Breathable Air Quality Widget4.5 - App Store

Air quality has become an increasing concern for many people around the globe. While stressing about it constantly isn't necessarily helpful, the goal of Breathable is to provide a quick, glanceable answer to a new daily question: Is it safe to go outside?

Breathable is a free Air Quality Index (AQI) app and widgets for all of your devices, with support for iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Apple Vision Pro, and macOS. Customize widgets, track and chart historical AQI data, visualize trends, and stay aware of the air pollution risks around you and your loved ones. Trends data is automatically synced between all of your devices using iCloud.

Breathable uses AQI data from multiple worldwide services-IQAir.com, PurpleAir, The World Air Quality Index Project-as well as AirNow.gov in the US. All of these services offer free accounts and API access for personal use. Configure multiple services or just one. Set your preference for highest reading, highest reading PM2.5 only, or prefer a specific service’s findings. Across all services, Breathable uses the United States Air Quality Index model for values and band descriptions, so you can always understand the reading regardless of its source.

Breathable can automatically fetch the air quality for your current location, or you can manually search for locations (postal code, place name, partial or full address) or select a point on the world map. Coordinates are only used to request AQI data and are NEVER shared with Karbon or any other third parties.

Customize how your widgets look by selecting from our large list of fonts, toggling visibility of various data points, and use Breathable's Emoji Scale for a friendlier look at conditions. Customize Emoji Scale using one of our provided sets or choose your own emoji for each scale value.

It’s easy to get started: Simply create your free API account(s), enable automatic location, customize your widgets, and add them to your device. API keys will automatically sync with iCloud, enabling a simple one-time API key setup across all of your devices.

We wish Breathable didn't need to exist. Climate change is real and devastating, and we don't have much time left to stop it from becoming irreversible. Read. Get involved. Let's protect our planet and ourselves. You can read more about how Breathable is trying to help make a difference in the global fight against climate change by visiting breathable.app/impact.

Version History This release is focused on making Trends smoother and reducing unnecessary storage of historical data. On first launch on each device, Breathable may spend extra time processing Trends. This is a one-time optimization.

Syncing & Chart Performance
* Fixed a bug where readings synced from other devices could disappear from Trends. Readings hidden by this bug return automatically after first-launch processing
* Trends keeps full 15-minute detail for the last 30 days and now thins older readings in stages. This has no material impact on how your history is visualized, but it keeps Breathable's database small on every device and in iCloud, and improves chart performance
* The Week chart now shows hourly averages and the Year chart shows two-day averages. Week is smoother without losing clarity, and Year is far more detailed. The average AQI is now weighted, so gaps in data no longer skew it
* Trends no longer jumps back to "now" or stutters while readings sync in the background
* The current AQI shown in widgets and Trends now appears in your history immediately, even if a different device fetched it and had yet to sync it to the history database. Previously, it could lag behind until iCloud sync caught up
* The "Processing Trends" bar now stays up until processing actually finishes

Other Improvements
* The syncing indicator in Trends now appears above the chart controls on iPhone
* Apple Watches now get unique identifiers in the Trends device list
* The Release Notes archive in Help Center now always shows the current version 4.5 Oct 6 Breathable is ready for iOS 27, iPadOS 27 and watchOS 27!

* Refraction updates to the Breathable app icon
* Minor bug fixes and performance improvements 4.4 Sep 23 The primary goal of this release was to greatly improve the speed and efficiency of processing trends and recording backlogs:

Improved & Fixed
* Added the current AQI value to Trends view's header, in addition to the existing chart average AQI. Trends is now a place you can get both historical data but also glance the current AQI without having to leave the app to view a widget
* Trends will now show a determinate progress bar when importing large reading backlogs
* The "Processing Trends" stage is dramatically faster after long gaps between Breathable launches: Readings from the same location are now geocoded in batches together instead of one at a time and Watch entries now properly pipe their geocoded place names through
* Widgets now update the moment any part of Breathable fetches a new reading instead of waiting for their own refresh schedule
* visionOS window ornaments also now pick up readings fetched by widgets immediately and will therefore no longer display a different value than the widgets 4.3 Sep 7 Thanks to feedback from Apple Watch users, we've found and fixed issues with location staleness on the platform:

