press for a minute tap anywhere to end
you’re the kind of
person who pauses.
Next time it’s already there — one tap from your home screen, and the breath is in your hand.
Download on theApp StoreA short first run, then a free week.
tap anywhere to go back
One button. Sixty seconds. Done.
Exhale is a quiet iOS app you open when your chest is tight, your shoulders are up, and you don’t have working memory to spare. Press the button. Follow the breath shape for a minute. Close it. Get on with the moment.
or press the disc — it runs the real minute, right here
press for a minute
You have been looking at it
The ground under this page is the app’s own screen. Same paper, same breath, same sixty marks — it just usually has a phone around it.
What it does
04
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Opens straight onto the button.
Every launch after the first one. There is no sign-in screen — your account is anonymous unless you choose to sign in with Apple.
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Runs a 60-second guided cyclic-sighing pattern.
Two inhales, one long exhale. A slow exhale slows your heart. That’s the whole mechanism.
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Closes on one short line.
And a quiet escape hatch, if you’re still wound up.
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Asks for a subscription, once.
The first run is a short setup and five questions about how you’d use it, then a 7-day free trial. After that it’s a subscription — the price is on the App Store page, and you can cancel from your Apple settings any time.
What it isn’t
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Not a habit tracker.
No streaks, no badges, no “you’ve used this N times” surface.
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Not notification-driven.
No engagement or reactivation push, ever. Exactly two notifications exist: a daily reminder you schedule yourself, and one warning two days before a free trial ends. Both fire from your device.
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Not a data product.
Nothing about the press ever leaves your phone. By default nothing is recorded at all — and the optional private history, which is off until you turn it on, counts days rather than moments.
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Not a substitute.
Not for medical advice, not for therapy, not for a crisis line.
The mechanism · scroll to breathe
A long, slow exhale recruits a reflex that slows your heart. That part is mechanical and real.
0.0s of 8.0s · one cycle of seven
The shape
Two inhales in. One long exhale out.
Plotted from the pacer the app actually runs — drag across it to feel where the time goes.
inhale0.0s
- inhale1.0s
- a little more in1.5s
- slow out5.5s
One cycle, plotted from the pacer the app actually runs.
Seven of these, then four seconds of settling.
Honest
Three sentences. Two of them are struck out.
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Exhale reduces your cortisol.Cortisol takes 15–30 minutes to move. The press takes one.
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Exhale activates your vagus nerve.The mechanism story there is contested, so we don’t tell it.
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A guided minute, out-breath longer than in, will usually take the edge off an acute spike.
That’s what’s defensible, so that’s what we say. If it doesn’t work, the app offers a fallback and gets out of your way.
I built Exhale because I needed an app I could open in the seconds before I lost my temper.
Every app I tried wanted me to rate my stress first, or sign in, or watch an intro. The button is the product. If the minute helps, that’s the whole point.
— Narek Keshishyan, who builds it
- Made by
- One person
- Platform
- iOS
- Languages
- Seven
- Trackers & ads
- None
- Sign-in
- Optional
- Price
- Subscription, after a 7-day trial
One tap away
Sixty seconds,
then the rest
of your day.
No streaks waiting for you tomorrow. No log to keep up with. Just the button, for the next time your chest is tight.