Many of you are correct that you don't necessarily need an app and you definitely don't need guidance after a point. But Headspace specifically has been extreme

Many of you are correct that you don't necessarily need an app and you definitely don't need guidance after a point. But Headspace specifically has been extremely helpful in teaching me how to approach meditation and how to make a habit out of it. For anyone who is just beginning I would definitely recommend going through Take10, all the Basics packs and all the Pro packs in Headspace. In this order the guidance gradually decreases and by the time you finish you will have built a good routine and will be ready to switch to unguided meditation. At the moment I use Oak - it's free but only available on iOS. It effectively acts as a timer and tracker for my unguided meditation, nothing more. I've tried Calm and I don't get appeal - the content, design, progression, voices... everything seems strictly worse than Headspace or Oak.