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.
Coming soon to the App StoreWhat it does
- Opens directly onto the button. No sign-in screen, no quiz, no paywall in front of it.
- Runs a 60-second guided cyclic-sighing pattern — two inhales, one long exhale. A slow exhale slows your heart. That's the whole mechanism.
- Closes on one short line and a quiet escape hatch if you're still wound up.
What it isn't
- Not a habit tracker. No streaks, no badges, no "you've used this N times" surface.
- Not notification-driven. No engagement or reactivation push, ever. The only push allowed is one local reminder you explicitly schedule, fired from your device.
- Not a data product. The press itself is never recorded — not on your device, not on a server.
- Not a substitute for medical advice, therapy, or a crisis line.
Honest about what 60 seconds can and can't do
A long, slow exhale recruits a reflex that slows your heart. That part is mechanical and real.
We don't claim Exhale "reduces cortisol" — cortisol takes 15–30 minutes to move and the press takes one. We don't claim it "activates your vagus nerve" — the mechanism story is contested.
We claim what's defensible: a single guided minute, with a longer out-breath than in-breath, will usually take the edge off an acute spike. If it doesn't, 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, and 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.
— The Maker