1. Trimester-appropriate content
A general meditation app will happily guide you into positions and breathing practices that are not appropriate in pregnancy — lying flat on the back after 16 weeks, breath retention, forceful pranayama. Look for content built for pregnancy specifically, ideally organised by trimester, with explicit safety notes.
2. Short sessions
The best predictor of whether you will keep using an app is whether the shortest session fits the time you actually have. Five and ten-minute tracks get done; twenty-five minute tracks get postponed. A good library has both.
3. Offline download
You will want this in a hospital with poor signal, in a car, and during labour. If content is streaming-only, it will fail you exactly when you need it.
4. A labour and birth section
This is the clearest dividing line between a pregnancy app and a general one. Look for contraction-timed breathing, between-contraction rest tracks, partner-guided scripts and a track that runs continuously for an hour or more without a chime.
5. Who is teaching
Check whether the sessions are written or reviewed by a qualified childbirth educator, midwife, obstetric physiotherapist or perinatal mental health professional. Many apps do not say, which is itself informative.
6. Honest pricing
Look for the annual price, not the monthly teaser; whether the free trial auto-renews; whether the content you actually want sits behind a second paywall; and whether there is a lifetime or one-off option. Indian pricing tiers vary widely, so check in your own currency before subscribing.
7. Language and voice
You are going to hear this voice every day, possibly during labour. Listen to a full free track before paying. If you would prefer Hindi, Marathi or Gujarati guidance, check that it exists and is properly recorded rather than machine-read — this rules out a surprising number of international apps.
8. No medical claims
Be sceptical of any app promising a shorter labour, a guaranteed normal delivery, a specific rise in your baby's IQ, or results from "sound frequencies". Meditation has good evidence for stress, anxiety, sleep and coping. It does not have evidence for those claims, and an app making them is telling you about its marketing rather than its content.
Practical tips before you subscribe
- Use the free tier for a full week first. Habit, not library size, is what you are testing.
- Download your labour tracks by 36 weeks and put them on a separate playlist.
- Set one daily reminder at a realistic time, and turn off every other notification.
- Check what happens to your access after delivery if you want postnatal content.
Where an app is not enough
An app gives you a recording. It cannot see your posture, adapt to your pelvic girdle pain, answer whether your symptom is normal, or notice that you are describing anxiety that needs treatment. A live prenatal class does all four, and the two work well together — use the class for guidance and correction, and the app for the daily five minutes in between.