Mindful Suite

The 21 Best Breathing Exercise Apps for a Calmer You in 2025

Remember scribbling "just breathe" on a sticky note and slapping it on your monitor? Or maybe you’ve tried counting breaths in bed, only to lose track and start thinking about your to-do list instead. We’ve all been there. That frantic search for a moment of peace can feel like one more task on an already endless list.

But what if that little reminder could do more than just nudge you? What if it could guide you, with gentle sounds and mesmerizing visuals, turning a vague intention into a powerful, restorative practice? That’s the magic of having a breathing app in your pocket. These digital guides transform the simple act of breathing into a deliberate tool to dial down stress, find focus, or drift off to sleep. Let's explore some of the best ones out there.

All-in-One Wellness Apps

These apps are the Swiss Army knives of mindfulness. They offer breathing exercises as part of a larger toolkit designed to tackle everything from anxiety to sleep, making them perfect if you want a complete mental wellness hub.

Calm

  • Overview: A true giant in the wellness space, Calm is like a cozy digital sanctuary. It offers a vast library of content designed to soothe your mind, featuring guided meditations, exclusive music, and celebrity-narrated Sleep Stories that are basically bedtime stories for grown-ups.
  • Key Features: Guided breathing programs, Sleep Stories, an extensive meditation library, masterclasses, and tons of relaxing music.
  • Pros & Cons:
    • Pros: High-quality production, a huge variety of content, excellent for beginners and seasoned users alike.
    • Cons: The sheer volume of content can be overwhelming if you only want breathwork; the premium subscription is on the pricey side.
  • Pricing: Limited free version. Full access requires a subscription.

Headspace

  • Overview: Headspace makes mindfulness feel fun and approachable with its charming animations and structured courses. It aims to teach you the foundational skills of meditation and breathwork that you can weave into your daily life, demystifying the practice one cute cartoon at a time.
  • Key Features: Foundational meditation courses, daily meditations, sleep content (Sleepcasts), focus music, and animated explainers.
  • Pros & Cons:
    • Pros: The structured, educational approach is fantastic for beginners; its design is engaging and super user-friendly.
    • Cons: Less focused on advanced or varied breathwork techniques compared to specialized apps; a subscription is needed for most content.
  • Pricing: Offers a free introductory course. Full access requires a subscription.

Insight Timer

  • Overview: Imagine a global library of mindfulness, and you've got Insight Timer. It stands out with its massive, community-driven collection of free guided meditations, talks, and music from thousands of teachers. It’s an incredible resource for anyone exploring mindfulness on a budget.
  • Key Features: A gigantic free library, customizable meditation timer, community features, live events, and courses from a diverse range of teachers.
  • Pros & Cons:
    • Pros: An unbeatable amount of high-quality free content; a highly engaged community.
    • Cons: Content quality can be variable since it's an open platform; the vastness can sometimes be tricky to navigate.
  • Pricing: A huge library is available for free. An optional subscription unlocks courses and offline listening.

Breethe

  • Overview: Breethe offers a well-rounded collection of tools for tackling anxiety, stress, and sleep issues head-on. It includes guided meditations, breathing exercises, hypnotherapy sessions, and masterclasses to help you build a daily self-care habit that sticks.
  • Key Features: Guided meditations, breathing exercises, hypnotherapy, relaxing music, and bedtime stories.
  • Pros & Cons:
    • Pros: A wide variety of content types; strong focus on practical, real-world situations.
    • Cons: The user interface can feel a bit less polished than competitors like Calm or Headspace.
  • Pricing: Free content available. A premium subscription unlocks the full library.

Simple Habit

  • Overview: Built for the perpetually busy, Simple Habit delivers bite-sized, 5-minute guided meditations and breathing exercises. Each one is tailored to a specific situation, like prepping for a big meeting or winding down after a chaotic day.
  • Key Features: Short, situation-specific meditations; content from a wide range of teachers; perfect for on-the-go moments.
  • Pros & Cons:
    • Pros: Perfect for people with limited time; diverse content and teachers.
    • Cons: Primarily focused on meditation rather than deep, technical breathwork.
  • Pricing: Free to download with limited content; a subscription unlocks all sessions.

