Who says technology can’t be spiritual? Here are a handful of meditation apps that can help you on the road to enlightenment. As of this writing, you can download these apps for free at the Amazon app store for the Android.

Some features may require you to upgrade to a premium version, but all these apps have enough to offer in free mode. Please note that apps may be incompatible with certain devices. Check each product description at the app store before you decide to get it.

Meditation Garden

Meditation Garden by Mind Attuned is a full-featured meditation app. It comes with a timer, sound effects, background images and a journal. The timer lets you set the length and number of sessions, as well as preparation time or “warm up.” If you want to mark the passage of time during a sitting, you can set the bell to ring at fixed or random intervals. For example, if you set a session to last for an hour, you can specify intervals at, say, every twenty minutes.

This app will play sound effects to signal periods in your practice sessions. You can choose from several meditation bells and decide how many times the bell will ring. If you need a soothing background audio, enable nature sounds like rain, wind or a brook. Meditation Garden also comes with several wallpapers for a nice backdrop. At the end of each session, the app will prompt you to open a built-in journal so you can jot down notes.

Meditate: Free Meditation Timer

This app has a good array of meditation features. Like Meditation Garden, it lets you fix the time of your sittings and play meditation bells to signal the start and end of each session. You can practice meditation, affirmation (a phrase to reflect on) or falling asleep. After each sitting, you can type a note in a journal. Statistics and history help you review your session times and notes. The full version of Free Meditation Timer allows you to create your own custom meditation plan.

Meditation Moment

Made by a Hong Kong developer, this simple meditation tool displays a video of candles flickering in the dark. A new version released in June 2014 provides three candle scenes and two musical scores to choose from. You can set the timer to time your sessions. It is ideal for meditators who like to use a flame to develop concentration.

Relaxation Bowl

If you don’t know, singing bowls are a kind of standing bell used in meditation and music in Asian cultures. With this app, you can enjoy their sounds without spending a dime on a real bowl. Relaxation Bowl by William Alexander gives you several types of bowls and gongs to play with. Some of the bowls will play infinitely until you stop them. You can either stop sounds or make them fade out.

Relax Melodies

While designed to help you relax and fall asleep, Relax Melodies by Ipnos Software can also be useful for meditation. This app lets you mix and customize almost fifty high-quality sound effects to create just the right melody. Instead of just a single audio clip to play each time, you get to combine as many as you want. You can even adjust the volume of each sound independently of the others. A timer can automatically switch off all sounds when you fall asleep. A premium version of this app offers twice as many sound effects as the free version. If you like to have a pleasant white noise ambience when you meditate, Relax Melodies is for you.
Meditation with Apps Tips

• Research each meditation app carefully before you download and install it.
• Make sure your device carries enough charge to last for the duration of your meditation.
• Experiment with different settings to find out what helps your practice the most.
• If the light from the screen disturbs you, cover your device with a cloth during your meditation session.