Comparison

Healthy Minds Program by Humin vs UCLA Mindful

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Healthy Minds Program by Humin

This app offers science-backed meditation and mindfulness practices to improve focus, reduce stress, and enhance social connections. It features guided lessons and assessments based on neuroscientific research, designed to fit into busy lifestyles.

Highlights
  • Science-backed meditation practices
  • Guided lessons on focus and stress reduction
  • Neuroscientific well-being framework
  • Active meditation for busy lives
  • Mobile mental and emotional well-being assessments
  • Integration with Apple Health
Features
Read full description

• 2024 Pick: Best Meditation App by Healthline, The New York Times Wirecutter, Vogue, and Sports Illustrated Well-being is a skill that can be learned. We’re here to guide you along the way. Backed by four decades of research from world-renowned neuroscientist Dr. Richard Davidson and the team at Humin (formerly Healthy Minds Innovations) & the Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin—Madison, the Healthy Minds Program trains your mind through meditation and podcast-style lessons to develop skills for gaining focus, reducing stress, and maintaining positive social connections. Research with the Healthy Minds App showed that just 5 minutes a day of practice leads to a 28% reduction in stress, an 18% reduction in anxiety, a 24% reduction in depression, and a 13% increase in social connection. Featuring our scientific Awareness, Connection, Insight, and Purpose, Well-being Framework, the Healthy Minds Program is a holistic, all-encompassing meditation app that offers the best of both guided meditations and opportunities to learn. You’ll learn simple skills to enhance personal well-being, build healthy relationships, and improve communication, performance, and creativity. –––––––––––––––––––––––––– What makes us unique? Developed from Science: While many meditation apps can claim the scientific benefits of meditation, our practices are developed directly from neuroscientific research. You’ll also hear from the world’s foremost neuroscientists about neuroplasticity and how to train your mind. Made for Busy Lives: Our app features active meditation practices that fit into your busy lifestyle. Don’t have time to sit for 20 minutes? Put on an active practice and train your mind while you fold the laundry. Guided by Measurement: Thanks to our pioneering scientific research, the Healthy Minds Program offers the first mobile mental and emotional well-being assessments. Learn about your current level of well-being and contribute to cutting-edge research on the science of well-being. Our app also integrates with Apple Health to track your mindful minutes. Goes Beyond Mindfulness: Our guided path offers step-by-step instructions for becoming more present in the moment and developing a sense of purpose, meaning, and connection in life. Driven by Mission and Supported by Donation: The Healthy Minds Program is made possible by our donors, who support our vision of a kinder, wiser, more compassionate world. Unlike other apps that require a subscription, the Healthy Minds Program is available by donation, driven by a mission to translate science into tools to cultivate and measure well-being. –––––––––––––––––––––––––– Read the End User License Agreement and Terms of Use here: https://hminnovations.org/terms-of-use Read our Privacy Policy here: https://hminnovations.org/privacy-policy

About

UCLA Mindful

Practice mindfulness meditation with guided sessions and educational content from UCLA Health. Learn to manage stress, reduce anxiety, and cultivate positive emotions through regular practice. Explore various meditation types, informative videos, and weekly recordings to enhance your well-being.

Highlights
  • Guided basic meditations
  • Wellness meditations for health conditions
  • Informative videos on mindfulness
  • Weekly live/virtual meditation recordings
  • Talks on mindfulness topics
  • Customizable meditation timer
Features
Read full description

With this easy-to-use app, you can practice mindfulness meditation anywhere, anytime with the guidance of UCLA Mindful, the mindfulness education center of UCLA Health. Scientific research shows mindfulness can help manage stress-related physical conditions, reduce anxiety and depression, and cultivate positive emotions. Mindfulness is paying attention to our present moment experiences with openness and curiosity and a willingness to be with our experience. Through regular practice, taught through this app, you can develop a meditation practice and learn to bring more mindfulness into your daily life. This app offers: • Basic Meditations for getting started in multiple languages. Languages include Arabic, Armenian, Cantonese, Farsi, Filipino, French, German, Greek, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Mixteco, Russian, Spanish, Vietnamese, American Sign Language • Wellness Meditations for people suffering from challenging health conditions • Informative videos exploring how to get started, supportive meditation postures, and the science of mindfulness • Weekly recordings from our live and virtual drop-in meditations -- a 30-minute meditation on different themes you can search for and bookmark • Talks on mindfulness-related topics • A timer to meditate on your own • A list of our current events and classes that you can add to your calendar UCLA Mindful, the mindfulness education center of UCLA Health, is dedicated to advancing mindfulness education to promote individual and cultural well-being and resilience world-wide. Our mission is to provide innovative, evidence-based mindfulness programs that empower individuals and institutions to manage stress, enhance health, and cultivate inner and outer peace. Through educational programs, we strive to inspire transformative growth and contribute to a culture of compassion and wellness for all. Due to UCLA Mindful’s mission of radical accessibility, this app is entirely free to use. Disclaimer: These meditations are for educational purposes and are not clinical treatments.

