Breathing Zone - Interview with the developer of a fantastic app

Did you have any prior development or coding experience?

I started programming on an Apple II that my dad got in the ‘70s. Breathing Zone was my first mobile app. Before getting into mobile development, I had been doing web backend development for about 10 years.

What was the most challenging aspect of developing mobile app?

The Breathing Rate Monitor was a feature that I wanted to have, but took some time to get working. I have also opted to support as many platforms as possible, not just the iPhone. So keeping up with all the different platforms can be a challenge.

Name a few of your favorite apps and reason you love them.

I have been getting into running and ocean swimming, so I use the Workouts app on the Apple Watch most days. I live near an airport, so I also use FlightTrack Pro to keep on eye on the sky.

How long have you been working on this app?

Breathing Zone was first released in May 2010, so coming up on 10 years.

What need of the user did you have in mind when developing this app?

Breathing Zone is a classic case of building an app that you would like to use yourself. There were very few breathing apps available in 2010 and I was interested in the health benefits therapeutic breathing, particularly in lowering my blood pressure which was slightly higher than it should have been. Later on, the whole mindfulness movement came around, and I think that is what most people use the app for now.

In what way do you think your app is better than similar apps on the market? Please describe in detail what innovation you think you bring and what you are proud of in your app.

With Breathing Zone, I wanted to make breathing exercises simple. I ended up with the idea of a simple guide image that animates in and out to guide your breathing. If you look around now, there are a number of breathing apps would appear to have been inspired by Breathing Zone. Another feature of Breathing Zone that I don’t think any other breathing app has is the ability to change the breathing rate during a breathing session. It’s important to breathe at a comfortable pace, so I wanted to make it easy to adjust the breathing rate at any time with a simple swipe.

What are your future plans and expected features of the coming new versions of this app?

My main focus for future development is in improving the Activity screen to include more stats about your breathing over time. I’m also working to improve the Breathing Rate Monitor.

Assuming new users of your app are reading this page. What do you want to ask them to do (contact you about X, Share the app, etc.)?

I’d like to thank you for using Breathing Zone. If you have any suggestions for the app, please email me at [email protected].