Meditation Now

Bridging Languages with Meditation Now: A Multilingual Mindfulness Experience

In a digital age where mindfulness and meditation apps predominantly cater to English-speaking audiences, Rohan Gunatillake and the innovative team at Mindfulness Everywhere have set out to change the narrative. With a history of blending meditation, technology, and design through various mediums — from playing cards to books, and notably, the successful buddhify app — their mission has expanded to encompass a global audience, transcending language barriers with Meditation Now.

Embracing Diversity in Mindfulness

Recognizing the limitation of English-only content, which inadvertently excludes a significant portion of the global population, Mindfulness Everywhere embarked on creating Meditation Now. This initiative aims to offer a rich, multilingual meditation experience, ensuring accessibility to non-English speakers worldwide and expanding the reach and impact of mindfulness practices.

The Genesis of Meditation Now

The development of Meditation Now was not without its challenges, especially when considering the diversity of languages and the technical limitations of mobile platforms like iOS and Android. The initial idea to utilize location services or app store locations to determine language preference was quickly overshadowed by a more user-centric approach — allowing users the freedom to select their preferred language.

A Collaborative Effort

Mindfulness Everywhere, a small yet formidable Glasgow-based studio, leveraged its collaborative ethos by partnering with companies like LevelUp, Jamhot, and Add Jam. Together, they navigated the complexities of creating a scalable and inclusive app that gracefully addresses the intricacies of language preference in a global context.

User Choice at the Forefront

The decision to empower users to select their language was materialized through a meticulously designed interface, showcasing each language option with its corresponding flag and a greeting in each language. This approach not only respects individual language preferences but also enhances user engagement from the onset.

Going International with i18n

The backbone of Meditation Now's multilingual capability lies in the implementation of the internationalization standard, i18n. This framework provides a scalable solution for incorporating multiple languages, from the initial greeting to the comprehensive meditation content available within the app, including audio, text, and images.

A Custom Admin Area for Seamless Updates

A significant innovation in the project was the development of a custom admin area, enabling the Mindfulness Everywhere team to dynamically update and manage content across all supported languages. This flexibility ensures that Meditation Now can evolve and expand, adding new languages and content as the app grows.

Cross-Platform Development with React Native

Utilizing React Native, Meditation Now was developed for both iOS and Android from a single codebase, significantly reducing development time and effort. This choice allowed for a focused approach on optimizing the user experience, ensuring that Meditation Now delivers an exceptional meditation journey across all devices and languages.

Making Mindfulness Accessible to the World

Now available on iOS and Android in multiple regions, including Italy, Germany, Latin America, and Spain, Meditation Now offers a one-time payment model, making mindfulness practices accessible without the need for an ongoing subscription. This approach reflects Mindfulness Everywhere's commitment to creating meaningful, high-quality mindfulness experiences for a global audience, proving that language need not be a barrier to the benefits of meditation.