Aura

  • Overview: Aura acts like a personal wellness coach, using AI to figure out what you need in the moment. Based on your mood, it recommends 3-minute meditations, life coaching sessions, stories, and breathing exercises for immediate relief and long-term growth.
  • Key Features: AI-powered personalization, short 3-minute tracks, life coaching, mood tracking, and a gratitude journal.
  • Pros & Cons:
    • Pros: Personalized recommendations are a unique and helpful touch; great for quick, targeted sessions.
    • Cons: The AI might not always hit the mark; some users may prefer to browse and choose for themselves.
  • Pricing: Limited free access daily. A subscription is required for full, unlimited access.

Ten Percent Happier

  • Overview: Born from Dan Harris's book of the same name, this app is for the skeptics and pragmatists. It offers straightforward, no-nonsense guided meditations and teachings from world-renowned experts, focusing on the practical, science-backed benefits of mindfulness.
  • Key Features: Guided meditations, video talks from experts, courses on topics like stress and focus, and a relatable, down-to-earth approach.
  • Pros & Cons:
    • Pros: Excellent for those who cringe at wellness jargon; features highly respected teachers.
    • Cons: Less emphasis on creative or music-driven exercises compared to other apps.
  • Pricing: Free introductory content. A subscription is needed to unlock the full library.

Dedicated Breathwork Apps

These apps are for the enthusiasts who want to go deep. They specialize in the art and science of breathing, offering specific techniques, guided sessions, and progress tracking to master your breath.

Breathwrk

  • Overview: Breathwrk is a powerhouse focused exclusively on science-backed breathing exercises. It guides you through powerful techniques to achieve specific states, whether you want to fall asleep in minutes, spark some energy, or instantly calm anxiety.
  • Key Features: A large library of exercises for different goals (sleep, energy, relax); guided sessions with visuals and sound; customizable exercises and reminders.
  • Pros & Cons:
    • Pros: Highly effective, goal-oriented exercises; strong scientific backing; a beautiful and intuitive interface.
    • Cons: Many of the best exercises are behind a paywall.
  • Pricing: Free version with basic exercises. A pro subscription unlocks all content.

Prana Breath

  • Overview: Drawing from ancient yogic traditions (Pranayama), Prana Breath offers a variety of breathing techniques designed to promote deep relaxation and mindfulness. It's highly customizable and feels more like a training tool for your breath.
  • Key Features: Various breathing patterns; customizable training sessions; progress tracking and charts; health tests.
  • Pros & Cons:
    • Pros: Excellent for those interested in the yogic side of breathing; highly customizable.
    • Cons: The interface is more functional than beautiful; it might feel a bit complex for absolute beginners.
  • Pricing: Free version with an option to upgrade to a 'Guru' version for more features.

Othership

  • Overview: Othership brings a unique, music-driven vibe to breathwork. It features over 500 guided classes taught by top facilitators, all set to incredible soundtracks that elevate the experience from a simple exercise to a powerful inner journey.
  • Key Features: Music-driven sessions; classes for various goals (energizing or calming); taught by experienced facilitators.
  • Pros & Cons:
    • Pros: The use of music is transformative and highly engaging; it makes the practice feel epic.
    • Cons: It's relatively new with a smaller user base; it's subscription-focused.
  • Pricing: Offers a free trial, after which a subscription is required.

Wim Hof Method

  • Overview: This is the official app for the legendary Wim Hof Method, which combines specific breathing techniques, cold exposure, and mindset training. It's an intense, powerful practice aimed at boosting energy, reducing inflammation, and unlocking your inner resilience.
  • Key Features: The official guided Wim Hof breathing bubble; cold exposure exercises (like an ice bath timer); educational videos and progress tracking.
  • Pros & Cons:
    • Pros: The only place for official, guided WHM practice; users report powerful and transformative results.
    • Cons: The method is intense and may not be suitable for everyone; it’s primarily focused on one specific technique.
  • Pricing: Free version with basic tools. A subscription unlocks all features and courses.

Simple & Focused Apps

If you don't need a massive library or complex features, these apps are for you. They deliver simple, effective breathing exercises without any clutter, getting you straight to the good stuff.

Breathe2Relax

  • Overview: A straightforward, free app designed to teach diaphragmatic (or "belly") breathing for stress management. It gives you the basics on the biology of stress and lets you personalize your breathing pace.
  • Key Features: Teaches diaphragmatic breathing; customizable breathing pace; body scanner tool to assess stress.
  • Pros & Cons:
    • Pros: Completely free; simple and effective for its one purpose.
    • Cons: The design is very basic; some users report performance issues.
  • Pricing: Free.

