Breathing Zone vs Calm
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Breathing Zone
Reduce stress, improve mood, and feel more relaxed and energized with guided breathing exercises. This app uses scientifically based therapeutic techniques to help lower heart rate and potentially blood pressure. Discover mindfulness one breath at a time.
- Guided breathing exercises
- Stress reduction
- Mood improvement
- Relaxation and energy boost
- Therapeutic breathing techniques
- Breathing analyzer
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Slow down, reset, and breathe with purpose. Breathing Zone offers simple guided breathing exercises for calm, focus, relaxation, and sleep. Choose a breathing pattern, then follow clear visual, voice, sound, or Apple Watch haptic guidance. Adjust the pace and session duration for anything from a quick reset to a longer breathing practice. FEATURES ● Coherent Breathing, Box Breathing, 4-7-8, Extended Exhale, and more ● Custom breathing rates and session durations ● Beautiful visual breathing guides ● Voice prompts, ambient sounds, and haptic guidance ● Daily goals, reminders, activity tracking, and streaks ● A dedicated Apple Watch experience ● Apple Health integration for recording completed sessions as Mindful Minutes FEATURED AND RECOMMENDED ● TIME: "Calm yourself with Breathing Zone." ● Harvard Health: "When you find yourself under stress, Breathing Zone can help." ● Bloomberg: "The breathing trick that can make you more productive." ● New York Magazine: "I like Breathing Zone for its simplicity." ● HuffPost: "An effective guide to mindful breathing." ● University of Sydney: "Breathing Zone provides guidance on slow breathing."
Calm
This app offers guided meditations, sleep stories, music, and breathing exercises to help users reduce stress, anxiety, and improve sleep. It caters to all experience levels, integrating mindfulness into daily routines for enhanced mental well-being.
- Guided meditations
- Sleep Stories
- Breathwork exercises
- Relaxing music
- Stretching exercises
- Mindfulness programs
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Calm is the #1 app for sleep, meditation, and relaxation. Find anxiety relief, stress relief, and better sleep through breathing exercises, sleep sounds, deep sleep music, and mindfulness programs for insomnia, beginner meditation, and beyond. Downloaded by 180 million people worldwide. Fall asleep faster with Sleep Stories, bedtime stories for adults narrated by Matthew McConaughey, Stephen Fry, P\!nk, Bob Ross, and more. Only on Calm. Manage stress, relieve anxiety, improve your sleep cycle, and refocus your attention. Apple App of the Year. Apple Editors' Choice. Happiest App in the World (Center for Humane Technology). 3M+ five-star reviews. Recommended by top psychologists, therapists, and mental health experts. SLEEP STORIES — ONLY ON CALM * Drift off to Matthew McConaughey's Wonder — a dreamy journey through the mysteries of the universe * Travel through the village of Provence with master storyteller Stephen Fry in Blue Gold * Fall asleep to the soothing brush strokes of beloved painter Bob Ross in Happy Little Zzzs * Tackle insomnia with 100+ exclusive Sleep Stories, new content added every month MEDITATION & MINDFULNESS * Beginner meditation to advanced practice — guided sessions for every experience level * Daily Calm with Tamara Levitt, Daily Jay with Jay Shetty, Daily Trip with Jeff Warren * Mindfulness topics: deep sleep, anxiety relief, stress relief, focus, breaking habits, self-care, personal growth, and more * 7- and 21-day mindfulness programs to build a lasting practice ANXIETY RELIEF & RELAXATION * Breathing exercises and breathwork to ease anxiety, stress, and insomnia * Bilateral stimulation music and neuroacoustic sounds for nervous system regulation and somatic relaxation * Guided breathwork for stress relief, anxiety relief, and deep calm * Stress management and self-healing through Dailies: programs for social anxiety, personal growth, and mood balance * Mindful movement and stretching with Daily Move SLEEP SOUNDS, MUSIC & SOUNDSCAPES * Calming music, nature sounds, and sleep sounds: ocean waves, heavy rain, campfire, and more * Exclusive focus and sleep music from top artists * Full soundscapes and sleep sounds to help you relax, meditate, and sleep soundly ALSO FEATURING * Daily Streaks & Mindful Minutes — emotion and mental health tracker * Calm saves your meditation and sleep sessions to your Apple Health app. Mental health is health. Calm is for anyone looking to improve their sleep, manage stress, and address everyday anxiety. Meditation novice or seasoned expert. Take a deep breath and find your Calm. Calm is free to download and use. There are never any ads and some of the programs and features are free forever. Some content is only available through an optional paid subscription. Be sure to check out our Apple