Brainway vs. Liven: Which App to Pick?

It's hardly surprising that so many people are working on their self-improvement in today's world. Both Brainway and Liven apps support users' self-discovery, help manage stress, and show how to build consistent routines.

However, each app's approach is different, and they suit slightly different goals. Today, we'll explore Liven and Brainway, discuss what makes them stand out, and determine which one is right for you.

Key Learnings:

• Brainway and Liven support well-being in different ways: Brainway focuses on structured habit-building and productivity, while Liven centers on emotional self-discovery and long-term personal growth.
• Through mood tracking, reflection, and an AI companion, the Liven app helps users understand why they behave in a certain way before making changes to their routines.
• By tracking behavior, running short experiments, and sending reminders, Brainway helps users stay accountable and overcome procrastination.

The Liven App Review: Self-Discovery Companion

The Liven app has entered the market as a self-discovery companion, helping users gain a deeper understanding of themselves and establish routines that genuinely benefit them. The Liven app suggests that gentle planning and curiosity lead to progress more quickly than self-criticism.

The Liven app creates structure rooted in the interconnection between our thoughts, emotions, and behavior. It offers a fresh perspective, demonstrating that you can cultivate your mental health by adopting healthier habits and engaging in reflection.

How Does the Liven App Work?

Liven works with each person to help them look within themselves and gain emotional awareness and clarity. It's not just a productivity app; it is a tool that stays with you as you navigate your path, adjusting to your goals.

Liven is a tool that utilizes cognitive behavioral science and self-reflection to help us become more mindful of our feelings and needs. It is an instrument that helps you integrate your long-term goals into your progress.

The Liven App Features

The Liven app works by combining emotional insight with the development of new habits. These are the features that make this self-discovery possible:

• Mood Tracker. Users can record and track patterns in their feelings and identify factors that may have contributed to these feelings, ranging from people to social situations. As the Liven app accumulates these small data touchpoints, users gain access to overviews that provide valuable insights.
• Habit Builder. Liven's Habit Builder integrates users' to-do lists with their personalized plan and sends alerts and notifications to keep them updated.
• Soundscapes. Relaxing sounds and noises can help you improve your focus or relax.
• AI companion. Livie is Liven's empathetic and responsive AI companion who can talk you through difficult days or suggest helpful coping mechanisms for stress, anxiety, depression, and more.
• Bite-sized courses. The app offers multiple courses and short lessons on various topics related to well-being, including mental health issues and natural ways to boost dopamine.
• Personalized approach. Liven adjusts its program to every user based on what they want from the tool and how much time they are ready to commit to it.

Strengths:

• Self-awareness as a key driver. Liven supports your self-discovery to foster intrinsic motivation, which ensures long-term growth.
• Comprehensive tool. A combination of a Routine Builder, Mood Tracker, AI companion, and courses makes it an all-in-one app that aims at an overall real-life improvement.
• No-pressure structure. Although Liven has a structure and routine you can follow, the app supports motivation rather than punishment/reward reinforcement.
• Science-backed. The Liven app relies on science, and its content is regularly reviewed by licensed specialists.

Considerations:

• The number of tools in the app can make it challenging to adjust immediately and may take time.
• The app can seem too overwhelming for those who need just a tracking tool.
• While Liven offers immediate stress reduction after exercises, it delivers most of its value over time.

The Brainway App Review: Habit Building In a Nutshell

Brainway firmly believes that when a person is ready to work on their habit-building and intends to commit, they will see progress quickly. Brainway can be considered a productivity tool, as its core focus is on encouraging users to overcome procrastination and establish new habits.

It is, however, attentive to users' mental health, enabling them to check in on their mood and routines. This app provides a key to overcoming procrastination: tracking progress and addressing negative thoughts as we move forward.

How Does the Brainway App Work?

Brainway encourages users to develop self-management techniques for better focus and accountability. It's not just a to-do list with a timer. The app evaluates users' behaviors and helps them develop better habits.

It relies on self-tracking as a powerful mechanism for improved focus and performance. Brainway supports incremental awareness: noting triggers for procrastination or distraction, breaking down significant goals into smaller tasks, and offering gentle reminders.

The Brainway App Features

Brainway offers insights, too, but these focus on users' behavior and motivations, as well as how they contribute to daily routines. These are the core features that the app provides:

• Behavior and habit tracking. Brainway's primary goal is to track habits, showing how users' behavior changes over a given period. The more users log their daily tasks, the better the statistics they receive.
• Mood tracker. Mood tracking is crucial for Brainway because it helps to analyze and understand specific user habits. Our emotions influence our focus and motivation to commit to our habits, and understanding how we feel can reveal hidden barriers that hinder our progress.
• Experiments. Brainway enables users to test effective tools and strategies through behavioral experiments. After 3 days of an experiment, a person receives data to better understand how it affects their routines.
• Relaxation techniques. Our ability to stay focused often relies on managing our feelings. Brainway encourages the use of guided meditations, breathing techniques, and other tools before and after the experiment to help assess your feelings.
• Reminders. Habit-building routines depend on their regularity, so the app sends notifications to help users stay on track with their daily tasks.

Strengths:

• Structured habit awareness. Accurate behavior tracking and visual patterns help users notice their routines and productivity trends.
• Actionable reminders. Timely prompts help keep you aligned with your plans and personal goals.
• Clean interface. The app is designed for easy access, which contributes to productivity and reduces visual weight for those who find it difficult to concentrate.
• Pattern recognition: You can connect behaviors over time, which gives you a thorough understanding of how you perform and achieve specific tasks.

Considerations:

• A few reviews mentioned a need for instructions tailored to various age groups.
• Some comments mentioned auto-renewal difficulties.
• Brainway may pair well with other emotional-awareness tools if you’re balancing productivity with deeper insight into your mood.

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Which App Is the Right for You?

Both Brainway and Liven aim to help you grow, but they do so in different ways. Not sure how to pick one app?

• If you need a tool to track behavior patterns and provide consistent reminders to make daily productivity feel more manageable, Brainway might be a better fit.
• If you're looking for an app that starts with self-exploration and connects deeper reflection to subsequent change, Liven would be a better option.

Regardless of what app you choose in the end, what matters is commitment. The more time you invest, the better you understand what drives you and your choices. And whether it's Liven, Brainway, or both, you will see all the progress you've made and know that it's a path you have chosen and have gone through.

References

1. Early, B. P., & Grady, M. D. (2016). Embracing the contribution of both behavioral and cognitive theories to cognitive behavioral therapy: Maximizing the richness. Clinical Social Work Journal, 45(1), 39–48. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10615-016-0590-5
2. Wohn, D. Y., & Lee, M. J. (2020). The effect of tracking and reflecting on study habits on study behavior and grades. 2020 IEEE International Symposium on Technology and Society (ISTAS), 433–441. https://doi.org/10.1109/istas50296.2020.9462241