Real-World Meditation App Engagement: Longitudinal Study of the Medito Meditation App

Background: Meditation apps are increasingly popular but face significant engagement challenges. Most research does not meaningfully capture real-world engagement or associated user characteristics. Engagement patterns and reasons for engaging or disengaging remain relatively unexplored. Objective: This study aimed to examine Medito app user engagement over the first 30 days after download and how intended use, demographics, user traits, and mental health factors predict engagement. Methods: A prospective online survey was conducted among 668 Medito app users from 30 countries. Factors assessed included demographic factors (eg, age, sex, education, employment, and country of residence); user factors (eg, number of apps tried, hours of experience, meditation-related adverse events, expectations, readiness to change, and personality); and mental health factors (eg, quality of life, perceived stress, psychological distress, well-being, and satisfaction with life). Detailed engagement data included days of use, meditations completed, app opens, and minutes of use obtained via a data-sharing agreement with Medito. Minutes of use in the first 30 days after download served as the main outcome variable. Results: App use was relatively low, with 50% (328/655) of users engaging for a total of 16 minutes or less in the first month after download (median 16.11, IQR 0-74.51 min). Fewer than 20% (124/655, 18.86%) of users continued using the app after 14 days. Intended use (mean 418.56, SD 472.5) significantly exceeded actual use (mean 70.02, SD 176.81; d=0.710; P