Meditation
I wanted a very simple meditation timer and also a guided breathwork experience. So those are part of the app too.
The meditation timer lets you pick duration, beginning/end chime sounds, and soundtrack (if you want one). I found some really great permissively-licensed tracks like these from Glen Hoban.
You hold down the button and it shrinks to nothing, while haptic vibrating “heartbeats” slow down from 100 BPM to 40 BPM (bumbum… bumbum… … bumbum… … … bumbum). Then the chime goes off and you’re in the experience.
Once the time is up, a chime goes off, the timer keeps counting, and whenever you’re done, you hold to end it (and the haptic heartbeat ramps back up).
You can add a reflection at the end of the meditation if you want, and then it’s done.
There’s also a breathwork module with a variety of pre-built routines:
These routines guide you fully through the sequence with audio and visual cues (text, a pulsing circle). A few screenshots from a Buteyko sequence:
I built out a nice schema that allows for a variety of segments — ones with user-controlled length (“tap to continue”); pre-programmed durations of inhale, hold full, exhale, hold empty; warmups and cooldowns; etc.
I wish all breathwork & meditation apps were this simple, clear, and customizable… but that’s tough to monetize, of course. Another vote for home-cooked software!
Next up: Call List. (Blog post coming soon…)