10 useful mental health apps for students

University life is certainly a change! You get a newfound sense of independence, fast-paced learning, new social expectations, and so on. While it’s rewarding, it can also have an impact on your mental health. Studies show that stress, anxiety, and depression are common among university students. But there are plenty of resources online that can provide support. Here’s our list of the top ten mental health apps for students, all of which are brilliant for managing stress, improving sleep, and building emotional resilience.

1. Headspace

Headspace is an app perfect for mental health, meditation and wellness. Headspace helps bring the calm to the university chaos with a library of guided meditations, breathing exercises, and sleep help. It is a paid app, however, there are student-friendly plans that offer affordable access, and the daily “Mindful Moments” can be a real reset between study sessions. Headspace can help reduce stress in around 3 minutes, and there are resources for exams nerves, procrastination etc, which makes it a perfect app for mental health support for students. I used Headspace in my first year of university, and it really helped me with my procrastination. It’s available on Android  and Apple

2. Calm

Whether you’re pulling an all-nighter or can’t switch your brain off after studying, Calm has your back. It’s packed with meditations, calming music, soundscapes, and sleep stories (there are some narrated by Tom Hardy, Jennifer Garner, Shawn Mendes, and even Harry Styles!). If anxiety hits at night, Calm helps quiet the mind and can offer mental health support for students. Calm combats insomnia with sleep stories and soundscapes, it has quick calming tools during stressful moments, and it has lots of curated tracks for study focus and anxiety It’s available on Android and Apple

3. Medito

Medito is a completely free mental health app perfect for students. It offers courses for beginners and more advanced skills when it comes to meditation. Medito also offers sleep and themed packs for meditation. Medito is available on Android and Apple

4. Smiling Mind

The Smiling Mind App provides you with personalised content, tools and resources to support your specific wellbeing needs and goals. It has content suitable for all ages too. It’s a great tool for managing exam stress, developing focus, and building emotional regulation skills. Smiling Mind offers guided programs for stress and study focus, it also tracks your mood over time, which makes it great if you like to look back and reflect over time periods. This makes it a really good mental health app for students. Smiling Mind is available on Android and Apple

5. Finch: Self-care pet

Finch adds a fun twist to mental wellness. You care for a cute digital pet who grows based on the self-care activities you complete, such as journaling, breathing exercises, and setting daily intentions. It’s a feel-good app that turns mental health into a game that makes it a brilliant app for students’ mental health. I’ve found Finch to be incredibly helpful as sometimes I forget to pause and focus on self-care, but Finch’s game-like style really motivates me to check in with myself more. My self-care pet is named Bob (after Bob Dylan!) Finch is available on both, Android and Apple.

6. Happify

Happify focuses on overcoming stress, a lack of motivation, and negative thoughts. The app’s techniques have been developed by scientists and experts who’ve been studying evidence-based interventions in the fields of positive psychology, mindfulness, and CBT for years. Happify uses games and activities to train your brain toward more optimistic thinking and resilience. It’s a subtle but powerful way to shift your mindset, making it a great companion to support mental health for students as it’s fast and interactive. Happify is available for Android and Apple.

7. TalkLife

TalkLife is like a mental health support group you can access anytime. Whether you’re feeling lonely, anxious, or just want to vent, this community offers understanding and support from other students and young people around the world. This is one of my go-to apps for mental health support. You can post how you’re feeling on there, comment on other people’s posts. It’s essentially like X or Facebook but for mental health. You can get real time support because it’s a worldwide app, someone’s always active. You can tag your posts too so they show up to people who might be able to offer support. I’ve found TalkLife really useful as it’s judgement free, and it helps you feel less isolated. It’s sometimes easier to talk about what you’re struggling with on a platform such as TalkLife rather than to a real person (although, I’d suggest trying to talk to a friend, and get any well-being support from your university that you can. See here for our top tips on building a support network). You can download TalkLife on Android and on Apple.

8. Action For Happiness

This app promotes daily actions and reflections that contribute to long-term happiness. It provides practical ideas and challenges focused on kindness, connection, and emotional resilience which is great for students wanting to feel more balanced and connected. It’s easy to use, it gives you daily motivation prompts, and offers plenty of support resources. It’s available on Android and on Apple

9. Calm Harm

This is another of my go-to apps. Calm Harm is a lifesaving app for students struggling with overwhelming feelings or harmful thoughts. It provides distraction, comfort, breathing techniques, and urges management in a non-judgmental space. It’s discreet and user-friendly. When you use the app, it gives you a variety of activities that are 5 or 15 minutes long, depending on how long you want to spend on a distraction activity. You can choose activities from categories such as comfort, distract, release, express yourself, or ‘random’, where it’ll pick an activity for you. You can add activities to your favourites so that you can easily access them when you need/want them. Calm Harm is available on Android and Apple.

10. I am – Daily affirmations

Uni life can wear down your confidence—especially during tough academic periods or personal challenges. “I Am” sends you daily affirmations tailored to your goals, helping you stay focused, motivated, and self-compassionate. It encourages a positive mindset, and helps motivate you as well. I Am is available on Android and Apple.

University is full of growth, but that also means stress, uncertainty, and emotional ups and downs. These mental health apps are perfect for students. They’re pocket-sized and always on hand. They can help you to feel more connected and grounded. And they can be used anywhere, whether you’re at home, or in a lecture.

You don’t have to commit to all of them, or even any of them. They’re all just suggestions. I’d say start with one or two that match your current needs. A 5-minute daily check-in or a few kind words from an app might seem small, but over time, they can lead to real, lasting mental health benefits.

You’ve got this and there’s support right at your fingertips. See here for more of our tips for self-care.