Comparison

Camera Heart Rate Variability vs Awesome Breathing

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

Head to head
About

Camera Heart Rate Variability

Measure heart rate variability using your phone's camera without external devices. Analyze time and frequency domain features to understand cardiac autonomic regulation, stress levels, and training impact.

Highlights
  • Record and plot HRV data
  • Extract time and frequency domain features
  • No heart rate monitor required
  • Configurable time window for analysis
  • Automatic RR-interval correction
  • Event annotation and comparison
  • Data export to iTunes and Dropbox
Features
Read full description

Camera Heart Rate Variability is the first app that lets you record, plot and export time and frequency domain Heart Rate Variability Features - without requiring any heart rate monitor. Camera HRV uses a technique called photoplethysmography (PPG for short), which consists in detecting changes in blood volume during a cardiac cycle, by illuminating the skin and measuring changes in light absorption. PPG has become quite a popular non-invasive method for extracting physiological measurements such as heart rate and oxygen saturation. However, most applications today focus simply on heart rate or respiration rate. Supported devices for the camera measurement: iPhones 5, 5S, 6, 6S, 6+, 6S+, SE, 7, 7+, 8, 8+, X, XS, XS Max, XR, 11, 11 Pro, 11 Pro Max, 12 mini, 12, 12 Pro, 12 Pro Max, 13 mini, 13, 13 Pro, 13 Pro Max Camera HRV can assess cardiac autonomic regulation through quantification of sinus rhythm variability. Since HRV aims at quantifying autonomic regulations, it can be used as marker of sympathetic or parasympathetic predominance, and therefore become relevant in many applications. In athletes for example heavy training is responsible for shifting the cardiac autonomic balance toward a predominance of the sympathetic over the parasympathetic drive, and HRV analysis attempts to quantify this shift. Other applications span from stress monitoring, assessment of pathological conditions and even emotional regulation during financial decision-making. Main Features: - extracts, plots, stores and exports heart rate, rr-intervals, time and frequency domain heart rate variability features (AVNN, SDNN, rMSSD, pNN50, LF, HF, LF/HF) - configurable time window for feature extraction (30 seconds to 5 minutes) - automatic RR-interval correction - event annotation - comparison between up to 3 recordings lets you get a better understanding of autonomic regulation and sympathetic/parasympathetic activity under different contexts in a glance - data export/storage on iTunes and Dropbox (csv format, exports heart rates, rr intervals, events and computed features). Data export needs to be performed from the history -> recording view, by clicking on the export button (bottom left). - integration with the Health app (writes Heart Rate and Heart Rate Variability) Find out more at this link: http://www.marcoaltini.com/2/post/2014/01/heart-rate-variability-using-the-phones-camera.html

About

Awesome Breathing

This app guides and visualizes your breathing patterns to promote calm, reduce stress, and improve sleep. It offers customizable breathing exercises and pre-set programs for meditation and mindfulness.

Highlights
  • Customizable breathing patterns
  • Pre-set breathing programs
  • Guided vocal and tone cues
  • Save sessions to Health app
  • Create and save custom programs
  • Optional pre-session countdown
  • Vibration mode for silent sessions
Features
Read full description

Awesome Breathing is a simple, elegant tool to guide and visualize your breathing. Use it daily to help with meditation, sleep, stress, anxiety, focus, or to simply bring a few moments of calm and mindfulness to your day. The perfect breathwork app. Simple, unobtrusive, and best of all, free to use anytime! Set your own pace, follow the calming animated pacer, and enjoy guided breathing exercises for relaxation, stress and anxiety relief, better sleep, and focus. Don't take our word for it: ** 4.9 stars, over 3,700 ratings ** "Two thumbs up, three if I had them. Works exactly as advertised and is super easy to use. Free to use if you want! I happily sent them support and could choose my own amount. As they say in the app name, AWESOME!" "Beautiful and responsive UI with customizable breathing patterns." "I have tested at least a dozen breathing apps. This one is BY FAR the best one I've used. Simple layout, real voice cues, custom programs, and a menu that is relaxing and intuitive. Get it!" "Excellent app, simple to use. As a psychotherapist I am using it myself and recommending it to clients who might benefit." Features: • Clean, simple interface for an uncluttered and calming breathing experience • Fully customizable inhale, exhale, and optional hold (pause) durations, so you can build any breathing exercise or technique you like • Choose from fifteen included programs, such as Box Breathing, Relaxing Breathing (4-7-8), Equal Breathing, Measured Breathing, and Triangle Breathing, plus patterns for focus, running, and performance • Create and save your own custom breathing programs • Sessions can be free-form (no set duration) or timed, by duration or by number of breaths • Optional pre-session countdown timer gives you a few moments to settle in before your session begins • Choose from several beautiful pacer color themes • Ambient background soundscapes to relax and breathe along to • Optional guided voice and tone cues signal when to inhale, hold, and exhale, so you can breathe with your eyes closed and without looking at your device, each with its own volume • Start and end bells can be enabled to signal the beginning and end of your sessions • Vibration mode allows for silent, eyes closed breathing sessions • Playback continues when your screen is locked or the app is in the background, so your cues never stop • Save your sessions as Mindful Minutes in the Apple Health app • Customizable reminder notifications alert you when it's time to take a moment out of your day to breathe A few of the included programs: Box Breathing (4-4-4-4) Also known as Navy SEAL or tactical breathing. A simple, effective way to regain calm and control under stress. Inhale for 4, hold for 4, exhale for 4, hold for 4. All through your nose. Relaxing Breathing (4-7-8) Trouble falling asleep? Inhale for 4 through your nose, hold for 7, exhale for 8 out of your mouth. Equal Breathing (4-4) A pranayama practice called Sama Vritti that helps quiet racing thoughts. Inhale for 4, exhale for 4, all through your nose. Try a 6 or 8 count once it feels comfortable. Measured Breathing (4-1-7) A handy stress reducer you can do anywhere. Inhale for 4, hold for 1, exhale for 7. All through your nose. Triangle Breathing (4-4-4) Picture a triangle with equal sides. Inhale for 4, exhale for 4, pause for 4. Repeat. Plus Coherent Breathing, Breathing for Meditation, Yoga Pranayama, and dedicated programs for runners, swimmers, athletes, and endurance. We hope Awesome Breathing helps you reach your goals, and we look forward to being part of your journey. We would love to hear your reviews and feedback. ------ Terms of Service: https://isjustawesome.com/terms Privacy Policy: https://isjustawesome.com/privacy

