Comparison

Paced Breathing vs Three Minutes.

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

Head to head
About

Paced Breathing

This app guides users through breathing exercises using visual, audio, and haptic cues. It helps with stress relief, meditation, lung strengthening, and falling asleep. Join thousands of users who find daily calm and improved well-being.

Highlights
  • Adjustable inhale, hold, exhale timing
  • Visual, audio, and haptic cues
  • Heart monitoring (heart rate, HRV, coherence)
  • Ramp mode for gradual timing changes
  • Session tracking and streaks
  • Background playback
Features
Read full description

Featured in James Nestor’s best-selling book, Breath, Paced Breathing uses visual, audio and haptic cues to guide you through your practice. Whether meditating, strengthening your lungs or simply relaxing - join the thousands who love using Paced Breathing everyday! USES * Relieve Stress * Meditate — (especially good for Kundalini, Hatha, Pranayama) * Strengthen Lungs — (improve lung capacity & aid recovery) * Falling Asleep FEATURES * Adjustable timing for inhale, hold, exhale, & hold * Heart monitoring: heart rate, HRV, & coherence (PB+) * Ramp mode: gradually change breath times * Visual, audio, & vibrate cues * Reminders / notifications (PB+) * Background playback * Playlists for multiple breath presets * Streaks, goals, & session tracking (PB+) HEALTH BENEFITS Regular breathing practices have been shown to help improve your: * Cardiovascular health [1][2][3] * Relaxation [2] * Stress responses [1][4][5] * Mood [1] * Attention [4] * Alzheimer's risk [6] FROM THE DEVELOPER I’m Mihai, an engineer born in Romania & raised in Michigan. My ideal day is working on apps to help others, like Paced Breathing. Someday I hope I can work on apps like these full time! Hearing from users makes my day, so shoot me an email with requests, bugs, things you like, or just your story: mihai@pacedbreathing.com! USER FEEDBACK * "The best breathing app out there (I've tried 12 apps, this is the only one that works for me). I have recommended it to over 100 people over the 7 years I've been using it. I use it at least 5 x a week. Gives me instant calm" — R. Hall * "LOVE this app. Very simple and easy to use. You can set time for inhale, exhale, and pause after each if you wish. You can watch it or listen…Thank you! Ads Not intrusive. Ads turn off when the app is active” — Denise * "This is a wonderfully simple app. The default sound tone is just right for me and I like that I get to set the volume and it stays there whether or not the volume of the phone ring or other apps are different" — Eleanor * "I've never written something like this in a review but... I love whoever wrote this app :-) Gets to the point in 0.2 s. No long annoying splash screens. No attempts to extort money... Super reliable, simple and 100% effective. I was looking for something that would let me take some breaks during normal meditation to do some controlled breathing, for example our most natural pattern - continuous 5.5 s inhale, 5.5 exhale. works perfect! BRAVO. A lesson to all developers how to make useful apps!" — Adam CITATIONS * [1] Study published in Front Public Health (2017) shows slow rhythmic breathing decreased blood pressure response to stress & improved mood: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5575449 * [2] Study in PLOS ONE (2019) shows slow paced breathing can improve relaxation & cardiovascular function: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0218550 * [3] Study in American Journal of Cardiology (2002) shows slow, paced breathing can significantly reduce blood pressure in hypertensive patients: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16129818/ * [4] Study in Frontiers in Psychology (2017) shows diaphragmatic breathing improves attention, reduces negative affect, & lowers stress in healthy adults: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00874/full * [5] Study in Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine (2005) shows benefits of Sudarshan Kriya, a specific yogic breathing practice, in treating stress, anxiety, & depression: https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/acm.2005.11.189 * [6] Study in Nature Scientific Reports (2023) shows slow paced breathing counters pathways that lead to Alzheimer’s disease: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-30167-0 DISCLAIMER App not intended to diagnose, treat, prevent medical conditions. Consult a healthcare professional before starting a breathing practice, especially if you have pre-existing health conditions.

