I subscribed to ThinkUp in hopes of enhancing my personal meditation practice. Unfortunately, I have found over the past couple of months that instead of supporting my practice, this app has instead detracted from the benefits of meditation.

In spite of having selected “external music,” I have to turn off the included music on every category of affirmations every time I open the app. If I have 3 categories I want to listen to that day, I have to turn off the music 3 separate times. If I mediate in the morning and again at night, I have to repeat the process all over again. If I forget, the included music plays over the top of my chosen external music.

Also, the timer feature hasn’t ever worked for me. Whether I choose 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 10 loops, 20 loops, or endless loop, my affirmations turn off after 2 minutes. This is QUITE frustrating, as I have to come out of my meditative state to restart the affirmations. I’ve tried everything to get around this and nothing I’ve tried has worked.

I have also tried emailing the “Help” address twice and nothing has happened. If you’re just starting a meditation practice, just know that frustration with the app isn’t a great place to start and you might want to look elsewhere.