get the benefit of the practice without a religious wrapper.
Brings the benefits of the practice of meditation for your mind and body without the spiritual part.
It feels matter-of-fact and the teachers are calm and practical. No gimmicks, just practical advice
no distracting background noise, good meditations from real people.
Adjustable session length while keeping the guidance
A favorite among experienced users: you can set the length of a meditation and still keep the guide's voice — the app adds quiet space instead of making you hunt for a different track. Easy to fit a morning, a break, or sleep.
the ability to customize how long a guided meditation track is while retaining the audio guidance that appeals to you
the ability to set your own duration for some of the different meditations
I appreciate the different session lengths
A habit-anchor: people meditate here every day for years
The strongest asset is retention: a large share of reviews come from people using it for 5-8 years who've made it part of their morning or wind-down. The low barrier turns one-off attempts into a steady daily practice.
This app has turned me into a consistent meditator for over 5 years!
I've been using and loving Happier for at least the last 8 years. It is part of my weekly mental health and rest.
It took me a long time to establish my Happier habit, so I'm grateful for the long trial period.
What users hate
Nothing new — old content gets repackaged into short clips
The single most common pain among long-time subscribers: no fresh meditations in over a year, and «wisdom clips» are just snippets cut from old material. Once you've worked through everything, there's nowhere to grow, and many flatly say they won't renew.
There are now "wisdom clips" which are just 1-2 minute clips lifted from previous material.
It keeps repackaging old material. Do they think we have no memory? NOTHING new.
there hasn't been any new meditation material in more than a year, just recycling of previous material
Dan Harris leaving is felt as losing the app's soul
Dan Harris — the co-founder whose book and life story the app is built on — is gone, and for many that's the turning point: his podcasts and courses disappeared, engagement dropped, and some now follow him on his personal site instead.
every since Dan Harris left, I do not see any engagement or new content.
really disappointed that Dan Harris has been forced out - the app is entirely based on his life story
I liked it better before Dan Harris left. meditations are still good but it's SO gimmicky.
Removing podcasts angered the people who paid for them
The podcasts (especially ad-free and downloadable) were the main reason some users subscribed — they got pulled, downloading broke, and refunds for the months already paid were refused.
they took off the podcasts which were the highlight of the app for me.
they removed that feature. I asked to be prorated for my unused months and they refused to do so
I've lost the ability to download podcasts, which was a primary feature for me.
$99 a year and almost everything behind a paywall scares people off at the start
The $99/year price with nearly all content locked reads as a «money grab», especially for those who came via a book's promise of free access. The $14.99 monthly plan is hidden — you only get it by emailing them.
all of their content is locked you need a membership to access anything...not happy.
I think the price is WAY TOO STEEP - for information and practices that are very widely available
there is a $14.99 monthly subscription available but you have to email them. It seems they do not make the monthly subscription transparent
Constantly demands sign-in and forgets your account
After updates the app stops remembering your login: it forces you to sign in every single time, and sometimes pushes you through a new-account flow with unwanted questions. It's grating and undermines the daily habit.
Going downhill. Have to sign in every time! poor app design.
app keeps asking me to sign in. it's annoying.
It doesn't remember my login and forces me to go thru the create new account workflow every time, asking me questions I don't want to answer.
Crashes, a frozen home screen, and the same daily meditation on repeat
After recent updates the app crashes mid-session, the home screen freezes (even though an update supposedly fixed exactly that), and the «daily» meditation repeats day after day. On a pricey subscription that stings.
Home screen has been frozen since last update, which the app page says was done to -fix!- home screen issues.
After the update it shows me the same daily meditation(s) every single day.
App keeps on shutting down whilst meditating or listening to podcasts
Android is the second-class version next to iOS
Android users pay the same price for a stripped-down build: no new features, no Health Connect, no restarting courses, a bare-bones set of meditations. The iOS version clearly gets more attention.
The app for android is basic, doesn't have new meditations and features it has for ios
very much lagging behind the iOS equivalent - no Health Connect integration, ability to restart courses, etc.
The Apple version appears to get far more attention than the Android, yet the cost is the same.
Opaque subscription and silent support at cancellation time
Some users describe «scam»-like mechanics: hard to unsubscribe and delete the account, the yearly auto-renew charges through, and support goes silent on cancellation or refund requests. Against that, the odd story of responsive support reads as the exception.
IMPOSSIBLE TO REMOVE, THEN TRIES TO CHARGE $100 AFTER MAKING DELETING OR FREE TRIAL UNSUBSCRIBING EXPLICITY IMPOSSIBLE - SCAM.
Contacted them several times within days of the renewal charge to see if I could cancel the sub, get a prorated refund, etc. Their customer service just never wrote me back.
what I wish I could do is go back and stop my annual auto-renew.