Comparison

Breathing Exercises vs Sympathetic

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

Head to head
About

Breathing Exercises

This app guides you through various breathing exercises to improve your mood, focus, and sleep. It offers personalized sessions, tracks your progress with health metrics, and features a breath-hold challenge. Enjoy a calm and focused experience with no ads or account required.

Highlights
  • Six mood categories for personalized breathing
  • 21 expert breathing patterns including Wim Hof and 4-7-8
  • Custom pattern builder with up to 14 steps
  • Breath hold challenge with personal records
  • Eight health metrics tracking (stress, sleep, clarity)
  • Home screen widget for quick access
  • Smart reminders for daily practice
Features
Read full description

BreathMAX turns breathing into something you actually look forward to. Open the app and it greets you by time of day, hands you Today's Pick, and shows your Lung Health charge climbing from 0 to 100 percent as your practice builds. No account, no ads, no noise. SIX MOOD CATEGORIES Pick how you want to feel and the app does the rest. Balance: steady, harmonizing cycles that bring you back to center. Calm: slow deep breathing for anxiety relief and quiet nerves. Energize: fast invigorating patterns that wake you up without caffeine. Focus: concentration rhythms for study, work and deep sessions. Unwind: long extended exhales that release the day from your shoulders. Uplift: bright breath flows that lift a low mood. Each category carries its own gradient and rotating full screen photography. 21 EXPERT BREATHING PATTERNS Box Breathing 4-4-4-4, the 4-7-8 relaxing breath, Wim Hof style power rounds, yoga pranayama, coherent 5-5, calming 1:2, deep sleep, stress reset, focus flow, endurance, anxiety relief and pre performance. Purpose built sets for singers, actors, vocal warm up, public speaking, teachers, wind instrument players, athletes, runners, swimmers and free divers. Every pattern is timed, guided and visual. CUSTOM PATTERN BUILDER Build your own sequence with up to 14 steps. Set every inhale, hold, exhale and pause exactly how you want it. Drop in your own photos as the session background, save unlimited patterns and share them with friends by code. BREATH HOLD CHALLENGE An underwater themed test of your lung capacity with a live millisecond timer, encouragement while you hold and a Top 5 personal record board. Watch your apnea time stretch week after week. CINEMATIC SESSIONS Full screen photography, an animated breathing circle, live round counters and clear phase labels for every inhale, hold and exhale. Six ambient soundscapes to breathe to: Aurora, Cosmos, Forest, Ocean, Universe and Zen, with separate volume for music and guidance cues. EIGHT HEALTH METRICS Track the benefit, not just the minutes. Stress Relief, Better Sleep, Lung Capacity, Heart Health, Mental Clarity, Energy Boost, Anxiety Relief and Circulation each move as you practice. Weekly and monthly charts, streak tracking, 13 achievements and stage missions keep the habit alive. HOME SCREEN WIDGET Your charge percentage, streak days and a breathing prompt matched to the time of day, right on your home screen. No need to open the app to know where you stand. SMART REMINDERS Morning energy, midday reset, evening unwind or bedtime calm. Set the moments that fit your life and the app shows up on time. BUILT THE WAY IT SHOULD BE Automatic light and dark themes. Twenty app languages. Sessions stored locally on your device. Works offline. No account required and no advertising, ever. Breathing well is the one habit that improves every other one. Start with a single session today. Created with care by ZenByte. [Breathing Exercises: BreathMAX] Questions or feedback? hello@zenbyte.app Privacy Policy: https://www.zenbyte.app/breathMAX/privacy-policy.html Terms of Service: https://www.zenbyte.app/breathMAX/terms-of-service.html

About

Sympathetic

Explore your heart's response with guided breathing exercises. Track your physiology and build a regular practice. Optional integration with Polar H10 offers advanced heart rate and HRV feedback for deeper analysis.

