BreathBloom

BreathBloom is a guided breathing timer for winding down: pick a pattern, watch a bloom open and close at the pace you should be breathing, and follow it until the session ends.

There is nothing to set up and nothing to read. The whole app is one screen with a pattern, a length, and a start button - during a session the interface disappears entirely, leaving a slow-moving bloom on a dark field and the phase you are on.

Highlights

1. Four patterns, ready to go - Box breathing (4-4-4-4), 4-7-8, Wim Hof, and a Custom rhythm you set yourself.
2. A bloom that breathes with you - petals open on the inhale, hold, and close on the exhale, so you can follow the pace without reading a number.
3. Full Wim Hof rounds - 20, 30, or 40 power breaths, a retention hold on empty lungs that you end when you need air, then a 15 second recovery hold, repeated for 2 to 5 rounds.
4. Your own rhythm - set each of the four phases in seconds; a phase set to zero is skipped, so 4-0-6-0 is a plain long-exhale pattern with no holds.
5. Gentle sound cues - a rising tone to breathe in, a falling one to breathe out, a soft note on holds. Synthesised, not sampled, and switched off with one toggle.
6. Know the length before you start - the start button reads Start · 2 min, recalculated as you change cycles or rounds.
7. Keyboard, or nothing at all - Space pauses and resumes (or ends a hold), Esc leaves the session. Clicking anywhere on the screen does the same, so you never have to aim at a button with your eyes closed.
8. Dark by design - one dark theme, a slow ambient wash, no white flash at any point. Made to be usable with the lights off.
9. Respects reduced motion - with Reduce Motion on in macOS the bloom holds still and the countdown carries the pace instead.
10. Offline, no account - nothing is uploaded and nothing is tracked. The app only reaches the network when you ask it to check for updates.

How it works

Pick a pattern from the switcher at the top. Each one explains what it is for - box breathing steadies you without making you drowsy, 4-7-8 leans on the long exhale before sleep, Wim Hof is the energising one. Adjust the few knobs it has (cycles, or rounds and breaths per round), then press Start.

The session takes over the window: the bloom expands, holds, and contracts, the phase name sits under it, and a thin bar at the bottom shows how far through you are. Holds on empty lungs count up rather than down - you end them with Space or a click when you need air. When the last cycle finishes you land back on the same screen with a note of how long you breathed for.

Your last pattern, its settings, and the sound toggle are remembered between launches. There is no history, no streak, and no account - a session is meant to be finished and forgotten.

Perfect for

1. Getting to sleep - four rounds of 4-7-8 in a dark room, lights off, laptop on the nightstand.
2. The two minutes before something stressful - a call, an interview, a talk. Box breathing steadies you without the drowsiness.
3. A reset between blocks of work - eight cycles of box breathing is about two minutes, shorter than the break you were going to take anyway.
4. A Wim Hof practice you already have - the rounds, the retention hold, and the recovery hold are all timed for you, so you stop counting breaths in your head.
5. Anyone who bounced off breathing apps - nothing to configure before your first session, no nagging mid-session, no streaks to keep.

Wim Hof breathing can make you light-headed. Sit or lie down, and never practise it in or near water, or while driving.