Breath Context · In development

Introducing Breath Context: a walkthrough

Breath Context is a respiratory diary app built by the Rate My Air team. It helps adults keep a clear, private record of their breathing, and of the air, pollen and weather around them when symptoms happen.

It’s for anyone who wants a better picture of their own breathing over weeks and months: people who notice they cough more in some seasons, feel breathless on certain days, or want something more reliable than memory when they speak to a professional. You record what happens; Breath Context adds the environmental context automatically.

Why a respiratory diary

Memory is a poor record of breathing. Bad days stand out, ordinary days fade, and the conditions on the day are rarely remembered at all. Breath Context fixes both gaps.

• It records ordinary days too. A quick daily check-in captures how the day was, even when nothing happened. Hard days only mean something next to normal ones.
• It never guesses. A day you didn’t record stays blank. It is never counted as a good day.
• It adds the context for you. Every entry is paired with the air quality, pollen and weather in your area at the time, so you don’t have to look anything up.

Walkthrough

The app has four areas: Dashboard, Events, Environmental Map and Profile. Here is how a new diary comes together, step by step.

1. Create your account

Sign up with an email address and a password, and confirm your email before your diary starts. Your date of birth is checked on your phone to confirm you’re an adult. It is never stored or sent anywhere.

2. Set up your profile

Choose the main condition you want to keep a diary for, and your country. The condition is filled in for you each time you record an event. Your country decides which data-protection rules apply to you.

3. Choose what you agree to

Each use of your data is a separate choice, such as reminders or using your location. You read a short notice before agreeing to anything, and you can switch any of them off at any time. Reminders are off unless you turn them on.

4. Pick your area

Search for your town or city, or let the app use your location. Breath Context only ever stores a wide area, never your exact position: your location is blurred on your phone before it is sent.

5. Check the Environmental Map

The map shows current conditions for your area:

• Air quality, using the European Air Quality Index, with pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide
• Pollen levels, including types such as mugwort
• Weather

Readings come from published sources, including the European Environment Agency. They refresh every few hours.

6. Record a normal day

From the Dashboard, the daily check-in asks How was today? You can add context such as a cold or infection, dust or cleaning, mould or damp, a day spent mostly indoors, being away from your usual area, or a change to your medication routine. It takes seconds, and it is what makes harder days meaningful.

7. Record an event

When symptoms happen, record an event: a cough, wheezing, shortness of breath or chest tightness, along with how strong it was (mild, moderate or severe) and any notes. Nothing is saved until you tap Record event. No signal? The event waits on your phone and is sent when you’re back online.

8. Review your events

The Events tab lists everything you’ve recorded. Each event keeps the air quality, pollen and weather at the time it happened, added automatically in the background. You can edit or delete any event.

If you choose to connect Apple Health or Health Connect, readings from your wearable can appear on an event’s detail. They stay on your phone and are never sent to our servers. This option is off by default.

9. See your diary summary

Once you’ve recorded five events, the Dashboard becomes your home screen and shows a summary of your diary: events by type and strength, by month, by day of the week and by time of day, plus how many days you recorded. It describes your diary as it is. There are no scores, rankings or predictions.

10. Take a summary to an appointment

Open a summary of your diary to bring to an appointment, and copy it as text if you want to share it yourself. It belongs to you: nothing is sent to anyone, and there is no clinician account.

Your privacy and your data

A respiratory diary is personal health information, and Breath Context is built around that.

• You choose what is collected. Location-based areas and reminders only work once you have agreed to them, and the server enforces that.
• Your location stays approximate. Only a wide area is ever stored.
• Wearable data stays on your phone.
• You can take your data with you. Export your whole diary from Profile at any time.
• You can delete your account. Erasure removes your diary.
• Sensitive actions need you to confirm it’s you. Exporting or deleting your data asks for your password again, or your fingerprint or face if you’ve switched that on.
• No adverts or affiliate links in the app.

What Breath Context is not

Breath Context is a diary, not a medical device. It doesn’t diagnose conditions, predict symptoms, score your risk or recommend treatment or doses. It won’t tell you what caused a bad day. It shows what you recorded and the conditions at the time, and leaves the interpretation to you and the professionals you choose to share it with. If you’re worried about your breathing, speak to a healthcare professional.

What’s next

Breath Context is still being built, and the Rate My Air team is preparing it for launch on Android and iOS. Follow this blog for updates as we get closer to release.