Sway: Panic First Aid

When a panic attack starts, a splash screen is a locked door. So is a login, a mood check in, and the question "what would you like to do today?"

Sway is built for exactly one moment: the bad one. Tap the icon and your phone is already pulsing a slow breathing rhythm against your palm. No account. No network. No menu.

TWO SECONDS TO HELP
The whole app is designed backwards from one number. No splash screen, no loading, nothing slow on the critical path. Sway keeps its own receipts: the Almanac shows how many milliseconds it actually took on your phone, over your recent sessions.

BREATHE BY FEEL, NOT BY WATCHING
Other breathing apps put a circle on a screen. Sway puts the rhythm in the vibration motor.

A gathering swell for the in breath, so you rise with the wave. Stillness for the hold, which starts at zero seconds because holding your breath can make an attack worse. A long train of pulses that fade and spread apart for the out breath, which is always the longer half.

You can follow it lying in the dark, in a meeting, or with the phone still in your pocket. Nobody has to see you doing it. If you do look, the screen shows one thing: a horizon line of slow water, rising and falling. No numbers, and no text at all for the first minute.

Sessions start a little quicker than comfortable, to meet a racing breath where it already is, then decelerate over three minutes. Calibrate the strength once, because vibration motors vary wildly, and switch on a low tide sound if your phone's motor is weak.

AFTER THE WAVE
Sway never dumps you back to a menu. It asks one question with two answers.

Still stormy leads into grounding: the 5-4-3-2-1 senses walkthrough one instruction at a time, a cold water guide for wrists and face, or slow alternating taps kept in time by the phone.

Passing leads to the storm log: two taps, both optional, and a closing card that does not congratulate you.

PATTERNS, GENTLY
Months later the Almanac says plain things. Six of ten storms began with transit marked. Most arrive in the morning. Your earlier storms averaged seven minutes, your recent ones four. Storms, not failures. No streaks, no flame counters, no mood scores. There is no number in this app you can fail.

FOR THE WORST NIGHTS
One tap from the session screen opens the night shelf: your person, one tap to the dialler at 3am. A crisis line for where you are, bundled in the app, with the month it was last checked printed underneath. Your local emergency number. And a card you can hand to someone, in large type, explaining what is happening and what to do, so you do not have to explain it while it is happening.

Learn covers, in plain language, why your chest goes tight, why you cannot get a full breath, why the long exhale helps, why it always ends, and when what you feel might not be panic at all.

YOURS ALONE
Sway does not request the internet permission. It cannot upload anything, because Android will not let it open a connection at all, and you can check that on this listing before you install. No sign up, no cloud, no analytics, no advertising ID, no crash reporter. Your log, your person and your settings live in your phone's private storage. Export as plain text whenever you want, or erase everything in two taps.

The whole app is free and none of it is a trial. No subscription, no in app purchase, no ads.

PLEASE READ THIS PART
Sway is a self help wellness tool. It is not a medical device, it does not diagnose anything, and it is not a treatment for panic disorder or any other condition. It is not a substitute for care from a doctor or a therapist. If you are in danger, or if what you feel is new, different from your usual, or involves chest pain, fainting or weakness on one side, contact your local emergency services or a crisis line rather than opening a breathing exercise. Getting checked and being told it was panic is a good outcome.

Built to be used four times a year and trusted every single time.