If you think you'd benefit from a mind-clearing relaxation exercise, then this app could be just the tonic. Pause is a meditation app with a simple objective – to get you to try, just try – to move your finger around the screen very, very slowly for the prescribed 10 minutes without stopping. If you succeed first time without checking how long you have left, then you must be a Zen master.
If, like us, you love a bit of multi-screening, you might find this enforced break hard, but also incredibly beneficial. And you won’t even have to put down your iPhone.
As the name suggests, the aim here is to get you to pause, to restore your focus and calm your mind. Thanks to a super simple design the app leads you straight into the meditation with no set up process.
For beginners the default is set to 10 minutes of time-out but there’s no limit to how long Pause will help you to meditate – and what’s really brilliant is that with the latest update, Pause will automatically sync with your Health app so that you can record and track your meditation stats.
You begin by following a coloured dot with your finger as it floats around the screen and continue until the colour fills your display. (Top tip: wait until the dot changes to a colour that you like before you start as you’ll be looking at this same shade for a while.) Move your finger at speed and you’ll be told you're going too fast. Go too slowly and the meditation will temporarily stop. A bell will tell you when you’re allowed to press play on your day again.
A little experiment using the heart rate monitor on the Apple Watch demonstrated that 10 minutes using the app can help to reduce your heart rate while you sit at your desk. We went from 80bpm to 65bpm even with the buzz of the office continuing in the background.
Mid meditation, Pause will challenge you to close your eyes and at this point it may feel like time itself has stopped. Listen to the soft music and birdsong to keep you going. Try not to cheat. Don’t peek. Relax.