Vagal Sense: HRV & Vagus Nerve
Cristiana Kaleff Health & Fitness iPhoneiPadiPod touch
Vagal Sense: HRV & Vagus Nerve is a free Health & Fitness app for iPhone and iPad by Cristiana Kaleff. Requires iOS 16.4. Updated October 15, 2026.
- Price
- Free
- on the App Store
- Size
- 37 MB
- Age 4+
- Updated
- Oct 15
- 2026 · v1.5.1
Screenshots
About Vagal Sense: HRV & Vagus Nerve
Vagal Sense turns beat-to-beat heart rate data into simple wellness insights. Pair a compatible chest heart rate sensor and record short sessions at rest, during a practice, and afterwards. Vagal Sense reads heart rate and RR intervals from the sensor's standard Bluetooth Heart Rate Service and shows a tachogram - a beat-to-beat heart rate curve - together with well-known variability measures such as RMSSD and SDNN. HRV AND VAGAL TONE, IN PLAIN LANGUAGE Heart rate variability (HRV) is the difference in time between one heartbeat and the next. It changes with your breathing: inhaling speeds the heart up, exhaling slows it down. That oscillation tied to the breathing rhythm is known as respiratory sinus arrhythmia, and it is one of the most studied ways to observe vagal tone - the activity of the vagus nerve, part of the autonomic nervous system. Vagal Sense does not interpret those numbers for you. It shows the curve, computes the indices and leaves the reading in your context: how the night went, how the day went, what you have just done. WHAT YOU CAN DO • Record short sessions and see beat-to-beat heart rate as it happens • Follow guided breathing with a visual, audio and haptic pacer • Adjust your breathing pace and watch the response on the curve itself • Compare rest, activity and recovery within the same session • Get suggested self-care practices grouped into Restoration, Rhythm and Expansion • Save session summaries and export a PDF to share or keep • Track how your sessions evolve over time FOR PEOPLE WHO WORK WITH THE BODY Osteopaths, physiotherapists and exercise professionals use Vagal Sense to organise what they already observe in practice: record a session before and after an intervention, keep the summary with a note, and compare it with a session from weeks ago. The PDF report comes straight off the device, ready to file or hand to the person you are working with. BUILT FOR EVERYDAY USE • Works fully offline - your sessions stay on your device • No account and no sign-up required • No data is sent to servers, the cloud or analytics services • Password-encrypted export, so your history travels when you change devices • Available in English, Portuguese and Spanish • Light and dark themes WHAT YOU NEED A compatible Bluetooth chest heart rate sensor that reports RR intervals. The sensor is not included. Watches and wristbands that only report average heart rate will not work: HRV needs the interval between one beat and the next. IMPORTANT Vagal Sense is for wellness and sporting purposes only. It is not a medical device and does not diagnose, treat or prevent any disease. For health decisions, consult a qualified professional. Polar and Polar H10 are trademarks of Polar Electro Oy. This app is not affiliated with Polar Electro Oy.
What’s new
Version 1.5.1 · Updated October 15, 2026
• New recording modes (Pro), with on-screen guidance, a warning when the signal is weak, and a PDF report. • Receptive fields in the Custom session (Pro): mark the start and end of each stimulus; the app compares the 15 s before with the time during (HR and RMSSD change) and suggests a response for you to confirm. • Technical report: choose to include the recordings and custom sessions, each with its own date. • Bluetooth: clearer error messages and a shortcut to Settings when permission was denied. • The HR curve shows the last minute of the recording. • App Store: the listing now shows Portuguese, English and Spanish; permission prompts in all three languages. • Translation and navigation fixes.
App privacy
The developer, Cristiana Kaleff, reported these privacy practices to Apple.
Data Not Collected
The developer does not collect any data from this app.
Alternatives to Vagal Sense: HRV & Vagus Nerve
Looking for apps like Vagal Sense: HRV & Vagus Nerve? Here are 6 similar apps on the App Store. The highest rated is PulseCalm: HRV Breathing (5.0/5), and all 6 are free to download.
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Federal Saúde
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HRVibe — Breathe & HRV
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Cardivia · Heart Coherence
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Evolvere TL
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PulseCalm: HRV Breathing
5.0
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Ulifeon
| App | Rating | Price | Last updated | Compare |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vagal Sense: HRV & Vagus Nerve | – | Free | October 15, 2026 | |
| Federal Saúde | – | Free | Oct 3, 2025 | Compare |
| HRVibe — Breathe & HRV | – | Free | Aug 16, 2026 | Compare |
| Cardivia · Heart Coherence | – | Free | Jul 26, 2026 | Compare |
| Evolvere TL | – | Free | Aug 10, 2026 | Compare |
| PulseCalm: HRV Breathing | 5.0 / 5 (1) | Free | Sep 17, 2026 | Compare |
| Ulifeon | – | Free | Sep 14, 2026 | Compare |