Fixed
- Apple Watch could display AQI readings for a previous location even when 'Always use current location' was enabled

Changed
- Configuration settings are now sent to Watch more reliably, even if the Watch app isn't open when they're sent. They'll be applied the next time Watch wakes
- Changing your preferred data source now syncs to Watch immediately
- Watch gets more time to acquire a GPS fix during background updates, so complications refresh more dependably
- Watch now resolves place names on its own, Apple Watch with Cellular should now show accurate places even when away from iPhone 4.1.2 Sep 1 A small but important fix for widgets across all platforms:

Fixed
* Widget background updates could be terminated by the system while saving reading history, which could cause missed updates and, on macOS, eventually cause Breathable's widgets to disappear from the widget gallery entirely
* Readings fetched by widgets are now stored safely and saved to Trends the next time Breathable runs
* On macOS, if Breathable is missing from your widget gallery: Delete Breathable, restart your Mac, and reinstall Breathable

Apologies for the impact if your widgets disappeared on your Mac! 4.1.1 Aug 20 A total rewrite of Apple Watch settings synchronization!

Improved & Fixed
* Rewrote the entirety of the Apple Watch settings synchronization pipeline and hardened it against many edge cases or low network risks. Apple Watch settings sync happens more frequently, more reliably, and can recover from failures in network failure cases
* Fixed a bug where Apple Watch complications could become frozen due location timeouts
* Fixed a bug where Apple Watch location could be stale in several situations
* Fixed a bug where Apple Watch settings could get overwritten with stale settings in rare conditions
* Fixed a bug where Apple Watch would not receive settings in certain situations
* Fixed a bug where Apple Watch settings were not getting synchronized when preferred source changed 4.1 Aug 16 Another quick release, more tweaks and changes:

New
- Added menu bar items on iPad where appropriate
- Moved macOS menu bar items around a bit to me more logical
- Widened the maximum width of Breathable on macOS to give it a little more—ahem—Breathing room
- Tweaked the clear version of the app icon on all platforms to look a little better

Fixed
- In some conditions on Mac, Breathable was not fetching AQI at intervals even when open
- Occasionally when launching Breathable or re-opening the Breathable window, in a future version of macOS, the sidebar would be floating above content erroneously

And, of course, everything else that landed in 4.0 and 4.0.1. 4.0.2 Aug 10 Hot on the heels of our huge 4.0 update, some fast-follow fixes and additions:

New
- Breathable now fetches AQI data even without widgets, directly from the app, where possible. On macOS, simply keep Breathable running (even without a visible window) to always have up-to-date AQI information. On other platforms, any time the app is open in the foreground, AQI will be fetched regularly
- You can now favorite a location in Trends to ensure your charts always default to that location. If you don't set a favorite, Trends will now use your current location when auto-location is enabled, or the location with the most recent reading
- Greatly improved deletion of data from Trends, especially when deleting large chunks (e.g. a whole city), and added a blocking modal when this deletion is in progress

Fixed
- On visionOS, we accidentally regressed background materials app-wide just before launch—bigtime oops
- On visionOS, we also didn't notice that the Emoji Scale picker was missing eye tracking hover affordances
- When choosing fonts for the Small widget, large gauge mode + Emoji Scale + "Show numeric AQI value" was missing a way to customize the font for that value
- In some cases, the primary pollutant was being truncated on smaller watches or in high AQI scenarios in the Trends complication on Apple Watch. Now the pollutant will be omitted if it cannot fit instead of being truncated

And, of course, everything else that landed in 4.0. Thank you for your support! 4.0.1 Aug 7 Breathable 4.0 is our biggest update yet! We've rewritten and redesigned from the ground up across every platform and added native support for Apple Vision Pro!

New Services, Historical Data, and Syncing: We've added support for PurpleAir and World Air Quality Index, and Breathable now supports any combination of services rather than requiring any specific key. We've greatly improved our key validation and syncing to iCloud. And, speaking of iCloud: Breathable now syncs AQI data to iCloud and across all of your devices, greatly reducing the number of required API calls and improving data quality anywhere you use the app. We also store historical data for every request, sync that history across devices, and use it to build a whole new feature: Trends!

