Comparison

BellyBio Interactive Breathing vs Inner Balance

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

Head to head
About

BellyBio Interactive Breathing

This app uses your iPhone's sensors to create a biofeedback experience synchronized with deep abdominal breathing. It generates music and light patterns that respond to your breath, making relaxation more engaging and measurable. Designed for those already proficient in belly breathing.

Highlights
  • Interactive musical themes synchronized with breathing
  • Audio stress-level feedback
  • Breathing color synchronization
  • Real-time breathing and stress graphs
  • Breathing and stress logs
  • 3D Earth animation of users
Features
Read full description

Put the iPhone on your stomach. Breathe deeply. Enjoy... FOR ADVANCED BELLY-BREATHERS ONLY BellyBio (Belly Biofeedback) is a triple innovation in deep abdominal breathing, biofeedback and music: 1 – DEEP BREATHING GETS ADDICTIVE BellyBio generates beautiful music & light perfectly synchronized to your deep abdominal breathing movements, making deep breathing more pleasant and rewarding than ever. You're going to love playing with your inner balloon. 2 – BIOFEEDBACK GETS SIMPLE BellyBio turns your iPhone/iPod Touch into a highly-sensitive deep breathing sensor providing a real-time, objective stress-level index based on your breathing pattern. Biofeedback thus becomes more simple and powerful --not to mention affordable-- than ever, so you can now know for sure who's the coolest dude in the neighborhood. 3 – MUSIC GETS BREATHABLE The first "Abdominal Music Player", BellyBio makes music play in sync with your breathing, which in return makes your breathing calm down. Is it you who follow the music or the music that follows you? You don't listen to music anymore, you merge with it. IMPORTANT NOTICE -- Practicing BellyBio will require you to: a) BE ABLE TO NATURALLY BREATHE DEEPLY AND SLOWLY FROM YOUR BELLY, meaning your belly --and not your chest-- must significantly and effortlessly inflate when you inhale and deflate when you exhale. If you can't, you'd probably better not download this app since nothing is more annoying and ineffective than struggling to achieve deep abdominal breathing (and by the way this will perhaps avoid somewhat angry customer ratings... ;-)) b) PROPERLY POSITION THE iPHONE ON YOUR PELVIS, FACE UP, SO AS TO MAKE IT TILT BACK & FORTH when you breathe deeply in & out from your belly (BellyBio measures the increase/decrease of the angle between the iPhone and your body). The bottom of the iPhone should rest still on your pelvis while the top moves up and down with your lower belly as you breathe in & out. WATCH THE IN-APP DEMO to see how it works (www.youtube.com/bellybio). The app is quite heavy (170 Mo) due to the multiformat music base. Wifi is required to download it. ========== FEATURES - Several interactive musical themes you can breathe deeply in and out (i.e. have BellyBio play in sync with your deep abdominal breathing) - One of those themes (“Calmitude pitch”) provides you with a direct audio stress-level feedback through the pitch of the inhaling tone (the lower the stress, the lower the pitch) - Choice of breathing colors displayed in sync with each in- and out-breath - Graph showing real-time breathing and stress curves - Log (date, duration of use, minimum stress, minimum breathrate, Qi production) - 3D-earth animation showing all BellyBio users on the planet - Whether you have an iPhone or an iPod Touch, the main home button must always be close to your lap, not to your chest. - Child-proof (successfully tested on 5-year-old with adult assistance) QUOTES (sort of) - "All thumbs and navels up!!!" (Buddha, India) - "BellyBio rests on the belly just like the leaf floats on the sea." (Lao Tzu, China) - "Bellissimo BellyBio!" (L. Da Vinci, Italy) - "To breathe or not to breathe? To breathe, period. With BellyBio!" (W. Shakespeare, UK) - "I play BellyBio, therefore I stop thinking, therefore I am." (R. Descartes, France) - "So cool!" (I. Newton, UK) - "Makes me wanna compose a dozen sonatas and concertos for BellyBio! Please give me 10 minutes." (W. A. Mozart, Austria) - "Even with only one ear, this thing just blew my mind!" (V. Van Gogh, Netherlands) - "Undoubtedly absolute." (A. Einstein, Germany) - "Why didn't they call it iBelly?" (S. Jobs, USA) WARNING This application is not meant to substitute for medical diagnosis and/or treatment. Should you feel any pain or discomfort, please stop immediately and consult your physician or health professional.

