Comparison

UCLA Mindful vs aratrain

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

Head to head
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.

About

aratrain

This app combines cognitive training and mindfulness with physical exercise to improve focus, reduce stress, and enhance overall brain and body health. It offers short, customizable workouts designed by neuroscientists to optimize performance and promote long-term well-being.

Highlights
  • Cognitive training and mindfulness
  • Physical exercise integration
  • Improve focus and reduce stress
  • Customizable 5-minute workouts
  • Health app integration for Apple Watch
  • Performance stats after each workout
Features
Read full description

aratrain is a brand new mind and body fitness program that combines cognitive training and mindfulness with physical exercise. Exercise your body AND your brain...at the same time! The more you use aratrain, the more you'll... +Improve your focus +Reduce distractibility +Reduce your stress Our goal is to help you optimize your performance while promoting long-term brain and body health. Do you... +Want to be more focused at work? +Want to be more efficient at tackling all of the tasks on your to-do list? +Want to be more present and focused in your athletic pursuits? +Want to keep your body and brain healthy? Then aratrain is for you! FEATURES aratrain contains 3 unique types of workouts, each designed to exercise your brain and your body. Each set is 5 minutes and you can mix and match workouts to create your own customized experience! aratrain supports integration with the Health app for Apple Watch users to record heart rate and calories burned. After each workout, you will see your performance stats, including cognitive accuracy, cognitive speed and mindfulness rating. WORKOUT TYPES 1) Cognitive Circuits - a blend of body weight exercises combined with memory games 2) Mindful Core - core exercises with a guided mindfulness audio 3) Mindful Flexibility - a full body stretch routine with a guided mindfulness audio THE SCIENCE aratrain's founders are neuroscientists who have brought their clinical expertise to the masses. We have poured over the most cutting edge scientific research to create a program that takes advantage of the amazing effects that physical exercise has on the brain. By practicing brain exercises while you physically exercise you can take advantage of your brain’s neuroplasticity (the ability to form new and stronger connections) to improve focus, reduce distractions, reduce stress, and even improve brain health. Start training your mind and body today! Terms of use: https://aratrain.com/terms-of-service/ Privacy policy: https://aratrain.com/privacy-policy/

Screenshots

UCLA Mindful4 screens
aratrain4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: UCLA Mindful at none against aratrain's 2. UCLA Mindful also leads on ratings volume (176 vs 22). aratrain's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 4.5) and review sentiment (100% vs 77%). On price, update cadence, ads 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. aratrain sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $6.99 per month. UCLA Mindful asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

aratrain holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: UCLA Mindful has 176 ratings behind it against 22, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 77% of UCLA Mindful's written reviews are positive against 100% of aratrain's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

UCLA Mindful ships an update every 3 months, aratrain every 4 months. Both last shipped on November 3, 2026.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
UCLA Mindful versus aratrain: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterUCLA Mindfularatrain
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (176 ratings)5.0 (22 ratings) — better
Positive reviews76.7% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings176 — better22
Update frequencyEvery 3 months — betterEvery 4 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — better
Requires iOS15.015.0
Further details — not scored
Size23 MB45 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperUCLA HealthAratrain

Customer experience

UCLA Mindful

All ratings176 ratings
Positive90.3%
Neutral0.6%
Negative9.1%
Written reviews60 reviews
Positive76.7%
Neutral5.0%
Negative18.3%

aratrain

All ratings22 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews4 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

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

aratrain

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

UCLA Mindful

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

aratrain

Subscriptions2
  • Aratrain Premium7 Days trial$6.991 Month
  • Aratrain Premium7 Days trial$34.991 Year

Questions

Is UCLA Mindful free?
UCLA Mindful is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is aratrain free?
aratrain is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, UCLA Mindful or aratrain?
aratrain is rated higher. UCLA Mindful averages 4.5 out of 5 from 176 ratings, while aratrain averages 5.0 from 22 ratings.
Do UCLA Mindful or aratrain have ads?
Neither UCLA Mindful nor aratrain shows ads.
Which is updated more often, UCLA Mindful or aratrain?
UCLA Mindful ships an update every 3 months, and aratrain every 4 months. Most recently, UCLA Mindful was updated on November 3, 2026 and aratrain on November 3, 2026.

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