Your first session, start to finish
Every step from opening the app for the first time to reading your first report. What you are asked, why you are asked it, and what to do where.
7 min read
The first time you open the app you get a short intake. It takes less than a minute but it shapes everything that follows, so let's start there.
1. The intake
There are seven questions. Every one can be skipped, but if you answer them the app sets itself up for you.
Why are you here? Calm, focus, sleep, energy or "just trying it". This answer sets the order of the techniques and unlocks one that suits your goal right away.
How familiar are you with breathing exercises? Four options, from "not at all" to "experienced". It sets how long the tutorials are and how many sessions the locks will ask for.
How much time will you give a session? This becomes your default length. You can change it in every session.
When do you usually practise? Suggestions are tuned to the time of day as well. You can also turn on the daily reminder from this screen.
What age range are you in? Optional. Some techniques involve long holds and fast breathing, and the warnings follow from this.
How should the interface be? Simple, Standard or Advanced. It sets how much information you see, and you can change it later.
Any health notes? Asthma, heart, a tendency to dizziness, pregnancy. If you mark any, some techniques drop to the bottom of the list and a warning appears. This answer never leaves your device.
At the end a short introductory exercise is suggested. You don't have to do it, but if you do, its score makes the locks easier.
2. Choosing a technique
Tapping Start on the home screen opens the list of techniques.
The card at the top says "Suggested for you" and has a light turning around it. It is chosen from your goal, the time of day and your recent sessions. Pick a different technique from below if you like.
Locked techniques have a padlock and a progress marker like "0/4". Tap one and it shows you what is needed.
3. Choosing a length
The slider under the card has a lit band on it: that is the range suggested for you. You don't have to stay inside it — it is only a suggestion. As you drag your finger, a separate haptic tap marks the middle of the band.
There are preset buttons too (1 minute, 2 minutes, 3-5 minutes). For a first session, two minutes is a good start.
4. The tutorial
If it is your first time with a technique, the tutorial comes first: what it is good for, how it is done step by step, and the mistakes people make.
At the end there is a hands-on round. You do one cycle together with the microphone on, and the app confirms it can hear your breath. If you get stuck here, the step passes by itself after a few tries — you don't get trapped.
To skip the tutorial, tap Skip at the top right.
5. The session
A three-second countdown, then the room is measured — stay quiet while this happens, the app is measuring the noise in the room.
Then the circle starts. Breathe in as it grows, out as it shrinks. What you should be doing is written inside the circle, along with the seconds left.
There is a live sound wave at the bottom: it moves when your breath is heard. If it doesn't move at all, bring the device a little closer.
To pause, tap Pause on screen. From the menu you can carry on, restart the cycle, or end the session.
6. The report
When the session ends your report arrives: a score out of a hundred, a short headline, what you did well and a few suggestions.
Tap Detailed report and you see every measurement one by one. In a first session this can feel like a lot — don't rush it. Over time you'll come to know what each line means.
Tap Finish and you're back on the home screen, with your streak started.
Three suggestions for the first days
Keep it short. A finished two-minute session beats a five-minute one you abandon.
Don't fixate on the score. A low score is normal in early sessions. The score measures how closely you followed the pace on screen, not whether your breathing was correct.
Pick a quiet place. It makes the microphone's job easier, and the session easier too.