Calm in the palm of your hand.

A handheld device that guides true box breathing with light and vibration. No phone. No app. No subscription.

In development · Launching on Kickstarter

BB-01 held in one hand in warm morning light

When your mind won't slow down.

Apps ask you to open your phone — the very thing you're escaping. This is a physical tool you grab.

Press one button. Breathe.

Try it now

Feel how it works.

Follow the light around the square. Left brightens as you inhale, top holds, right dims as you exhale, bottom holds.

Eyes open

→ Follow the light.

Eyes closed

→ Follow the vibration.

What it isn't.

No phone required
Nothing to unlock, nothing to scroll.
No app, no account
Nothing to download or sign up for.
No subscription, ever
Buy it once. It's yours.
No sensors
It guides your breathing — it doesn't track you.

BB-01 with its left light bar glowing amber

The technique

Built on the 4·4·4·4 technique.

Box breathing — inhale, hold, exhale, hold, four counts each — is a technique taught to first responders, military personnel, and elite athletes. BB-01 simply keeps the count for you, so you can let go of it.

Size: 70×70×26 mm
Controls: One button
Paces: 4s and 3s
Session: 8 cycles (~2 min)
Power: USB-C rechargeable
Dark mode: Lights off, vibration continues

BB-01 prototype controls and USB-C port — Prototype details.

BB-01 prototype opened on a workbench — Inside the current prototype.

BB-01 prototype engineering drawings showing the electrical schematic, enclosure layout, and breathing cue timing — Engineering drawings for the current prototype — electrical schematic, enclosure layout, and cue timing.

Christopher Schroeder, founder of Built From Experience and U.S. Navy veteran

A note from the founder

Built by a Military veteran who uses it himself.

I learned box breathing in uniform. Four counts in, hold, out, hold — it's what you're taught to do when your heart is pounding and you still have a job to do.

Years later, living on my own, I found myself needing it again — usually at 2 a.m., in a quiet house, with my mind refusing to slow down. Every breathing app I tried wanted me to open my phone first. The phone was the last thing I needed in my hand.

So I built the tool I actually wanted: something solid I can grab off the nightstand, press once, and follow — by light, or by feel with my eyes closed. No screen. No account. No subscription. Just the four counts, in the palm of my hand.

I built the BB-01 for me first. If it helps you the way it helps me, it did its job.

— Christopher Schroeder

Founder, Built From Experience · U.S. Navy Veteran

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One email, when BB-01 launches on Kickstarter.