UCLA Mindful vs UCLA Recreation
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- Guided basic meditations
- Wellness meditations for health conditions
- Informative videos on mindfulness
- Weekly live/virtual meditation recordings
- Talks on mindfulness topics
- Customizable meditation timer
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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.
UCLA Recreation
Connect with UCLA Recreation's programs, services, and facilities. Register for classes, reserve workout times, and scan into facilities using your mobile device. Stay updated on schedules and important notices.
- Program registration
- Workout time reservations
- Mobile facility scanning
- Group fitness schedules
- Personalized class calendar
- Activity updates and notifications
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The official app for UCLA Recreation connecting you to all programs, services, and facilities. Through the UCLA Rec app, you will be able to: - Register for programs, classes and activities offered through UCLA Rec - NEW – Reserve your workout and activity time - Scan in to facilities using your mobile device - Up-to-date Group Fitness Class schedules - Create a calendar of all your favorite classes and programs - Opt into updates from areas and/or activities of interest for notifications on registration deadlines, special facility hours, and other notices.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: UCLA Mindful at 4.5 against UCLA Recreation's 3.7. UCLA Mindful also leads on update cadence (every 3 months vs every 17 months) and ratings volume (172 vs 3). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
UCLA Mindful holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 3.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: UCLA Mindful has 172 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two.
UCLA Mindful ships an update every 3 months, UCLA Recreation every 17 months. The most recent releases landed on September 19, 2026 and June 10, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | UCLA Mindful | UCLA Recreation |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (172 ratings) — better | 3.7 (3 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 78.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 172 — better | 3 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months — better | Every 17 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 14.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 23 MB | 43 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 17+ |
| Developer | UCLA Health | InnoSoft Canada Inc. |
Customer experience
UCLA Mindful
UCLA Recreation
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
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- 🐛 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
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- Wider selection of UCLA courses/Diana Winston meditations
UCLA Recreation
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
UCLA Mindful
No in-app purchases
UCLA Recreation
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is UCLA Mindful free?
Is UCLA Recreation free?
Which has better reviews, UCLA Mindful or UCLA Recreation?
Do UCLA Mindful or UCLA Recreation have ads?
Which is updated more often, UCLA Mindful or UCLA Recreation?
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