Comparison

Equa vs BiAffect3

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

Head to head
About

Equa

This app offers a personalized mindfulness training experience with interactive feedback to build attentional control, mental resilience, and overall well-being. It addresses common challenges faced by new meditators by providing guidance and support throughout the practice.

Highlights
  • Attentional control training
  • Mental resilience building
  • Personalized mindfulness coaching
  • Interactive feedback system
  • Well-being improvement
  • Guided meditation practice
Features
Read full description

You’ve meditated before. Did it work? Be honest…you don’t actually know. Equa does. Equa is a meditation app that turns your practice into something you can measure. Using only the motion sensors in your phone, Equa tracks your breathing while you meditate and turns it into feedback on what actually changed during the session. No watch, no ring, and no headband needed. Using your respiration data, you can now see how your practice went, and watch your meditation skills develop over days and weeks – so you can tell whether it’s working instead of guessing. If you are new to Equa, you can try the app for free. After the trial, choose your own price on our sliding scale, or become an Equanaut and make Equa possible for someone else! Equa needs no additional hardware. Simply rest your phone on your chest and let the sensors inside do the work. How it works: Meditation Insights Equa reads your breathing from your phone’s accelerometer during a session and shows you what changed. You get your breath rate in breaths per minute, how it shifted from the start of the session to the end, and where that sits relative to your own baseline. The respiration algorithm was developed with researchers at Carnegie Mellon University. Breath Rate Breath rate is one of the clearest physical signals that a session is doing something, and Equa tracks it every time you sit. Trends Single sessions vary. Practice shows up over weeks. Equa charts your breath rate and session history over time so you can see your progress over time. Science We didn’t just make this up. Equa’s Chief Science Officer, Dr. David Creswell, runs the Health and Human Performance Lab at Carnegie Mellon University, where he’s spent two decades studying how mindfulness training actually changes the body’s biological stress outcomes. One study found mindfulness training reliably lowered cortisol and blood pressure under stress. But participants didn’t report feeling less stressed – they just were. “How do you feel” was never going to catch that. So we built something that does. Training & Curriculum: Equa treats meditation the way a training program treats a physical capacity. Sessions ask you to stay with discomfort rather than escape it, because that is where stress resilience is built. The curriculum offers a structured path through Unified Mindfulness’s core skills: Concentration Power, Sensory Clarity, and Equanimity. Equa offers a science-backed framework for mindfulness training. What else you can do in the Equa app: Review any past session and its breathing data Set practice reminders that fit your schedule Follow guided sessions for stress, focus, and attention Track and build on your practice Equa provides products and services designed for general wellness and education purposes. Equa is not a medical device, is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, and should not be used as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Breath rate measurement provides feedback on your meditation practice and is not a diagnostic tool.  After this, Equa offers two auto-renewing subscription options: Play what you want slider Price - Varying This subscription is for six months and auto-renews after six months. - Title of auto-renewing subscription: Pay as you go. - Length of subscription: 1 month - Price of subscription: Varying - Privacy policy can be found here https://equahealth.io/privacy-policy. - Terms of Use (EULA) can be found here https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula. Year Subscription This subscription is for 12 months and auto-renews after 12 months. - Title: Annual Membership - Length of subscription: 1 year - Privacy policy can be found here https://equahealth.io/privacy-policy. - Terms of Use (EULA) can be found here https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula.

About

BiAffect3

This app helps you track your mood and cognitive function using your iPhone's keyboard and sensor data. It analyzes typing patterns to provide insights into mental health and assists researchers in developing better diagnostic tools for mood disorders.

