The best manifestation app for beginners

We make Solulu, one of the apps on this page. We say where another app is the better choice.

What a beginner needs from a manifestation app

A beginner needs an app that turns manifesting into one small habit she can keep. There should be nothing confusing to learn.

If you are new, here is manifesting in short. Manifesting is how you bring what you want into your real life. Pick something you want. Believe it is coming. Focus on it every day, and it shows up. Methods differ in how you do this. Law of Assumption methods, like scripting and SATS, have you feel the wish as already done. Law of Attraction methods have you raise your feeling to match the wish. Repetition methods, like affirmations and the 369 method, repeat it until it sinks in. What is manifestation? explains more. The hard part is not the idea. It is keeping going on day 12, before the outside world has caught up. It does catch up, so stay with it.

So for a beginner, the best app is the one that makes the habit easy. Look for these things:

One practice, not fifty. A huge library feels exciting on day one and too much by day three.
Set times. “Every morning and night” is easier to keep than “whenever you remember.”
Nothing you have to be good at. You should not need to picture things clearly, write pages or learn special words like SATS.
An easy way out. Know how to cancel before you subscribe. Our cancel guide covers the big apps.

Start for free: a 7-day starter plan

You can start manifesting today with no paid app at all. This plan uses only your phone and, if you like, the free version of I am.

Day 1: pick one goal. Just one. Love, money, a home, your glow-up or your career.
Day 2: write one scene. Write one moment from the life you want. Use the first person and the present tense. Add one detail you could see. Examples are below.
Day 3: find one photo. A photo of the place, the thing or the feeling. A photo with you in it is best. Make it your Lock Screen.
Day 4: add one affirmation. Write one short line that matches your scene. Set it as a daily reminder, or find a matching line in I am’s free topics.
Day 5: fix your two moments. Read your scene and look at your photo when you wake up and before you sleep. Use the same two times, every day.
Day 6: feel, don’t check. Spend one minute feeling the scene. Do not look for signs yet.
Day 7: decide. Did you keep it up, and do you want more? Then it is time for an app that does more for you.

Here are three first scenes a beginner might write. Copy the shape, not the words.

They text me “good morning, beautiful” before my alarm goes off, and I smile into my pillow because this is just how mornings are now.

I tap my card at the café without checking my balance, because I know there is plenty, and I order the big pastry too.

I unlock the door of my own studio apartment, kick off my shoes and put my keys in the little bowl by the window.

Maybe this week felt good, but you struggled to really see your scene, or to keep it up. The app below was built for exactly that.

Our pick: Solulu

Solulu is the best manifestation app for beginners because it does the hard parts for you. It shows you yourself living the scene. And it gives you one simple routine.

Solulu is an iPhone app. You describe the life you want and add your photos. If you like, you also add photos of your SP, your specific person. You can add the places, outfits, pets and things you want, too. Solulu then makes personalized mind movies with you in the scenes. A mind movie is a short video of the life you want. Each one has a calm kaleidoscope opening, scenes of you living that life, affirmations and music. You get up to three new mind movies each week, with your own face in every scene.

Platforms: iPhone.
Who it suits: beginners who want one clear daily habit, and people who find it hard to picture things. It also suits anyone who tried affirmations and felt they were just words.
Where it falls short: there is no Android version. It also needs your eyes for a few minutes, so it is not for listening while you drive.

Your first week with Solulu

Describe one area of your life first. Use your scene from the starter plan. Plain, concrete words are perfect.
Add a few clear photos of your face. Add photos of places or things you want, if you have them.
Watch your mind movie when you wake up. A few minutes. Just watch and feel.
Watch it again before you sleep. Same movie, same feeling.
Repeat every day. New movies arrive each week. So you add new scenes as your goals grow, without changing the routine.

That routine is the Solulu method: one specific scene, you inside it, every morning and night.

Why Solulu is the best app for beginners: four reasons

Every app here helps you bring the life you want into your real life. For a beginner, Solulu does it better in three ways.

1. You see yourself living it

I am gives you lines of text. ThinkUp and Innertune give you spoken affirmations. Stella and Aya give you a voice telling your story. Those can feel like just words when you are new. Solulu shows you your own face, already living the scene. The Solulu method asks you to feel the wish as already yours. Seeing it is the clearest way to understand what that really means.

