Does Hushbreath need the microphone?

No. Hushbreath rituals use prerecorded guidance and do not require the microphone. The microphone experiment is a separate, optional test in Settings. It does not monitor your sleep or change the breathing instructions. If you simply want to listen to a guided ritual, you can leave that experiment aside.

Guidance is not a recording of your breathing

It helps to separate two different things: the voice you hear during a ritual and the optional microphone experiment. The ritual follows its recorded guidance; it is not waiting for you to speak or measuring whether you have matched a rhythm. The public product description explicitly says the microphone does not adapt the guided breathing rhythm. Do not interpret a session as a personalised breathing assessment.

Start with the listening session

Choose a ritual that fits the time you have and read its description. Sessions range from 5 to 20 minutes. Start playback and choose a comfortable listening volume. You do not need to first open the microphone experiment, make a test recording or complete a microphone setup to use the ritual. For a simple first experience, focus on whether the voice is clear and the length suits you.

Headphones are a choice, not a microphone requirement

You can listen with headphones or through the phone speaker. Start the ritual, then lock the screen if you prefer: audio can continue with the screen locked. Choose the output that suits your surroundings, especially if someone else is nearby. Connecting headphones for listening does not mean you need to use the separate microphone experiment.

If the guidance is too quiet

Check the phone’s media volume and the voice and background volume sliders. If headphones disconnect, playback pauses; reconnect them and resume. These are the troubleshooting steps described by Hushbreath support. A quiet recording or paused session is not a reason to enable the optional microphone test. Start by checking playback and where the sound is being sent.

Keep the first session simple

For example, choose the session, settle the phone somewhere convenient and listen without exploring every setting. Afterwards, note one preference: whether you liked the voice, the background sound or the session length. This is an optional way to organise your listening, not an app requirement or a measure of breathing performance.

Access and expectations

One complete five-minute Sigh of relief session can be tried once without a card or subscription. Further access is paid through a monthly or annual auto-renewing subscription or a one-time Lifetime purchase. The introductory session is not a subscription free trial. Hushbreath is for relaxation and general wellbeing; it does not diagnose or treat conditions or guarantee sleep.