Headspace Review: 500+ Meditations to Download for Flights, £49.99 a Year, Students £7.99

Headspace is a meditation and sleep app founded in London in 2010 and now run from San Francisco. It offers more than 500 guided meditations, sleep music and Sleepcasts, short breathing exercises and an AI companion called Ebb, wrapped in a friendly, cartoonish design that makes sitting still feel less earnest.

For travellers we like it for two specific reasons: most courses and single sessions can be downloaded before you board, and the short formats fit the odd gaps in a travel day, from the security queue to the moment the cabin lights go down. Here is our Headspace review, written with the road in mind: what is free, what you pay, what works offline and how it compares with Calm and Insight Timer.

Offer detail	What you get
Promo Code	None needed. Headspace does not publish public promo codes
Welcome offer	14-day free trial on the annual plan, 7 days on monthly
Who qualifies	New subscribers aged 18 or over; one free trial per person
Key terms	Trial converts to a paid plan unless cancelled; £49.99 a year or £9.99 a month; no refunds unless the law requires
How to claim	Start the trial in the app or at headspace.com, and set a reminder before it ends

Headspace at a glance

• Owner: Headspace, Inc., San Francisco (merged with Ginger in 2021)
• Launched: 2010 in London, by Andy Puddicombe and Rich Pierson
• Platforms: iOS, Android, web, Apple Watch
• Free plan: limited introductory content; no full free tier
• Paid from: £9.99 a month or £49.99 a year (UK)
• Offline use: courses and single sessions can be downloaded; Sleepcasts cannot
• Ratings: App Store (UK) 4.8/5 from 347.1k ratings; Google Play 4.3/5 from 340k reviews; Trustpilot 1.5/5 from 773 reviews

Our verdict

Headspace is a polished, beginner-friendly meditation app with a deep library and genuinely useful offline downloads. On the road it earns its keep in short bursts: three minutes of breathing before a tricky connection, a wind-down session in a hotel room that is too warm and too bright. The weak spots are price, a cluttered layout that long-time users grumble about, a Trustpilot score dragged down by billing complaints, and the fact that its signature Sleepcasts need a connection. Take the 14-day trial before a long trip and decide afterwards.

Pros

• More than 500 guided meditations, from 3-minute resets to longer courses
• Courses and single sessions download for offline use on planes and trains
• Student plan at £7.99 a year, 85% off, verified through SheerID
• Apple Watch app and sessions logged to Apple Health
• Ebb, the AI companion, suggests sessions by voice or text for paid UK members

Cons

• No full free tier; the trial converts to a paid plan automatically
• Sleepcasts, the 45 to 55-minute sleep stories, cannot be downloaded
• Users regularly complain the app is hard to find your way around
• No refunds on subscriptions unless the law requires it
• Trustpilot reviews are mostly one-star, largely about renewals and billing

What Headspace does and who it is for

Headspace mixes four things: guided meditation courses and single sessions, sleep content (Sleepcasts, sleep music and wind-downs), focus music, and short mindful movement and breathing exercises. Progress tracking and daily reminders keep you at it. Ebb, the AI companion, lets you talk through how you feel and points you to relevant sessions.

It suits beginners, people who like structure and anyone who wants a nudge to keep a habit going. On the road it helps in ways that have nothing to do with incense:

• The overnight flight. London to Singapore, thirteen hours, a neighbour who reclines at take-off. You downloaded a sleep course and a few short breathing sessions at the gate, so the headphones go on as the cabin lights dim.
• The first night in a new time zone. It is 03:40 in Bangkok, your body thinks it is evening, and scrolling will only make it worse. A downloaded wind-down session gives you something calm to do in the dark.
• The stressful connection. Forty minutes to change terminals at Frankfurt. A three-minute breathing session on the shuttle does more good than refreshing the departures board.

Is Headspace free? Free vs paid features

Not really. Headspace offers a small amount of introductory content without a subscription, but almost everything (courses, Sleepcasts, sleep music, focus music, Ebb) sits behind the paywall. The free trial is the real way in: 14 days on the annual plan or 7 days on monthly, with full access. Each person gets one trial, and it converts to a paid subscription unless you cancel before the conversion date.

Headspace price: plans and the cheapest way to pay

Plan	UK price	US$	€
Monthly	£9.99 a month	$13.31	€11.86
Annual	£49.99 a year	$66.62	€59.32
Student (annual)	£7.99 a year	$9.99 (official US price)	€8.99 (official)
Family, up to 6 people	US price $99.99 a year	$99.99	€89.05

UK prices are from the App Store and Google Play listings. Dollar and euro figures are conversions unless marked official; Headspace’s own US prices are $12.99 a month and $69.99 a year. The family plan price is the one on Headspace’s US page.

The cheapest way to pay. If you are a student aged 18 or over at a college or university, the £7.99 student plan is the clear winner; any email address works and SheerID usually verifies you instantly. Graduates move to an alumni year at 40% off before full price. Everyone else should take the annual plan with its longer trial: at £49.99 it works out about £4.17 a month, against £9.99 on monthly. The monthly plan only makes sense for one big trip.

Features that matter on the road

Offline downloads. Courses and single sessions can be downloaded in the iOS and Android apps by turning on the download control on a session’s page. When you are in flight mode, a red banner on the home screen shows what is available offline; you can also find downloads under Profile, Settings, Downloads.

The Sleepcast catch. Headspace’s own help centre states that Sleepcasts cannot be downloaded. Each one runs about 45 to 55 minutes and blends a wind-down, a calm imagined setting and ambient sound to mask noise. Brilliant in a hotel with Wi-Fi, useless at 38,000 feet without it. When DailyStoke read through the help pages, this was the single most useful thing to know before a long-haul flight: download sleep music and courses instead.

