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Updated July 2026 · real, multi-region App Store reviews
Head-to-head

Calm vs Insight Timer

Calm 4.8★ · Free + IAP 70
Winner Tie
Insight Timer 4.9★ · Free + IAP 70

Calm is better for users seeking a more curated, celebrity-narrated experience with a focus on sleep stories, while Insight Timer is better for those who prioritize a vast library of free content and a simple meditation timer, despite recent UI frustrations.

Full reviews: Calm · Insight Timer

Calm excels with its high-quality, celebrity-narrated sleep stories and guided meditations, though users frequently complain about its high cost and confusing interface. Insight Timer offers a massive free library and a beloved meditation timer, but recent updates have introduced frustrating pop-ups and mandatory goal-setting, alienating many long-term users.

Head to head

Content Variety & Quality edge: CalmR2R3R8R12
Calm Calm is praised for its high-quality sleep stories, particularly those narrated by celebrities like Harry Styles and Matthew McConaughey, which users find very relaxing and effective for sleep. It also offers daily meditations and movement sessions, with specific instructors like Tamara Levitt and Jeff Warren being highly regarded. However, some users wish for more new content, especially sleep stories, and find many of the existing ones annoying or mediocre.
Insight Timer Insight Timer offers a vast and diverse library of content, including numerous teachers, topics, guided meditations, and music, with many users appreciating the extensive free options. It's seen as a comprehensive tool for relaxation, healing, and learning, with a strong community aspect. However, some users report issues with premium sound quality and difficulty accessing their curated content after updates.
Ease of Use & Interface tieR7R10R18R25
Calm Many Calm users find the app's layout confusing, busy, and disorganized, with a useless search function. Pop-ups, notifications, and requests to rate or share are frequent, which users find anxiety-inducing and disruptive. Some also report issues with the app glitching, not scrolling smoothly, or playlists being broken.
Insight Timer Insight Timer's interface has become a major point of contention. While some users find it simple and clean, many recent reviews highlight frustrating changes, including mandatory goal-setting, endless questions, and numerous pop-ups that hinder access to core features like the meditation timer. Users complain about being forced to interact with these prompts every time they open the app, making it feel overstimulating and counterproductive to meditation.
Reliability & Support tieR1R15R19R21
Calm Calm users report issues with subscription renewals, unauthorized charges, and difficulty contacting customer service or getting refunds, describing the process as purposefully difficult and deceptive. The app also has glitches like ending daily streaks incorrectly, background noise disappearing, music not playing for the full duration, and content dropping during meditations.
Insight Timer Insight Timer users experience issues with the meditation timer not working when the screen turns off, making it unreliable. There are also complaints about losing meditation streaks due to interface design flaws and difficulty accessing bookmarked content after updates. Some users report slow loading of meditation tracks and playlists not playing correctly.
Price & Value edge: Insight TimerR4R10R13R16
Calm Calm is frequently criticized for being expensive, with almost everything locked behind a paywall, even basic features like inspirational quotes. Users feel forced to subscribe, with limited free content and aggressive upselling for family plans. There are complaints about trials charging prematurely and difficulty with cancellations and refunds.
Insight Timer Insight Timer is praised for its extensive free version, which many users find sufficient and filled with valuable content, teachers, and tools. However, recent updates have increased prompts to upgrade to the paid 'Pro' version, and some users feel that the premium content is of poor quality. There are also complaints about being asked for tips even after paying for the app.
Pick Calm if

You are looking for high-quality, celebrity-narrated sleep stories and guided meditations, and are willing to pay for a premium experience R3R17. You appreciate specific instructors and daily content like 'Daily Move' or 'Daily Calm' R2R8.

Pick Insight Timer if

You prefer a vast library of free meditation content, teachers, and a simple meditation timer . You are a long-term meditator who values tracking sessions and a wide variety of topics .

Evidence note: Both apps have a significant number of negative recent reviews, skewing the perception compared to their high lifetime ratings. For Calm, many negative reviews focus on the paywall and interface issues. For Insight Timer, recent negative reviews heavily criticize the new UI changes, pop-ups, and forced goal-setting, despite many long-term users still praising the core content.

Frequently asked

Is Calm worth the cost?
Calm is considered expensive by many users, with most content locked behind a paywall, costing around $80.00 for an annual subscription R4R50. While some find the premium content, especially sleep stories and guided meditations, to be amazing and life-changing, others feel it's not worth the price due to limited free options and recurring content R17R48.
What are the main complaints about Insight Timer?
The main complaints about Insight Timer revolve around recent updates that introduced frustrating user interface changes, including mandatory goal-setting, endless questions, and numerous pop-ups that disrupt the meditation experience and make it difficult to access the core timer or content R61R72R82. Users also report issues with the meditation timer not working reliably and difficulty finding bookmarked content after updates R73.
Does Calm have good customer support?
Calm's customer support is frequently criticized, with users reporting difficulty speaking to a person about payment issues, navigating cancellations, or getting refunds R1R19R49. Many describe the process as purposefully difficult and deceptive, with issues like unauthorized renewal charges and trials charging before the period is up R19R31R49.

What reviewers actually said

Built only from these 120 real reviews (foreign ones translated). Superscripts jump to the quote here. Apple has no per-review links, so [ref] opens that app's reviews on the App Store.

