Lightening Up

Settle in

Choose the time between bells and the number of intervals, choose Cymbal, Bell, Bowl, Gong, or Wood, then tap Start. An optional countdown gives you time to settle. A bell opens the session, bells mark the intervals, and two strikes mark the end.

Session start countdown

In Options (…) → Session start countdown, tap the row to reveal the picker below it. Choose how long to settle before the opening bell: any whole second from 0 through 60, with 0 meaning off. The default is five seconds. This setting is saved locally on each device. Countdown time is additional to meditation time and does not count toward the 15-minute free limit or Apple Health Mindful Minutes.

Random sounds and intervals

Random is always available in the main sound selector, alongside Cymbal, Bell, Bowl, Gong, and Wood. Select Random to vary the sound during a session. Tap its separate chevron to reveal Included sounds inline and choose at least two recordings. Selecting Random and expanding the checklist are separate actions; choosing a fixed sound retains your included sounds and keeps Random available. Each opening, interval, and ending sound is chosen independently at random, so consecutive repeats are possible. Both ending strikes use the same sound and are spaced 1.5 seconds apart. Random has no preview button; fixed sounds can be previewed before starting.

Open the main interval selector and choose Fixed or Random, independently of the sound choice. Choosing Fixed reveals its Length controls inline; total duration is interval length × count. Choosing Random reveals Minimum and Maximum controls inline. On iPhone, total duration stays in the same position and format above the controls in both modes, with a centered range for Random. Apple Watch keeps large Random range and session-duration buttons side by side, with the range on the left and duration on the right. Random hides the count on both devices. You can use changing gaps with one fixed sound, changing sounds with fixed gaps, or both together. Every gap, including the final one, stays in range and the session ends at your chosen duration. Range choices use minutes; actual gaps vary by the second. If the range cannot fit the total, the app asks you to adjust it before starting. Returning to Fixed restores interval length × count and retains your Random preferences.

Free and Premium

Every feature is free for sessions up to and including 15 minutes, as often as you like. This includes all five sounds, Random sounds, Random intervals, backgrounds, Apple Watch support, and optional Apple Health logging.

Premium costs US $5.00 once and extends sessions beyond 15 minutes, up to eight hours, on iPhone and Apple Watch. The purchase screen shows Apple's current price before you buy. There is no subscription, trial expiration, or account to create.

For fixed timing, total time is the interval length multiplied by the number of intervals. For Random intervals, you choose total duration directly. The selected total determines whether Premium is needed. The countdown, pauses, and final sound decay are extra. Choose intervals every minute through one hour, then every five minutes through eight hours. You can set up to 480 one-minute intervals.

Restore your purchase

1. Use your own Apple Account for Media & Purchases: the purchasing account, or an eligible family member's account with purchase sharing enabled.
2. Open Lightening Up on the device where you want access.
3. Open Options (…) and Premium, then choose Restore Purchases.
4. After restoration, close the purchase screen and tap Start when ready.

You can purchase or restore directly on Apple Watch without your iPhone nearby. Restoration needs an internet connection and access to Apple's store. Previously verified ownership can work offline through StoreKit's locally stored transactions. If verification fails, reconnect and restore. Free sessions remain available if the store is unavailable.

Cancelled purchases do not unlock the timer. Purchases awaiting approval unlock after Apple approves them. Refunds remove access to future Premium sessions without interrupting a session already underway. Any paused Premium session requires verified ownership before it can resume; restoration may be needed. Eligible family members can access Premium through Family Sharing with their own Apple Accounts when purchase sharing is enabled.

Background audio

On iPhone, the timer keeps running alongside music or podcasts. Removing or reconnecting AirPods does not intentionally pause or resume the timer. Use the app or Lock Screen controls to pause. Audio follows the output selected by iOS and may switch to the phone speaker if headphones disconnect.

A call or another system interruption can temporarily pause playback and meditation time. The app tries to resume when the system permits it. A manual Pause or End session cancels automatic recovery. If playback cannot recover automatically, tap Resume when ready.

Timer controls

The large timer shows total meditation time remaining, excluding the countdown, pauses, and ending sound decay. A smaller readout shows time until the next bell. The × ends the session while preserving your choices.

Touch and hold the Dynamic Island to expand the timer and Pause/Resume and End session controls. A normal tap opens the app.

Lock Screen and long sessions

iPhone Live Activities have an eight-hour lifetime measured in wall-clock time. Countdown and pauses count toward that limit, even though they are not meditation time. Lightening Up limits each display's lifetime and does not automatically restart an ended display.

Full eight-hour sessions can show a Live Activity, but it can expire before the meditation ends because any countdown and pauses count toward the display's time limit. Shorter sessions can also outlast their display after a long pause. The timer and audio run independently: open the app for current timing and controls. Apple Watch also provides Now Playing controls. If the app stops running, its display is marked out of date after its freshness window; the display does not guarantee that audio is still playing. After fully closing the app, reopening returns to setup with your choices retained; unfinished session progress is discarded. Locking the phone or switching apps does not reset the session. An expired display may show “Open app for status” until it disappears.

Apple Watch audio

WatchOS chooses the audio output. Use the Watch speaker where supported, or Bluetooth headphones. Speaker playback is unavailable while charging and on some Watch models; connect headphones if asked. Raise the media volume if a bell is too quiet.

Watch playback uses long-form audio and cannot mix with other Watch audio. Other audio, calls, or removal of headphones may pause the session. Open the app and tap Resume when ready. iPhone playback can mix with other audio. Each device runs its own timer; sessions do not sync between devices.

Appearance

On iPhone, choose System, Light, or Dark in Options. Apple Watch has its own Light or Dark choice, starting with Light. The full-color Watch complication follows that choice; tinted watch faces use the colors chosen by the system.

Apple Health and privacy

Apple Health logging is optional and off by default. When enabled, completed sessions and sessions ended early after at least one minute can be saved as Mindful Minutes. Pauses and countdowns are excluded. Lightening Up never reads your Health data.

The app has no advertising, tracking, or third-party analytics. Read the privacy policy.

Get in touch

Email lighteningupapp@gmail.com. For playback or purchase problems, include your device model, OS version, app version, and what happened. Please do not send payment card details or sensitive health information.