In today’s stressful world, mindfulness—a type of popular spirituality that strives to focus on the present moment—promises to soothe away the anxiety and stress of modern life. The Internet is full of popular cure-all mindfulness apps targeting everyone from busy urban professionals to dieters , those suffering from insomnia, and even children .

We are scholars of Buddhism who specialize in social media research. In August of 2019, we searched on Apple’s App Store and Google Play and found over 500 apps associated with Buddhism. The majority of the apps centered on the practice of mindfulness.

Do these apps truly promote Buddhist ideals or are they a product of a lucrative consumer industry?

Health benefits

As it is practiced in the U.S. today, mindfulness meditation focuses on being intensely aware, without any sort of judgment, of what one is sensing and feeling in the given moment. Mindfulness practice has been shown to counter the tendency in many of us to spend too much time planning and problem-solving, which can be stressful.

Mindfulness practices, as pursued by the Buddhist apps, involve guided meditation, breathing exercises, and other forms of relaxation. Clinical tests show that mindfulness relieves stress, anxiety, pain, depression, insomnia, and hypertension. However, there have been few studies of mindfulness apps.

The current popular understanding of mindfulness is derived from the Buddhist concept of sati, which describes being aware of one’s body, feelings, and other mental states.

In early Buddhist texts, mindfulness meant not only paying attention but also remembering what the Buddha taught, so that one could discern between skillful and unskillful thoughts, feelings, and actions. This would ultimately lead to liberation from the cycle of birth and death.