We all need a bit of zen at times, and meditation apps have made it super easy and accessible to incorporate short (or long!) meditations into our daily routines. Not only that, but to adopt a more relaxed life style and improve healthy habits. In this ASO Breakdown, we’ll put our ASO goggles on and take a look at some of the most popular apps in this space.
Headspace
Headspace offers guidance to mindfulness, stress relief, meditation, and more. Additionally, it offers one-on-one mental health coaching.
Visuals
The bright color does not go unnoticed among the dominantly blue-toned category of apps. The peacefully smiling orange face is enough to put your mind at ease. At first glance, the app store visuals look cohesive and uncluttered. In my mind, the orange color represents two different things: sunset and energization. Both elements are representative of what the app’s purpose is.
Icon
The icon is as simple as it gets. It relies heavily on brand recognition as it does only feature an orange circle. Additionally, it doesn’t provide much context for those browsing around the category to explore new findings.
Screenshots
The first screenshot is dedicated to showcasing the success of the app. Undeniably, a wonderful achievement that should be celebrated but it might also be a clever tactic to prompt a scroll. Once you scroll past the first screenshot you start uncovering the key selling points of Headspace along with menu screens from the app. Strong taglines describe the potential gains of using the app followed by examples of the app’s functionalities that support this.
Insight Timer – Meditate & Sleep
Insight Timer offers resources for meditation and mindfulness. The name could lead you to think it is a timer app, which is actually how it started. According to the editor’s note, it was initally a meditation timer that now has evolved into a full-service meditation app. In addition to its paid subscription, the app has free functionalities as well.
Visuals
The visuals in general exude a calm, blue, and relaxed atmosphere. They also combine screenshots from the app with text in a simplistic way.
Icon
The icon stands out from the blue-colored screenshots featuring only a singing bowl on a white background. The singing bowl is associated with sound therapy, meditation, spirituality, and mindfulness, which is very on theme. It is repeated also in the screenshots, however, only the eighth screenshot. It doesn’t feature any logo or other distinct elements but differs from competitors.
Screenshots
The screenshots combine taglines and keywords with menu screens from the app. Keywords on the screenshots highlight accolades, key selling points, and core functionalities. Additionally, they highlight app functionalities designed to improve the quality of life. I instantly notice that the screenshots very subtly inform the user about its free functionalities. This is only mentioned on the fourth screenshot and later on in the description. It is something that stands out as it is usually a KSP that is strongly displayed already at first glance.
Calm: Sleep & Meditation
Calm is a meditation and relaxation app that features special bedtime stories, or “Sleep Stories”, by celebrities. In addition to that it provides guided meditations, breathing and stretching exercises and relaxing music.
Visuals
Overall the visuals are very cohesive. A blue gradient color repeats in the visuals, as well as white simplistic text. Much like previously mentioned competitors Calm also combines text and taglines with phone mockups.
Icon
A simple icon that features the logo creates a harmonious visual set. The icon only being the logo suggests that the app relies on brand awareness but it must help that the name of the app gives away its purpose (I see what you did there…).
Screenshots
Following the trend of displaying accolades first, Calm is no exception to other meditation apps above. The first two screenshots include a split image of a phone mockup. It catches the attention but doesn’t explain too much about the functionalities of the app. As you scroll further you uncover the values Calm provides more than functionalities.
Conclusion
To convey the purpose of meditation apps, many of them rely on calm, simplistic visuals, and understandably so. Muted blue-toned colors are prominent in this category. Headspace stands out with its bright orange brand colors. The app icons are mostly simple icons, logos, abbreviations of logos, or abstract shapes. One element that repeats throughout almost each screenshot set is a phone mockup or menu screens of the app. Overall the category has little variation and most meditation apps follow the same creative trends.
