Zen out with Oceen's relaxing sounds and guided meditations
Oceen, free with in-app purchases, has all of the tranquil sounds that you expect with a relaxation app, plus guided relaxations to set your mind at ease.
Only one guided meditation is available with the free version, which is disappointing. The App Store is saturated with relaxation apps and the meditation feature is what makes this worth the download. It would be nice to see at least two more guided relaxations available for free.
The free "short break" relaxation walks you through the basics of meditation. I should note that the developers make a point of saying the relaxations are not the same as meditations, but as a 15 year practitioner of yoga, I can't tell the difference.
There are 13 meditations available for purchase with prices that range anywhere from US$5.99 to $9.99. The length of each varies; some are a few minutes, while others are roughly 20 minutes. For $49.99, you can buy a yearly subscription that unlocks all of the app's relaxations and features.
Each meditation comes with a free demo allowing you to try it out before you buy it. This almost makes up for the lack of free full mediations. Some of the demos are around three minutes in length, so you can get some of the benefit without purchasing the full relaxation.
Oceen comes with only four relaxing sound. You can layer these sounds with the guided relaxations or listen to them on their own. I like this feature. It adds an extra dimension to the relaxation process and helps to cancel out any noisy distractions.
In addition, you get four videos for free that also layer with the sounds and relaxations. There is a video of the sea, the beach, a fire and also one of sitting ducks – which I guess is relaxing to some people. I always find the videos associated with these apps to be a bit pointless. While I may want to listen to music or white noise in my downtime, I've never found staring at an image of water on my iPhone to be particularly tranquil. I'd rather the developer ditch the videos in the free version and add on more meditations and sounds.
You do not need to purchase the full version of the app to unlock all of the sounds and videos. You can access all of them when you purchase an individual guided relaxation.
For the most part, the app's effectiveness depends on whether or not you enjoy the voice of the meditation coach, Gwen Hoffman. That comes down to personal preference. I wasn't that impressed, but maybe you will be.
As a free app, there's not much to Oceen. To get the full effect, you'll need to spring for some, if not all, of the in-app purchases.
