Comparison

Smiling Mind vs Rootd

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

Head to head
About

Smiling Mind

This app offers a comprehensive mental fitness toolkit with over 700 lessons, practices, and meditations designed by experts. It helps users develop skills for wellbeing, manage stress, improve relationships, and promote emotional growth across all ages. Content can be downloaded for offline use, and progress is tracked.

Highlights
  • 700+ lessons, practices, and meditations
  • 50+ curated collections
  • Offline content download
  • Personalized routines
  • Mood tracking and progress tracker
  • Meditations in Indigenous Australian languages
  • Dark mode
Features
Read full description

Smiling Mind gives you a head-start to managing the ups and downs of everyday life. Welcome to your versatile and practical mental fitness toolkit. The Smiling Mind App helps you learn the skills that underpin wellbeing and create the habits to thrive. Develop your own, unique approach to building your mental fitness, navigating challenges and meeting your goals. It’s your daily workout for life, in your pocket. Our app is underpinned by the Smiling Mind Mental Fitness Model, designed by psychologists and mental health experts to help you develop the foundation for your mind to thrive. Smiling Mind supports you to practise mental fitness through five core skill sets, empowering you to: live mindfully, embrace flexible thinking, grow connections, act purposefully and recharge your body. The Smiling Mind App provides you with personalised content, tools and resources to support your specific wellbeing needs and goals. There’s a range of content for minds of all ages and stages, with children’s collections suitable for ages 5 to 12, and adult collections that take you from beginner practice to everyday habits! The Smiling Mind App has: * 700+ lessons, practices and meditations * 50+ curated collections With a range of special features, the app helps you build mental fitness and resilience; support good sleep, study and sports training; reduce stress; improve relationships; and promote the development of new social and emotional skills. SMILING MIND FEATURES MEDITATION & MINDFULNESS * Beginner meditations through to programs for experienced practitioners * Meditations in Indigenous Australian languages (Kriol, Ngaanyatjarra & Pitjantjatjara) * Content and programs covering sleep, calm, relationships, stress, mindful eating, and much more * Programs for kids and families including sleep, emotional skills development, back to school, and much more MENTAL FITNESS Develop mental fitness skills to: * Increase your sense of calm * Manage your technology use * Enhance the important relationships in your life * Reduce stress and anxiety * Improve mental health and wellbeing OTHER FEATURES * Download content to use offline * Build a mental fitness habits with personalised routines * Track your mood with wellbeing check-ins * See your skill development progress with the mental fitness tracker * Dark mode to help you relax before sleep We have a history of creating positive impact, and a vision to create generational change, empowering everyone with the tools for lifelong mental fitness. Smiling Mind has been at the forefront of mental health innovation for over 12 years, helping minds thrive with evidence-based tools and resources. We’re proud to have impacted the lives of millions of people globally. Over the last decade we have followed a vision to help every mind thrive, and are proud to have impacted so many lives in that time. Now, amidst a mental health crisis, we’re looking to the future at how Smiling Mind can create long-term change in mental health and wellbeing that will ripple into future generations. Smiling Mind’s new mission, Lifelong Mental Fitness, is built on the evidence that shows positive mental wellbeing can be proactively developed. And it’s our intention to empower everyone with the skills they need to do this. “The best thing about Smiling Mind is that it relaxes you and helps you think straight.” - Luke, 10 “We listen to it most nights for my son and I’m not sure what I would do without it truthfully. Thank you for helping our children and family feel better inside and out.” - Year 3 and 5 Parent

About

Rootd

This app offers immediate relief for panic attacks and anxiety through guided exercises, lessons, and a panic button. It helps users understand and overcome anxiety with tools like deep breathing, journaling, and soothing visualizations. Features also include sleep aids and emergency contact options.

