Breathe Balloon

Support

Last updated: 28 October 2026 · Deutsche Version

Choosing an exercise

The start screen shows seven breathing exercises as tiles. The numbers are the seconds for breathe in – hold – breathe out – hold; a 0 means that hold is skipped.

• Custom breathing: your own rhythm (0 – 0 – 0 – 0 until you set it)
• Box breathing: 4 – 4 – 4 – 4
• Extended exhale: 4 – 4 – 8 – 4
• Coherent breathing: 5 – 0 – 5 – 0
• Resonance breathing: 4.5 to 6.5 breaths per minute (5.5 by default)
• 4-7-8 breathing: 4 – 7 – 8 – 0
• Slow breathing: 4 – 0 – 8 – 0

Tapping a tile opens the preparation screen for that exercise; a session only begins when you tap the start button. The back arrow at the top left returns to the start screen.

Setting your own rhythm and resonance

For Custom breathing, the preparation screen shows eight wheels like a combination lock, two each for In, Hold, Out, Hold: one for the seconds, one for the tenths. This sets each phase from 0 to 20 seconds in steps of 0.1 seconds. A phase set to 0 is skipped, and the next phase follows straight away. Until you set it, the rhythm is 0 – 0 – 0 – 0, and the start button stays disabled until at least one phase is above 0 seconds.

For Resonance breathing, a wheel sets how many breaths per minute you want to take: 4.5 to 6.5 in half steps. Breathing in and out take the same time, with no holds; the app shows the seconds, for example 5.45 seconds each at 5.5 breaths per minute.

The app remembers both settings on your device.

Starting a session

At the bottom left of the preparation screen is the cycles field, for example “19 cycles · Ends at 5:04” for box breathing. Tap it and use − and + to choose between 1 and 30 minutes (5 minutes by default). Each exercise remembers its own duration. The last breath cycle is always completed, so a session can run a few seconds longer than the time you chose. Then tap the start button in the middle.

During a session

• The balloon grows while you breathe in, stays large while you hold, shrinks while you breathe out and stays small while you hold again. The blue arc shows your position in the current cycle.
• The large text names the current phase; below it you see how many seconds of this phase are left.
• Bottom left shows the current round and the time left in the session.
• The middle button pauses and resumes. While paused, time, picture and sound stand still; the session continues exactly where it stopped.
• The back arrow at the top left ends the session early and returns to the preparation screen. When the session ends on its own, a short summary appears.

Music and signals

The music is calm and instrumental. Every exercise offers the same eight tracks. Six of them run at 60 beats per minute and play one chord per phase, starting on the first beat of a bar at every phase change, so every breathing cycle sounds the same. “Gentle Settling” and “Distant Beach Rain” play continuously, independent of the breath phases. “Balloon Ride” is the default, “Gentle Settling” in Custom breathing. The chosen track applies only to the exercise you choose it in; each exercise remembers its own track. Four soft piano tones mark the start of each phase: G4 for breathing in, E4 for the hold after breathing in, C4 for breathing out and D4 for the hold after breathing out. When a hold is skipped, its tone is skipped too.

Music and signals can be turned on or off independently: the speaker button at the bottom right opens the Music and Signals switches, on the preparation screen and during a session. Below them, Music opens the music choice: there you can preview each track without starting an exercise and pick one for this exercise. Your choice is remembered. With music and signals off, the balloon and the text guide you on their own.

No sound? Check the volume of your device and whether music or signals are switched off in the app.

Lock screen and other apps

The session keeps running when you lock your device or switch to another app. Phase and time left appear on the lock screen and in Control Center, where you can pause and resume. When you come back, the balloon shows the current state – nothing restarts. If a phone call comes in, the session pauses and stays paused until you resume it.

Apple Health

Breathe Balloon can save the time you practise as mindful minutes in Apple Health. To connect, tap the gear on the start screen and then Connect Apple Health under Apple Health, or tap Save to Apple Health on the completion screen after a session. Then allow mindful minutes in the iOS prompt.

Only the time you actually practise counts, also when you end a session early. Pauses and the preparation do not count; each stretch between two pauses becomes its own entry. The app only writes and reads no health data.

Once the app is connected, the settings show the switch Save to Apple Health under Apple Health. With it off, new sessions are not saved; earlier entries stay, and the permission remains. Turn it back on and saving resumes with your next session.

To take back the permission completely, open the Health app, tap your profile picture, then Apps › Breathe Balloon, and turn off Mindful Minutes. If the app’s settings say “Not allowed”, turn it back on the same way.

