Respire — guided breathing

Thomas Jobert

About this app

A feather, a breath. Respire is a guided-breathing app that bets everything on simplicity: you tap the feather, the session begins. That's it.

**The widget that breathes with you**

Place the Respire widget on your home screen: one tap starts the session, another stops it — without even opening the app. While you breathe, its dots light up with the rhythm of your breath and the cycle count moves along. Resizable, with adjustable color and opacity, it blends into your wallpaper. Add the quick settings tile and the icon shortcuts: your breathing is never more than one gesture away.

**Start, then forget your phone**

Respire is designed not to keep you staring at a screen. As soon as the session starts, turn off the screen, put the phone down, close your eyes: gentle vibrations or soft sounds mark each phase of the breath — inhale, hold, exhale. No animation to watch, no voice talking over you.

Because all the guidance comes through touch and hearing, a session can be enjoyed with eyes closed, in the dark, with the phone in your pocket — and the app remains fully usable without ever looking at the screen, including for visually impaired users.

**Simple, well-studied benefits**

Slow breathing stimulates the vagus nerve and activates the parasympathetic nervous system — the one in charge of rest. Practiced for a few minutes, guided breathing helps bring stress down, regain calm before an important moment, fall asleep more easily — and, with regularity, it can contribute to slightly lowering blood pressure. The golden rule fits in three digits: 3-6-5. Three times a day, six breaths per minute, five minutes. A built-in guide explains the why and the how, without jargon.

**Four rhythms, from the gentlest to the most focused**

• Coherent breathing: 5 seconds in, 5 seconds out — the best-studied relaxation technique.
• Box breathing: 4-4-4-4, ideal for keeping a cool head before an exam, an interview, a speech.
• 4-7-8: to prepare for sleep.
• Custom: set every phase to the second.

**Minimal by principle**

No account, no subscription, no ads, no guilt-tripping statistics. Length, guidance and color mood are set once, then forgotten. Respire works 100% offline and requests no network permission: nothing leaves your phone — not your data, not your attention.

These practices complement, but do not replace, medical advice.

What’s new

The widget now spans the full width of your home screen, slightly translucent so it settles into your wallpaper.

Two discreet shortcuts open the app and its settings in a single tap.

And if you haven't placed a widget yet, the main screen offers to add one.