‘Headspace Minis’ let you meditate with friends directly in Snapchat

While bringing your attention to your breath and softening your gaze in the newest place to meditate with Headspace, you might — in the parlance of mindfulness — “notice” something: Your friend’s Bitmoji reassuringly bopping in a tiny bottom corner of your screen. 

Snap announced at its Virtual Partner Summit in June that Snapchat users would soon be able to access free Headspace meditations directly in the chat section of its app. It’s an inaugural application of the company’s new product, Snap Minis, which are “bite-size” applications that live within chat, designed to be used with friends. Headspace Minis go live Monday.

One of the standout parts of the Headspace Mini is that the typically solo activity of meditation is, in this iteration, social. Snapchat says that’s by design. The in-chat meditations are one way it’s trying to encourage supportive friendships, while also easing the fear of trying a new, vulnerable activity like meditation by making it something friends can do “together.”

Snapchat users don’t have to have the Headspace app or even be Headspace subscribers to access the meditations because the Headspace Mini lives within Snapchat itself. 

In-chat meditations are one way it’s trying to encourage supportive friendships, while also easing the fear of trying a new, vulnerable activity like meditation by making it something friends can do “together.”

Users can access the Mini in chat by clicking on the rocket icon at the bottom of the screen, which initiates a Headspace session within Snapchat that the person or people they’re chatting with can also click to join. Once a user clicks into a session, there are six three-to-four minute meditations to choose from: “Just Breathe,” “Get out of a funk,” “Kick the panic,” “Be nice to you,” “Pressure to succeed,” and “Me time.” Andy Puddicombe, the co-founder of Headspace, narrates the meditations, and his voice, with its pleasant British accent, is as soothing as ever.

The meditations focus on mindfulness basics: not passing judgment when thoughts enter your mind; returning attention to your breath; noticing how you feel. Users in a session each choose their own meditations, and they’re not synced over video, or audio, or anything like that. But if friends are doing a session “together,” their Bitmoji will appear in the bottom-left corner of the screen. You can also chat within the Mini, but that pauses the meditation. The true purpose of the Bitmoji presence seems to be a digital signal that you’re not alone. 

Within the Minis, there are numerous ways to further share the experience with friends. Swiping up reveals a friendly camera module prompting you to “Check in with your friends” that places a “vibe check?” sticker on a snap. Further down, a cute animation asks users to “Snap how you feel,” with Headspace stickers users can click on to share in a snap with friends. Users can also send a meditation directly to a friend by clicking the arrow button, or turn the link to the meditation into a clickable filter that goes over a selfie. It’s a shareable experience through and through.  

However, Headspace Snap sessions don’t necessarily need the social component. Users can also access Headspace Minis by searching “Headspace” in the search bar, or within Here for You, Snapchat’s mental health education and resources portal. 

Of course, you’ll still be able to share what you’re doing whether you do a solo session or a social one.

The collaboration seems like a great fit for both companies. On Snap’s end, it brings a high-profile partner to a new product that’s meant to transform Snapchat into a platform developers can build upon — and potentially sell products through, in the future.

Headspace’s partnership program is already genius: As a gateway to Headspace, it provides free meditations to apps like the Nike Run Club and WW (Weight Watchers), in-flight experiences on multiple airlines, and more. A partnership with Snap makes sense as a way to bring a new, young demographic to the practice of mindfulness (initiating a Headspace Mini prompts a permissions pop-up that grants Headspace access to “device information” and more). 

Snap says its intention isn’t to drive Headspace Minis users to the Headspace app, or to become Headspace subscribers. It is not focused on monetization, yet. 

Another benefit for both companies? The publicity halo that comes from a mental health program targeted at young people during a time of unprecedented stress and anxiety.

You can view Headspace Minis as a savvy business move, a beneficial new product for teens who may be having a hard time, or maybe a little bit of both. No matter the purpose, making the ability to take deep breaths and sit with your feelings more accessible, and less scary for people who might really need it, is a win.