Insight Timer vs Box Breathing
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Insight Timer
Access thousands of guided meditations, music tracks, and talks from world-renowned experts to calm your mind, reduce anxiety, and improve sleep. Daily new content is added, catering to both beginners and experienced practitioners.
- Thousands of guided meditations
- Music tracks and ambient sounds
- Meditation timer
- Community discussion groups
- Progress tracking
- Offline listening (premium)
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* Apps of the Year Winner - TIME magazine and Womens Health * * More time is spent meditating on Insight Timer than all other meditation apps * * Happiest App in the World - Tristan Harris * The number 1 free meditation app. Guided meditations and talks led by the world's top meditation and mindfulness experts, neuroscientists, psychologists and teachers from Stanford, Harvard, the University of Oxford and more. Music tracks from world-renowned artists. Join millions learning to meditate on Insight Timer to help calm the mind, reduce anxiety, manage stress, sleep deeply and improve happiness. With 80+ new free guided meditations added daily, more meditation is practiced on Insight Timer than anywhere else. Great for both beginners and experienced practitioners. FREE FEATURES: * Thousands of guided meditations * Select by time for short meditations when on the go, helping you to build a simple daily habit * Thousands of music tracks and ambient sounds to calm the mind, focus, sleep better and relax * The world's most popular meditation Timer * Follow your favourite teachers * Thousands of discussion groups and community features * Stats and milestones for tracking your progress * Integration with Apple Health Mindful Minutes Browse popular topics including: * Sleep deeply * Dealing with Anxiety and Reducing Stress * Getting through Recovery and Addictions * Self-love and Compassion * Focus and Concentration * Leadership * Better Relationships * Loving-Kindness * And much more.. Join leading meditation teachers and musicians including: * Tara Brach, Ph.D, founder of Insight Meditation Community of Washington * Mark Williams, Emeritus Professor at Oxford University * Jack Kornfield, Dartmouth, co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society alongside fellow Insight Timer teachers Sharon Salzberg, and Joseph Goldstein of Columbia * Gil Fronsdal, Ph.D. at Stanford University * Ram Das aka Dr Richard Alpert, Doctorate at Stanford and Harvard University teacher * Sadhguru, Indian yogi, founder of non-profit Isha Foundation * Mooji, disciple of Papaji, and devotee of the master Ramana Maharshi * Moby, international recording artist, DJ, record producer, singer, songwriter * As well as Sarah Blondin, Mary Maddux, Ajahn Achalo, Melissa Ambrosini, Bodhipaksa, Jonathan Lehmann, Jennifer Piercy, Bethany Auriel-Hagan, Kate James and many more.. Practice the following meditation types: * Secular Mindfulness * Buddhist Mindfulness * Zen * Insight Meditation * Vipassana * MBSR * Walking Meditation * Breathing Meditation * Kundalini Yoga * Metta * Advaita Vedanta * And many more.. Join community groups for: * Beginners * Poetry * Atheism * Christianity * Hinduism * Transcendental Meditation * And many more.. PAID FEATURE - INSIGHT PREMIUM MEDITATION We have one optional in-app subscription. * Insight Courses * Listen offline (download guided meditations to your device) * Advanced Player (Repeat mode, Fast forward and Rewind, Pick-up where you left off) * High-Quality audio The subscription is available annually for US$59.99/year, or monthly for US$9.99/month. Payment will be charged through your iTunes account at confirmation of purchase, and will automatically renew at the end of each term unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period. You can turn off auto-renew at any time from your iTunes account settings, but refunds will not be provided for unused portions of the term. Prices and currency will vary by location. Any unused portion of a free trial period, if offered, will be forfeited when the user purchases a subscription, where applicable. The subscription will renew at the same cost. If you have any questions, please reach out to us over here: https://help.insighttimer.com Privacy Policy - https://insighttimer.com/legal/privacy-policy Terms and Conditions - https://insighttimer.com/legal/terms-of-service
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 ratings volume: Insight Timer at 447K against Box Breathing's 318. Insight Timer also leads on update cadence (weekly vs every 3 weeks) and chart position (#21 vs unranked). Box Breathing's advantage is review sentiment (79% vs 70%). On price, rating, ads and in-app purchases 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. Insight Timer sells 12 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month 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.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.9 for Insight Timer against 4.8 for Box Breathing. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Insight Timer has 447K ratings behind it against 318, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 70% of Insight Timer's written reviews are positive against 79% of Box Breathing's.
Insight Timer ships an update weekly, Box Breathing every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 26, 2026 and September 22, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Insight Timer | Box Breathing |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.9 (447K ratings) — better | 4.8 (318 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 70.0% of reviews | 78.6% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 447K — better | 318 |
| Update frequency | Weekly — better | Every 3 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Best chart rank | #21 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — better | iPhone, Vision Pro |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 16.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 232 MB | 96 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Insight Network Inc | STRV s.r.o. |
Customer experience
Insight Timer
Box Breathing
Bugs and requests
Insight Timer
Reported bugs
4 issues- Timer frequently pausing or shutting down during use
- Inconsistent tracking of meditation streaks and progress
- Compatibility issues with newer iOS versions
- Inability to leave reviews for meditations
Requested features
5 requests- Ability to sort/filter bookmarked meditations
- Option to disable opening quotes and mood check-ins
- Improved offline functionality and caching
- More customization options for the timer
- Better community features and social integration
Box Breathing
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Insight Timer
- Insight Premium Meditation$9.991 Month
- Insight Premium Meditation7 Days trial2 variants$59.991 Year
- Insight Premium Meditation1 Month trial$59.991 Year
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- MemberPlus Family7 Days trial$89.991 Year
- Teacher Donation (XS)$1.99
- Meditation Course: Single Use$4.99
- Teacher Donation (S)$4.99
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- Meditation Course: Multi Use$19.99
- Truth Anxiety course – Own$19.99
- Teacher Donation (M)$19.99
- Teacher Donation (L)$49.99
- Teacher Donation (XL)$99.99
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 Insight Timer free?
Is Box Breathing free?
Which has better reviews, Insight Timer or Box Breathing?
Do Insight Timer or Box Breathing have ads?
Which is updated more often, Insight Timer or Box Breathing?
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