We’ve selected these apps based on their quality, user reviews, and overall reliability as a source of support for people seeking out alternative medicine. If you want to nominate an app for this list, email us at nominations@healthline.com.
When you’re feeling sick or experiencing an unpleasant symptom, do you rush to the doctor or try other approaches first? If it’s the latter, there’s a good chance you’re practicing alternative medicine. And, there’s a good chance there’s an app that can help.
Alternative medicine is an alternative medical treatment to traditional medicine. The term is often used
We’ve rounded up the best alternative medicine apps out there in an effort to make navigating your own health treatment easier.
Android rating: ★★★★✩
Price: Free
If you prefer natural, herbal remedies, a comprehensive resource like the Herbs Encyclopedia app is a must-have. It’s a database including a list of herbs and plants, each identified by the symptoms and health concerns it may be useful for. The app also features a list of herbs you shouldn’t take — or those that may be harmful if used incorrectly or used at all.
Android rating: ★★★★★
Price: Free
Consider this alternative medicine 101. This app offers information on numerous forms of alternative medicine — likely some you’ve never even heard of! Whether you’re new to the world of alternative and complementary medicine, or a professional practitioner, this app is a useful addition to your mobile library.
Android rating: ★★★★★
Price: Free
Looking for something in your kitchen that might help your heartburn? Home Remedies+ can help. This app identifies home remedies for hundreds of ailments. It also contains remedies for overall wellness, like improving immune health. You can make a list of favorites and even add your own home remedies to the database.
iPhone rating: ★★★★★
Price: Free
Breathing techniques are some of the simplest forms of alternative medicine, and the cheapest. This app is designed to help you learn deep breathing techniques that can help you relax, sleep better, improve your health, and reduce stress. The app contains sessions from 1 to 15 minutes long, making it a solution for even the busiest practitioners.
iPhone rating: ★★★★★
Price: Free
Mindfulness and hypnotherapy can help you relax, reduce stress, sleep more soundly, and fight pain. HelloMind is a great tool for folks wanting to practice mindfulness and those interested in meditation. Select the behavior or condition you wish to improve, like self-esteem, and the app recommends a relaxation and hypnotherapy treatment for you.
Android rating: ★★★★★
Price: Free
Ayurveda is an ancient Indian form of herbal medicine. With this app, you can learn to apply these time-tested principles to your modern life. You’ll find tips and treatments for everything from headaches to yellowing teeth. You can search by symptom or by herb.
Android rating: ★★★★✩
Price: Free
If you need a comprehensive resource on natural medicine at your fingertips, this is a great resource! It’s the app version of The Clinician’s Handbook of Natural Medicine. In it, you’ll find help diagnosing and treating conditions with natural solutions. You can search by keyword or even use your camera to snap a photo of the words you wish to look up.
Android rating: ★★★★✩
Price: Free
Finding safe home remedies you can make in your kitchen can change your life, or at least the way you manage your health. This app is a great tool for locating basic home remedy recipes for a variety of symptoms. You’ll find solutions for the common cold, high blood pressure, and so much more.
iPhone rating: ★★★★★
Android rating: ★★★★★
Price: Free
This app is a comprehensive but simply designed directory of natural remedies you can find at home or in the wild. It also features vibrant photos of these remedies. You can visually identify herbs found in your backyard and determine how they may be useful in your home health care. The tool also includes news from the latest scientific studies on natural health.
iPhone rating: ★★★★✩
Android rating: ★★★★✩
Price: Free
Whether you need help treating ADHD, insomnia, stress, or anger management — hypnosis may be able to help. This app lets you choose symptoms you’d like to address and in exchange provides hypnotherapy treatments. Though there are in-app purchases, the app comes loaded with over 100 hours of free hypnosis audio.