[HN Gopher] Show HN: I'm a doctor and built a responsive breathi...
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Show HN: I'm a doctor and built a responsive breathing app for
anxiety and sleep
Hey HN! I'm an NHS doctor and the founder of Pia
(https://www.piahealth.co) which developed Lungy
(https://www.lungy.app). Lungy is an iOS app that responds to
breathing in real-time and was designed to make breathing exercises
more engaging and beneficial to do. It's been two years since Lungy
launched (here's the original ShowHN:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34534615) and it's had a huge
update and complete redesign. We rebuilt the whole app, and added a
real-time 3D soft body solver which gives some really cool
interactions like blobs / objects that inflate as you breathe. We
also made a version for Vision Pro, called 'Lungy Spaces'. My
background is as a surgical trainee and I started building Lungy in
2020 during the first COVID lockdown in London. During COVID, there
were huge numbers of patients coming off ventilators and patients
are often given breathing exercises on a worksheet and disposable
plastic devices called incentive spirometers to encourage deep
breathing. This is intended to prevent chest infections and
strengthen breathing muscles that have weakened. I noticed often
the incentive spirometer would sit by the bedside, whilst the
patient would be on their phone - this was the spark that lead to
Lungy! Since making the first version we've made exercises fully
customisable (you can dial in exact timings for each breath phase),
added new breathing indicators, learning modules, e.g. self-care
for anxiety symptoms, and lots of new visuals. The free version
gives you access to a new breathing exercise each day, whilst
premium unlocks the full library of exercises, exercise data and
visuals.. The visuals are mostly built using Metal (a couple use
SpriteKit) and there are lots to choose from - boids, cloth sims,
fluid sims, a hacky DLA implementation, rigid body + soft body sims
- each one reacts to breath and touch. The audio uses AudioKit with
a polyphonic synth and a sequencer plays generated notes from a
chosen scale (you can mess around with the sequencer and synth in
Settings/Create Music). The nice thing about the visuals + audio
being generative is that the download size is relatively small with
no other downloads. We're still working on improving the breath
detection, using ML - currently, it uses microphone input, with
optional camera input to guide positioning. We're also close to
finishing the medical device version - http://lungy.health -
designed as a pulmonary rehab platform for patients with asthma, it
should hopefully undergo early trials in the UK in 2026. Thanks
for reading - would love to hear any feedback!
https://www.lungy.app Lungy Version 2 here:
https://apps.apple.com/app/apple-store/id1545223887
Author : lukko
Score : 77 points
Date : 2025-06-22 09:40 UTC (13 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (apps.apple.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (apps.apple.com)
| fao_ wrote:
| A friend of mine was working on this exact thing about 2 years
| ago in collaboration with the NHS before Google pulled half their
| stack out from under them. Incredibly sad on the whole but glad
| that it's happening in some form.
| lukko wrote:
| Ah was it based on SpiroSmart at all? It's a smartphone tech
| Google purchased in around 2017 [0].
|
| Yep, it has been tricky to get over the line as a medical
| device and used in the NHS, hence the focus more on wellness
| initially.
|
| [0] https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/alphabet-acquires-
| seno...
| zackify wrote:
| How would you compare to a general meditation app like "Waking
| Up" curious if you've used it.
| lukko wrote:
| In general, Lungy is more an active form of meditation, so
| rather than closing your eyes and listening to guided
| instructions or following a timer, it relies on the combination
| of real-time feedback (showing your breathing with interactive
| visuals) and the physiological effects of changing your breath
| pattern for relaxation. So, you focus on what is going on in
| the moment, as a form of mindfulness.
|
| It's less 'cognitive' than other apps, but a few studies have
| shown breathing exercises are as effective for stress as guided
| meditation, but also much simpler to follow [0]. I'm always
| slightly surprised at how effective breathing is in helping
| relaxation - although it obviously makes a lot of physiological
| sense. So, Lungy is designed to make a practice simple / fun to
| do each day.
|
| [0] https://med.stanford.edu/news/insights/2023/02/cyclic-
| sighin...
| hinkley wrote:
| When I was a boy they called that "biofeedback". Damn kids ruin
| everything.
| lukko wrote:
| Hahaha - we are adding in HRV & heart rate tracking - then I
| think we can officially call it 'biofeedback' :)
| r0fl wrote:
| I tried this when it first came out but it always felt gimmicky
| and didn't work randomly Will give it another try
|
| Great idea and ux
| lukko wrote:
| Cool, thanks - its had quite a few updates since then. Will be
| interested to hear what you think.
| prox wrote:
| Thanks for the reminder, I used to use Lungy a lot. Forgot about
| it.
|
| I just tried v1 again, it blocks me from using it because it
| wants the microphone but I don't want to give access. Can you
| make it optional in settings? Just following the visual is enough
| for me.
|
| Don't think it needed it when I used it. Does v2 also have the
| same issue?
| lukko wrote:
| Yep - it's now fully optional, I think probably just delete the
| old version and go through onboarding again (and select No Mic
| Access). You'll then get a sort of simulated breathing
| response, rather than the actual input.
| subharmonicon wrote:
| I recall the original post about Lungy.
|
| Having had an incentive spirometer prescribed for post-surgical
| use after being on bypass, my experience was that it seemed
| boring and like a waste of time, so anything that makes breathing
| exercises more engaging and feel more worthwhile is a win.
| lukko wrote:
| Yes, exactly - that's what I saw working on post-op wards - the
| spirometer would just sort of sit on the bedside and collect
| dust.
