Meditation

Meditation is a short breathing session you can start any time, for example after waking up or before bed. You pick one of four breathing patterns, choose how many minutes, and follow a circle that grows as you breathe in, holds, and shrinks as you breathe out. Finished sessions are saved to your history, count toward your streak, and are added to Apple Health as mindful minutes. It works on your iPhone and on your Apple Watch, and it works offline.

The four sessions

Each session shows its pattern under its name, for example "4 · 4 · 4 · 4". The sessions come with the app, so they are there even if you have never been online.

Starting a session

1. On Home, tap Meditation.
2. Tap a session.
3. Type how many minutes, from 1 to 180. The first time it suggests 5; after that it suggests your last choice.
4. Tap Start. Swipe the keypad away instead if you change your mind; nothing starts.

During the session

• The circle grows while you breathe in, stays still while you hold, and shrinks while you breathe out. The word for each step and the seconds left in it sit inside the circle.
• The time left counts down from the minutes you picked. When it reaches 0:00, the breath you are in finishes first, so a session never stops halfway through a breath.
• A light vibration marks every change of step, so you can follow it with your eyes closed. A different vibration marks the end.
• Pause and Resume whenever you like. Paused time does not count.
• End stops early. Tap the arrow at the top to shrink the session to a bar and keep using the app.
• Closing the app does not stop it. When you come back, the session is exactly where it should be. If it ended while the app was closed, it is saved then.
• With Reduce Motion turned on, the circle stays still and a ring fills up for each step instead.

What gets saved

A session is saved when it lasted at least one minute; anything shorter is not kept. After a session you see the minutes and your streak.

• History. A Meditation card appears on the Personal tab once you have finished a session. It opens your sessions, newest first, with your total sessions, total minutes and your meditation streak. Swipe a session to delete it.
• Streaks. A day with a meditation counts toward your meditation streak and toward your daily streak.
• Apple Health. Each session is added to Apple Health as mindful minutes, counting only the time you were breathing (not paused time). Progress asks for permission the first time. If you say no, the session is still saved in Progress.

On your Apple Watch

1. On the watch, tap Meditation, then a session.
2. Turn the Digital Crown to set the minutes, from 1 to 60, and tap Start.
3. The circle, the step and the time left show on the watch. Your wrist taps on every step: rising for breathe in, falling for breathe out, a click for hold. It keeps going with your wrist down.
4. Swipe sideways for End, Pause/Resume and Discard. Discard asks first and saves nothing.

The watch saves the mindful minutes to Apple Health itself, and the session reaches your phone the next time you open Progress there. It is never counted twice. A meditation running on your phone also shows as a live card at the top of the watch.

One session at a time

Only one live session runs at a time, across your iPhone and your Apple Watch: a meditation, a workout, a run, a free session or a timer. If something is already running, Progress tells you to finish it first and offers to open it.

Where your data lives

Sessions are stored on your phone and, when you are signed in, synced to your account so they come back after a reinstall. They are included when you export your data and deleted when you delete your account. The last number of minutes you picked stays on the device.

What it does not do

• You cannot make your own breathing patterns yet.
• There is no sound, voice guidance or music; guidance is the circle and the vibrations.
• Friends do not see your meditation sessions, and the coach does not read them.
• It is not on Android yet.