title: Breathing view description: Orb visualization and pacing for box, belly, and Coherent breathing.
Breathing view
The Execute screen's alternative rendering — when the active block is a breathing block (built on guided breath phases), RhythmFit shows the orb instead of the metronome's normal phase display.
For the breathing scenarios themselves, see Breathing practice. This page covers the screen specifically.
What you see
The orb (center, large)
Pulses with the breath. Expands during inhale, holds during the hold-in phase, contracts during exhale, holds during hold-out.
Color shifts subtly between phases:
- Inhale — brand orange, brightening.
- Hold-in — peak brightness, slight halo pulse.
- Exhale — cooling toward blue.
- Hold-out — minimum, small steady ring.
Current phase label (above the orb)
"Inhale", "Hold", "Exhale", "Hold" — whichever is current.
Pattern indicator (below the orb)
"4-4-4-4" / "5.5-5.5" / "4-6". Subtle, just for orientation.
Cycle counter
Bottom-left, small. "Cycle 3 / 8" — how many complete breaths through the block. The block ends on a complete cycle (rounds down from the duration).
Remaining time
Bottom-right, small. Total block time remaining. Doesn't dominate the visual — by design, you should be focused on the orb.
Control row
Standard execute controls — Pause, Skip, End — at the very bottom.
The orb's visual language
The orb's animation is intentional. We tried five variations during development and landed on this for a reason:
- No number countdowns mid-phase. Counting numbers while breathing produces a beat-counting cognitive load that defeats the purpose. The orb shows the phase progress visually, no counting needed.
- Soft motion curves. Easing functions tuned to feel organic — no linear ramps. The orb decelerates as it approaches each endpoint, mimicking real breath dynamics.
- No haptic on the phone. The visual carries the rhythm. Haptic on the wrist (if Watch is paired) plays a single tap at the start of each inhale only — too much haptic competes with the breath.
What if I close my eyes?
Most breathing practice is best with eyes closed. The orb is non-essential — once you know the pattern, you can run it from the audio cues alone.
The coach voice on breathing blocks says the phase word at the start of each phase: "Inhale" / "Hold" / "Exhale" / "Hold." Volume is lower than the workout coach (matches the Whisper persona by default if you haven't picked something else).
On the watch, the wrist tap at the start of each inhale is what keeps you in sync with the orb without looking.
Audio sources during breathing
Breathing blocks run without the metronome — there's nothing to click against. By default they are silent apart from the coach voice. To add a bed of sound, open the Music Picker and choose a calm playlist or album from your Apple Music library.
The metronome doesn't activate on breathing blocks — even if the block has a BPM set, a block with guided breath phases always renders as a breathing block.
Skipping to the next phase
Sometimes you want to bail on a hold mid-block. Tap Skip to skip the block (not just the phase). Within a phase, the orb can't be advanced manually — you ride it out or skip the whole block.
This is deliberate. Manual phase advance would defeat the autonomic training; if you don't have time, run a shorter block, don't cut a long one short.