Breathing Timer: HRV · BOLT · Wim Hof · 4-7-8
· v1.9.0
About
A breathwork and biofeedback app for Garmin. Practice entirely by feel: precise haptic and tone cues let you keep your eyes closed and focus on your breath.
Whether you train CO2 tolerance, nervous system recovery, or hypoxia, this app provides lab-grade biometrics on your wrist. Most apps require watching a screen, disrupting your inner focus. This app communicates directly through your skin using distinct vibration patterns.
◆ Eyes-Closed Guidance: Custom haptic patterns map out inhale, hold, exhale, and empty phases.
◆ Smart Home Screen: Recommends sessions based on your current Garmin Body Battery, stress, and recovery state.
◆ Premium Integration: Optionally saves to Garmin Connect as a FIT activity with graphs, laps, and per-drill metrics — switch off to skip your activity log and Strava.
7 BUILT-IN BREATHING PROGRAMS
Cycle through protocols via watch buttons or build up to 8 custom routines via the New Program Wizard (adjust phases from 0 to 30 seconds; set to 0 to skip holds entirely).
◆ Resonant 5.5: Coherent breathing to maximize Heart Rate Variability (HRV).
◆ 5-5 Zen: Classic cardiac coherence to balance the nervous system.
◆ 4-6 Calm: Elongated exhales to trigger rapid parasympathetic activation.
◆ 6-2-6 Balance: Eases anxiety, grounds the mind, and sharpens cognitive focus.
◆ Triangular 4-4-4: Equal parts inhale, hold-in, and exhale.
◆ Box 4-4-4-4: Navy SEAL protocol for high-stress control and mental focus.
◆ 4-7-8 Sleep: Dr. Weil's natural nervous system tranquilizer for sleep prep.
8 SPECIALIZED EXERCISES AND TESTS
◆ Guided Breathing: Open practice with visual/haptic pacing and live HR/HRV feedback.
◆ BOLT Test: Measures Body Oxygen Level Test score to track CO2 tolerance. Saves with HR/SpO2.
◆ Max Exhale: Multi-round slow-exhale drill with hands-free auto-advance tracking your personal best.
◆ Buteyko Mini Pauses: Practice 5 to 30 rounds based on Exercise 6 from the Buteyko Clinic.
◆ Wim Hof Method: Paced deep breaths, last-3-breath countdown, tap-to-end retention, and recovery timing. Logs longest hold.
◆ Walking Hypoxic: Altitude training while walking. Hold breath, tap when air-hungry, recover (8 configurable rounds). Saves as a Walking activity.
◆ Walking Hypoxic Advanced: Prime hold + 10-180s low-SpO2 phase. Live screen colors (Red under 80%, Green 80-91%, Amber over 91%) and scores in-zone seconds.
◆ Free Session: Unguided practice with a live biofeedback view of HR, HRV, SpO2, and stress.
ADVANCED BIOMETRICS
◆ True HRV (RMSSD): From raw beat-to-beat R-R intervals via an ANT+ or BLE chest strap. No estimates.
◆ RSA Fallback: Peak-to-peak HR per breath for watch-only tracking. Built-in "About HRV" helper.
◆ Zero-Noise Calibration: A 10-second pre-roll captures your baseline before every session.
◆ Delta Comparisons: Color-coded start-vs-end metrics for HR, HRV, respiration, SpO2, and stress vs averages.
◆ SpO2 Safety Alerts: Vibration if blood oxygen drops below your threshold (70-95%) during hypoxia drills.
PROGRESS TRACKING
◆ Local History: Stores last 30 sessions with independent history silos for every drill type.
◆ Rewards: Earn New Personal Best ribbons and training-state badges (Building, Stable, Peak, Recovery).
◆ On-Wrist Trend Charts: Visual trend graphs for BOLT, Max Exhale, Buteyko, Wim Hof, Hypoxic, HRV, and stress.
◆ Native Controls: Integrates with Garmin Save/Resume/Discard menus via the BACK button.
CUSTOMIZATION
◆ Fully Adjustable: Fine-tune haptics/tones and set auto-stops (3-30 mins, or unlimited). Edit on-watch or via Connect Mobile.
◆ Device Support: Optimized for 100+ Garmin watches including Fenix, Epix, Forerunner, Venu, Vivoactive, Enduro, Instinct, MARQ, Descent, and Approach.
NOTE FOR MEMORY-LIMITED DEVICES: On lower-memory watches (Instinct 2/2S/2X, Crossover, Descent G1), the app runs the 7 breathing programs. Advanced drills, hypoxia protocols, and trend charts require a higher-memory watch.
What's new
What's new:
Rename any saved custom program from Garmin Connect Mobile, each one keeps its own name independently, so renaming a second program never resets the first. Phase durations (inhale/exhale/hold) can now go up to 2:00 instead of 30s.
Fixes:
Selecting or building a custom program and pressing START no longer silently launches a different recommended program. Settings are now reachable on touch-only watches (Venu, Venu Sq, Vivoactive) via a tap instead of a stuck hold-gesture. Drills are hardened against IQ error screens on memory-constrained watches and a BACK-during-Wim-Hof crash.