Apple Watch and Apple Health. The watch app keeps short sessions on your wrist, and completed sessions save to Apple Health.

Ebb. The AI companion talks by text or voice and suggests sessions based on what you share. It is for paid members aged 18 or over in the UK, US, Canada and Australia, English only, and Headspace says it is not a substitute for human care.

Mindful movement. Short movement sessions with Olympians Kim Glass and Leon Taylor, useful for stiff legs after a long drive or flight.

Privacy and safety

Headspace collects sensitive information, so the details matter. Its App Store privacy label lists health and fitness data, purchases, location, contact details, user content, search history, identifiers and usage data as linked to you. Its privacy policy says it works with third-party analytics and advertising platforms and may share limited personal information for targeted advertising; it says it does not sell data for payment, though under California law some of that sharing counts as “selling” or “sharing”, and you can opt out through Your Privacy Choices or the My Data page in the app.

For Ebb, Headspace says messages are encrypted, not used for targeted advertising and not monitored in real time by a person. UK users can ask for their data to be deleted by emailing help@headspace.com, with a response due within a month. DailyStoke found no regulator action against Headspace’s consumer app. Meditation apps are not medical treatment; if you are struggling, Samaritans are on 116 123 in the UK.

What users say about Headspace

Headspace scores 4.8 out of 5 on the UK App Store from 347,100 ratings and 4.3 on Google Play from about 340,000 reviews, with more than 10 million Android downloads. Trustpilot is a different story at 1.5 from 773 reviews, 53% of them one-star, and most complaints there are about renewals and refunds rather than the meditations.

On Trustpilot, Geoff from Canada gave four stars in July 2026: “Great platform but needs more meditations. Getting a bit stale”.

Nicole K, on Google Play in April 2026, summed up a common view: “Great meditations, but terrible organisation of the content.”

Kirsty B, also on Google Play, had a problem travellers will recognise in July 2026: “Constantly crashing, takes ages to load, says I’m offline and stops playing, even when my connection is fine.”

And Bernard W from Great Britain wrote on Trustpilot in August 2026: “This is the second time this year Headspace has overcharged me.”

How to get started and how to cancel

Getting started

1. Download Headspace from the App Store or Google Play, or sign up at headspace.com.
2. Choose the annual plan for the 14-day trial (or monthly for 7 days) and add a payment method.
3. Tell the app what you want help with, such as sleep or stress, and pick a beginner course.
4. Before a trip, download a beginner course, a few short breathing sessions and some sleep music.
5. Set a calendar reminder two days before the trial ends.

Cancelling

1. Paid on the website: cancel through Headspace’s help pages or by emailing help@headspace.com before the renewal date.
2. iPhone: Settings, your name, Subscriptions, Headspace, Cancel Subscription.
3. Android: Google Play, profile icon, Payments and subscriptions, Subscriptions, Headspace, Cancel.
4. You keep access until the end of the paid period. Headspace’s terms say subscriptions are not refunded unless the law requires it, and App Store or Google Play refunds go through Apple or Google.

Headspace vs Calm vs Insight Timer

	Headspace	Calm	Insight Timer
Free plan	Limited intro content	Limited free content	Yes, thousands of free meditations
Paid from	£9.99 a month, £49.99 a year	Calm Premium, up to £49.99 on the UK App Store	Insight Premium from £5.99 (UK App Store)
Best for	Structured courses for beginners	Sleep stories and soothing audio	Huge free library from many teachers
Offline	Courses and sessions, not Sleepcasts	Yes, downloads on paid plan	Yes, on Premium
App Store rating (UK)	4.8 (347.1k)	4.7 (326k)	4.9 (58k)

Pick Headspace if you are new to meditation and want a clear path, plus useful downloads for flights.

Pick Calm if sleep is the priority and you like celebrity-read sleep stories.

Pick Insight Timer if you want to spend nothing and are happy to browse thousands of free sessions from different teachers.

Headspace alternatives

• Calm: the main rival, stronger on sleep stories and nature sounds.
• Insight Timer: a vast free library, with an optional Premium tier for courses and offline listening.
• BetterSleep: a sleep-sound mixer with sleep stories, handy for noisy hostels and overnight trains.
• Medito: a free, non-profit meditation app with no paywall.

Headspace FAQs

Is Headspace free?
Only a little. Some introductory content is free, but most of the app needs a subscription. There is a 14-day free trial on the annual plan.

How much is Headspace in the UK?
£9.99 a month or £49.99 a year on the App Store and Google Play. Students pay £7.99 a year.

Can I use Headspace offline on a plane?
Yes for courses and single sessions, which you can download in advance. Sleepcasts cannot be downloaded, so save sleep music or a course instead.

Is Headspace good for jet lag?
It will not reset your body clock, but downloaded wind-down and breathing sessions give you something calm to do when you are wide awake at the wrong hour.

Is there a Headspace promo code or student discount?
There are no public promo codes. Students get 85% off: £7.99 a year in the UK, verified by SheerID.

Headspace or Calm: which is better?
Headspace suits beginners who like structure; Calm leans more towards sleep stories. Both offer free trials, so try one before a trip and the other after.

How do I cancel Headspace?
Cancel where you paid: on the website or by email, in your iPhone subscriptions, or in Google Play. Do it before the trial or renewal date.

What is Ebb on Headspace?
An AI companion for paid members aged 18 or over in the UK, US, Canada and Australia. You talk to it by text or voice and it suggests sessions.

Visit Headspace

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