Comparison

Yudemon HRV vs Instead

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Yudemon HRV

Enhance stress resilience and self-regulation with this visual and sonic tool for resonance breathing and HRV biofeedback. Connect a heart rate monitor for advanced analytics and personalized training journeys. Enjoy dynamic visuals and custom soundscapes designed to optimize your practice.

Highlights
  • Resonance breathing timer
  • HRV biofeedback training
  • ECG heart rate monitor integration
  • Journey Mode for optimal breathing rate
  • Customizable visuals and soundscapes
  • Heartwork generative art based on data
Features
Read full description

Yudemon HRV is a unique visual and sonic tool for resonance breathing and HRV biofeedback training. It provides a fun and engaging workout for your autonomic nervous system, helping you build stress resilience and enhanced self-regulation. You can either use the app as a basic breath timer, or connect an ECG-based heart rate monitor (like the Polar H10) via Bluetooth for full biofeedback and analytics. Unless you specifically opt-in to cloud sync, all data processing happens on your device, so your data is completely secure. Using Yudemon with a heart rate monitor not only allows you to track and visualise your data for each session, it also enables you to use Yudemon's Journey Mode, a novel and unique way of establishing your own optimal breathing rate over the course of multiple sessions. Yudemon's adjustable visuals and soundscapes offer infinite variations, making every breathing session feel fresh and engaging. By default, the app’s appearance automatically changes on a daily basis. Or, with Yudemon Pro, you can take full control and customize everything manually. A healthy heart does not beat like a metronome but constantly adapts to the requirements of the present moment. Heart rate variability (HRV) biofeedback training and resonance breathing are based on the fact that our breathing has a direct impact on the rest of our physiology. By controlling our breathing in specific ways we can train our body to become more adaptable and perform better under stress. Yudemon helps you with this practice. Yudemon HRV is the first breathing app with custom soundsapes and functional music specifically designed for resonance breathing and HRV biofeedback training. The soundscapes guide you in your breathing sessions and aim to enhance the effects of the practice. It also integrates other aspects of generative art, such as the "Heartwork", a unique piece of art based on your very own physiological data that is generated and grows with you as you complete more sessions. New visuals, soundscapes, and effects are added on a regular basis. Terms of Service: https://app.yudemon.com/terms Privacy Policy: https://app.yudemon.com/privacy

About

Instead

This app offers quick, ninety-second activities to help you manage cravings and difficult emotions. Choose from guided breathing exercises or physical challenges to ride out intense feelings. It also provides emergency contact options and tracks your progress without requiring an account.

Highlights
  • 90-second activities
  • Guided breathing exercises
  • Physical challenges
  • Emergency contact shortcuts
  • Streak tracking
  • Journaling
  • Data privacy
Features
Read full description

A craving is loud, and it feels like it will last forever. It won't. Most peak and pass in about ninety seconds. Instead gives you something to do with those ninety seconds. Open it when the craving hits. Pick how you feel, stressed or restless, and it hands you one thing to do until the wave passes RIDE THE WAVE A breathing circle to match: four seconds in, hold, five out. Calm music if you want it, silence in one tap if you don't. WORK IT OFF When sitting still is the problem. Fast taps, a climbing combo, a score to beat. Ninety seconds of somewhere else to put it. WHAT YOU KEEP Your streak, counted in days. The money you DIDN'T spend, Milestones at 24 hours, 72 hours, a week, a month, ninety days, six months, a year. Every craving you have beaten. A journal, if you want one: a blank page, capture you thoughts in the moment. IF YOU SLIP Your clean days move to a lifetime total instead of vanishing. The counter restarts. The total does not. You keep what you earned. WHEN IT IS MORE THAN A CRAVING One tap to call or text someone you chose in advance, and one tap to reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Set your person up now, while things are calm, so the decision is already made when they are not. YOUR DATA IS YOURS No account. No sign-in. Your journal and your streak never reach us — they live on your phone, and in your own private iCloud or Google backup if you use one, so they come back on a new phone. Export a separate copy whenever you like. Instead is not therapy, medical care, or a crisis service, and it does not replace them. It is a way to get through the next ninety seconds.

Screenshots

Yudemon HRV4 screens
Instead4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Instead at none against Yudemon HRV's 4. Instead also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.5) and review sentiment (100% vs 92%). Yudemon HRV's advantage is update cadence (every 2 days vs every 2 months) and ratings volume (13 vs 2). On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Yudemon HRV sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Instead asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Instead holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Yudemon HRV has 13 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 92% of Yudemon HRV's written reviews are positive against 100% of Instead's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Yudemon HRV ships an update every 2 days, Instead every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 25, 2026 and October 19, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Yudemon HRV versus Instead: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterYudemon HRVInstead
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (13 ratings)5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews91.7% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings13 — better2
Update frequencyEvery 2 days — betterEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPod
Requires iOS15.0 — better15.1
Further details — not scored
Size175 MB28 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperYudemon LLCMadApps Studios, LLC

Customer experience

Yudemon HRV

All ratings13 ratings
Positive84.6%
Neutral15.4%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews12 reviews
Positive91.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative8.3%

Instead

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

4 purchases

Yudemon HRV

Subscriptions4
  • Yudemon Pro (Monthly)$2.991 Month
  • Yudemon Pro (Monthly)$4.991 Month
  • Yudemon Pro (Yearly)$19.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Yudemon Pro (Yearly)$29.991 Year
None

Instead

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Yudemon HRV free?
Yudemon HRV is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Instead free?
Instead is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Yudemon HRV or Instead?
Instead is rated higher. Yudemon HRV averages 4.5 out of 5 from 13 ratings, while Instead averages 5.0 from 2 ratings.
Do Yudemon HRV or Instead have ads?
Neither Yudemon HRV nor Instead shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Yudemon HRV or Instead?
Yudemon HRV ships an update every 2 days, and Instead every 2 months. Most recently, Yudemon HRV was updated on October 25, 2026 and Instead on October 19, 2026.

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