Waking Up: Meditation & Wisdom

In-app purchases
4,7
41K reviews
1M+
Downloads
Content rating
Everyone
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About this app

NOT JUST ANOTHER MEDITATION APP
Don’t think of Waking Up as a conventional meditation app—think of it as a new operating system for your mind, and a guide to living a better life.

We aim to offer a far deeper approach to mindfulness than you’ll find elsewhere—one that fundamentally transforms how you see yourself, and the world around you.

But you’ll also discover life-changing, secular wisdom from top scholars and experts, on everything from sleep and doing good in the world to time management and happiness.

Waking Up is free for anyone who can’t afford it. We never want money to be the reason why someone can’t benefit from what we’ve built.

**Created by Sam Harris
Sam Harris, neuroscientist and best-selling author, built Waking Up to be the resource he wished he’d had when he began exploring meditation over 30 years ago.

Sam only includes those practices and insights he’s found to be utterly life-changing. The same is true for the many teachers, scholars, and experts you’ll meet throughout the app.

**A step-by-step approach to mindfulness
We’ve heard from thousands of members who say they never really understood meditation until they took our 28-part Introductory Course.

Whether you’re a beginner or advanced practitioner, you’ll dive straight into the deep end of real mindfulness, so you don’t waste any time on the surface.

**Learn the true purpose of meditation
Meditation is about more than just relieving stress, sleeping better, or improving your focus. While it can help you do all of that, our goal is ultimately to help you open the door to a deeper understanding of yourself.

Here, you won’t just uncover simple relaxation techniques —and you won’t find any New Age fluff or religious dogma.

**A place for serious seekers
Explore some of life’s most important questions, on topics like neuroscience, psychedelics, enlightenment, ethics, and Stoicism—from renowned authors and professors like Oliver Burkeman, Michael Pollan, Laurie Santos, Arthur C. Brooks, James Clear, and others.

**In-depth theory and practice
Waking Up explains both the theory and the practice of meditation —so you don’t just learn the “how” of mindfulness, but also the “why.”

You’ll be guided by prominent figures like Joseph Goldstein, Diana Winston, Adyashanti, Jayasāra, and Henry Shukman, who teach a wide range of contemplative practices, including Vipassana, Zen, Dzogchen, Advaita Vedanta, and more.

**Timeless insights, modern lens
Within Waking Up, you’ll find some of the most profound spiritual teachings from throughout history—those that have stood the test of time. And you’ll hear from historic voices like Alan Watts.

But we also pressure-test ancient wisdom against modern science, so you won’t find outlandish claims or anything we haven’t found to be empirically true.

**A comprehensive guide
Waking Up supports your growth and development in a number of different ways. You’ll find an abundance of useful features, like meditation timers, in-app support messages, an ever-growing audio library, and daily reminders to help bring your mindfulness practice into your life.

“Waking Up is, hands down, the most important meditation guide I’ve ever used.” Physician Peter Attia

“If you’ve had trouble getting into meditation, this app is your answer!” -Susan Cain, best-selling author

“Waking Up is not an app, it’s a path. It is equal parts a meditation guide, a philosophy master-class and a highly-focused TED Conference.” -Eric Hirschberg, former CEO of ACTIVISION

SUBSCRIPTION
Subscriptions automatically renew, unless auto-renew is disabled at least 24 hours before the current period ends. Manage your subscription from your Google Play account settings. Payment will be charged to your Google account.

Terms of service: https://wakingup.com/terms-of-service/
Privacy policy: https://wakingup.com/privacy-policy/
Satisfaction guarantee: If you don’t find the app valuable, email us at support@wakingup.com for a full refund.
Updated on
24 Apr 2025

Data safety

Safety starts with understanding how developers collect and share your data. Data privacy and security practices may vary based on your use, region and age. The developer provided this information and may update it over time.
No data shared with third parties
Learn more about how developers declare sharing
This app may collect these data types
Location, Personal info and 4 others
Data is encrypted in transit
You can request that data be deleted

Ratings and reviews

4,7
40,3K reviews
Eric Price
17 March 2025
Meditator off and on, including retreats, for about 10 years, but inconsistent results. Mediation apps delivered inconsistent results. After 15 sessions using The Waking Up app, I can say that has changed for me! Very well designed, useful quotes, reminders to meditate, exceptional short snippets and long lectures. Clearly defines what meditation is and is not, removing religious, spiritual and iconic language that can confuse the actual goal, showing how non-dualistic states can be achieved.
12 people found this review helpful
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Nandakumar Raghavan
06 April 2025
I'm a Sam fan boy. And I'm captivated by this essential app for everyone. I use it every day, as many times as possible, and it truly changes one’s life. It reshapes the fundamentals upon which everything else is built—or left unbuilt. You can sleep to it and wake up to it, needing only ears and mind, not eyes. Highly, highly recommended—a genuine blessing to humanity, steadily improving each day.
7 people found this review helpful
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Chandra
03 April 2025
2025 Update: I appreciate that they offer discounted memberships, but the need for constant app updates is annoying and unnecessary especially when you can't use the app without updating. Original: I honestly really like this app and have used it off and on for a bit. It has both practice and theory components which is nice. Sucks that after a few days, most things are locked and you have to pay. If I had a spare $100 this would definitely be my go-to app, but I guess I'm back to searching
24 people found this review helpful
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Waking Up LLC
28 January 2021
Please email us at support@wakingup.com and we will help you out.

What's new

We've made some behind-the-scenes improvements to enhance your app experience. This update focuses on fixing bugs and optimizing performance, ensuring everything runs smoothly and reliably. No big changes this time—just refining the little details that make a big difference.