Screenshots

Healthy Minds Program by Humin4 screens
UCLA Mindful4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: UCLA Mindful at none against Healthy Minds Program by Humin's shown. UCLA Mindful also leads on monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases). Healthy Minds Program by Humin's advantage is rating (4.9 vs 4.5) and update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 3 months). On price, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Healthy Minds Program by Humin holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Healthy Minds Program by Humin has 8.5K ratings behind it against 172, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 96% of Healthy Minds Program by Humin's written reviews are positive against 78% of UCLA Mindful's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Healthy Minds Program by Humin ships an update every 3 weeks, UCLA Mindful every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and September 19, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Healthy Minds Program by Humin versus UCLA Mindful: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterHealthy Minds Program by HuminUCLA Mindful
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (8.5K ratings) — better4.5 (172 ratings)
Positive reviews96.0% of reviews — better78.0% of reviews
Number of ratings8.5K — better172
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeks — betterEvery 3 months
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS13.4 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size65 MB23 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperHealthy Minds Innovations, Inc.UCLA Health

Customer experience

Healthy Minds Program by Humin

All ratings8,102 ratings
Positive98.1%
Neutral0.9%
Negative1.0%
Written reviews607 reviews
Positive96.0%
Neutral1.5%
Negative2.5%

UCLA Mindful

All ratings172 ratings
Positive90.1%
Neutral0.6%
Negative9.3%
Written reviews59 reviews
Positive78.0%
Neutral5.1%
Negative16.9%

User reviews

Healthy Minds Program by Humin

From 8.5K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Best meditation app
  • 🚀 Flexible and customizable
  • 💡 Science-based approach
  • 🙌 Excellent for beginners
  • 🧠 Improves focus and awareness

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional technical issues
  • 🕰️ Meditations could use more silence
  • 🤖 Narrator can speak too fast at times

UCLA Mindful

From 172 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🙏 Free and accessible resource
  • 🧘‍♀️ High-quality guided meditations
  • 🗣️ Calming and comforting narrator voices (Diana Winston)
  • 👍 Simple, easy to use, and navigate
  • 🌍 Multiple languages offered

Room to improve

  • 🗣️ Presenter talks too much during meditations
  • 🔌 Requires a good internet connection (streaming)
  • 🔄 No offline access
  • 📱 App doesn't rotate on iPad in landscape mode
  • 🔊 Loud ding at the end of some tracks

Bugs and requests

Healthy Minds Program by Humin

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Progress not always saved correctly
  • Connectivity issues causing data loss

Requested features

3 requests
  • Offline mode for meditations
  • Ability to bookmark favorite sessions
  • More personalization options

UCLA Mindful

Reported bugs

6 issues
  • 🐛 Loop repeat did not replay when screen is locked
  • 🐛 Audio stops when iPhone screen locks/turns off
  • 🐛 Back button disappears on search podcast tab
  • 🐛 Search in previous podcast is slow to respond
  • 🐛 Custom timer doesn't work as intended
Show 1 more
  • 🐛 Meditations won't load (show 0 time)

Requested features

6 requests
  • Offline access/downloadable sessions
  • More voice diversity (ethnicity and gender)
  • Add to Apple Health for tracking mindful minutes
  • Improve pausing points for Vietnamese meditations
  • Remove the ding at the end of tracks
Show 1 more
  • Wider selection of UCLA courses/Diana Winston meditations

In-app purchases

None

Healthy Minds Program by Humin

No in-app purchases

None

UCLA Mindful

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Healthy Minds Program by Humin free?
Healthy Minds Program by Humin is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is UCLA Mindful free?
UCLA Mindful is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Healthy Minds Program by Humin or UCLA Mindful?
Healthy Minds Program by Humin is rated higher. Healthy Minds Program by Humin averages 4.9 out of 5 from 8.5K ratings, while UCLA Mindful averages 4.5 from 172 ratings.
Do Healthy Minds Program by Humin or UCLA Mindful have ads?
Healthy Minds Program by Humin shows ads; UCLA Mindful does not.
Which is updated more often, Healthy Minds Program by Humin or UCLA Mindful?
Healthy Minds Program by Humin ships an update every 3 weeks, and UCLA Mindful every 3 months. Most recently, Healthy Minds Program by Humin was updated on September 24, 2026 and UCLA Mindful on September 19, 2026.

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