The best Stella alternatives: apps like Stella, and who each one suits

We make Solulu, one of the apps on this list. We also say where Stella and the others are the better choice.

What Stella is, in one minute

Stella plays you short audio stories about your future. Each story is told as if your wishes have already come true.

Stella - Manifest Anything is a small app run by its founder. It is linked to Hot High Priestess, a creator brand. First you answer a long set of questions. They cover you, the people you love and the life you want.

Then the app writes “audio narratives” about your goals. Each one lasts a few minutes. A voice reads it over soft sounds like rain or a café, and you can read the text too.

Stella has 4.7 stars from 5,300 ratings on the App Store. It runs on iPhone and Android. Its best feature is how personal the stories feel. Whatever you switch to should keep that feeling.

Why people look for a Stella alternative

Most people who leave Stella still love the idea of a future self. They just want it to feel more like their own life.

The pictures are not you. Stella shows pictures of other people. You cannot add your own photos.
Someone else’s voice. A narrator reads your story as “I.” So it can feel like hearing another person’s life.
You cannot picture what you hear. A story still asks you to build each scene in your head.
Two common complaints. First, a long, personal questionnaire before you can listen. It takes 10 to 30 minutes. Second, bugs, such as audio that stops after 20 to 30 seconds.

If one of these is your reason, the table further down shows which alternative fixes it.

What to look for in a Stella alternative

Stella does some things well. It is about your future, it speaks in the first person, and you use it every day. The best replacement keeps those things and fixes the reason you left.

Manifesting brings what you want into your real life. You get clear on the wish, believe it is coming and keep coming back to it. Methods differ in how they do that.

Future-self stories like Stella’s come from the Law of Assumption. In the Law of Assumption, you hold the life you want as already done, until it feels real and familiar. Neville Goddard called this living in the end. What you assume and feel to be true hardens into fact.

Three things help an app do that well:

It is about you. It uses your name, your people and your places. The more it looks and sounds like your life, the more it feels like a memory instead of a wish.
It does the hard part for you. Picturing a scene clearly is the hardest part of manifesting. An app should make that easier. It should not leave it all to your imagination.
You actually keep using it. A few minutes at the same times every day beats an hour once a week.

Android matters too, so it is in the table.

The best Stella alternatives

Here are six options, with who each one suits. Solulu is first because it fits most people who leave Stella. We explain why below.

1. Solulu: see your future instead of hearing it

Solulu is an iPhone app that turns your future into mind movies with you in them. A mind movie is a short video of the life you want. You describe that life and add your photos. You can also add photos of your SP (your specific person), places, outfits, pets and things you want.

Each mind movie has a calm kaleidoscope opening, scenes of you living that life, affirmations and music. You get up to three new mind movies each week as your goals grow.

Best for: anyone who left Stella because the pictures were not them. Or because the stories did not feel like their own life.
Not for: Android users, since it is iPhone only. Also not for anyone who wants audio only.

2. Aya: the closest like-for-like

Aya is the app most like Stella. First it asks you 28 steps of questions about you. Then it plays a short recording of your “dream self” describing your life.

It also has affirmations, morning and night audio routines and a vision board. It adds gratitude prompts, playlists and sleep stories.

Best for: people who love the future-self voice and want more audio to choose from. It works on iPhone, iPad and Android.
Rating: 4.8 stars from 3,200 ratings on the App Store.
Know first: it is audio, like Stella. A common complaint is playlists and audio that do not work. See the best Aya alternatives for more.

3. Innertune: for looping and listening all day

Innertune plays spoken affirmations on a loop over background beats. It has 77,000 affirmations, 550 playlists and 19 voices. With the paid version you can record affirmations in your own voice.

Best for: people who want something on a loop while they work, walk or sleep.
Rating: 4.8 stars from 12,000 ratings on the App Store.
Know first: it gives you affirmations, not stories about your life. A common complaint is crashes after updates.

4. ThinkUp: your future in your own voice

ThinkUp lets you pick or write affirmations. You record them in your own voice and play them on a loop over music.

Best for: anyone who disliked hearing their life in someone else’s voice.
Free version: yes, a small one.
Rating: 4.7 stars from 7,500 ratings on the App Store.
Know first: it has had no feature update in over a year.

5. I am: free lines on your Lock Screen

I am shows short “I am” affirmations through the day. They appear on your Lock Screen, in Home Screen widgets, on Apple Watch and in reminders.

Best for: a free, easy daily reminder. It is the most rated app of its kind, with 4.8 stars from 735,000 ratings on the App Store.
Free version: yes, with ads.
Know first: it gives you short lines of text, not stories about your life. A common complaint is reminders that are hard to turn off.

