Is Loam meditation app free?

Yes. Loam is free to download and free to start. Core tools like breathing exercises, journaling, daily check-ins, and streak tracking are always available at no cost. Premium unlocks the full guided session library, unlimited custom Moments, and advanced features.

What makes Loam different from Calm or Headspace?

Loam composes every session around how you feel right now — the voice, the pace, and the therapeutic approach all adapt in real time. Instead of a catalog of pre-recorded tracks, Loam generates a new meditation tailored to your current emotional state, calibrated to your experience level, and grounded in peer-reviewed research. It also ships with Sage, a wellness coach trained in Motivational Interviewing, and 15 breathing exercises with haptic-synced animations.

Is Loam safe to use alongside therapy or medication?

Yes. Loam is designed with clear clinical guardrails. Sessions never claim to diagnose or treat mental illness, never tell you to stop therapy or medication, and always defer to professional care for symptoms that warrant it. Content is constrained to evidence-based techniques (ACT, self-compassion, MBSR, somatic experiencing, CBT-I) and a carefully reviewed voice and pacing library. Meditation is a complement to care, not a replacement. If you're in crisis, please contact a local crisis line or your care provider.

What research is Loam based on?

Every therapeutic technique in Loam cites primary peer-reviewed research. Loam's breathing library is grounded in work by Balban et al. (Stanford, 2023), Zaccaro et al. (2018), and Lehrer & Gevirtz (2014). The Moment's therapeutic architecture draws on polyvagal theory (Porges), ACT (Hayes), self-compassion (Neff), MBSR (Kabat-Zinn), and somatic experiencing (Levine). A full citation library is available at /research.

Who are the voices in Loam?

Loam uses 13 research-selected voices. Each voice is chosen for the emotional state it handles best, based on polyvagal theory, ASMR research, and voice psychology — low resonant voices for grounding, warm bright voices for light moods, measured voices for heavy ones. Loam automatically picks the voice the research says will work for your current state, or you can override manually.

Does Loam work offline?

Core tools work offline, including downloaded meditations, breathing exercises, and the journal. The Moment — Loam's custom meditation composer — requires an internet connection at the moment of generation, because the session is composed on the fly. Once generated, every Moment is saved to your library and can be replayed offline without using any credits.

Does Loam have sleep stories?

Yes. Loam includes narrated sleep stories, sleep soundscapes, and wind-down rituals. The sleep content uses anti-storytelling techniques — structured to prevent the mind from latching on to narrative — based on CBT-I stimulus control research (Bootzin & Epstein, 2011).

What breathing exercises does Loam offer?

Loam offers 15 breathing techniques across beginner, intermediate, and advanced tiers, including Box Breathing (4-4-4-4), 4-7-8 Relaxation, the Physiological Sigh, Coherent (Resonance) Breathing at 5.5-5.5, Alternate Nostril, Ujjayi, Kapalbhati, and the Wim Hof method. Every technique links to the peer-reviewed research that validates it, so you can read the study if you want to.

Will I lose my streak if I miss a day?

No. Loam's streak system is explicitly wellness-first: streaks pause, they don't break. You get two streak freezes, you can mark rest days, and the app never shames you for missing a session. Anxious users are especially vulnerable to streak mechanics turning self-care into another source of pressure — Loam is designed to avoid that failure mode.

SOUNDSCAPE LIBRARY

Every claim cited · Every technique peer-reviewed

Every soundscape, with the research behind it.

Name: Loam
Availability: InStock
Author: Loam

Most soundscape pages on the internet are thin lists and affiliate links. Loam's library is the library — with the research, the caveats, and the honest answer to 'which one should I actually pick?'

Updated April 2026·6 min read

Water

Rain, ocean, river — the most-studied natural masking sounds.

Rain Sounds — The most-studied natural masking sound. Lowers cortisol, aids sleep onset.
Ocean Waves — Slow, predictable wave rhythm entrains breathing toward a relaxed cadence.
River Stream — Gentle moving water — higher-frequency character than ocean or rain.

Weather

Thunderstorms and storm systems — enclosed, indoor-cosy audio.

Thunderstorm — Deep-rumble thunder + rainfall for enclosed, safe-harbor cosiness.

Nature

Forest, meadow, crickets — birdsong and ambient texture.

Forest Sounds — Dawn-chorus birdsong over rustling leaves — the circadian 'safe morning' cue.
Night Crickets — The sound of a summer evening — rhythmic, predictable, sleep-friendly.

Noise Colors

White, pink, brown, green — synthetic noise for masking and focus.

White Noise — Equal power across all frequencies — the most common masking sound.
Pink Noise — Deeper, softer, and better-tolerated than white noise for sleep.
Brown Noise — Deep, bassy, rumbling — the ADHD-community favorite.
Green Noise — Mid-range-emphasized noise — the 'ambient nature' noise color.

Fire

Campfire and fireplace — the ancestral 'hearth is safe' sounds.

Campfire — Crackling wood fire — the ancestral 'tribe is safe' soundscape.
Fireplace — Indoor fireplace — warmer, more enclosed than campfire.

Try it in the Loam app

Every soundscape supports layering — you can run rain + campfire + brown noise together with independent volume sliders. Download Loam for the full library.

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