When life feels heavy, these apps help lighten the loadTech gets a bad rap when it comes to mental health—and fair enough. Doomscrolling, comparison culture, and constant notifications don’t exactly soothe the soul. But when used with care, the right apps can actually make a huge difference.
Be it for access, affordability, privacy, or just having support at 2 a.m., mental health apps have become a lifeline for many—especially when therapy isn’t available, or motivation is low.
That said, the options are endless (and exhausting). Downloading five apps just to delete them all again is its own kind of spiral. So we did the digging for you.
Here’s a shortlist of the best mental health apps out there right now, from breathing and sleep to productivity, trauma support, and therapy. Whether you’re trying to stay afloat or just want a little more calm in your day, there’s something here that might help.
Overview of the best mental health apps
- Best for productivity: Mango
- Best for stress relief: Calm
- Best for therapy: BetterHelp
- Best for trauma: PTSD Coach
- Best for sleep: Sleep Ninja
- Best for anxiety: Worry Watch
- Best for breathwork: Breathwrk
- Best for solo brainstorming: ChatGPT
- Best for meditation: Headspace
Our shortlist of the best 9 mental health apps
Mango
Mango is a peer-powered productivity app designed for people who find “simple” tasks anything but. It was created by someone who, at one point, celebrated brushing their teeth before noon as a win — and found momentum through trading check-ins with a friend in the same boat. That’s the heart of Mango: mutual encouragement.
Instead of long lists or performance pressure, the app invites users to focus on a single action and check in with someone doing the same. It's built specifically for people dealing with ADHD, anxiety, depression, and burnout—those who need structure, but also understanding.
Standout features:
- One-task-at-a-time check-ins
- Peer matching for body-doubling
- No gamification or guilt
- Private by default, share if you want
Helpful for people who:
- Freeze when faced with a full to-do list
- Feel overwhelmed by basic daily tasks
- Need gentle structure without pressure
- Thrive with accountability but hate productivity bros
- Live with ADHD, anxiety, depression, or executive dysfunction
Calm
Calm is one of the most well-known meditation apps—and for good reason. It offers a wide range of mindfulness tools, from guided meditations and breathing exercises to sleep stories and relaxing soundscapes. No matter if you’ve got a full-blown anxiety spiral or just need to slow your racing thoughts, Calm makes meditation accessible and unintimidating, even for first-timers.
The app’s clean interface and big-name narrators (yes, that’s Matthew McConaughey telling you to go to sleep) have helped make mindfulness more mainstream. It’s not quite therapy, but it’s a reliable tool for emotional regulation, especially in stressful moments.
Standout features:
- Meditations from 1–30 minutes
- Bedtime stories read by celebrities
- Mood check-ins and daily streak tracking
- Breathing and stretching sessions
- Gentle reminders to pause and reset
Helpful for people who:
- Struggle to switch off or wind down
- Want help building a daily mindfulness habit
- Feel anxious, restless, or overstimulated
- Prefer non-clinical mental health tools
- Are new to meditation and want a guided approach
BetterHelp
BetterHelp is one of the largest online therapy platforms, connecting users to licensed therapists through messaging, phone, or video calls. It’s not free, but for people who can’t easily access in-person therapy due to cost, time, or geography, it offers a flexible alternative. You fill in a questionnaire and get matched with a therapist based on your needs, with the option to switch if it’s not the right fit.
Sessions are scheduled around your availability, and messaging gives users a more casual, ongoing connection between appointments. Put simply: It's therapy on your terms and in your space.
Standout features:
- Access to licensed therapists
- Flexible scheduling and session formats
- Therapy via text, phone, or video
- Anonymous if you want it to be
- Sliding-scale pricing options available
Helpful for people who:
- Can’t easily get to in-person therapy
- Prefer a less formal therapy setting
- Need flexible scheduling or remote access
- Want to try therapy for the first time
- Value consistency and confidentiality in support
PTSD Coach
Developed by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, PTSD Coach was originally created for military personnel but is now used more widely by anyone living with trauma. It offers psychoeducation, self-assessment tools, symptom trackers, and guided exercises—all evidence-based, trauma-informed, and free.
What makes it stand out is its balance of immediacy and depth. You can use it to ground yourself during a flashback or learn coping strategies over time. It’s not a substitute for therapy, but for many people, it’s a portable, private companion on the journey to healing.
Standout features:
- Grounding tools for moments of distress
- Education on PTSD and trauma responses
- Symptom tracking and goal setting
- Built-in safety planning resources
- Completely free and anonymous
Helpful for people who:
- Experience PTSD, CPTSD, or trauma-related symptoms
- Need support tools between therapy sessions
- Want private, nonjudgmental help with flashbacks or triggers
- Are exploring trauma support for the first time
- Prefer a straightforward, no-frills interface
Sleep Ninja
Sleep Ninja is a free app created by the Black Dog Institute to help young people (and honestly, anyone) build better sleep habits. It’s based on cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBT-I), offering personalised tips, routines, and a bedtime chatbot “ninja” to guide you through healthy sleep behaviours.