About

Inner Balance

This app synchronizes your heart, mind, and emotions to enhance health, well-being, and performance. It requires a HeartMath sensor to measure heart rhythms and provides real-time feedback and guided meditations to help you manage stress and improve focus.

Highlights
  • Real-time HRV monitoring
  • Guided meditations
  • Real-time coaching tips
  • Coherence score
  • Progress tracking
Features
Read full description

Inner Balance™ gets your heart, mind, and emotions in sync for greater calm, focus, and a more balanced you in everyday life. HEARTMATH® SENSOR REQUIRED: This is the companion app to the Inner Balance sensor. It requires one of the HeartMath Inner Balance sensors (e.g. Bluetooth® or the Inner Balance Lightning sensor), which connects to your device and clips to your earlobe to pick up your heart-rhythm pattern. Inner Balance™ is a system of software and sensor that helps you strengthen your inner balance through training, guidance, and self-observation. It supports you in bringing your heart, mind, and emotions into a balanced, focused state (coherence), which you create yourself through calm breathing and positive focus. More than 400 independent, peer-reviewed studies have been published on HeartMath technologies and methods. Inner Balance gives you a real-time coherence score as feedback, and guided meditations and dynamic graphics support you toward a calmer, more centered, and more focused state. The HeartMath technology is for stress education and resilience training. It is not a medical device. We encourage you to consult a health professional before making any medical decisions. LEARN HOW TO: • Bring your heart, mind, and body into a calm, balanced state in the moment • Settle reactive emotions and manage everyday stress • Feel calmer, more centered, and more focused • Access clearer thinking to support better everyday decisions Just five minutes of coherence practice, three times a day, fits easily into your routine - and it’s enjoyable. Inner Balance guides you and tracks your progress as you shift your state and watch the changes occur in real time. FEATURES: • Real-time HRV coherence feedback to guide your practice • Guided meditations to support relaxation, focus, and a better wind-down before sleep • Real-time coaching tips with encouraging on-screen prompts • Advanced options: four challenge levels, customizable settings and screens • Access to a free cloud platform to save and review all your sessions and get tips and training WHAT REGULAR COHERENCE PRACTICE CAN SUPPORT: • A calmer way of handling everyday stress • More focus and mental clarity, even under pressure • Shifting more quickly into a state of calm and balance • Quieting the mind and letting go of racing thoughts • Strengthening inner resilience and recovering more quickly • Training coordination and reaction time for athletes • Complementing your own meditation practice Inner Balance Bluetooth sensor: clip the sensor to your earlobe and press the soft button on the sensor pod to activate a blue flashing light. Open the app and press the “Start” arrow to scan for the sensor. When your sensor ID appears and matches the number on the back of the pod, tap to accept and wait 15–20 seconds for calibration to begin your first session. Inner Balance Lightning sensor: follow the same steps to clip the sensor, open the app, and start your session. You can purchase an Inner Balance sensor at https://store.heartmath.com/innerbalance.

Screenshots

BellyBio Interactive Breathing4 screens
Inner Balance4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Inner Balance at 4.8 against BellyBio Interactive Breathing's 4.0. Inner Balance also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 4) and ratings volume (18K vs 40). BellyBio Interactive Breathing's advantage is iOS requirement (7.0 vs 16.0). On price, update cadence, ads and device support 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. BellyBio Interactive Breathing sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. Inner Balance asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Inner Balance holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Inner Balance has 18K ratings behind it against 40, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 68% of BellyBio Interactive Breathing's written reviews are positive against 83% of Inner Balance's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

BellyBio Interactive Breathing ships an update every 3 months, Inner Balance every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on October 16, 2026 and October 18, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
BellyBio Interactive Breathing versus Inner Balance: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBellyBio Interactive BreathingInner Balance
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.0 (40 ratings)4.8 (18K ratings) — better
Positive reviews68.0% of reviews82.7% of reviews — better
Number of ratings4018K — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 months — betterEvery 4 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS7.0 — better16.0
Further details — not scored
Size201 MB21 MB
Age rating4++4
DeveloperRelaxLineHeartMath Inc.

