Digital tools can be a helpful way to take small, positive steps for your mental health. Whether you’re looking for support with stress, sleep, mindfulness, or healthy living, there are plenty of trusted apps that can make a difference.
All listed apps are available on iOS and Android unless stated otherwise. Some are free, while others may have in-app purchases or subscription costs. Prices may also appear in dollars ($) or euros (€) if the app is based outside the UK.
Let us know what apps work well for you. If you have any other suggestions for our self-help pages, please send them to us at ithrive@health-in-mind.org.uk.
To get you started, we’ve listed the Scottish Government’s recommended apps first. These are tried and trusted tools that have been chosen for their quality and effectiveness in supporting mental health. They’re a great first step if you’re not sure where to begin.
Silvercloud
Sleepio
Daylight
MyCare.scot
To make it easier to find what you need, we’ve grouped the apps into themes. Just open the dropdown menus below to explore different categories, whether you’re looking for chat support, mindfulness, help with low mood, diaries and trackers, or lifestyle apps.
Sometimes it helps to talk things through. These apps give you a safe space to connect with others or chat with trained listeners, so you don’t have to face difficult moments on your own.
7 Cups
A tool for when you just need someone to talk to. Trained active listeners are available to chat with you via text or online, and to be there to help you through difficult times.
Cost: Free with in-app purchases.
$12.99/month
$94.99/year
999 BSL
999 BSL is an emergency Video Relay Service, providing an on-demand remote service by fully qualified and registered British Sign Language interpreters.
Cost: Free
Liven
Tellmi
Tellmi allows you to share your problems anonymously, and receive free and immediate support and advice from people who get what you are going through.
Cost: Free
Mindfulness apps can help you pause, breathe, and find calm in the middle of a busy day. From guided meditations to simple grounding exercises, they’re designed to bring your focus back to the present moment.
Breethe
Breethe provides tools and guidance to help you stay on track with your meditation practices throughout the day. It offers five-minute meditations, along with tips for overcoming pressure, feeling love, and living with intention and inner peace. You are able to customise the app to suit you.
Cost: Monthly subscription £11.99
Buddhify
Buddhify has meditation and mindfulnesses exercises for adults and children. The app can be integrated with Apple Health so you can track your progress.
Cost: One-off cost of £2.99
Calm
Calm includes free resources including music, sleep stories, guided meditations to help you feel calmer.
Cost: Free
Chill Panda
Chill Panda has activities designed to help you manage stress and worry. Activities include relaxing breathing and physical exercise.
Cost: Free
Colorfy
Colorfy has flowing and relaxing shapes and patterns for you to colour in. This can allow you to time out from the hustle and bustle of everyday life.
Cost: Free with in-app purchases.
Monthly £18.99
Yearly £93.99
Happify
Happify uses positive psychology, mindfulness activities and cognitive behavioural therapy to help you feel happier.
Cost: Free with in-app purchases.
Monthly $14.99
Yearly $139.99 per year ($11.67/month)
Lifetime $449.99
Headspace
Headspace has everyday mindfulness activities designed to help you feel happy, healthier and well-rested.
Cost: Free with in-app purchases.
Monthly £9.99
Yearly £49.99
*If you are unemployed in the UK you can get a free premium subscription
Insight Timer – Meditation App
Insight Timer – Meditation App has over 4,000 guided meditations from over 1,000 teachers, on topics such as self-compassion, nature, and stress, in addition to talks and podcasts.
Cost: Free with in-app purchases.
Monthly £9.99
Yearly £59.99
Portal – Focus, Sleep, Escape
Portal contains soundscapes to help you relax, meditate and sleep.
Cost: Free with in-app purchases.
$3.99 one-off purchase.
*This app not available on Android devices.
Smiling Minds
Smiling Minds has daily meditation and mindfulness exercises designed to help you with stress, sleep, concentrations, wellbeing, relationships, physical exercise and nutrition.
Cost: Free
The Mindfulness App
The Mindfulness App has meditation-videos, a mood tracker, reminder alerts and personalised exercises.
Cost: Free with in-app purchases.
Yearly £45.49
Thrive
Mindfulness apps can help you pause, breathe, and find calm in the middle of a busy day. From guided meditations to simple grounding exercises, they’re designed to bring your focus back to the present moment.
Thrive (not the same as Thrive Edinburgh) can help you manage stress by monitoring your mood and suggesting relaxation exercises.
Cost: Free
Twenty-four Hours a day
Twenty-four Hours a day contains meditation books for those affecting by substance misuse. The app takes inspiration from Christian readings.
Cost: Free
Unique Daily Affirmation
Unique Daily Affirmation sends you daily affirmations to help boost your mood and start your day with some positivity.
Cost: Free with in-app purchases.
Voda: LGBTQIA+ Mental Wellness
Voda provides app-based mindfulness and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) programs.
The Voda approach is rooted in the LGBTQIA+ lived experience, our self-guided therapy programmes help you cope with the challenges of living in a heteronormative and cisnormative society.
Cost: Free with in-app purchases.
When you’re feeling low, it can be hard to know where to start. These apps offer gentle support and practical tools to help you manage your mood, build resilience, and take small steps forward.
BlueIce
BlueIce is designed for young people to manage difficult emotion and reduce urges to self-harm.