Highlights
  • Panic attack SOS button
  • Guided deep breathing exercises
  • Anxiety journal and mood tracking
  • Soothing visualizations and nature sounds
  • Sleep aids with white noise and stories
  • Emergency contact feature
  • Lessons on understanding anxiety
Features
Read full description

** Editor's Choice ** — Apple ** App of the Day ** — Apple ** Approved for privacy, security, clinical assurance, and safety ** — DHAF & ORCHA Rootd is anxiety and panic attack relief in your pocket. Award-winning, scientifically validated, female led and seen in Women's Health, Time Magazine, Healthline and more. With millions of users worldwide, Rootd is the go-to app for anxiety & panic attacks for more and more people each day. “I’ve suffered from panic attacks for almost 10 years. I’ve done CBT, medication, meditation, but nothing helped me in the moment when that panic attack hit, until I downloaded Rootd. Rootd makes it feel like someone is with me, even when I’m alone. I owe my continued stability to this simple genius app. It's a MUST for all who are facing the same type of war.” RainyNally Understand, and overcome anxiety & panic attacks with Rootd’s therapist-approved panic button, guided deep breathing, anxiety journal, soothing visualizations, stats page, emergency contact, and lessons. We set out to build Rootd after suffering from panic attacks and anxiety for several years. The only help we could find was either too expensive, ineffective, or poorly designed. Our mission is to help others find accessible relief from their panic and anxiety, and to end the stigma against those affected. Finally, an app for conquering panic attacks and anxiety that blends a guided process for both immediate and long term relief, with clean and engaging design. Rootd’s core features and content include: THE ROOTR, PANIC ATTACK SOS BUTTON A panic button to bring a swift end to panic attacks based on the latest techniques in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). LESSONS Find some peace of mind by learning about where anxiety comes from, how our bodies and minds experience panic attacks, and why this all might be happening to you. BREATHE The perfect tool to practice deep breathing daily and find calm during times of stress. JOURNAL Track and identify moods, habits, and subconscious triggers of anxiety and panic attacks. VISUALIZE Guided body scans, visualizations, ASMR, and nature sounds to get rooted when feeling anxious. SLEEP White noise, ASMR, sleep stories, relaxing sounds, and music for you to gain calm and sleep deeply. EMERGENCY CONTACT For when you need to hear a friendly voice, you can immediately call a friend, family member, or nearby help center directly from the app. PERSONAL STATS Take pride in your healing progress and gain appreciation for how far you’ve come. To continue your journey, you can upgrade to unlock Full Access to Rootd, including: MORE LESSONS Learn changes you can make and exercises you can perform to guide you through the remainder of the journey to lifelong relief and to living panic attack free. Rootd saves your Breathe, Visualize, and Sleep sessions to your Apple Health app. Subscription Pricing and Terms Get full access to all Rootd's content and features by purchasing a monthly or yearly auto-renewing Full Access subscription. Or get lifetime full access for a one-time payment. Pricing may vary by country. Payment will be charged to your iTunes Account at confirmation of purchase. Your Rootd subscription will automatically renew at the end of each term and your credit card will be charged through your iTunes account unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period. Subscriptions may be managed and auto-renewal turned off any time from your iTunes Account Settings after purchase. “I appreciate the simple, factual, and yet caring approach of Rootd that makes it an inviting, interesting, and easy to use tool. I endorse this for individuals looking for support and tools for managing anxiety and panic attacks.” Wendy Marion-Orienti - Licensed PRH counsellor Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.rootd.io/terms-conditions/ Privacy Policy: https://www.rootd.io/privacy-policy

Screenshots

Smiling Mind4 screens
Rootd4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Smiling Mind at none against Rootd's 10. Smiling Mind also leads on ads (none vs shown). Rootd's advantage is review sentiment (83% vs 71%) and device support (4 vs 2). On price, rating, ratings volume and update cadence 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. Rootd sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Smiling Mind asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for Smiling Mind against 4.8 for Rootd. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 5K and 11K respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 71% of Smiling Mind's written reviews are positive against 83% of Rootd's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Smiling Mind ships an update every 5 days, Rootd every 6 days. The most recent releases landed on November 10, 2026 and November 12, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Smiling Mind versus Rootd: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSmiling MindRootd
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (5K ratings)4.8 (11K ratings) — better
Positive reviews71.3% of reviews82.8% of reviews — better
Number of ratings5K11K — better
Update frequencyEvery 5 days — betterEvery 6 days
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — better
Requires iOS16.415.6 — better
Further details — not scored
Size56 MB155 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSmiling MindSimply Rooted Media Inc.