  1. [R2] Calm 5/5 · US Daily Move with Mel: She is soooooo fabulous!
  2. [R3] Calm 3/5 · US Sleep: Wow, I like a few of the sleep stories, most of them are annoying. They do not relax you at all. Harry Styles has a good one because it’s joined with some background music and it’s very relaxing.. It it would be nice to have more his sleep story. Matthew McConaughey is pretty good too. The rest of them are just either bad or mediocre. Please offer more of a selection.!
  3. [R8] Calm 5/5 · US Tamara Levitt 🤘☯️❤️🌊: Tamara Levitt is my go to! Brings me back to my center core self. 🤘☯️❤️🌊
  4. [R12] Calm 3/5 · US More new travel stories: We like monotone voices.. deep male that take you on travels. Need more of those please
  5. [R7] Calm 2/5 · US Disorganized: Please please please fix the organization because it is impossible to find anything in this app. I used to love Calm, but now it’s just random lists of different options with no useful organization. And the search function is useless.
  6. [R10] Calm 1/5 · US Anxiety-inducing: The layout is confusing and VERY busy. The opposite of “calm.” There are so many pop-ups, and almost everything is hidden behind a paywall. I downloaded the app to help diminish stress, but it only made it worse. Just download Headspace.
  7. [R18] Calm 3/5 · US Pop ups: Always asking to rate to share. I would like to use the app to help myself first without the interruption s.
  8. [R25] Calm 1/5 · US Glitching on Day 1: This is not with the money as glitchy as this thinks is. I downloaded the recent app and it should be updated???? This is not worth the cash.
  9. [R1] Calm 2/5 · US DITCH THE AI, PLEASE: I simply wanted to talk to a person about a payment issue on your support page. But after clicking the little chat box, the issue became something more. There is NOTHING natural or CALMing about talking to a freaking AI! Get rid of it!! I signed up for a year subscription on a promotion, thinking this app might help ground me, this app might help me better connect with those
  10. [R15] Calm 3/5 · US Frustrated, but mostly happy: The app has been great for my mental health… until now. I have been on a long streak of daily meditations, but even though I’ve use the app every day, the app ended my streak… all my days are checked and everything! Why did you end my streak? This is disheartening and totally blows my motivation. They could design a way for us to fix this. Maybe have the app ask,
  11. [R19] Calm 1/5 · US Problematic Subscription Renewals: Unauthorized renewal charges, impossible to speak to customer service, navigate cancellation, or get refunds. Feels purposefully difficult and deceptive. Many, many complaints across the web from other customers concerning these very same issues. I do not recommend this company.
  12. [R21] Calm 3/5 · GB Scene background noise: I use the Daily Calm part of the app regularly and always enjoyed listening to the background scene noise I had selected, but it seems to no longer play in the background, and now between the narration there is just silence. Not being able to find how to get this function back is leaving me feeling anything but calm. Before this I have had no complaints
  13. [R4] Calm 2/5 · US $$$: Years ago when calm first started they actually had inspirational quotes after you finished a meditation. But now that version costs money lol. I get app developers need to make money, but the concept of charging to stay “calm” is just lame to me. Barely anything is free on this app.
  14. [R13] Calm 1/5 · US Forces you to subscribe: If you don’t save items to your favorites in the first few days, you won’t be able to access them once your free days end. Now, they’ve limited the number of free items and the number of times you can listen to them too, so you’re forced to pay.
  15. [R16] Calm 1/5 · US Frustrating: I cant access only 2/3 meditations. All i see is more adds and locked screens
  16. [R17] Calm 5/5 · US Calm app: I just started using Calm Premium today, and my first experience was amazing. After only 10 minutes of meditation, I felt more relaxed, clear-minded, and present. The sounds and guided sessions helped me slow down and take a moment for myself. I’m excited to keep using Calm as part of my daily routine for focus, studying, and improving my mindset. Definitely a 10/10 experience so far.
  17. [R48] Calm 5/5 · US Amazing app: This app has been extremely beneficial to me for the past 3 years
  18. [R50] Calm 4/5 · US Gets you through the day (or night).: Definitely a help in stressful times. On the downside, it’s a little overpriced.
  19. [R61] Insight Timer 1/5 · US What happened?: I’ve had this app since 2016, and never had this problem, but it’s been ongoing for months now snd hasn’t been fixed so now adjusting my review. Every time I open the app, it thinks it’s my first time logging in and had me go through the long I take questions every single time. Which has actually steered me away to not use this platform anymore. So developers, this is something to
  20. [R72] Insight Timer 3/5 · US So many questions: I used to love this app. The meditation tracks are great. I don’t use it every single morning and therefore every time I come back, they want me to spend a couple of minutes answering a bunch of questions rather than just being able to start using the app. I just want to use the timer and listen to the tracks, I don’t need to set goals or specify intentions or any of whatever ot
  21. [R73] Insight Timer 2/5 · US Meditation timer does not work: I really want to like this app and have been using it for months, but at this point, I have to stop because the core functionality, the meditation timer, simply does not work. it has a tendency to turn stop timing when the screen turns off. Which means that it's just unreliable. That's a pity, and I hope the team finds a way to sort this out, as it's been happening
  22. [R82] Insight Timer 1/5 · US Pop ups are overstimulating: Insight has redesigned to have pop ups that force you to interact with the app to access and even finish/close meditations. This constant cycle is overstimulating, annoying, and obviously capitalistic. It’s hard to be in meditation when there are 15 things I have to click through to finish my meditation and go back to the home screen. Obviously - like insultingly so- d
  23. [R31] Calm 1/5 · US Don’t Sign Up Through Social Media!: Don’t sign up through social media! I signed up through Facebook. It gave me a deal. I signed in using the same Apple ID I used to pay for the prescription. Locked out. Asking for a subscription. Then they said to check my email and it was 40% off a subscription, but I had already PAID at this point! After two days my payment is still pending. I’m contacting my
  24. [R49] Calm 1/5 · US Don’t try the Trial: Don’t attempt to try this app out. Apple will charge you before the trial is up then you’re stuck paying $80 for a service you might not like. That’s what happened with me and support is a joke. So if their so called “30 day money back guarantee “

Synthesized from 120 recent App Store reviews · updated July 2026 · View on the App Store