2. It does not depend on your imagination

Many beginner guides say “close your eyes and visualize.” Many beginners quietly find they cannot. Audio apps and affirmation apps still leave the picture to you. With Solulu the picture is on the screen. So you can go straight to the part that matters, the feeling.

3. It never goes stale

Most practices repeat the same words, audio or pictures every day. After a few weeks, your mind gets used to them and the feeling fades. The Solulu method makes refreshing part of the practice, and Solulu keeps making new mind movies of you as your story moves on. So what you watch never goes stale.

4. It is easy to keep doing

Research on habits shows how much repetition matters. One well known study followed people as they built new daily habits. On average, it took about 66 days for a habit to feel automatic, but people varied a lot. Missing a single day did not undo the progress. Other research shows that you are more likely to do something if you decide exactly when you will do it.

Solulu fits both findings. It takes a few minutes at two fixed times, morning and night. There are no lines to count and no long sessions. Compare that with ThinkUp, where you first pick at least 15 affirmations and record each one in your own voice. Or compare it with Innertune, where you choose from more than 550 playlists. Aya’s morning and night rituals are close to this routine. But in Aya you only hear your scene. With Solulu you see it.

The other apps, and who each one suits

Each of these apps suits some beginners.

I am - Daily Affirmations: the best free start

I am shows short affirmations on your Lock Screen, Home Screen widgets and Apple Watch. It has 4.8 stars from 735,000 ratings on the App Store. It runs on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and Android.

Free version: yes, with ads.
Better than Solulu for: all-day widgets and reminders, and Android.
Watch out for: a common complaint is reminders that are hard to turn off.

ThinkUp: free, in your own voice

ThinkUp lets you record affirmations in your own voice and play them on a loop with music. It has 4.7 stars from 7,500 ratings on the App Store, on iPhone, Mac, Apple Watch and Android.

Free version: yes, a small one.
Better than Solulu for: hearing affirmations in your own voice, and Android.
Watch out for: it has had no feature update in over a year.

Innertune: a big library to explore

Innertune plays spoken affirmations over background beats. It has 77,000 affirmations and more than 550 playlists. It has 4.8 stars from 12,000 ratings on the App Store, on iPhone, Mac and Android.

Better than Solulu for: background listening and a huge library.
Watch out for: for a beginner, that much choice can be hard to settle into. A common complaint is crashes after updates. More in Solulu vs Innertune.

Aya: a gentle morning and night ritual

Aya plays a short recording of your future self. It has audio rituals for waking up and winding down. It has 4.8 stars from 3,200 ratings on the App Store, on iPhone, iPad, Android and the web.

Better than Solulu for: listening with your eyes closed, and Android.
Watch out for: you answer 28 steps of questions before you start. A common complaint is playlists and audio that do not work. More in Solulu vs Aya.

Stella - Manifest Anything: stories of your future

Stella writes personalized audio stories about your goals. They are told as if they are already happening. It has 4.7 stars from 5,300 ratings on the App Store, on iPhone and Android.

Better than Solulu for: people who love being told a story, listening with your eyes closed, and Android.
Watch out for: a common complaint is the long set of questions before you can listen. It takes 10 to 30 minutes. More in Solulu vs Stella.

The apps side by side

For a beginner, two columns matter most. What is the daily habit? And do you need to picture things?

App	The daily habit	Need to picture things?	Platforms
Solulu	Watch your mind movie, morning and night	No, you watch yourself	iPhone
I am	Glance at lines all day	No, words only	iPhone, iPad, Watch, Android
ThinkUp	Loop your recordings for 5 minutes or more	Partly	iPhone, Mac, Watch, Android
Innertune	Loop playlists in the background	Partly	iPhone, Mac, Android
Aya	Listen morning and night	Partly, you picture what you hear	iPhone, iPad, Android, web
Stella	Listen to your story	Partly, you picture what you hear	iPhone, Android

Beginner mistakes with manifestation apps

Here are five easy ways to go wrong in your first month, and how to avoid each one.

Collecting apps instead of practicing. Three apps for one goal means three half habits. Pick one.
Practicing whenever you remember. Fix two moments, when you wake up and before you sleep, and keep them.
Checking for results every day. Daily checking keeps you in “not yet.” Practice daily, trust that it is coming, and let it arrive.
Changing the goal every week. Stay with one scene long enough for it to feel normal.
Thinking you are bad at it because you cannot see pictures. Many people cannot. Use real images instead.

Ready for the full beginner’s path? Read how to manifest. For apps for every goal, see the best manifestation apps.