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Breathwrk – make your breathing work for you

Understand your breathing goals

Price: Free
Version: 3.2.1
Size: 50 MB
Platform: iPhone/iPad
Developer: Breathwrk

Breathwrk

Considering breathing is a basic human function, it feels right that completely free app Breathwrk keeps things simple. The app guides you through a range of breathing exercises designed to help you relax, sleep, energize, reduce anxiety, and more.

The app provides instructions and background on a variety of breathing techniques

It also says it’s backed by scientific research, which is outlined in the descriptions of each style of breathing. To give an example, if you want to work on your breathing to energize it uses the box breathing technique which, as it notes in the description was designed by Navy Seals to help them focus and stay calm in stressful situations.

The exercises can be followed visually and aurally

Under this description, it instructs you to breathe in through your mouth for 4 seconds, hold it for 4 seconds, then exhale for 4. It’s pretty simple and it’s a great exercise for recentering.

Elsewhere, you have cycles for falling asleep. This one tells you to breathe in, then hold for 7 seconds before breathing out and immediately breathing back in. If you think you’ll struggle to remember some of these, don’t worry, the app takes a predictably straight forward approach to guiding you through each exercise.

Easily set reminders and get into routines

Once you’ve selected a breathing cycle it will take you to the guided breathing section. It tells you what to do on screen, which is supported by audio guidance meaning you can sit back and close your eyes. It gives you a relaxing chime over the course of breathing in, goes silent during breath-holding, then plays a slightly different chime during breathing out. Bizarrely, when you hear these chimes, it’s very clear which is which.

The app has ready-made routines to help you use breathing to get the most out of your day

As for the exercises and their effectiveness, we think it’s all pretty subjective and depends on context, environment, and mental state. Some will get more from these exercises than others. But if you want to try out some new breathing techniques, this is the perfect app to help you out.

It even goes further by providing various routines. For example, you can sign up for the “Wrk From Home” routing where you’ll be reminded to do a cycle when you wake up, then during the day and then late in the day, choosing a different cycle each time to help you focus.

It uses notifications to guide you in breathing at key points in your day

We’d recommend giving it a shot over the course of a week or so, and jumping straight in with one of those routines. You never know which of the exercises might work for you.