Highlights
  • Guided breathing exercises
  • Heart rate and HRV feedback
  • Breathing assessments
  • ECG recording
  • Focus mode
  • Mindful Minutes integration
Features
Read full description

Find your pace. Explore your heart's response. Sympathetic brings guided breathing and personal physiology together on your iPhone. Follow a visual breathing guide with optional sound and haptic cues, choose a comfortable pace, and build a regular practice. BREATHE AT YOUR PACE Guided breathing is free and works without a chest strap. Choose your breathing rate, inhale/exhale balance and session length. Use Focus mode to keep the guide in view. EXPLORE WITH POLAR H10 A Sympathetic H10 subscription unlocks Polar H10 connections, heart-rate and HRV feedback, breathing assessments, adaptive feedback and ECG recording. Review your response during training, browse saved waveforms and export recordings for your own analysis. A Polar H10 is required for these features and is sold separately. BREATHING ON APPLE WATCH After a resonance assessment on iPhone, use the companion Watch app to start breathing at your assessed pace. Follow sound and haptic cues on your wrist and view live Polar H10 ECG from your paired iPhone. Watch sessions require Sympathetic H10 access and a connection to the iPhone app. SUBSCRIPTION OPTIONS Choose an annual or monthly plan. The annual plan offers a lower cost than twelve monthly payments. Eligible new subscribers receive a two-week free trial, followed by automatic renewal at the price shown when subscribing unless cancelled. Manage or cancel your subscription in your Apple Account settings. Restore Purchases is available in the app. Previously saved records remain readable and exportable after a subscription ends. KEEP YOUR PRACTICE PRIVATE Your recordings and analysis stay on your iPhone unless you choose to export them. No app account, advertising or analytics. Apple processes subscription purchases. Optionally save confirmed breathing time to Apple Health as Mindful Minutes. Sympathetic is an independent app and is not affiliated with Polar. It is for personal exploration and general wellness. Its scores, breathing estimates, ECG observations and single-lead measurements are experimental and are not intended for diagnosis, treatment or medical decisions. Privacy: https://www.lucascamillomd.com/sympathetic/privacy.html Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Breathing Exercises4 screens
Sympathetic4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Breathing Exercises at 5.0 against Sympathetic's 4.0. Breathing Exercises also leads on iOS requirement (15.0 vs 18.0). Sympathetic's advantage is update cadence (every 3 days vs every 2 months). On price, ratings volume, ads and in-app purchases 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. Breathing Exercises sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per 7 days and Sympathetic sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $3.00 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Breathing Exercises holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 1 respectively.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Breathing Exercises ships an update every 2 months, Sympathetic every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on November 13, 2026 and November 10, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 6 level
Breathing Exercises versus Sympathetic: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBreathing ExercisesSympathetic
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better4.0 (1 ratings)
Number of ratings11
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 3 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemiumFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, Apple Watch
Requires iOS15.0 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size86 MB18 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperZENBYTE DIJITAL TEKNOLOJILER LIMITED SIRKETILucas Paulo de Lima Camillo

Customer experience

Breathing Exercises

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Sympathetic

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Breathing Exercises

Subscriptions3
  • Weekly Premium$2.997 Days
  • Monthly Premium$5.991 Month
  • Yearly Premium$24.991 Year
2 purchases

Sympathetic

Subscriptions2
  • H10 monthly14 Days trial$3.001 Month
  • H10 annual14 Days trial$20.001 Year

Questions

Is Breathing Exercises free?
Breathing Exercises is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Sympathetic free?
Sympathetic is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Breathing Exercises or Sympathetic?
Breathing Exercises is rated higher. Breathing Exercises averages 5.0 out of 5 from 1 ratings, while Sympathetic averages 4.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Breathing Exercises or Sympathetic have ads?
Neither Breathing Exercises nor Sympathetic shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Breathing Exercises or Sympathetic?
Breathing Exercises ships an update every 2 months, and Sympathetic every 3 days. Most recently, Breathing Exercises was updated on November 13, 2026 and Sympathetic on November 10, 2026.

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