Trends: Explore your air quality history in the new Trends tab with an interactive chart. Filter by location, recording device, or AQI source. Tap any point in the chart to view details, or drill into the All Data view for a granular look at every recording.

Automatic Location: Our most requested feature is here! You can now set Breathable to automatically use your location instead of managing and providing manual coordinates. Turn this on and Breathable will properly record AQI information and provide location-accurate widget information.

Spatial Features: We're so excited to bring Breathable to Apple Vision Pro! Not only are all of the app features available in native form on your headset, but we've added some special Vision Pro-specific bonuses:
- AQI Sky Window widget: A larger widget that shows the current AQI in a simulated window with real sun positions, moon phase, time of day and volumetric effects
- The Breathable "Trophy": Snap this little object to your desk or shelf and you'll have an AQI sensor in your physical space. And, if you turn it around and look at the back side, you might find a nice little surprise feature...
- A current AQI ornament hanging off the top of the Breathable window, and the ability to split off the Trends view as well if you want to leave it in your space without seeing the rest of the app

macOS, iPadOS and watchOS Overhauls: We rewrote the core of these platforms to greatly improve their look & feel and syncing engines.
- Breathable on macOS now supports a native sidebar, better font sizing, updated shortcuts and system menu support, and more
- On iPad, Breathable now supports native window resizing!
- watchOS gets an all-new AQI fetching and syncing system, a new rectangular Trends widget, migration of all previous widgets to WidgetKit, and more

Siri & Shortcuts: Now you can ask Siri, "What's the AQI in Breathable?" and Siri will give you the most recent AQI data Breathable has, and even offer to fetch fresh data if needed. On devices with screens, Siri will also display AQI details. We've also added Shortcuts support for fetching the AQI from Breathable directly.

We've refined and updated nearly every aspect of the app on every platform, we couldn't possibly list every change but here are the broad strokes:
- Breathable is prepared for the upcoming OS releases on all platforms
- Liquid Glass support throughout, new app icon (including dark mode and transparent mode support)
- Completely redesigned the Medium widget, refined the Small widget, added custom font support in widgets
- API keys now properly report when they've expired or usage has gone over a limit, including showing a warning on widgets themselves
- Completely rewrote the custom AQI gauge with flexibility and resizing features
- Preferred source selector in Widget customization now allows for Highest or Highest PM2.5-only, for those who prefer to only worry about particles instead of O3 readings
- Breathable now communicates in widgets when location sharing is turned off but needed, or API keys are invalid
- Many, many more fixes and changes! 4.0 Aug 4 This is a minor compatibility update as we work on larger changes to support new OSes. This update will keep you running on all platforms, but will be the final release to support OS versions prior to 26.

- Updated URLs in the FAQ entry for setting up IQAir.com keys to point to correct pages 3.0.2 09/15/2025 In version 3.0.1:

- Fixed an embarrassing misspelling of a famous French landmark. Je suis désolé.

Plus, everything that was new in 3.0:

- Added support for Lock Screen widgets (circular, rectangular and inline)
- Added support for StandbyMode (uses the small widget style and customization options)
- Added dark mode and tinted mode support for the Breathable app icon
- Added full tint mode support for home screen widgets
- Added a new gradient widget style, which looks especially lovely in dark mode
- Added a new widget style selector to make customization easier/clearer
- Added all new emoji supported by Apple since last major Breathable release
- Added additional Emoji Scale sets, retired some older unused sets
- Added a refresh button to the Apple Watch app to allow for manual updates directly on Watch
- Added updated common issues to Help Center and improved FAQ list with new entries
- Improved emoji picker category UI added haptics on taps
- Improved caching and scheduling of API calls to better utilize API key limits
- Improved sharing of recent AQI data between widgets on same device
- Redesigned and modernized the Apple Watch app (requires watchOS 11 or later)
- Redesigned and overhauled macOS app to increase font sizes and modernize app layout
- Redesigned the Coordinates view for clarity and usability
- Redesigned, simplified and clarified widget configuration UI
- Redesigned and greatly simplified UI for API keys view

Please note: This is the final release of Breathable to support iOS/iPadOS 17, watchOS 10 and macOS 14. Future versions of Breathable will require iOS/iPadOS 18, watchOS 11 and macOS 15 or later.

