Always Pause vs XiKe
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Always Pause
Access a curated collection of over 50 science-backed breathing exercises designed for calm, sleep, focus, and energy. This app offers a simple, ad-free experience with haptic guidance on Apple Watch and home screen widgets.
- 50+ science-backed breathing techniques
- Four moods: calm, sleep, focus, energy
- Haptic guidance on Apple Watch
- One-tap rescue feature
- Home screen and lock screen widgets
- Ad-free and tracker-free design
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Sometimes you just need to breathe. Pause+ is a quiet library of 50 breathing techniques — box, 4-7-8, physiological sigh, coherence, and more. Each one is real, researched, and ready the moment you need it. No streaks. No programs. No notifications chasing you down. Open the app, pick what you need, breathe, close it. What's inside · 50 science-backed breathing techniques · Four moods — calm, sleep, focus, energy · Haptic guidance on Apple Watch — phone-free breathing, anywhere · One-tap rescue for the hard moments · Widgets for your home screen, lock screen, and Control Center Who it's for For people who've tried the other apps and felt worse. For anyone who wants a breathing tool, not another thing to keep up with. For the ones who want quiet — not content. Pause+ is ad-free, tracker-free, and designed to be used briefly. Practice when you need to. Don't when you don't. Breathwork, backed by science. Designed to stay out of your way.
XiKe
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XiKe is an offline-first meditation, breathing, and bedtime wind-down app. Open and begin — no signup, no ads, no tracking, no internet required. Core practices - Sitting: 5 to 30 minutes, with enso visual and breath pacing - Bedtime: sleep timer, low-stim sounds, eyes-closed friendly (free for everyone, forever) - Focus: 25-minute pomodoro to 90-minute deep work blocks - Breathing: 4-7-8, box breathing, and other rhythm guides Full library (400+ tracks) - Nature: rain, ocean, campfire, stream, brown noise, white noise - Brainwaves: alpha, theta, delta binaural beats - Solfeggio: 432Hz, 528Hz, 741Hz and more - Cultural: guqin, shakuhachi, singing bowls, lo-fi, late-night jazz Privacy-first - Practice records stay on this device by default; export as JSON / CSV anytime - Apple Health off by default (Mindful Minutes is opt-in in Settings) - No advertising identifiers, no cross-app tracking, no analytics SDKs Universal — built for iPhone and iPad - Adaptive layouts that scale from compact to regular size class - Live Activities on Dynamic Island and Lock Screen - Home Screen widgets for streak, today's minutes, and weekly chart 9 interface languages English, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese. Pricing — pay once, own it forever - Lifetime $29.99 — pay once, own forever, no renewals, no subscription Unique in this category: Calm and Headspace both charge $69.99 per year on a recurring subscription. XiKe is a one-time purchase. Sleep mode is free for everyone with no time limit. XiKe is a daily relaxation companion, not a substitute for medical or mental health advice.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: XiKe at daily against Always Pause's every 2 weeks. Always Pause's advantage is iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). On price, ads, 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
Both are free to download. Always Pause sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month and XiKe sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Always Pause ships an update every 2 weeks, XiKe daily. The most recent releases landed on October 28, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Always Pause | XiKe |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better | — |
| Number of ratings | 1 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks | Daily — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 9 MB | 2.3 GB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Work OnDeck LLC | 易航 李 |
In-app purchases
Always Pause
- Always Pause+7 Days trial$4.991 Month
- Always Pause+7 Days trial$29.991 Year
- Always Pause+ Lifetime$49.99
XiKe
- XiKe Pro — Lifetime$29.99








