Our team

Maya Ellison

Editor & wellbeing-app analyst · Editor and lead analyst — owns our review methodology.

Maya Ellison is the editor of Best Personal Development Apps and the person behind our scoring methodology. Over roughly a decade she has tested hundreds of habit, journaling, mood and mindfulness apps the slow way — using each one daily for weeks before forming a view — because a five-minute first impression tells you almost nothing about whether an app will still be on your phone in three months.

She built the six-criterion rubric we apply to every app, and she edits each review for accuracy, balance and plain language. Her rule for the team is simple: every claim has to be true, every rating has to be sourced and dated, and every review has to name the downsides — including for the app made by the company that operates this site.

Maya cares most about the gap between what an app promises in its onboarding and what it actually delivers on day thirty. That is the lens she brings to every page here.

Areas of expertise

Personal development apps
Habit formation
Journaling & mood tracking
Review methodology & editorial standards
App pricing and cancellation transparency

Knows about: personal development apps, habit formation, journaling, mood tracking

How Maya evaluates apps

Maya tests each app daily for several weeks, scores it on the same six weighted criteria as every other app, cross-checks ratings against the App Store, Google Play and Trustpilot, and re-dates pages when prices or features change.

Articles by Maya

Articles Maya reviewed

App reviews by Maya

Find Maya on LinkedIn.

Maya works to our published review methodology.

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