As always, we appreciate your patience and support! 3.0.1 01/13/2025 We're excited to release Breathable 3.0, packed full of new features, fixes and improvements:

- Added support for Lock Screen widgets (circular, rectangular and inline)
- Added support for StandbyMode (uses the small widget style and customization options)
- Added dark mode and tinted mode support for the Breathable app icon
- Added full tint mode support for home screen widgets
- Added a new gradient widget style, which looks especially lovely in dark mode
- Added a new widget style selector to make customization easier/clearer
- Added all new emoji supported by Apple since last major Breathable release
- Added additional Emoji Scale sets, retired some older unused sets
- Added a refresh button to the Apple Watch app to allow for manual updates directly on Watch
- Added updated common issues to Help Center and improved FAQ list with new entries

- Improved emoji picker category UI added haptics on taps
- Improved caching and scheduling of API calls to better utilize API key limits
- Improved sharing of recent AQI data between widgets on same device

- Redesigned and modernized the Apple Watch app (requires watchOS 11 or later)
- Redesigned and overhauled macOS app to increase font sizes and modernize app layout
- Redesigned the Coordinates view for clarity and usability
- Redesigned, simplified and clarified widget configuration UI
- Redesigned and greatly simplified UI for API keys view

Please note: This is the final release of Breathable to support iOS/iPadOS 17 and watchOS 10. Future versions of Breathable will require iOS/iPadOS 18 and watchOS 11 or later.

As always, we appreciate your patience and support! 3.0 11/27/2024 Hello, friends! After a very long (longer than planned) hiatus, here's a minor update to get Breathable back on track. We've received lots of feedback about AQI data not showing, and so we've updated our FAQs to make it clearer how to replace expiring API keys (this is free and quick). Additionally, we've updated the minimum required versions across all platforms to more modern releases. We also added dark mode and tintable icons for the newest iOS release.

Note: Due to changes in how complications work over the years, you may need to remove/re-add the Breathable complication on your Watch faces. We apologize for the inconvenience.

This initial release is only the first step in bringing Breathable into the modern era with some new features. Thanks for your support and patience! 2.3 09/23/2024 In this release:

• Fixed an issue where the “use pure black in dark mode” setting made dark mode widgets permanently pure black, even if you toggled the setting off. This fix required resetting that UI preference, but it works correctly now you can can toggle it again if you’d like!
• Fixed an issue where you couldn’t clear an API key if it was invalid if iCloud syncing was enabled for Breathable

Recently, in versions 2.0 and 2.1:

• Breathable now supports Apple Watch!
• More complications, including Modular and Utility!
• More accurate widget timestamps and data fetching behavior!
• Support for new widget sizes and futuristic versions of operating systems! 2.2 09/26/2021 In this release:

• Added support for more complications, including Modular and Utility!
• Updated Watch app initial flow to better explain how to get help with initial setup
• Added additional Watch app information to Help Center, including detailed steps for troubleshooting initial setup

Still brand-new in version 2.0:

Breathable now supports Apple Watch!

• A new Breathable Watch app is available
• The Watch app shares configuration with the iPhone app, so your API keys, coordinates and API data preference will be automatically shared to Breathable on Apple Watch
• Gauge complication support for all Watch face styles (corner, circular and bezel)
• The Breathable Watch app will also show you the current value and related information if you tap the complication or launch the app directly
• If you launch the Breathable Watch app without configuring the iPhone app first, the Watch app will give you information about how to proceed
• Added some helpful Watch-related features to Help Center in the main app on iPhone if a Watch is connected

Widget improvements:

• Breathable was previously reporting the AQI data’s date as the date fetched in larger widgets, which led to user confusion: “Why is my data from 6PM today when it’s 8PM?” But sometimes API data will deliver older data if the value hasn’t changed. Instead, Breathable now reports the actual time it fetched the data, even if the data was stale. This has two benefits: First, it means you’ll always know when the last actual fetch time was, and second, this resolves a bug in the widget where you could see “Today, 8PM” past midnight into the next day. Widgets should feel more accurate, more frequently.
• Both widget types now share their API data preference (done to better support Apple Watch version). Most users were likely already setting the same value for both widget types, but now the setting is shared between both.

