I'm not religious but I find the commercial and unnatural connotations of the electronic device to be a barrier - meditation often focuses on primitive physical sensations, whereas digital devices seem to work in contradiction to physicality.

Meditation is a very personal experience and strangely many people are telling eachother how it "should" be done. As if their way, which works for them personally, is the only way.

I find the direct involvement of a digital device to be somewhat unnerving and distracting. I use my Apple iPhone with my paid app about 50% of the time.

Sounds like you’re on of the few that has managed it. I have yet to see anyone else who has - spam calls, texts, random notifications from whatever app someone forgot to include in the focus config, etc. seem more the norm.

Frankly, why not just leave it out of the room? Oh, except for the app I guess.