Customer experience

BellyBio Interactive Breathing

All ratings40 ratings
Positive72.5%
Neutral2.5%
Negative25.0%
Written reviews75 reviews
Positive68.0%
Neutral5.3%
Negative26.7%

Inner Balance

All ratings17,907 ratings
Positive96.7%
Neutral2.2%
Negative1.1%
Written reviews439 reviews
Positive82.7%
Neutral5.5%
Negative11.8%

User reviews

BellyBio Interactive Breathing

From 40 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Highly recommended by professionals
  • 💡 Quantifiable breathing data
  • 💡 Innovative breathing tracking
  • 💡 Free and valuable
  • 👍 Long-time user satisfaction

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Irregular breathing detection issues
  • 🐛 App shuts off frequently
  • 🐛 Won't stay open
  • 🐛 Fails most attempts
  • 🐛 Audio doesn't work

Inner Balance

From 18K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 💗 Coherence integration
  • 💤 Helps with sleep
  • 🧘‍♀️ Calms the mind
  • 🧠 Improves focus and concentration
  • 🧠 Helps with emotional regulation

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Connectivity issues with sensor
  • 🐛 Sensor durability concerns
  • 🕰️ Lag in real-time feedback
  • 🤖 Finds it challenging to maintain high coherence scores
  • 🤖 Feels like trying to please the app rather than focusing on self

Bugs and requests

BellyBio Interactive Breathing

Reported bugs

25 issues
  • Keeps saying irregular breathing
  • Shuts off repeatedly
  • Won't stay open
  • Fails almost every effort
  • Audio doesn't work
Show 20 more
  • No sound or color changes with iOS
  • App doesn't work with iOS 8
  • Stuck on intro screen
  • App won't open on new phone
  • Doesn't work with iPhone 6
  • App stopped working 4 months ago
  • Downloaded but non-operable
  • Non-working app
  • App no longer works on new iOS versions
  • App opens to title screen and freezes
  • Demo button doesn't demonstrate
  • Irregular pattern message persists
  • Crashing issues
  • Glitch-infested
  • UI isn't welcoming
  • Audio hasn't been playing after iOS update
  • Can't go back to old breathing sessions
  • Current session graph turns red
  • Keeps kicking me off
  • Crashes iPad

Requested features

12 requests
  • Update for newer iOS versions
  • More song tracks
  • Ability to view past log entries
  • More sleek design
  • More music/ambiance selections
Show 7 more
  • Longer sessions
  • Option for just wave sounds
  • New icon
  • Timer on the app
  • Mode to teach beginners
  • Guided breathing from start rate to therapeutic zone
  • Chat feature

Inner Balance

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • App crashes when stopping a session
  • Sensor disconnection issues
  • Inconsistent heart rate readings compared to other devices

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add audio breath pacing
  • Implement guest mode to separate user data
  • Develop an Apple Watch version
  • Provide more detailed progress tracking and analytics
  • Include more breathing technique options

In-app purchases

4 purchases

BellyBio Interactive Breathing

One-time4
  • Angels Club$0.99
  • Brownian Dream$0.99
  • Metronomia$0.99
Show 1 more
  • Highlands$0.99
None

Inner Balance

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is BellyBio Interactive Breathing free?
BellyBio Interactive Breathing is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Inner Balance free?
Inner Balance is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, BellyBio Interactive Breathing or Inner Balance?
Inner Balance is rated higher. BellyBio Interactive Breathing averages 4.0 out of 5 from 40 ratings, while Inner Balance averages 4.8 from 18K ratings.
Do BellyBio Interactive Breathing or Inner Balance have ads?
Neither BellyBio Interactive Breathing nor Inner Balance shows ads.
Which is updated more often, BellyBio Interactive Breathing or Inner Balance?
BellyBio Interactive Breathing ships an update every 3 months, and Inner Balance every 4 months. Most recently, BellyBio Interactive Breathing was updated on October 16, 2026 and Inner Balance on October 18, 2026.

Other comparisons