Comparison

Universal Breathing vs Box Breathing

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

Head to head
About

Universal Breathing

This app guides you through proper breathing techniques to improve your health and well-being. Learn to breathe diaphragmatically for 15 minutes daily to reduce stress, improve sleep, and enhance athletic performance.

Highlights
  • Diaphragmatic breathing training
  • Guided breathing courses
  • Customizable breathing ratios
  • Body and dial animations
  • Multiple sound settings
  • Beginner to advanced levels
Features
Read full description

Build a breathing practice you can return to—one guided breath at a time. Universal Breathing combines traditional pranayama structure with clear visual and musical cues. Choose a guided course, return to a saved custom session, or shape a new practice around your own pace. GUIDED BREATHING • Follow inhale, retain, exhale, and sustain phases with animated visual cues • Use musical guidance to keep the rhythm without watching the screen • Choose a session length that fits your routine A COURSE THAT BUILDS GRADUALLY • Begin with approachable ratios • Progress through beginner, intermediate, and advanced lessons • Review in-app breathing guidance and safety notes before you practice MAKE THE PRACTICE YOURS • Adjust inhale, retention, exhale, and sustain timing • Link multiple breathing patterns in one custom session • Save custom sessions for quick access SOUND AND SCENERY • Choose from five guidance sounds: Nature, Classical, Ambient, Vedic, and Serenity • Select an animated visual background with matching background audio • Adjust guidance and background volumes separately USE SOUNDS FOR DIFFERENT PRACTICES • Keep one guidance sound for bedtime • Choose another for calming and stress relief • Use a third for focused breath training Using each sound consistently can help it become a familiar cue for that routine over time. PREMIUM • Unlock all premium breathing lessons • Access every premium theme • Enjoy an ad-free experience Premium is available through optional auto-renewing subscriptions. Available plans and localized pricing are shown before purchase. PRIVACY AND TERMS Privacy Policy: https://saagara.com/privacy/ Terms of Use: https://saagara.com/terms/ Universal Breathing is a wellness and breath-training tool. It is not a medical device and does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Practice seated or lying down, stop if you feel unwell, and consult a qualified health professional before beginning if you have a relevant health condition or concern. Made by Saagara.

About

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.

Highlights
  • Personalized breathing test
  • Exercise categories (Calm, Sleep, Focus, Energize)
  • Audio guide and sound cues
  • Haptic feedback
  • CO2 tolerance test
  • Stress and anxiety relief
Features
Read full description

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

Universal Breathing4 screens
Box Breathing4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Box Breathing at 4.8 against Universal Breathing's 3.6. Box Breathing also leads on ads (none vs shown) and review sentiment (79% vs 60%). Universal Breathing's advantage is monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases). On price, update cadence, in-app purchases 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. Universal Breathing sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 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.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Box Breathing holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 3.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Box Breathing has 320 ratings behind it against 41, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 60% of Universal Breathing's written reviews are positive against 79% of Box Breathing's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Universal Breathing ships an update every 6 weeks, Box Breathing every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 22, 2026 and October 23, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Universal Breathing versus Box Breathing: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterUniversal BreathingBox Breathing
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.6 (41 ratings)4.8 (320 ratings) — better
Positive reviews60.4% of reviews78.6% of reviews — better
Number of ratings41320 — better
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeksEvery 3 weeks — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, Vision Pro
Requires iOS16.016.0
Further details — not scored
Size131 MB96 MB
Age rating12+4+
DeveloperSaagaraSTRV s.r.o.

Customer experience

Universal Breathing

All ratings40 ratings
Positive60.0%
Neutral7.5%
Negative32.5%
Written reviews111 reviews
Positive60.4%
Neutral9.0%
Negative30.6%

Box Breathing

All ratings318 ratings
Positive94.7%
Neutral1.9%
Negative3.5%
Written reviews42 reviews
Positive78.6%
Neutral2.4%
Negative19.0%

Bugs and requests

Universal Breathing

Reported bugs

15 issues
  • Sound stopped working
  • No sound on iPhone
  • Audio bug requires phone restart
  • Customization button not working
  • Paid version only works for beginner level
Show 10 more
  • App doesn't open or stay open
  • Contact form closed
  • App may not work correctly with current iOS version
  • Music/chimes won't play on iPad/iPhone
  • Volume not working
  • Pie chart and menu not showing on press play screen
  • Upgrade problem
  • Sound disappeared
  • App keeps popping up on its own
  • Screen must remain on for app to run

Requested features

8 requests
  • More free options
  • Update the app
  • Improve user-friendliness
  • Clarify calendar/timetable numbers
  • More customization for retention/exhale
Show 3 more
  • Allow background audio playback
  • More distinction in color palette for visually impaired
  • Increase session time limit for free version

Box Breathing

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Universal Breathing

Subscriptions2
  • Universal Breathing Monthly$1.991 Month
  • Universal Breathing Annual$14.991 Year
5 purchases

Box Breathing

Subscriptions4
  • Float PRO - Monthly Membership$9.991 Month
  • Float PRO Breathing Exercises$39.991 Year
  • Float PRO Breathing Exercises$49.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Float PRO Breathing Exercises7 Days trial$69.991 Year
One-time1
  • Float PRO Breathing Exercises$199.99

Questions

Is Universal Breathing free?
Universal Breathing is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Box Breathing free?
Box Breathing is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Universal Breathing or Box Breathing?
Box Breathing is rated higher. Universal Breathing averages 3.6 out of 5 from 41 ratings, while Box Breathing averages 4.8 from 320 ratings.
Do Universal Breathing or Box Breathing have ads?
Universal Breathing shows ads; Box Breathing does not.
Which is updated more often, Universal Breathing or Box Breathing?
Universal Breathing ships an update every 6 weeks, and Box Breathing every 3 weeks. Most recently, Universal Breathing was updated on October 22, 2026 and Box Breathing on October 23, 2026.

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