With thousands of five-star ratings, the Sanity & Self app includes over 900 audio sessions centered on self-care, in addition to journaling exercises, a mood tracker, and an expert chat feature.

But is it right for you? Here's an overview and review of the popular self-care app.

How to Get Started With the Sanity & Self App

You can sign up for the Sanity & Self app for free with an email or Facebook login. After signup, you can listen to a sample of the app's audio content for free. We heard Self-Love 1/7: Self-Esteem, narrated by Diana Mandell, who shares general insights about valuing and respecting yourself as a person.

The initial setup screens are chatty and cute, filled with emojis—giving you an immediate sense of the app's overall tone.

Full access to the app does require a paid subscription. Signing up for premium access allows you to try the app for free for one week, and then it is $59.99 per year (or $5 per month).

Download: Sanity & Self app for iOS (Free, in-app purchases available)

What Makes the Sanity & Self App Special?

Open the Sanity & Self app's Home screen, and you can scroll through an impressive and seemingly endless amount of content. First, there's a Self-Care Plan featuring personalized programs designed to help you set boundaries, prioritize yourself, and similar self-care content.

Next, the Daily Self-Care Toolbox offers shortcuts to the Mood Tracker, Guided Journal, Relaxation, and Reminder features. The Mood Tracker prompts you to answer a few quick questions about how you're feeling at the moment, while the Guided Journal offers prompts to help you express gratitude, get rid of anger, and access many more moods. Both of these features are well-thought-out and encourage helpful introspection.

Lastly, the Relaxation screen offers a variety of soothing animations and music, while the Ritual Reminder can prompt you to keep up with healthy habits throughout the day.

These features are great, but the Sanity & Self app's real bread and butter is its enormous audio library, featuring over 900 audio sessions. Broadly, the audio content falls into seven categories: personal growth, love life, sleep, work, meditation, breathe, and fitness.

Each category can feature a whole range of content, including guided breathing sessions, multi-day programs led by experts, music, visualization exercises, and even guided workouts for stretching, cross-training, and strength training.

Out of all this content, the expert-led audio programs for self-care and growth are perhaps the app's most unique feature. Therapists, life coaches, relationship experts, and other professionals lead these programs, and they can offer a much-needed dose of support and help.

For instance, the boundaries program led by Melanie DewBerry is a three-part series that offers practical advice for setting and maintaining healthy boundaries in your daily life. DewBerry provides straightforward, practical advice you can put into practice right away. With 2.2 million likes on the app, as well as numerous positive reviews from users, it's clear that this brief but meaningful program has struck a chord.

You can get a sense of the programs with this video from Airial Clark, which examines the idea of empowerment. It's a compassionate and thoughtful take on the idea, and Clark offers some practical advice as well.

In addition to the programs, the Sanity & Self app also includes a selection of music for focus, sleep, and stress. The tracks include everything from upbeat, electronic tunes to calming orchestral features. You're also able to set the duration of your listening session, which makes it a great choice if you're using music to focus on your work or other activities.

Next, the Sanity & Self Chat 1:1 offers personalized support via audio, video, and text messages. Available on a weekly or monthly basis, this service connects you with a specialist for advice on relationships, stress, or just about anything else. This service is an additional cost to the app, and prices vary depending on whether you choose text or video sessions, according to Sanity & Self.

Lastly, the Community tab allows you to connect with others in a forum setting. Share your stories about breakups, emotional health, and more with other app users.

Is the Sanity & Self App Worth Trying?

Now that you know a little about the Sanity & Self app, let's look at whether you should consider trying it.

Benefits

There’s a lot to love about the Sanity & Self app. Anyone interested in a feature-packed self-care app with extensive, exclusive audio content will likely appreciate it. (The quality audio programs really set Sanity & Self apart from similar apps).

After listening to a few different experts and programs, we were pleasantly surprised by the polished and insightful messages. We can see how listening to these positive programs based on real-life insights could benefit many people.

In addition, the sheer amount of content available is impressive. You can find other apps for mood tracking, meditation, sleep help, and guided breathing features, for instance, but it's convenient to have all of these features in one place.

Lastly, Sanity & Self is at a comparable price point to similar apps, including the popular wellness app Shine. If you’re happy to pay for a subscription, then it’s a fine choice.

Downsides

Sanity & Self uses a lot of "trendy" language throughout, and the app is quick to call you a "rock star" or "girlboss". Some people will enjoy the casual, chatty vibe, but others can find it a little irritating after a while.

In addition, this is a paid app. Not everyone will want to pay a monthly or yearly subscription for the content.

Are There Potential Alternatives to the Sanity & Self App?

There’s no shortage of great self-care apps available, and you can get similar benefits to the Sanity & Self app with many other downloads. (However, it might be difficult to find the same amount of features in one app). For instance, you can get great mood tracker apps, calming meditation and relaxation apps, and even apps to help you build self-confidence.

As far as dedicated self-care apps go, you may want to try out Shine, the virtual pet app Finch, or the mental health app Bloom, before settling on your favorite. Most of these also include a free week-long trial, so you can give them a go beforehand.

Prioritize Self-Care With the Sanity & Self App

If you're looking for a self-care and wellness app subscription with plenty of features and original content, then the Sanity & Self app is a solid choice. With standout original audio content and a dedicated community of users, it's a helpful resource available right on your phone.