Perfect for mindful activities such as meditation and yoga, this simple yet powerful timer plays the beautiful sounds of the Tibetan singing bowl. Insight Timer (formerly Zen Timer) is a slick little timer app designed for meditation, yoga, and other such activities. You could of course simply set the alarm clock on your phone or use a timer, but Insight Timer has a lot of options for customization, and its sounds are much more peaceful than typical alarms. If you’re beginning meditation and looking for its immediate benefits, starting in an effort toward better productivity, or have been doing it for years this little app is handy.
Insight Timer Overview
From the main screen, as in any other timer, you can set the duration you want. The next option down is where Insight Timer starts to differentiate itself because it lets you choose beginning and interval bells. You can choose from seven different bells of varying size and metal compositions – from bright and clean to deep and complex with lovely overtones (a wood block sound is also included, which I typically used as the interval bell when I was using one). All the sounds are very high quality and sound great even through a phone’s speaker. Each bell can be set to ring once, twice or three times and the delay between strikes is configurable.
The app has some other great options such as unlimited number of interval bells per session, presets which really help if you have multiple meditation routines (such as morning and evening), setting your own custom background (or having the screen shut off, which is my preference), the ability to disable phone and text during a session, and my favorite: stat tracking.
I’m a data junkie and track all kinds of data about my life: jogging time, sleep schedules, etc. The fact that Insight Timer provides statistics and a journal for each session to help track progress is great. Your data can be exported via an email attachment and loaded into a spreadsheet for if you really want to go in depth on the data.
Something I never really had an interest in, but many might, is the ability to connect with a global meditation community and see who is meditating along with you all around the world and post your progress on Facebook. I always found each session to be something personal and intimate to me… so I wasn’t much on sharing of the data but if that’s your thing or it helps you stick to a routine then this app has it.
Get Insight Timer
Insight Timer is made by Spotlight Six Software and is available on most every platform:
iPhone | Android | iPad | iPhone (lite) | Android (lite) |
$1.99 | $1.99 | $2.99 | free | free |
App Store Link | Android Market Link | App Store Link | App Store Link | Android Market Link |
Doug Haldeman says
I have been using the iphone app AmbiSounds. It lets me mix some pretty cool sounds. My favorite has been the Native Indian Flute mixed with Calm Ocean. I actually use other sounds on it for a sound machine at night. I’m going to have to download the one your recommend though. Great blog post, thanks for sharing!
Jason says
Great post, thanks for the read.