Cost: Free
Calm Harm
Calm Harm can help you reduce the urge to self-harm through different distraction and mindfulness activities.
Cost: Free
Daylight
Daylight aims to improve your levels of worry and anxiety. You are able to monitor how you are feeling and personalise your own programme of activities to help boost your mood.
Cost: Free to NHS staff in Scotland.
DistrACT
DistrACT provides access to information related to suicidal thoughts and self-harm.
Cost: Free
Sorted: mental health app
The Sorted: mental health app (formerly the Feeling Good App) contains the evidence based audio programme Positive Mental Training, a series of 12 audio tracks to help you build essential skills, not only to deal with mental stresses and strains, but to bounce ‘forwards’ and become mentally stronger and more resilient. It is based on an Olympic Sports Coaching Programme. Adapted by a GP and a psychologist It has been in use in Scotland over 15 years.
Sorted: mental health app instructions
Cost: Free. Unlock all the app tracks with the inapp referral username of lothianwidef1 and password positive. Any concerns speak to your health professional/GP.
GG OCD – Thoughts Exercise
GG OCD uses Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) techniques to help you manage Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) symptoms such as intrusive thoughts, low self-esteem, social anxiety and low mood.
Cost: Monthly £10.99
Yearly £53.99
Mindshift
MindShift is designed to help teens and young adults cope with anxiety, panic, phobias, worry and perfectionism.
Cost: Free
No Panic
No Panic is designed to help you with panic attacks and anxiety. It includes breathing and body scan exercises, a beginners guide to anxiety and a symptom checker.
Cost: Free
Self-Help for Anxiety Management
Self-help for Anxiety Management (SAM) is designed to help you learn more about your anxiety, build your own anxiety toolkit, and tailor your self-help activities to fit into your life.
Cost: Free
DARE
DARE is designed to help you manage anxiety. It includes information and activities on topics such as sleep, breathing techniques, panic attacks and worry.
Cost: Free
Stay Alive – Grassroots Suicide Prevention app
Stay Alive has a wide range of useful resources related to suicide prevention and help you create a safety plan.
Cost: Free
STOPP
The STOPP app using the STOPP technique to help you handle unhelpful thinking patterns, panic attacks and general feelings of anxiety and stress.
Cost: Free
Thrive
Thrive (not the same as Thrive Edinburgh) can help you manage stress by monitoring your mood and suggesting relaxation exercises.
Cost: Free
Keeping track of how you’re feeling can make a real difference. These apps let you record your thoughts, emotions, and habits, so you can spot patterns and learn more about what helps you.
Cove
Cove helps you express how you are feeling through music and track your emotions using a mood journal.
Cost: Free
Daylio
Daylio is an easy to use mood diary using icons to categories your emotions and activities.
Cost: Free with in-app purchases.
Monthly £2.49
Yearly £9.48
eMoods Bipolar Mood Tracker
eMood Bipolar Mood Tracker is designed for those with Bipolar I, Bipolar II, depression and/or anxiety. You can track your mood, identify triggers and print a PDF report of your findings.
Cost: Free with in-app purchases.
Monthly £0.99
Lifetime £5.99
iMoodJournal – Mood Diary
iMoodJournal is a mood tracker and diary. You are able to track how your mood changes, what triggers you and identify ways to help you feel better. You can track things such as sleep, medication, energy levels, stress and other symptoms.
Cost: One-off cost £1.89
MoodTools – Depression Aid
MoodTools – Depression Aid includes a thought diary, activities based on Behavioural Activation Therapy, your own safety plan feature, videos on guided meditation and the ability to track your symptoms using its questionnaire function.
Cost: Free with in-app purchases.
Monthly £1.99
My Possible Self: The Mental Health App
My Possible Self: The Mental Health app can help you track your mood and understand your emotions. There are modules and activities you can complete to help boost your mood.
Cost: Free with in-app purchases.
Monthly £5.99
Yearly £59.99
Reflectly: Self-Care Journal
Reflectly is a journal app that aims to improve your self-care practices and overall happiness.
Cost: Free with in-app purchases.
Monthly £7.49
Yearly £19.99
Lifetime £199.99
RR: Eating Disorder Management
RR: Eating Disorder Management can track your recovery journey using cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) based self-monitoring research. You can record meals, thoughts and feelings while accessing positive affirmations to helping you meet your recovery goals.
Cost:
Free
Samaritans Self-help
The Samaritans self-help app can help you keep track of how you’re feeling, and get recommendations for things you can do to help yourself cope, feel better and stay safe in a crisis
Cost: Free
Yu: You Understood
Take a moment to reflect, to think about how you feel. By recording your emotions using this mood tracking app, you can learn how your emotions are connected to experiences in your life like people and activities, that otherwise go unnoticed.
Cost: Free
Looking after your physical health supports your mental health too. These apps focus on things like sleep, fitness, and healthy eating, giving you practical ways to build balance and wellbeing into everyday life.
Change4Life Smart Recipes
Change4life Smart Recipes can help you learn easy and healthy meals for you and the people around you.
Cost: Free
Couch to 5K
Keep active is one of the five ways to wellbeing. The couch to 5k app is an easy to use programme to help you try running to boost your wellbeing.
Cost:
Free
Student Health
The Student Health app has over 900 pages of certified health information was created in collaboration with university students and NHS doctors.
Cost: Free