About

Three Minutes.

This app offers short, guided meditation exercises designed for busy individuals. Learn to meditate in just three minutes a day with weekly lessons and a customizable timer to build a consistent practice.

Highlights
  • Daily three-minute meditation exercises
  • 14 weekly meditation lessons
  • Customizable three-minute timer
  • Meditation practice counter
  • Stress relief and improved focus
  • Suitable for busy schedules
Features
Read full description

Learn to meditate in three minutes a day, with 14 weekly exercises and a three minute timer. A free companion to ‘Three Minutes a Day: A fourteen week course to learn mediation and transform your life’ by Richard Dixey, published by New World Library, you find a brief description of each weekly meditation, with a customizable three minute timer and a counter so that a new meditation practice is released each week. HAVE NO TIME? While meditation is known for promoting balance and well-being in our busy lives, it’s typically associated with long periods of sitting. Three Minutes a Day presents a different approach, one that uses short exercises to stabilize mental experience. It lays out a direct path to clarity of mind, stress relief, sharper thinking, improved concentration, and enhanced creativity that can be followed from anywhere, no matter how busy your schedule. If you’re one of the millions of people interested in meditation but short on time, Three Minutes a Day is the perfect way to learn this valuable practice and incorporate it into your everyday life. A SIMPLE CHALLENGE Three Minutes a Day makes a bold claim: in just three minutes a day, for fourteen weeks — less than five hours total — you can generate real insight into personal experience that no amount of reading or learning can replicate.

Screenshots

Paced Breathing4 screens
Three Minutes.4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Paced Breathing at 84% against Three Minutes.'s 0%. Paced Breathing also leads on rating (4.9 vs 2.0) and ratings volume (244 vs 2). Three Minutes.'s advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 4) and ads (none vs shown). On price 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. Paced Breathing sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Three Minutes. asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Paced Breathing holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 2.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Paced Breathing has 244 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 84% of Paced Breathing's written reviews are positive against 0% of Three Minutes.'s.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Paced Breathing ships an update every 2 weeks, Three Minutes. every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on November 7, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 2 level
Paced Breathing versus Three Minutes.: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPaced BreathingThree Minutes.
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (244 ratings) — better2.0 (2 ratings)
Positive reviews84.2% of reviews — better0.0% of reviews
Number of ratings244 — better2
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeks — betterEvery 2 months
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPod
Requires iOS15.111.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size82 MB44 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPaced Breathing LLCArchu Singh

Customer experience

Paced Breathing

All ratings235 ratings
Positive97.4%
Neutral0.9%
Negative1.7%
Written reviews38 reviews
Positive84.2%
Neutral7.9%
Negative7.9%

Three Minutes.

All ratings1 ratings
Positive0.0%
Neutral100.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%

In-app purchases

4 purchases

Paced Breathing

Subscriptions4
  • PacedBreathing+ (1 month)$1.991 Month
  • PacedBreathing+ (1 month)$3.991 Month
  • PacedBreathing+ (1 year)7 Days trial$9.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • PacedBreathing+ (1 year)7 Days trial$19.991 Year
None

Three Minutes.

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Paced Breathing free?
Paced Breathing is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Three Minutes. free?
Three Minutes. is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Paced Breathing or Three Minutes.?
Paced Breathing is rated higher. Paced Breathing averages 4.9 out of 5 from 244 ratings, while Three Minutes. averages 2.0 from 2 ratings.
Do Paced Breathing or Three Minutes. have ads?
Paced Breathing shows ads; Three Minutes. does not.
Which is updated more often, Paced Breathing or Three Minutes.?
Paced Breathing ships an update every 2 weeks, and Three Minutes. every 2 months. Most recently, Paced Breathing was updated on November 7, 2026 and Three Minutes. on November 3, 2026.

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