Highlights
  • Mood tracking
  • Neurocognitive functioning assessment
  • Keystroke dynamics analysis
  • Sensor data collection
  • Mental health insights
  • Research participation
Read full description

BiAffect3 is the new and improved version of our award-winning BiAffect app, part of a multi-year mood-tracking research project developed by researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago and funded by the National Institute of Mental Health. BiAffect3 • Track your mood and neurocognitive functioning with your iPhone. • Use keystroke dynamics and sensor data to gain insights into your mental health. • Help researchers develop new tools to improve the diagnosis and treatment of mood disorders. How does it work? BiAffect3 uses a custom-built virtual smartphone keyboard to collect keystroke metadata—such as typing speed, errors, and pauses—but not typed content in order to preserve user privacy. This data is then analyzed using machine learning algorithms and other statistical techniques to identify patterns that are associated with different mood states. Who is BiAffect3 for? BiAffect3 is for anyone who is interested in tracking their mood and neurocognitive functioning. The app is particularly useful for people with mood disorders as it can help them to identify early warning signs of an episode and take steps to prevent it, but it can be used by anyone who wants to learn more about their individual emotional and thought patterns. How do I get started? To get started with BiAffect3, simply download the app and create an account. The app will then guide you through the setup process. How can I help? By participating in the BiAffect3 study, you can help researchers develop new tools to improve the diagnosis and treatment of bipolar disorder. Your participation is voluntary and confidential. Download BiAffect3 today and start tracking your mood and neurocognitive functioning.

Screenshots

Equa4 screens
BiAffect33 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: BiAffect3 at none against Equa's 12. Equa's advantage is update cadence (every 10 days vs every 4 months) and ratings volume (240 vs 6). On price, rating, ads and iOS requirement 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. Equa sells 12 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. BiAffect3 asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.9 for Equa against 5.0 for BiAffect3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Equa has 240 ratings behind it against 6, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Equa ships an update every 10 days, BiAffect3 every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and October 7, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Equa versus BiAffect3: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterEquaBiAffect3
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (240 ratings)5.0 (6 ratings) — better
Positive reviews69.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings240 — better6
Update frequencyEvery 10 days — betterEvery 4 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationSubscriptionFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS15.1 — better16.1
Further details — not scored
Size95 MB30 MB
Age rating4+17+
DeveloperEqua Health, Inc.University of Illinois

Customer experience

Equa

All ratings240 ratings
Positive97.9%
Neutral0.8%
Negative1.3%
Written reviews29 reviews
Positive69.0%
Neutral10.3%
Negative20.7%

BiAffect3

All ratings4 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Equa

Reported bugs

6 issues
  • Login page not working
  • Tapping feedback not detecting double taps
  • Accomplishments not logging accurately
  • Cannot proceed past lesson 13 as a premium subscriber
  • App redirects to subscribe screen for premium content
Show 1 more
  • No way to reset user's meditation experience level

Requested features

8 requests
  • Add more content/lessons
  • Sync with Apple Health
  • Improve tapping detection accuracy
  • Provide more guidance on dashboard usage
  • Offer more than one reminder for micro-exercises
Show 3 more
  • Add ability to reset profile/experience level
  • Clarify course structure/outline
  • Add more lessons beyond the initial 41

BiAffect3

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

12 purchases

Equa

Subscriptions12
  • Monthly Subscription7 Days trial$0.991 Month
  • Monthly Subscriptoin7 Days trial$2.991 Month
  • Monthly Subscription7 Days trial$4.991 Month
Show 9 more
  • Monthly Subscriptoin7 Days trial$7.991 Month
  • Monthly Subscription1 Month trial$11.991 Month
  • Monthly Subscription7 Days trial$12.991 Month
  • Monthly Subscription7 Days trial$14.991 Month
  • Monthly Subscription7 Days trial$17.991 Month
  • Resilience Starter Kit7 Days trial$29.996 Months
  • Yearly Subscription1 Year trial$39.991 Year
  • Annual Membership7 Days trial$64.991 Year
  • Yearly Equanaut7 Days trial$149.991 Year
None

BiAffect3

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Equa free?
Equa is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is BiAffect3 free?
BiAffect3 is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Equa or BiAffect3?
BiAffect3 is rated higher. Equa averages 4.9 out of 5 from 240 ratings, while BiAffect3 averages 5.0 from 6 ratings.
Do Equa or BiAffect3 have ads?
Neither Equa nor BiAffect3 shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Equa or BiAffect3?
Equa ships an update every 10 days, and BiAffect3 every 4 months. Most recently, Equa was updated on October 14, 2026 and BiAffect3 on October 7, 2026.

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