And:

• Support for new widget sizes and futuristic versions of operating systems
• Fixed an issue widget examples in the welcome flow wouldn’t properly animate 2.1 09/22/2021 New in version 2.0:

Breathable now supports Apple Watch!

• A new Breathable Watch app is available
• The Watch app shares configuration with the iPhone app, so your API keys, coordinates and API data preference will be automatically shared to Breathable on Apple Watch
• Gauge complication support for all Watch face styles (corner, circular and bezel)
• The Breathable Watch app will also show you the current value and related information if you tap the complication or launch the app directly
• If you launch the Breathable Watch app without configuring the iPhone app first, the Watch app will give you information about how to proceed
• Added some helpful Watch-related features to Help Center in the main app on iPhone if a Watch is connected

Widget improvements:

• Breathable was previously reporting the AQI data’s date as the date fetched in larger widgets, which led to user confusion: “Why is my data from 6PM today when it’s 8PM?” But sometimes API data will deliver older data if the value hasn’t changed. Instead, Breathable now reports the actual time it fetched the data, even if the data was stale. This has two benefits: First, it means you’ll always know when the last actual fetch time was, and second, this resolves a bug in the widget where you could see “Today, 8PM” past midnight into the next day. Widgets should feel more accurate, more frequently.
• Both widget types now share their API data preference (done to better support Apple Watch version). Most users were likely already setting the same value for both widget types, but now the setting is shared between both.

And:

• Support for new widget sizes and futuristic versions of operating systems
• Fixed an issue widget examples in the welcome flow wouldn’t properly animate 2.0 09/22/2021 We're working on some fun new features, but for now here's a quick maintenance release:

- Help Center articles now properly respect dark or light mode system settings
- Help Center email links will now, ahem, actually allow to you send an email to support (sorry about that!) 1.5 08/15/2021 - Three new emoji sets, two created by Breathable user Elizabeth! (Have a fun emoji set you'd like to share with other users? Email a screenshot to support@karbon.agency.)
- Fix for an incorrect AQI range description in the Customize Emoji view
- Curling of non-curled quotes throughout the app
- Several accessibility improvements 1.4 07/26/2021 Thank you so much for supporting Breathable! We’re looking forward to announcing our first donation to climate change initiatives at the end of our first month of sales.

In the mean time, here’s what’s new in version 1.3:

Help Center
- Collects a few common issues and solutions in one place—right in the app—including a rare issue where Breathable doesn’t immediately show up in the system widget list (and how to solve it!)
- Added a force reload button for rare cases where a widget might not update after a UI change
- Additional links to FAQs, emailing support, and our privacy policy

API Keys:
- Required and recommended text will now only be highlighted if keys haven’t been entered/verified for those fields 1.3 07/25/2021 Completely overhauled the coordinates configuration view and functionality:
• When valid coordinates are entered, Breathable will now also provide a location description (for example: "Cupertino, CA") which will help you visually verify your coordinates are correct
• You can now search coordinates by typing in any part of a location—postal code, place name, or partial or full address
• Completely removed the optional ZipCodeAPI service from the app, as its no longer needed

API Keys:
• You can now verify your API keys to ensure they're entered correctly and work
• Fixed a rare case where API keys might not be properly synced to iCloud
• Prevented a possible crash when entering an API key with bad characters

• Improved tap targets in various areas of the Widget UI and Customize Emoji views
• Improved how pop-up menus work in Widget UI form
• Many future-looking improvements throughout the app for our friends living on the cutting edge of technology
• Replaced straight quotes with curly quotes throughout the app 1.2 07/20/2021 • Customize Emoji Scale! Choose from one of several pre-made, sometimes-goofy sets, or pick your own emoji for each value on the AQI scale
• Added a slider to the Widget UI preview so you can change the sample index and see what your widget will look like at each value
• Some visual cleanup in Widget UI settings to improve readability 1.1 07/07/2021 1.0 06/29/2021