What I’ve Learned Studying Meditation Apps

For the past 4–5 years, I’ve been working as a Research Scientist in Psychiatry at UC San Diego, studying digital mindfulness and mental health.

But my perspective on meditation hasn’t come from research alone.

Over the years, I’ve seen it from different angles—
a long-term personal practice (about 17 years, including a 10-day Vipassana retreat),
using tools like the Healthy Minds Program during my time at UW–Madison,
spending consistent time with platforms like Calm over the past couple of years,
and working with in-house tools like BrainE as part of my research at NEATLabs.

And somewhere along the way, a gap became hard to ignore.

Most meditation apps are really well designed.

They’re calming. Easy to use. Even beautiful.

But when you look a little deeper…

I’m not sure they consistently lead to lasting change in:
– attention
– emotional regulation
– anxiety or depression symptoms

At least, not in a way we can clearly measure.

I think part of the issue is this:

We’ve reduced mental health to relaxation.

But mental health is closer to a training process.

Something that requires:
– structure
– feedback
– progression over time

From what I’ve seen, three things are often missing:

1. Measurement
We track streaks and minutes—but not real improvement.

2. Personalization
The same content goes to everyone, regardless of where they are.

3. Adaptation
Very little changes based on progress—or struggle.

Meanwhile, psychiatry itself is moving toward something different:
→ more continuous
→ more data-informed
→ more personalized

Digital tools haven’t fully caught up yet.

I don’t think meditation apps are “bad.”
They’ve helped millions get started.

But we’re still early in understanding how to make them truly effective.

This is something I’ve been thinking about more seriously—and something I want to explore further through my work and uMonk.

Curious:

Have meditation apps helped you long-term—or mostly in the moment?