The very best self-care apps for making healthier choices

Practising self-care has grown in popularity over the past couple of years, with many of us opting to take time to reflect on our lives and make positive changes to improve our mental and physical wellbeing.

Apps can be a handy way to begin your self-care journey and we’ve found the best self-care apps, providing guidance and inspiration on wellness, to help you switch off from the hustle and bustle of everyday life.

Do self-care apps work?

Self-care apps are a great starting point for anyone looking for personal wellbeing tips and can help you begin to incorporate self-care activities into your everyday routine.

Some of the best self-care apps offer you the option of tracking and recording your mood and thoughts, so you can start to see patterns emerging and possibly make small changes to combat them.

If you are looking for some help on where to start your self-care journey, we have compiled a list of the best self-care apps to incorporate into your daily life.

Discover the best self-care apps for day-to-day use

Designed with improving health and happiness in mind. There are hundreds of guided meditations on the app on everything from managing stress and everyday anxiety to sleep, focus, and mind-body health. There are also mood-boosting, at-home workouts for you to try with Move Mode.

Price: free for 14 days then £49.99 billed annually.

Shine is a good all-round self-care app. You can create a morning ritual with daily meditations, and there are weekly courses on different self-care themes, such as resilience, boundaries, rest, joy and more. You will also have access to monthly virtual workshops with mental wellness experts so you can take part in your self-care journey alongside a supportive community.

Price: free for 7 days then £64.99 billed annually.

Fabulous – Daily Routine Planner gives you focus for your day ahead with a personalised daily wellness routine. It encourages you to make healthier choices for both your body and mind. It has integrated fitness programs, and you will have access to a coach to motivate you to achieve your goals.

Price: free for 7 days then £35.99 billed annually.

Calm is regularly ranked number one for sleep and meditation, and it’s easy to see why. It offers guided meditations, movement videos and sleep stories narrated by well-known voices to help you drift off. Plus, it features a music library full of soothing sounds to help you feel relaxed.

Price: free for 7 days then £49.99 billed annually.

If you’re someone who can’t get to sleep without background noise, you need the White Noise Lite app in your life. This app generates sounds over a wide range of frequencies to help you fall asleep, and stay asleep. You can drift off to the sound of rain on a car roof, ocean waves crashing, or an air conditioner - to name a few.

Price: free

Smoke Free is here to give you a helping hand to quit smoking. You can track how long you’ve been without a cigarette, see the amount of money you’ve saved and see stats on the improvements to your health since quitting. It also offers tips on how to tackle cravings, and you can connect with a quit coach who motivates you through those moments where you feel like you want to give in to temptation.

Price: free

Colorfy is one of the best self-care apps to help you completely switch off. You can let your inner child come out to play and revel in the nostalgia of colouring. You’ll soon discover the same joy you experienced in your childhood when you complete a drawing.

Price: free

The best products to use alongside self-care apps

Our list of the best self-care apps is a great starting point on your personal care journey, but if you’re looking for items you can use alongside the apps, we’ve put together some of our favourite.

This yoga mat has a non-slip and cushioned surface where you can practise guided meditation and the Move Mode workouts.

This book will be great if the weekly courses on the Shine app have given you a taste for learning more about self-care. You can find out more about healing your body, mind and soul through self-love and mindfulness with this paperback.

You can organise your life and quickly jot down your priorities, tasks and goals across your day, week, and month with this planner.

Listen to those sleep stories in comfort and rest your head on a pair of soft and snuggly microfibre pillows.

This weighted blanket feels like a gentle hug. It is designed to relax your body while you drift off to sleep.

These nicotine patches will help supress the cravings until you’re ready to quit cold turkey.

If the Colorfy app has got you in the mood for more, put a physical pencil to paper inside this colouring book.