Health App Centered Combines Meditation and Activity

Apple’s watchOS 3 built-in health app, Breathe, isn’t a bad way to gain some mindfulness and relax throughout the day. However, it’s limited in its parameters, and may not be to everyone’s taste. Centered is an app that aims to bring you the same sort of relaxation, but you may find its methods more enjoyable.

After initial setup on the iPhone, where you’ll need to grant permission to access your Health app data and Notifications, you can use Centered exclusively on your Apple Watch. Unlike Breathe, Centered does not tell you exactly how long each breath should be, or anything like that. It gives you five meditation options: Self Guided (as long as you like), Mini Meditation (four minutes), Mindful Walk (five minutes), Body Awareness Meditation (18 minutes), and Mindful Meditation (14 minutes). Self Guided is just a stopwatch, basically. Meditate however you want, for as long as you want. The other four meditation options include a voice-guided meditation exercise. A soothing man’s voice guides you to be aware of your breathing, the placement and movement of your body, and general mindfulness. Note that the sound comes though your iPhone, not the watch.

After you complete a meditation exercise, you’ll be asked to rate your mood. You can track your mood over time and activities. Speaking of activity, the app also acts as a step tracker. You set your daily goal and the app tracks your steps. However, I did not find this app useful as a step tracker, since there is no complication, the step count is buried deeper in the app than in Apple’s Activity app, and the steps don’t sync properly anyway. But as a meditation app and a mood-tracking app, this is quite nice. You can keep it on your Dock for quick access. It’s definitely worth the download for free on the App Store.