Make an app
Make a meditation and breathing app for iPhone
Describe the breathing patterns and sits you like, and Borel builds a native meditation app in SwiftUI: a circle that swells on the in-breath, a soft tap on each change so you can close your eyes, an end bell as a notification, and a log of your minutes. Box breathing, 4-7-8 or your own counts, all on your iPhone.
Updated
“A breathing and meditation app: pick a pattern (box 4-4-4-4, 4-7-8, or my own counts) and a length. A circle grows and shrinks with the breath, the phone taps on each change, and a log shows my minutes per day this month.”
Screens
What a meditation and breathing app needs
The screens Borel builds from the prompt above. Ask for more, fewer or different ones.
Patterns
Box breathing, 4-7-8 and patterns you save, each with its counts.
Session
A full-screen circle that grows and shrinks, with the phase written below.
Timer sit
A silent countdown with interval taps every few minutes.
Log
Minutes per day this month, and the total for the week.
Data
What it keeps
Borel writes these as Swift models. On the phone they work with no connection; in Borel's cloud they follow a signed-in person.
| What | Holds | Kept |
|---|---|---|
| Pattern | Name and seconds for in, hold, out, hold | On the phone, with SwiftData |
| Session | Date, pattern, length in minutes | On the phone, with SwiftData |
Native iPhone features
What it can use on your iPhone
Written in Swift with Apple's own frameworks, so they work the way iPhone owners expect.
Make it yours
What to ask for next
Once the first version runs, ask for changes in the chat, in words like these.
- “Read the phase out loud in a calm voice, using the phone's own speech.”
- “Add a 'sleep' pattern with longer out-breaths and a dimmer screen.”
- “Let me set a daily goal in minutes and show a ring for today.”
How to make it
From a prompt to your iPhone and the App Store
- 1
Describe it
Paste the prompt on this page into Borel, or write your own in plain words. Borel plans the screens with you before it builds.
- 2
Try it in your browser
Borel writes the app in Swift and SwiftUI, builds it with Xcode on its own Mac and opens it in a live iPhone simulator in your browser, free.
- 3
Put it on your iPhone
With Pro, Borel Companion for Windows or Mac installs it on your own iPhone with your Apple ID: a cable the first time, then Wi-Fi.
- 4
Publish it when it's ready
Pro publishes to the App Store from the same project. Apple's Developer Program, $99 a year, is the one thing you pay Apple.
Haptics are the heart of this app, and the simulator can't make your desk vibrate. On your iPhone, close your eyes and follow one round by feel alone. If two phases feel the same, ask Borel to make the hold tap lighter or double.
A breathing app is a good first App Store app: one clear job, no accounts, nothing to moderate. Pro and Apple's Developer Program take it there from the same project.
Building starts free, with 5 free credits a day, up to 30 a month, and the simulator in your browser costs nothing. Pro, from $20 a month, adds installs on your own iPhone through Borel Companion and publishing to the App Store.
Before you start
Good to know
- Borel doesn't add recorded music or nature sounds; the guide is visual, haptic and, if you ask, spoken by the iPhone's own voice.
- Minutes aren't saved to the Health app as mindful minutes; they stay in the app's log.
- It doesn't run on Apple Watch.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. Write the patterns and counts you use, and Borel writes the animation, timing and taps in Swift.
The end of a sit can arrive as a notification the iPhone schedules, so you hear it even with the screen off.
Yes. Borel can use the iPhone's built-in speech voice to say 'breathe in' and 'breathe out' at each phase.
Yes. The animation runs in the live iPhone simulator in your browser. Only the taps need the real phone.
Make your meditation and breathing app
Start from the prompt on this page, change it to fit your idea, and Borel builds it while you watch.