Watch app to quick-start breathing exercises and track your meditations. Calm offers an auto-renewing subscription to provide you with unlimited access to the Calm Collection while you maintain an active subscription. Payment will be charged to the credit card connected to your iTunes Account when you confirm the initial subscription purchase. Subscriptions automatically renew unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current subscription period. Your account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period, and the cost of the renewal will be identified. You may manage your subscription and auto-renewal may be turned off by going to your Account Settings after the purchase. Any unused portion of a free trial period, if offered, will be forfeited when you purchase a subscription, where applicable. Read more about our terms and conditions here: Terms of service: https://www.calm.com/terms Privacy policy: https://www.calm.com/privacy
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Breathing Zone at none against Calm's 13. Breathing Zone also leads on ads (none vs shown) and review sentiment (81% vs 64%). Calm's advantage is ratings volume (2M vs 3.8K) and update cadence (every 5 days vs every 2 weeks). On price, rating 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
Both are free to download. Calm sells 8 in-app purchases, starting at $14.99 per month. Breathing Zone asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for Breathing Zone against 4.8 for Calm. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Calm has 2M ratings behind it against 3.8K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 81% of Breathing Zone's written reviews are positive against 64% of Calm's.
Breathing Zone ships an update every 2 weeks, Calm every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 30, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Breathing Zone | Calm |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (3.8K ratings) — better | 4.8 (2M ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 81.1% of reviews — better | 63.9% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 3.8K | 2M — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks | Every 5 days — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Best chart rank | — | #5 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple TV, Apple Watch — better | iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Apple Watch |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 18.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 67 MB | 173 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Tane Langton | Calm.com |
Customer experience
Breathing Zone
Calm
User reviews
Breathing Zone
From 3.8K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🌟 Amazing app
- 👍 Simple and effective
- 🎨 Beautiful visuals
- 🔊 Customizable sounds
- 🕰️ Flexible session settings
Room to improve
- 🐛 Occasional crashes or bugs
- ⚠️ Timing issues with breathing rate
- 🔒 Lack of syncing across devices
- 🔇 Notification sounds can be disruptive
- 📊 Lack of progress tracking or statistics
Calm
From 2M App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 💤 Helpful for sleep
- 🧘♀️ Effective for meditation and relaxation
- 🎨 Variety of content (sleep stories, meditations, music)
- 🙏 Positive impact on mental health
- 🤗 Soothing narrators
Room to improve
- 💰 Expensive subscription
- 🔒 Limited free content
- 🕰️ Difficulty finding specific content
- 🔁 Repetitive sleep stories
- 🙃 Accessibility issues for disabled users
Bugs and requests
Breathing Zone
Reported bugs
4 issues- Breathing rate not matching set value
- Visual elements not centered on older devices
- Sudden audio cutoff at end of session
- Syncing issues between mobile and Apple Watch
Requested features
6 requests- Longer session duration options
- More breathing pattern variations
- Ability to adjust inhale/exhale ratio
- Breath hold functionality
- Integration with health/fitness apps
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- Customizable reminders or notifications
Calm
Reported bugs
3 issues- App crashes or freezes
- Playback issues with audio and video
- Difficulty cancelling subscription
Requested features
6 requests- Add repeat button for sleep stories
- Separate kids and adult content
- Allow creating custom playlists
- Improve search and navigation
- Add more diverse narrator voices
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- Provide text-based instructions for techniques
In-app purchases
Breathing Zone
No in-app purchases
Calm
- Calm Subscription$14.991 Month
- Calm Premium$14.991 Month
- Calm Premium2 variants$16.991 Month
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- Calm Premium$29.991 Month
- Calm Premium$69.991 Year
- Calm Premium7 Days trial2 variants$69.991 Year
- Calm Premium7 Days trial3 variants$79.991 Year
- Calm Premium$79.991 Year