The Breathing App

  • Overview: Co-created by renowned yoga teacher Eddie Stern and author Deepak Chopra, this no-frills app focuses on one thing: resonant breathing. This technique involves breathing at a specific rate (around 5-6 breaths per minute) to instantly calm the nervous system.
  • Key Features: Simple interface; guided resonant breathing; uses sound to guide the pace.
  • Pros & Cons:
    • Pros: Extremely simple and easy to use; based on a highly effective technique.
    • Cons: Only available on iOS; limited to one breathing technique.
  • Pricing: Free.

Paced Breathing

  • Overview: Just like its name suggests, Paced Breathing helps you regulate your breath with simple cues. It's a minimalist app that uses visual, audio, and haptic feedback to guide your inhales and exhales.
  • Key Features: Visual, audio, and haptic (vibration) cues; customizable session lengths and breathing ratios.
  • Pros & Cons:
    • Pros: Minimalist and distraction-free; haptic feedback is great for using it with your eyes closed.
    • Cons: The functionality is very basic, which may not be enough for some users.
  • Pricing: Free.

iBreathe

  • Overview: iBreathe is a beautifully designed, simple app for guided deep breathing exercises. It’s designed with simplicity in mind, avoiding clutter to help you focus purely on your breath.
  • Key Features: Clean, minimalist interface; customizable breathing intervals; pre-set exercises.
  • Pros & Cons:
    • Pros: Gorgeous design; extremely easy to use.
    • Cons: Its simplicity means fewer features than more advanced apps.
  • Pricing: Free (with ads and an option to remove them).

Breathing Zone

  • Overview: Breathing Zone offers clinically effective guided breathing exercises. Its unique feature is a Breath Analyzer that uses your phone's camera to measure your breathing rate and help you find your ideal pace for relaxation.
  • Key Features: Guided exercises; personalized breathing rate recommendations; progress tracking.
  • Pros & Cons:
    • Pros: The personalized breath analyzer is a unique, science-based feature.
    • Cons: The interface feels a bit dated compared to newer, slicker apps.
  • Pricing: Free to download with an optional premium upgrade.

Kardia Deep Breathing

  • Overview: Kardia is a clean and simple app for paced breathing. It lets you personalize your inhale, exhale, and hold ratios and provides gentle audio guidance to help you relax.
  • Key Features: Customizable breathing ratios; visual and audio guides; minimalist design.
  • Pros & Cons:
    • Pros: Highly customizable; great for practicing specific ratios (like box breathing).
    • Cons: A very basic feature set.
  • Pricing: Free.

Breathe+

  • Overview: Breathe+ offers a simple and visually appealing way to practice a variety of breathing exercises. It includes customizable sessions and reminders to help you build a consistent practice.
  • Key Features: Beautiful visuals; customizable sessions and reminders; a variety of techniques.
  • Pros & Cons:
    • Pros: Visually engaging; a good balance of simplicity and customization.
    • Cons: Only available on iOS.
  • Pricing: Free (with in-app purchases).

Unwind

  • Overview: Unwind is another beautifully designed app with a focus on simplicity. It provides guided breathing exercises with calming animations and sounds to enhance the relaxation experience.
  • Key Features: Calming animations and sounds; guided exercises for different goals; a clean and intuitive interface.
  • Pros & Cons:
    • Pros: Aesthetically pleasing; very easy to use for quick sessions.
    • Cons: Less feature-rich than the comprehensive apps.
  • Pricing: Free (with a premium subscription for more options).

Just Breathe

  • Overview: This Android-only app offers a straightforward way to practice mindful breathing. It has a clean interface and customizable timers to help you focus purely on your breath without distractions.
  • Key Features: Minimalist interface; customizable timers; simple and to the point.
  • Pros & Cons:
    • Pros: Excellent for users who want zero clutter.
    • Cons: Only available on Android; very basic functionality.
  • Pricing: Free.

Breath Ball

  • Overview: Breath Ball provides a simple, intuitive visual guide—a ball that expands and contracts—for various breathing exercises. It's perfect for visual learners who just want a clean, simple guide to follow.
  • Key Features: A simple visual guide; customizable sessions; clean interface.
  • Pros & Cons:
    • Pros: The visual is incredibly intuitive and effective; users love it.
    • Cons: Limited to visual guidance; lacks advanced features.
  • Pricing: Free.