Strategic Breathing vs Box Breathing
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Strategic Breathing
Learn effective breathing techniques and meditative movements guided by an expert with over 23 years of experience. This app is designed to help reduce anxiety and stress, improve sleep, and enhance overall well-being, particularly for those in high-pressure professions or experiencing PTSD.
- Breathing technique tutorial
- Talk on breathing and emotions
- Standing breathing evolutions
- Seated breathing evolutions
- Deep relaxation for sleep
- Animated CG Avatar guidance
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Strategic Breathing, Max Strom’s App is specifically designed for individuals in high stress / low margin for error professions or situations, and those suffering from PTSD such as military personnel and first responders. If you can breathe, this App will work for you. The App features Max Strom’s voice in combination with an animated CG Avatar and motion graphics to guide you through a safe and effective practice of breathing patterns and meditative movement. The Strategic Breathing App is the result of Max’s 23 years of teaching breathing evolutions across the world and is known to produce a level of an inner calm that helps you to feel better, sleep better, and function at a higher level in your relationships and your life-work. App content: • Breathing technique tutorial. • Talk on how breathing and emotions are deeply connected. • Standing breathing evolutions ranging from 5 to 30 minutes. • Seated breathing evolutions ranging from 5 to 30 minutes. • Deep relaxation practice to prepare for sleep. Max Strom has taught breath-work for 23 years, and currently travels the globe teaching breathing evolutions, wellbeing, and yoga to medical, government, and well being conferences. Max is known for inspiring and igniting personal growth. His TEDx talk, Breathe to Heal, has over one million views on Youtube. Max is also the author of two books, A Life Worth Breathing, and There is No App for Happiness. What medical doctors are saying about Max Strom’s breath work as an intervention for mental health: “The impact breathing has on our health and well-being is only now beginning to be recognized more widely. Max’s depth of experience as a teacher of human qualities put him at the forefront of this movement and I have used his methods successfully with many patients.” Dr. Stephen James Director of The Breathlessness Clinic and Consultant in Anesthesia and Exercise Capacity, King’s College Hospital, London, UK “There is a worldwide pandemic of anxiety and stress-related illness. Max Strom teaches a simple and effective way to control these problems without the use of drugs or any harmful therapies. His techniques can help both patients and those who care for them.” Dr. Chris Moulton Vice-President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine and Consultant in Emergency Medicine at the Royal Bolton Hospital, UK "I have been repeatedly amazed at the effect the techniques of Max Strom have had on all who attended. In his simple, no frills format, he has a gift of immediately being relevant and motivating to all who meet him. His teachings are very relevant to all struggling with modern life, its complexities and challenges, whether they are professional or personal.” H. Alomran, MD Medical Affairs, King Faisal Specialist Hospital Riyadh “Max Strom's Inner Axis practice brings calm to our stressed nervous systems and breathes us back to life.” Layla Banihashemi, Ph.D. Neuroscientist Pittsburgh PA USAMBChB Monterey, CA USA “Max Strom’s teachings show us that we can calm ourselves through breathing and this is a powerful tool that has tremendous benefits.” Dr. Devi Mahendran MBChB Monterey, CA USA
Box Breathing
Enhance your well-being with guided breathwork exercises. This app offers personalized sessions based on a breathing test, with categories for calm, sleep, focus, and energy. Experience immersive audio, haptic feedback, and sound cues for stress reduction and improved performance.
