Paced Breathing vs Mindful
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- 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
Read full descriptionHide 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.
Mindful
Calm your mind and improve focus with guided breathing exercises and a distraction-free timer. Track your progress, build habits with daily reminders, and enjoy offline functionality. Unlock premium content with various subscription options.
- Guided breathing exercises
- Focus timer for work/study
- Progress tracking and summaries
- Daily reminders
- Offline functionality
- Multiple language support
Read full descriptionHide full description
Calm your mind in 2 minutes. Mindful Focus is a simple breathing app that combines guided breathing exercises with a focus timer — so you can relax when you're stressed and concentrate when it's time to work. 10 BREATHING EXERCISES FOR EVERY MOMENT • Box breathing (4-4-4-4) — calm the mind and release tension • 4-7-8 breathing — relieve stress and anxiety • Deep Peace, Relaxation and Shavasana breathing — slow down and fall asleep • Kapalabhati, Ocean and Sun breathing (Surya Bhedana) — energy and focus • Gentle and Shamati breathing — quick calm and mindfulness • Pick by goal — calm, sleep, focus or energy — with the pattern and length on every card • Choose a session length and start in one tap • Preview premium practices before you subscribe • Follow the animated guide — no counting needed FOCUS TIMER • Set a focus session and work without distractions • Great for study, deep work and pomodoro-style sprints • Focus and break intervals, with the timer on your Lock Screen and Dynamic Island (Live Activity) • Take a guided breathing break between focus sessions TRACK YOUR PROGRESS • Weekly summary with your key numbers • Calendar of your practice days • Breathing and focus totals, streaks, ranks and favorite practices • Mindful minutes saved to Apple Health • Daily reminders to build the habit WHY MINDFUL FOCUS • Clean, distraction-free design • Calming sounds for your practice • Works offline • No account, no data collected • Available in English, Russian, German and Spanish Just a few minutes of mindful breathing a day can help you feel calmer, sleep better and stay focused. MINDFUL FOCUS PREMIUM Unlock all breathing practices, extra sounds, the breathing break after focus and 30-day history. Choose a monthly or yearly subscription (the yearly plan starts with a free 1-week trial) or a one-time lifetime purchase. Subscriptions renew automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. You can manage or cancel them in your App Store account settings. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://kirillsytkov.github.io/mindful-focus/privacy.html Mindful Focus is not a medical device. If you have a health condition, consult your doctor before doing breathing exercises.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: Mindful at none against Paced Breathing's shown. Mindful also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 84%). Paced Breathing's advantage is ratings volume (244 vs 3) and rating (4.9 vs 4.7). On price, update cadence, in-app purchases and monetization model 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. Paced Breathing sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month and Mindful sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Paced Breathing holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Paced Breathing has 244 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 84% of Paced Breathing's written reviews are positive against 100% of Mindful's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 weeks. Both last shipped on November 12, 2026.
| Parameter | Paced Breathing | Mindful |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.9 (244 ratings) — better | 4.7 (3 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 84.2% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 244 — better | 3 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks | Every 2 weeks |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 15.1 — better | 16.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 82 MB | 7 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Paced Breathing LLC | Kiryl Sytskou |
Customer experience
Paced Breathing
Mindful
In-app purchases
Paced Breathing
- PacedBreathing+ (1 month)$1.991 Month
- PacedBreathing+ (1 month)$3.991 Month
- PacedBreathing+ (1 year)7 Days trial$9.991 Year
Show 1 moreShow fewer
- PacedBreathing+ (1 year)7 Days trial$19.991 Year
Mindful
- Premium Monthly$2.991 Month
- Mindful Focus - Premium Year1 Month trial$4.991 Year
- Premium Yearly7 Days trial$10.001 Year
- Premium Lifetime$20.00
Questions
Is Paced Breathing free?
Is Mindful free?
Which has better reviews, Paced Breathing or Mindful?
Do Paced Breathing or Mindful have ads?
Which is updated more often, Paced Breathing or Mindful?
Other comparisons