Light and dark mode

In light mode the app shows a daytime landscape, in dark mode an evening landscape with stars and a crescent moon. The balloon and the controls stay the same; only the colours adapt. By default the app follows the appearance of your iPhone or iPad and changes along with it.

To keep the app always light or always dark, tap the gear next to the title on the start screen and choose Light or Dark under Appearance. System makes it follow your device again. The choice applies at once, and the app remembers it on your device.

Accessibility and language

VoiceOver announces each phase. With Reduce Motion turned on in the iOS settings, the app uses calmer transitions. The app follows the language of your device and is available in German and English.

A note on breathing

Breathe Balloon is not a medical device and does not replace medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. If you feel dizzy or unwell, stop and breathe normally.

Sources

The information on the exercises in the app rests on these publications. You also find them in the app under Settings › Sources.

• Lehrer PM, Gevirtz R (2014). Heart rate variability biofeedback: how and why does it work? Frontiers in Psychology 5:756.Review of how slow breathing at about six breaths a minute is used in heart rate variability biofeedback.doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00756 · PubMed 25101026
• Lehrer PM, Vaschillo E, Vaschillo B (2000). Resonant frequency biofeedback training to increase cardiac variability: rationale and manual for training. Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback 25(3):177–191.Describes resonance breathing and how the personal slow pace between 4.5 and 6.5 breaths a minute is found.doi:10.1023/A:1009554825745 · PubMed 10999236
• Zaccaro A, Piarulli A, Laurino M, Garbella E, Menicucci D, Neri B, Gemignani A (2018). How Breath-Control Can Change Your Life: A Systematic Review on Psycho-Physiological Correlates of Slow Breathing. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 12:353.Systematic review of studies on slow breathing at less than ten breaths a minute in healthy people.doi:10.3389/fnhum.2018.00353 · PubMed 30245619
• Russo MA, Santarelli DM, O'Rourke D (2017). The physiological effects of slow breathing in the healthy human. Breathe 13(4):298–309.Review of the physiological changes measured during slow breathing in healthy people.doi:10.1183/20734735.009817 · PubMed 29209423
• Balban MY, Neri E, Kogon MM, Weed L, Nouriani B, Jo B, Holl G, Zeitzer JM, Spiegel D, Huberman AD (2023). Brief structured respiration practices enhance mood and reduce physiological arousal. Cell Reports Medicine 4(1):100895.Randomised study of daily five-minute breathing practices, among them box breathing and breathing with a long out-breath.doi:10.1016/j.xcrm.2022.100895 · PubMed 36630953
• Vierra J, Boonla O, Prasertsri P (2022). Effects of sleep deprivation and 4-7-8 breathing control on heart rate variability, blood pressure, blood glucose, and endothelial function in healthy young adults. Physiological Reports 10(13):e15389.Study in healthy young adults that measured heart rate variability and blood pressure before and after 4-7-8 breathing.doi:10.14814/phy2.15389 · PubMed 35822447
• Marchant J, Khazan I, Cressman M, Steffen P (2025). Comparing the Effects of Square, 4-7-8, and 6 Breaths-per-Minute Breathing Conditions on Heart Rate Variability, CO2 Levels, and Mood. Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback 50(2):261–276.Study with 84 students that compares box breathing, 4-7-8 breathing and breathing at six breaths a minute.doi:10.1007/s10484-025-09688-z · PubMed 39864026
• Kobayashi R, Negoro H (2024). Acute effects of the 4-4-8 breathing technique on arterial stiffness in healthy young men. Cardiology Journal 31(3):418–426.Study in healthy young men on 4-4-8 breathing; the fourth breathing phase of the pattern in the app was not studied.doi:10.5603/cj.96299 · PubMed 38348911
• Meehan ZM, Shaffer F (2024). Do Longer Exhalations Increase HRV During Slow-Paced Breathing?. Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback 49(3):407–417.Study on whether longer exhalations during slow-paced breathing change heart rate variability; it makes no promise that a longer out-breath is better.doi:10.1007/s10484-024-09637-2 · PubMed 38507210
• Birdee G, Nelson K, Wallston K, Nian H, Diedrich A, Paranjape S, Abraham R, Gamboa A (2023). Slow breathing for reducing stress: The effect of extending exhale. Complementary Therapies in Medicine 73:102937.Randomised study with 100 participants over twelve weeks that found no added benefit of a longer out-breath; it does not cover the full 4-4-8-4 pattern.doi:10.1016/j.ctim.2023.102937 · PubMed 36871835

Privacy

The app works offline, collects no data and has no server of its own. It only writes to Apple Health if you allow it. Details are in the privacy policy.