- Personalized breathing test
- Exercise categories (Calm, Sleep, Focus, Energize)
- Audio guide and sound cues
- Haptic feedback
- CO2 tolerance test
- Stress and anxiety relief
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Unlock the power of breathwork and improve your physical and mental well-being with Float - the ultimate breathing app that makes it easy to breathe. Customize your experience with a breathing test and choose from exercise categories for calm, sleep, focus, quick relief, and energize. Used by top coaches and athletes, Float combines an audio guide, haptic feedback, and sound cues for a truly immersive breathing experience. Breathing is an essential practice for both your physical and mental well-being and Float is the ultimate breathing app that guides you through personalized breathing exercises to help you increase your performance throughout the day and reduce stress & anxiety. With Float, you can take a CO2 tolerance test, which gives us a reliable idea about your breathing in the last weeks and months. This test allows us to customize the breathwork to your very individual demands, ensuring you get the most out of each session. Whether you're an athlete or an office worker, practicing breathwork can be a powerful way to boost your health, and performance, control your nervous system and manage anxiety. Practicing breathwork is scientifically proven to increase your physical and mental performance. The benefits of learning to breathe with Float are endless, including relief from stress and anxiety, emotional healing, increased CO2 tolerance, improved immunity, and easier sleep. You'll also develop or increase self-awareness, enrich your creativity, improve focus and clarity, and boost your confidence and self-esteem. Breathwork with Float can also help you process emotions, heal emotional pain and trauma, and increase your CO2 tolerance. Additionally, it can help boost your immunity, fall asleep easily, enrich creativity, and improve focus, gain clarity and reduce brain fog. Float's breathwork exercises are curated by some of the top breathing coaches and are used by psychologists, physiotherapists, Olympic athletes, Navy SEALs, freedivers, yogis, and neuroscientists. We continue to work on expanding the breathwork exercises library to cover the most frequent stressful events occurring during the day. Breathing exercises are categorized into CALM, SLEEP, FOCUS, QUICK RELIEF, and ENERGIZE. The list of breathing exercises available in Float includes: – 4-7-8: Drift into sleep – Acumen: Get clarity, get focused – Alert: Get ready for action – Balance: Reconcile left & right brain – Box Breathing: Be right here, right now – Coherent: Stabilize your mood – Doping: Pre-workout routine – Ninja: Get calm like a ninja – Recovery: Cool down after a workout – Resonance: Sharpen your mind – Slumber: Sleep soundly – Sunrise: Rise & shine – Sunset: End the day in serenity – Unblock: Set your nose free – Wind Down: Take a moment to deeply relax – NSDR: Non-Sleep Deep Rest Please be aware that sessions can cause and are not limited to: – Tingling – Dizziness – Trembling, shaking, or other physical sensations – Emotional experiences – Experience energy moving through your body Got a question? Send us an email at team@keepfloating.com DISCLAIMER: This content in the Float app is not medical advice or a treatment plan and is intended for general education and demonstration purposes only. The content should not be used to self-diagnose or self-treat any health, medical, or physical condition. Don’t use this content to avoid going to your own healthcare professional or to replace the advice they give you. Consult with your healthcare professional before doing anything contained in this content. Links: Privacy Policy - https://www.keepfloating.com/privacy-policy Terms of Use - https://keepfloating.com/terms Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/float.breath TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@float.breath The Float app saves your meditation and sleep sessions to your Apple Health app.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Box Breathing at every 3 weeks against Strategic Breathing's every 2 months. Strategic Breathing's advantage is iOS requirement (13.0 vs 16.0). On price, rating, review sentiment and ratings volume there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Strategic Breathing sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Box Breathing sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Strategic Breathing holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.8. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 358 and 320 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 82% of Strategic Breathing's written reviews are positive against 79% of Box Breathing's.
Strategic Breathing ships an update every 2 months, Box Breathing every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 23, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Strategic Breathing | Box Breathing |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.9 (358 ratings) — better | 4.8 (320 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 81.6% of reviews — better | 78.6% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 358 — better | 320 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, Vision Pro |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 16.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 209 MB | 96 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Point618, LLC | STRV s.r.o. |
Customer experience
Strategic Breathing
Box Breathing
Bugs and requests
Strategic Breathing
Reported bugs
14 issues- Crashes too much
- Freezes up or crashes
- Unavailable just when you want it
- Stopped working
- Exercises stopped working
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- Won't restore purchase from Apple
- Took my money and then didn’t allow me to access any of the content I paid for
- Won’t run any of the meditations properly
- Starts the sessions and then quickly gets stuck
- App closes when locked screen
- App has not been working
- The app hasnt been working for 4 days
- There is a bug after last ios update
- App closes when locked screen
Requested features
5 requests- Allow listening with locked screen
- Do not contribute to screen time when locked
- Restore purchase from Apple
- Continue having access to explanation while learning
- App to be functional in vertical orientation
Box Breathing
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Strategic Breathing
- Strategic Breathing Unlock$8.99
Box Breathing
- Float PRO - Monthly Membership$9.991 Month
- Float PRO Breathing Exercises$39.991 Year
- Float PRO Breathing Exercises$49.991 Year
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- Float PRO Breathing Exercises7 Days trial$69.991 Year
- Float PRO Breathing Exercises$199.99
Questions
Is Strategic Breathing free?
Is Box Breathing free?
Which has better reviews, Strategic Breathing or Box Breathing?
Do Strategic Breathing or Box Breathing have ads?
Which is updated more often, Strategic Breathing or Box Breathing?
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