Apps like Sattva, HealthifyMe and Yoga Tools look to cash in on Yoga fever

KOLKATA: When the whole world came together on June 21 to celebrate Yoga Day, it was quite obvious that the yoga fever was here to stay. Feeding on the buzz, mobile apps offering aid to new yoga enthusiasts are mushrooming, globally and here in India where people have for centuries been practicing the art to keep the body and mind healthy.

Popular yoga apps include Yoga-.com, Salute The Desk and 5 Minute Yoga, none of which is Indian. However, some Indian apps, such as Sattva, HealthifyMe and Yoga Tools, are fast gaining popularity.

The Sattva app by the Art of Living Foundation has 'gamified' the whole yoga experience to make it fun for the users. It works as a meditation timer and tracker with challenges, trophies and guided meditations. "Like any other popular game app, in Sattva, you unlock levels and compete with your friends," said Harshal Jadhav, volunteer at the Art of Living Bengaluru team.

The app has 1.2 lakh users and 20 million minutes of meditation recorded, Jadhav said. "After the international day initiative, we have had an increase of 50% in daily active users and downloads. We keep updating new features to make it an interesting interface for the users," he added.

Sattva, like any other app, leaves the user notifications of when to meditate and other such information.

The Sahaja Yoga India App is loaded with features, including meditation music. Available on Android, iOS and Windows platforms, the app has been developed by Sahaja Yoga Volunteers in Chennai.

Bengalurubased online heath consultant HealtifyMe.com, which started yoga as a part of its online health initiative, now finds yoga that is taking over the priority list of health freaks. Both their web and app platforms send notifications to users on the various asanas. Videos recorded by users can also be shared online so that experts can suggest posture corrections. "We currently have over one lakh users," said marketing head Nikhil Moorjani, adding that its app downloads have now gone up by 30%-40%."

According to him, its premium paid packages, where users can choose health experts, have seen people preferring yoga teachers over dietitians and other consultants.

To make yoga accessible all the time, Yoga Tools from Sadhguru started on June 18 and has close to 10,000 downloads already. It introduced 5-minute practice sessions that can be done anytime and anywhere. Its videos are available offline too.