Unlike generic sleep trackers, Sleep Ninja helps you understand the why behind your poor sleep and gives practical steps to fix it. No melatonin ads or woo-woo advice here. Just real, clinical psychology made friendly.
Standout features:
- CBT-I techniques for long-term results
- Bedtime routine building
- Customizable sleep reminders
- Daily sleep logs and insights
- Free and designed for mental health
Helpful for people who:
- Struggle to fall asleep or stay asleep
- Rely on screens as a bedtime distraction
- Have anxiety that gets worse at night
- Are burnt out and wired all at once
- Want real strategies, not just white noise
Worry Watch
Worry Watch is an anxiety journal that helps you track worries, reflect on outcomes, and notice recurring thought patterns over time. It’s less about instant relief and more about long-term insight, encouraging users to log what they’re worried about, what actually happened, and how they coped.
By putting anxious thoughts into words (and then facts), Worry Watch helps chip away at the loop of overthinking. It’s clean, private, and built for introspective types who want a non-judgmental space to process their mental chatter.
Standout features:
- Log worries and track outcomes
- Spot recurring anxiety themes
- Tag emotions and triggers
- Export data or keep it private
- Password-protected journaling
Helpful for people who:
- Overthink worst-case scenarios
- Struggle to distinguish fear from fact
- Want to understand their anxiety patterns
- Prefer self-guided tools to talk therapy
- Feel calmer after writing things down
Breathwrk
Breathwrk is a science-backed app offering guided breathing exercises to help with focus, anxiety, energy, and sleep. Its clean, modern design makes it feel more like a fitness app than a meditation one—ideal for people who want the benefits of mindfulness without getting too spiritual about it.
Each exercise is short, goal-oriented, and customizable. You can choose by need (“calm down fast”) or by feeling (“wake up and focus”). Plus, it has visual cues and haptic feedback, making it especially helpful for neurodivergent users or those with sensory preferences.
Standout features:
- Dozens of breathing patterns for specific goals
- Guided visuals and sounds
- Reminders to build consistency
- Tracks mood and progress over time
- Built by athletes, used by therapists
Helpful for people who:
- Want a practical stress relief tool
- Don’t vibe with meditation or journaling
- Need something fast and actionable
- Are working on nervous system regulation
- Feel anxious but don’t know where to start
ChatGPT
Think of it like a chatbot that helps you get out of your own head. Whether you’re spiralling about a decision, avoiding a tough convo, or just can’t figure out what to do next—ChatGPT offers a low-pressure space to think out loud, bounce ideas around, and get suggestions when your brain feels foggy.
In one study, users with anxiety, stress, or low motivation said ChatGPT’s responses helped them feel calmer or more understood. But here’s the catch: it’s not a person. It won’t nudge you to follow through, or celebrate when you do. That’s where human connection (like Mango’s peer support model) can make all the difference.
Standout features:
- Always-on space to think things through
- Can mimic conversations, pep talks, or decision trees
- Non-judgmental tone, available 24/7
- Useful for emotional processing or gentle prompts
Helpful for people who:
- Feel stuck or unsure where to start
- Need a calm voice to help with decisions
- Want support without talking to a human
- Use writing or conversation to process emotions
Headspace
Headspace is the OG guided meditation app, known for its friendly animations and chatbot-like voiceovers. It takes you from “meditation zero” to a regular practice in bite-sized sessions—complete with themed packs like “stress, sleep, focus.”
Designed with playfulness and accessibility in mind, it makes meditation feel approachable, even for skeptics. With daily challenges, mindful movement exercises, and short exercises when anxiety strikes, it’s got more personality than your average sit-and-silence tool.
Standout features:
- Short, themed guided meditations
- SOS sessions for on-the-spot anxiety relief
- Mindful movement and stretching clips
- Personalized sleep tracks
Helpful for people who:
- Want quick tools to calm their nervous system
- Prefer animated visuals with thoughtful voice guidance
- Experience frequent stress or tension
- Are starting mindfulness from scratch and want easy wins
Support doesn’t always look like therapy or a self-help book. Sometimes it’s a ping from someone who gets it, a tool that keeps you company through the hard bits, or an app that reminds you you’re not broken—just overloaded.
That’s why Mango exists. It meets you where you are, on the messy days and the getting-back-up days. Whether you're living with ADHD, anxiety, depression, or just burnt out, Mango helps you do one thing at a time, without shame or pressure. However you’re struggling, it’s a small way back to feeling like yourself again.
