Backgrounds, seasons and the time of day
The background changing through the day isn't decoration. How it is worked out, why it asks for no location data, and what appears when.
4 min read
Open the app in the morning and the background is light and open; in the late afternoon it is warm orange; at night it is dark and starry. Snow falls in winter and leaves drift down in spring.
Here is what sits behind that.
Why it exists
Two reasons. The first is that it tells you what time of day it is the moment you open the app — breathing practice is tied to the time of day, and the app already changes its suggestions with the hour. The background is the visible side of that.
The second is simpler: an app you open every day doesn't have to look the same every day.
The sun's hours are worked out on the device
Sunrise and sunset aren't fixed hours; they shift with the season. The app works them out.
It asks for no location permission. The calculation is made from the device's time zone; GPS and location services are never touched. That means giving up a little accuracy — a few minutes of drift is possible — but there is no good reason for a breathing app to ask for your location.
The times of day
Day. From sunrise to sunset, light and open.
Evening. Around sunset, warm orange tones.
Night. A dark background and stars. Some of the stars fade and brighten faster than others, and a few are faintly coloured.
The seasons
Winter. Snowflakes. A background in cold blue tones.
Spring. Falling blossom petals.
Summer. A calm background leaning towards green.
Autumn. Yellow and red leaves.
The season comes from the calendar date, not from the weather — the app doesn't look at the internet.
Special days
A few special days like New Year get their own backgrounds. These come and go by date, by themselves.
Light and dark themes
The changing background described here is the Dynamic option under Settings → Appearance. It is the default: it uses the light theme by day and the dark theme at night. It shouldn't be confused with the interface level.
If you don't want the background to change, pick Light, Dark or System (which follows the system setting) in the same place. With these the background is plain and fixed: no snow, leaves or stars.
Reduce motion
If iOS's reduce motion setting is on, the snow, leaves and star movements stop. The background colours stay; the motion goes.
The same setting also affects the animations in the session circle and on this site.
Does it drain the battery
The background animations are drawn only while the app is in the foreground, at a low frame rate, and never in the background. On the session screen the background is plain: no snow, leaves or stars, just the day, evening or night tone.
The opening
When you open the app, the particles on the background (snow, leaves, confetti, sparkles) gather as if drawing a breath, and the Start circle is born where they meet. Then they return to the background and keep drifting. In the Light, Dark and System appearances what gathers is small breath motes in shades of blue. In summer a few sun motes mix in among them.
If the app was opened from a notification, a widget or a quick start, the opening arrives there: the circle turns into the technique picker's Start button or settles onto the session's countdown ring.
If you want it shorter, go to Settings → Appearance → Short launch. In the Simple interface the short launch comes switched on. With Reduce Motion on, the particles don't gather and the screen simply fades in.