Breathing Timer: HRV · BOLT · Wim Hof · 4-7-8
· v1.10.0
About
A breathwork and biofeedback app for Garmin. Practice by feel — haptic and tone cues keep your eyes closed and on your breath.
Train CO2 tolerance, nervous system recovery, or hypoxia with lab-grade biometrics on your wrist. Most apps make you watch a screen, breaking your focus — this one cues you through your skin with distinct vibration patterns instead.
◆ Eyes-Closed Guidance: Custom haptic patterns map out inhale, hold, exhale, and empty phases.
◆ Smart Home Screen: Recommends sessions from your Body Battery, stress, and recovery state.
◆ Premium Integration: 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 wizard (phases 0 to 2 min; set holds to 0 to skip).
◆ 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 paced practice with haptics, in-circle countdown, and live HR.
◆ 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 from Exercise 6 of the Buteyko Clinic.
◆ Wim Hof Method: Paced deep breaths, last-3-breath countdown, tap-to-end retention, recovery timing. Logs longest hold.
◆ Walking Hypoxic: Altitude training while walking. Hold breath, tap when air-hungry, recover (8 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 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.
◆ 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 its own history for every drill type.
◆ Rewards: New Personal Best ribbons and training-state badges (Building, Stable, Peak, Recovery).
◆ On-Wrist Trend Charts: Trend graphs for BOLT, Max Exhale, Buteyko, Wim Hof, Hypoxic, HRV, and stress.
◆ Native Controls: Garmin Save/Resume/Discard menus via the BACK button.
CUSTOMIZATION
◆ Fully Adjustable: Fine-tune haptics/tones, phase durations (up to 2 min), and auto-stops (3-60 min, or unlimited). Edit on-watch or via Connect Mobile.
◆ Start on Drills: Launch straight into your breath-hold drills. BACK still reaches home.
◆ Program Nickname: Rename a custom routine from Connect Mobile — sticks everywhere, including your activity title. Not on memory-limited watches.
◆ Device Support: Optimized for 100+ Garmin watches — Fenix, Epix, Forerunner, Venu, Vivoactive, Enduro, Instinct, MARQ, Descent, and Approach.
NOTE FOR MEMORY-LIMITED DEVICES: Instinct 2/2S/2X, Crossover, and Descent G1 run the 7 breathing programs only — drills and trend charts need a higher-memory watch.
What's new
WHAT'S NEW IN 1.10.0
NEW
• Live Metric: pick heart rate, respiration, SpO2 or stress to display while you breathe (or turn it off).
• Countdown inside the breathing circle — on by default, disable in Settings.
• Session durations in 5-minute steps up to 60 min (45-minute sits, finally).
• "Start on Drills" setting: jump straight into your breath-hold drills.
FIXED
• No more IQ! error at launch on fenix 5X Plus or crashes on Venu.
• Phases ran at half speed on low-end watches (4:4:4 played as 8:8:8) — now every device matches the wall clock.
• Custom programs no longer disappear after a Garmin Connect sync.
• Free Session dashboard readable on small round screens (Instinct E).
• Program scrolling works on non-touch MARQ watches.
• START now always starts the program on screen, never the suggested one.