Comparison

Breathful vs Heart Sit

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

Head to head
About

Breathful

This app helps you track the effectiveness of your mindfulness meditation practice by quantifying your progress. It allows you to log sessions, count distractions, and monitor improvements over time to validate your chosen meditation techniques.

Highlights
  • Track meditation effectiveness with data
  • Quantify focus improvement
  • Log 10-minute mindfulness sessions
  • Count 'distractions' during sessions
  • Monitor average distractions dropping
  • Archive sessions by date and time
Features
Read full description

Breathful tracks the effectiveness of your meditation with data. Watch the numbers change as you develop your ability to focus and quantify your improvement over time. Rather than endorse a particular method for practicing mindfulness meditation, Breathful acknowledges that there is a common theme amongst all techniques: Focus on being mindful of your breathing - Breathful. ------------------------------------------------------------ Mindfulness 101 The object of mindfulness is witnessing one’s own present experience without any attachment or reactivity... In other words, any thoughts that arise during mindfulness practice are acknowledged, and then allowed to pass. Directing one's attention to breathing helps maintain a present state of mind. ------------------------------------------------------------ So what is Breathful and how is it different from other meditation timer apps? Breathful is a useful tool that allows users to engage in ten-minute “sessions” of mindfulness practice. Actively monitor each session by attaching a number of “distractions” - when the session ends, it will be archived in the session log by date and time, along with the number of distractions encountered during the session. When you see the average number of distractions dropping, you'll know your method of mindfulness is an effective one. INSTRUCTIONS FOR USING BREATHFUL: - A new session is started by tapping on the timer circle, which will then start a ten minute countdown. - If at any point the user taps on the screen while the timer is running, then a "distraction" will be recorded. *Note: It is up to the user to decide what constitutes a "distraction" and you may not want to record minor distractions lasting only a split-second... what constitutes a minor vs. major distraction is up to you. Improve your focus with mindfulness training and let Breathful quantify your progress! If you've had your doubts about meditation in the past, here's your chance to gather your own statistics and come to your own conclusion.

About

Heart Sit

Features
Read full description

Did it actually work? The question every meditator secretly asks. Heart Sit answers it. Live heart rate from your AirPods Pro 3 or Apple Watch — captured every second, plotted around your timer, analyzed across weeks. Stop guessing. Start observing. LIVE HEART RATE Choose your sensor: AirPods Pro 3 (in-ear optical), Apple Watch, or Auto. Heart Sit shows which device is providing the reading in real time. No chest strap. No additional hardware. THE OBSERVED INSIGHT Every session ends with a one-line answer: "Your heart rate dropped 8 BPM." Or "Heart rate stayed steady — calm baseline." Compare this week to your 90-day baseline in Trends. Watch the line move. THE SETTLE SCORE Proprietary metric that measures how long it took your heart rate to reach its session minimum. Lower means you settled faster. Track it across weeks. Brag about it. APPLE WATCH AS REMOTE Open Heart Sit on your Watch — it becomes a control surface. Pause, resume, stop from your wrist. The Watch app stays alive for the full session via Extended Runtime Sessions. Your phone can sit screen-down across the room. PRACTICE TYPES Open, Zazen, Vipassana, Breath Focus. Each comes with appropriate defaults. Tag your sessions and see which practice settles you fastest. CONTEXT TAGS + MOOD Tag morning, evening, post-workout, stressed, calm. Capture your mood after each session. Heart Sit will show you which contexts produce your best practice. OVERTIME MODE The bell rings when your timer ends — but you don't have to stop. Continue as long as you want. Heart Sit counts the extra time and saves your full duration. EVERY DETAIL • Real-time BPM display + radial heart rate wave that shifts blue when calm, red when active • Optional haptic heartbeat — feel your pulse with every beat • Set an intention before sitting; recall it after • Session history with full per-second heart rate charts • Heart Rate Variability (HRV) reading per session • CSV export for power users • Beautiful share card — poster of your session • HealthKit integration: every session saved as a Mind & Body workout • Pure black, Georgia serif. No clutter. No animations to distract you. PRIVACY No accounts. No cloud. No analytics. No tracking. The app makes zero network requests. Everything stays on your device. NO SUBSCRIPTION. EVER. This isn't a wellness app trying to monetize your meditation. It's a measurement instrument for people who already have a practice. Download once. Use forever. REQUIREMENTS • AirPods Pro 3 (or AirPods Pro 2 with USB-C and HR-capable firmware) for live heart rate via earbuds • Apple Watch for live heart rate via wrist (any HR-capable model) • iPhone running iOS 18.0 or later Without either AirPods or Watch, Heart Sit works as a beautiful meditation timer with the same overtime mode and session journaling. For serious meditators who want evidence, not affirmation.

Screenshots

Breathful3 screens
Heart Sit4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is iOS requirement: Breathful at 11.0 against Heart Sit's 26.2. 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
Breathful versus Heart Sit: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBreathfulHeart Sit
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.0 (3 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews66.7% of reviews—
Number of ratings3 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 6 months—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPod, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, Apple Watch
Requires iOS11.0 — better26.2
Further details — not scored
Size22 MB7 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperCookies & MilkAndrii Gryshutkin

In-app purchases

None

Breathful

No in-app purchases

None

Heart Sit

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Breathful free?
Breathful is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Heart Sit free?
Heart Sit is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Breathful or Heart Sit have ads?
Neither Breathful nor Heart Sit shows ads.

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