Customer experience

Smiling Mind

All ratings4,951 ratings
Positive94.9%
Neutral2.6%
Negative2.5%
Written reviews642 reviews
Positive71.3%
Neutral8.1%
Negative20.6%

Rootd

All ratings10,580 ratings
Positive96.3%
Neutral2.1%
Negative1.6%
Written reviews767 reviews
Positive82.8%
Neutral3.8%
Negative13.4%

User reviews

Smiling Mind

From 5K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Completely free app
  • 🙂 Helps with anxiety, stress, and sleep
  • 🧠 Variety of meditation programs for all ages
  • 💤 Effective sleep meditations
  • 🎨 Visually appealing and user-friendly interface

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent crashes and login issues
  • 🔁 Repetitive meditations
  • 🔊 Distracting background music
  • 🤔 Confusing navigation after recent update
  • 🙅‍♀️ Inability to save progress and favorites

Rootd

From 11K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 💗 Helps with anxiety and panic attacks
  • 🧘‍♀️ Useful breathing and relaxation exercises
  • 📚 Informative lessons on understanding anxiety
  • 🆓 Provides helpful free features
  • 🔒 No ads or distractions

Room to improve

  • 💰 Paid features can be expensive
  • 🐛 Some technical issues like app crashes
  • 🚫 Limited free content, need to pay for full access
  • 🤖 Voice/audio quality could be improved
  • 🤔 Certain features not always reliable during panic attacks

Bugs and requests

Smiling Mind

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • App crashing on launch
  • Login and account issues
  • Meditations not loading or stopping mid-session
  • Incorrect tracking of meditation streaks and progress

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add more long-form meditations
  • Integrate with health/fitness tracking apps
  • Provide more customization options
  • Improve offline functionality
  • Add a dark mode

Rootd

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • App crashes or freezes on launch
  • Certain features not functioning as expected
  • Syncing/login issues with paid subscriptions

Requested features

5 requests
  • More free content and exercises
  • Ability to customize/personalize the app
  • Integration with wearables or smart home devices
  • Expanded journaling and mood tracking capabilities
  • Games or interactive elements to distract during anxiety

In-app purchases

None

Smiling Mind

No in-app purchases

10 purchases

Rootd

Subscriptions9
  • Chat With Ron$2.991 Month
  • Rootd Full Access Monthly$6.991 Month
  • Unlimited Annual Access7 Days trial$29.991 Year
Show 6 more
  • Rootd Full Access 6 Months$34.996 Months
  • Rootd Full Access Yearly$59.991 Year
  • Rootd Full Access Yearly3 Days trial$59.991 Year
  • Rootd Full Access Yearly7 Days trial$59.991 Year
  • Rootd Full Access Yearly$79.991 Year
  • Rootd Full Access Yearly7 Days trial$79.991 Year
One-time1
  • Rootd Lifetime Full Access$179.99

Questions

Is Smiling Mind free?
Smiling Mind is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Rootd free?
Rootd is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Smiling Mind or Rootd?
Rootd is rated higher. Smiling Mind averages 4.8 out of 5 from 5K ratings, while Rootd averages 4.8 from 11K ratings.
Do Smiling Mind or Rootd have ads?
Rootd shows ads; Smiling Mind does not.
Which is updated more often, Smiling Mind or Rootd?
Smiling Mind ships an update every 5 days, and Rootd every 6 days. Most recently, Smiling Mind was updated on November 10, 2026 and Rootd on November 12, 2026.

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