A Headspace alternative for breathing

Try two minutes before you decide

You don't need to download anything to find out if this is your kind of thing. Tap Breathe along above, or count for yourself.

1. Stay however you're sitting. Let your shoulders drop.
2. Breathe in gently through your nose for five counts.
3. Breathe out for five counts. Soft and even, not forced.
4. Keep the rhythm going for two minutes. If your mind wanders, pick the count back up on the next breath.
5. Notice how you feel. If that's what you were opening Headspace for, a breathing app may be all you need.

What you'd be giving up

Headspace is a big library: guided meditations, courses, sleepcasts, focus music, and on some plans coaching and therapy. Orris has none of that. There are no meditations, no stories, and no voice in your ear. If those are the reasons you open Headspace, Orris won't replace them, and you should keep what's working.

What Orris does have is breathing, done with care. Eight patterns, a shape that grows and shrinks with your breath, and vibrations you can follow with your eyes closed. A session takes one to three minutes.

It's a good swap if

You mostly open Headspace for the breathing exercises.

That's all Orris does. You open it, pick how you want to feel, and you're breathing a few seconds later.

You'd rather not be talked to.

Orris has no narration. You follow a shape with your eyes or vibrations in your hand, and the room stays quiet.

You're paying for a library you don't open.

Every breathing pattern in Orris is free, with no trial that runs out.

You'd rather not have an account.

There isn't one. Your sessions stay on your phone, and in Apple Health if you turn that on.

Stay with Headspace if

Guided meditation is your practice.

A voice leading you through a body scan or a course is a different thing from paced breathing. Orris doesn't do it.

Sleepcasts or music are how you fall asleep.

Orris can slow your breathing before bed, but it won't tell you a story.

You use coaching or therapy there, or your employer or health plan pays for it.

Keep it. There's nothing to save by leaving, and you can use Orris alongside it.

You're not on an iPhone.

Orris is iPhone only for now.

Where to start in Orris

Think about the reason you usually opened Headspace, and start there.

To calm down

To fall asleep

To steady yourself or focus

If you decide to switch

It takes about a minute, and you don't have to cancel anything first.

• Download Orris and open it. There's no sign-up.
• Tell it what brings you here: calm, sleep, focus, or just curious. Your first week is built around your answer.
• Pick a time of day for a gentle reminder, or skip it.
• Do one short session a day for a week and see how it sits.

You don't have to choose, either. Plenty of people keep a meditation app and use something simpler for breathing. If you do end up leaving Headspace, cancel it where you signed up. Deleting an app doesn't cancel a subscription.

About the Sword Health news

Headspace was bought by Sword Health, a digital health company, and the deal closed on October 1, 2026. Headspace says nothing is changing for now: not your subscription, not the price, not the app. You don't need to do anything.

If the news made you take a fresh look at what you actually use, that's reason enough to try something simpler. Orris is a small independent app, paid for by an optional subscription rather than by ads or by selling data.

Questions people ask

More to explore

Breathing for sleep · Breathing for anxiety · See all eight patterns