| spondylosaurus wrote:
| Any plans for an Android version? I'd love to try it, but I'm on
| the other side of the Apple App Store wall :(
| sgt wrote:
| My experience is that Android users tend not to want to spend
| money on apps that much, even IAP is tricky. So sometimes it's
| not worth the hassle to go multi platform.
| FirmwareBurner wrote:
| Considering it's a healthcare app, that PoV seems pretty daft
| and somewhat discriminatory. Catering to disabled people also
| isn't mega profitable, but we do it anyway.
|
| An alternative PoV from me could be that going cross-platform
| means you can use the "rich users" iOS sales to subsidize the
| "poverty users" Android sales, same how our society does it
| with healthcare.
| lukko wrote:
| Yes, we would do this for any medical device version - there is
| a hurdle of porting over all the shader code, but actually with
| LLMs it should be much easier. I'm not sure whether to go fully
| Android native, or cross platform though..
| its-summertime wrote:
| There are about 4-5 breathing apps on F-Droid if you don't mind
| something a bit less.
| biglung420 wrote:
| Me and my brethren have been using this tons :) I could most
| respectfully request a breathholding feature, hyping one up to
| hold ones breath for a minute and reminding to pass it left
| amelius wrote:
| FDA approval pending?
| lukko wrote:
| yep - it would be MHRA (UK) initially
| abcd_f wrote:
| Why is it a subscription?
|
| * Why am I in gray? It's a reasonable thing to ask about an app
| with no server-side expenses.
| lukko wrote:
| Why is there a premium version? Lungy did take a long time to
| make and there are ongoing costs even if no server currently.
| This work was pre-LLM - a lot of care and attention went into
| making it and it would not be viable in any way without some
| kind of monetisation.
|
| That said, there is a lifetime access option, so no
| subscription, and the free version is good too.
| abcd_f wrote:
| > Why is there a premium version?
|
| Oh, common, don't twist the question, that's disingenuous.
| Not "a premium version". Why is it a subscription.
|
| Why do think making people make recurrent payments for an
| otherwise static non-service app is reasonable?
|
| $60 for a "lifetime" version is super steep, considering it's
| in the walled garden of the App Store, can't be backed up,
| can't be re-installed if it somehow disappears from the
| store, etc. For a desktop software it could potentially fly,
| but not for an iOS app.
| lukko wrote:
| I think there's a misunderstanding - it's not static, the
| exercises updated regularly and there are frequent updates,
| even if no server. As well as time and development costs,
| there are also ongoing costs from having an app live. If
| recurrent payments don't work then there is a lifetime
| access option ($40), which is lower than many similar apps'
| annual cost. I don't think this is unreasonable at all.
| ungreased0675 wrote:
| The app is beautiful, but too expensive for me.
| wlesieutre wrote:
| I agree, hate how everything is a subscription now but
| $40 is a reasonable price for lifetime access.
|
| For better or worse (mostly worse) developing an iPhone
| app isn't like making software for Windows XP where you
| ship it and it's done and will still run 20 years later
| with no additional work. There will no doubt be ongoing
| expenses and continued development work to keep it
| functional on new devices and new OS versions. So I get
| why subscriptions are a thing (especially since Apple has
| never allowed for paid upgrade pricing), the part I don't
| get is how so many of them think I want to spend
| $15/month forever on an IoT toaster that will
| revolutionize my bagel experience with AI.
| sealeck wrote:
| Just don't buy it?
| admiralrohan wrote:
| Why are you linking your app to anxiety and stress for V2? The
| earlier launch post had no mention of that.
| tetha wrote:
| > We're also close to finishing the medical device version -
| http://lungy.health - designed as a pulmonary rehab platform for
| patients with asthma, it should hopefully undergo early trials in
| the UK in 2026.
|
| This sounds great. Maybe there could also be something to help
| people support an asthma attack, or a beginning one. Breathing
| can be hard folks.
|
| Mostly saying this, because this brought up memories of a
| situation where a woman on a bus had the beginnings of an
| asthmatic attack and then realized she didn't have her inhalator
| on her and started to stress out. The poor bus driver had no idea
| what do to and also started to panic. So I ended up just being
| here, helping her remember techniques like the coachman seat,
| pursed lip breathing, all while I was kinda fighting that on one
| hand, my inhalator is an entirely standard inhalator, but on the
| same time, handing out prescription medication like that can be
| really, really dangerous.
|
| Give this[1] a read, it's good to now :)
|
| 1: https://www.pari.com/int/blog/breathing-excercise-asthma/
| lukko wrote:
| Sounds like you did a really great job - seeing an asthma
| attack unfold can be scary, and you were right to be very
| cautious in sharing your medication.
|
| So, the health version will more be a collection of simple
| interventions which hopefully improve symptom control and
| quality of life, more day-to-day control than in asthma
| attacks.
| mromanuk wrote:
| I'm working on a meditation app, using an llm as a guide. It
| tracks your heart rate using the main camera of the phone, later
| will add breathing. Soon to be released.
| ChrisCinelli wrote:
| I remember this one:
| https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hakjav.hel...
| its-summertime wrote:
| What medical research is this based on? Isn't general breathing
| exercises, generally bunk?
|
| edit: Having any medical-adjacent app collect any data for the
| use of advertising (according to the app page) seems really
| wrong.
| throaway920181 wrote:
| Having done plenty of yoga in my life, I can tell you that
| breathing exercises are not "bunk."
| cnasc wrote:
| If someone said "having taken many doses of basically just
| water in my life, I can tell you that homeopathy is not
| 'bunk'" would you find that to be a convincing argument?
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