6. Free: record your own future-self story

You can make a free Stella at home. Write a short story about one day in the life you want. Write it as “I”, in the present tense.

Record it with your phone’s voice memo app. Play it when you wake up and before you sleep.

Best for: anyone who wants the practice with no subscription at all.
Know first: you write every word yourself. And you still have to picture what you hear.

Stella and its alternatives, side by side

Solulu is the only option here that shows you yourself living the scene. The others give you words or a voice.

App	What you get	You in it	Works without a strong imagination	Platforms
Solulu	Mind movies of your future, with you in the scenes	Yes, your own face	Yes, you watch the scene	iPhone
Stella	Personalized audio stories, read to you	No, pictures of other people	Partly, you picture the story	iPhone, Android
Aya	Dream-self audio, affirmations, playlists	No, audio and text	Partly, you picture the story	iPhone, iPad, Android, web library
Innertune	Looping spoken affirmations	No, audio only	Yes, but words only	iPhone, Mac, Android
ThinkUp	Affirmations in your own voice, looping	Your voice, not your face	Yes, but words only	iPhone, Mac, Apple Watch, Android
I am	Affirmation lines and widgets	No, text only	Yes, but words only	iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Android
Your own recording	A story you write and record	Your voice	Partly, you picture the story	Any phone

Where Stella is still the better choice

Stella is a good app for some people. Here is who.

You love to listen. Some people take things in best by ear. For them, a story read on a drive or at bedtime may work better than a video.
You want a whole story. Stella tells a few full minutes of story about your life. A mind movie shows scenes and short lines, not a spoken story.
You are on Android. Stella is on Google Play. Solulu is iPhone only.

Why Solulu is the best Stella alternative: four reasons

Solulu gives you up to three new mind movies each week, with your own face in every scene. Stella and Aya give you audio. For most people, the method behind Solulu works better, for four reasons.

1. You see yourself living it

Stella gives you a voice telling your story, and pictures of other women. Aya gives you a voice too. Innertune and ThinkUp give you spoken lines, and I am gives you text.

Solulu shows you your own face already living the scene. You are on the balcony of your apartment. You are at dinner with your person. It feels like a memory, not a wish. And what feels done in your mind is what shows up in your life.

Research supports this. A well known study took place the night before the 2004 US election. Voters who pictured themselves voting, as if they watched from the outside, were more likely to really vote. Seeing yourself do something is powerful. It helps you know you are someone who does it.

2. It does not depend on your imagination

A story is lovely, but you still have to make the picture yourself. Say a story says “I wake up in our apartment.” You have to build that apartment in your head and hold it there.

For many people the words just go past and no picture appears. Some people cannot make pictures in their mind at all. This is called aphantasia. With Solulu the scene is in front of you, so all your energy goes into feeling it.

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

A mind movie takes a few minutes to watch. You watch it at two set times, when you wake up and before you sleep. You do not write a script, record anything or pick from thousands of tracks.

You also get new mind movies each week as your goals grow. So what you watch keeps up with what you want.

How to switch from Stella

Cancel through the store you paid with. Then bring your favorite story with you as scenes.

Cancel Stella first

Deleting the app does not cancel your subscription. Cancel through Apple or Google, wherever you subscribed.

On iPhone: open Settings and tap your name. Tap Subscriptions, tap Stella, then tap Cancel Subscription.
On Android: open the Google Play Store and tap your profile icon. Tap Payments & subscriptions, then Subscriptions. Select Stella and tap Cancel subscription.
Check it worked. On iPhone, you may see no Cancel button, or a red message with an end date. Either one means it is already cancelled.

Stella’s terms say the cancel takes effect at the end of the period you already paid for. Our guide on how to cancel a manifestation app subscription has every app’s steps in one place.

Turn your favorite story into scenes

Before you cancel, open your favorite story. Copy out the moments you liked best. A story gets much stronger when you turn it into one or two scenes you can see.

Pick the moment and put yourself in it. Then add one detail you could point at.

Say your story was about your SP. It went something like “Things are so easy between us now. They text me first every morning. I never wonder where I stand.” As a scene, that becomes:

It is Sunday morning at their place. They hand me a coffee in the mug they bought just for me and ask, “Stay for lunch?” I am still in their hoodie.

A story about your dream home becomes:

I open the balcony doors of my apartment, and the whole city is lit up below. My keys are in the bowl by the door, on my own key ring.

And a story about your career becomes:

My name is on the email announcing the new team lead, and my phone fills with messages from my coworkers.

Look at these scenes every morning and night, and feel them as done. That is the Solulu method. It means one specific scene, with you inside it, every day, until it comes into your life.

You can do it with a photo and no app at all. Or you can put these scenes into Solulu. Then you watch them as mind movies with you in them.