Guided wind-down breathing for the minutes before bed: 4-7-8, slow resonance breathing and more, paced by a calm visual and gentle haptic taps you can follow with your eyes closed. Free on iPhone, no account.
An app can't make you sleep, but it can help with the thing that's usually stopping you: a body and mind still in alert mode. Slow breathing is the most direct way to dial that down. In a small 2015 lab study, people with insomnia fell asleep faster after 20 minutes of breathing at six breaths a minute, and a 2026 review of nine studies found people report better sleep after slow breathing at bedtime. BreathFly paces that breathing for you, so you don't have to count in the dark.
Pick by how you feel when the lights go off. Each exercise in the app shows the study or expert it comes from.
Best when you're tired but your head won't stop.
About 5.5 to 6 breaths a minute, the pace used in the sleep studies. Across more than 200 studies, slow breathing raises heart-rate variability, a sign the nervous system is shifting toward rest.
Best if a long exhale and a hold settle you.
Inhale 4, hold 7, exhale 8. Dr. Weil calls it "a natural tranquilizer for the nervous system." It's a classic wind-down ritual. If the hold makes you tense, switch to resonance breathing.
Best when you get into bed wound up.
Two inhales through the nose, one long exhale through the mouth. In a month-long trial, five minutes a day improved mood and slowed resting breathing more than mindfulness meditation. Use a few rounds to settle, then switch to something slower.
Counting breaths is thinking, and thinking is what keeps you up. BreathFly does the counting so your head doesn't have to.
Gentle haptic taps mark each inhale, hold and exhale. Start the session, put the phone face-down, close your eyes, and breathe with the taps.
A soft shape expands as you breathe in and contracts as you breathe out. There's no narrator to follow and no story to stay awake for.
Set a reminder for lights-out. Tapping it opens straight into your wind-down exercise, so the routine runs even on nights you'd forget.
Breathing works best as part of a routine. These steps come from sleep-medicine guidance and the studies behind it. The full reasoning is in our guide to falling asleep faster.
Five minutes, specific tasks. In a randomized sleep-lab study, it helped people fall asleep faster than writing about finished tasks.
Heavy eyelids, not just a tired body. Lying awake hoping for sleep teaches your brain that bed means being awake.
Start a slow exercise in BreathFly, phone face-down, eyes closed. Soft breaths, a longer exhale. Don't force them.
Watching the time adds pressure, and effort keeps you alert. If you catch yourself trying hard, rest and let sleep come when it comes.
Sit somewhere dim and do something calm until you're sleepy. It's the American Academy of Sleep Medicine's own advice.
Three or more nights a week for three months is chronic insomnia. CBT-I is the first-line treatment, and breathing fits alongside it.
Yes. BreathFly is a breathing app that helps you sleep by guiding slow, wind-down breathing in the minutes before bed. It is free to download on iPhone, the core exercises need no account, and every bedtime exercise is paced by a visual and gentle haptic taps so you can follow it with your eyes closed.
The evidence is promising. A 2026 systematic review of nine studies found people report longer and better sleep after slow breathing before bed, though objective sleep measurements are still mixed. In a small lab study, people with insomnia fell asleep faster after 20 minutes of breathing at about six breaths a minute. Slow breathing also reliably shifts the nervous system toward its rest state.
Slow breathing at around six breaths a minute, with an exhale a little longer than the inhale, has the most direct sleep research. 4-7-8 breathing is a popular extended-exhale alternative if you like a breath hold. If you feel wound up rather than just awake, a few rounds of cyclic sighing first can take the edge off. BreathFly includes all three.
Ten to twenty minutes is a good target. The sleep studies that showed benefits mostly used sessions in that range. Even a few minutes helps you settle, and BreathFly lets you set the session length or number of cycles to match.
Yes. Haptic taps mark every inhale, hold and exhale, so once a session starts you can put the phone face-down or close your eyes and follow the rhythm by feel. There is no narrator to listen to and nothing to read.
No. Breathing exercises are a relaxation tool, and relaxation is one recommended part of insomnia care, but if you struggle to sleep three or more nights a week for three months, see a doctor. Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) is the first-line treatment, and BreathFly works well alongside it.
Guided wind-down breathing with visual and haptic pacing, plus a bedtime reminder that opens straight into it. Free on the App Store, no account.