Screenshots

Camera Heart Rate Variability4 screens
Awesome Breathing4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Awesome Breathing at 97% against Camera Heart Rate Variability's 28%. Awesome Breathing also leads on price (Free vs $6.99) and rating (4.9 vs 2.8). Camera Heart Rate Variability's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 16) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 16.4). On update cadence, ads, monetization model 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

Awesome Breathing is free to download; Camera Heart Rate Variability costs $6.99 up front. Awesome Breathing sells 16 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Camera Heart Rate Variability asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Awesome Breathing holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 2.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Awesome Breathing has 1.4K ratings behind it against 8, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 28% of Camera Heart Rate Variability's written reviews are positive against 97% of Awesome Breathing's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Camera Heart Rate Variability ships an update every 4 months, Awesome Breathing every 5 months. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 26, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Camera Heart Rate Variability versus Awesome Breathing: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCamera Heart Rate VariabilityAwesome Breathing
Price$6.99Free — better
Rating2.8 (8 ratings)4.9 (1.4K ratings) — better
Positive reviews27.8% of reviews96.9% of reviews — better
Number of ratings81.4K — better
Update frequencyEvery 4 months — betterEvery 5 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS12.0 — better16.4
Further details — not scored
Size32 MB91 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperA.S.M.A. B.V.Awesome Labs LLC

Customer experience

Camera Heart Rate Variability

All ratings8 ratings
Positive37.5%
Neutral12.5%
Negative50.0%
Written reviews54 reviews
Positive27.8%
Neutral11.1%
Negative61.1%

Awesome Breathing

All ratings1,406 ratings
Positive97.3%
Neutral1.4%
Negative1.4%
Written reviews191 reviews
Positive96.9%
Neutral1.0%
Negative2.1%

In-app purchases

None

Camera Heart Rate Variability

No in-app purchases

16 purchases

Awesome Breathing

Subscriptions6
  • Support - $0.99 (monthly)$0.991 Month
  • Support - $1.99 (monthly)$1.991 Month
  • Support - $2.99 (monthly)$2.991 Month
Show 3 more
  • Support - $3.99 (monthly)$3.991 Month
  • Support - $4.99 (monthly)$4.991 Month
  • Support - $9.99 (monthly)$9.991 Month
One-time10
  • Support - $0.99$0.99
  • Support - $1.99$1.99
  • Support - $2.99$2.99
Show 7 more
  • Support - $3.99$3.99
  • Support - $4.99$4.99
  • Support - $5.99$5.99
  • Support - $6.99$6.99
  • Support - $7.99$7.99
  • Support - $9.99$9.99
  • Support - $14.99$14.99

Questions

Is Camera Heart Rate Variability free?
Camera Heart Rate Variability costs $6.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Awesome Breathing free?
Awesome Breathing is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Camera Heart Rate Variability or Awesome Breathing?
Awesome Breathing is rated higher. Camera Heart Rate Variability averages 2.8 out of 5 from 8 ratings, while Awesome Breathing averages 4.9 from 1.4K ratings.
Do Camera Heart Rate Variability or Awesome Breathing have ads?
Neither Camera Heart Rate Variability nor Awesome Breathing shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Camera Heart Rate Variability or Awesome Breathing?
Camera Heart Rate Variability ships an update every 4 months, and Awesome Breathing every 5 months. Most recently, Camera Heart Rate Variability was updated on October 29, 2026 and Awesome Breathing on October 26, 2026.

Other comparisons