When you buy through our links, we may earn a commission. Products or services may be offered by an affiliated entity. Learn more.
Moonbird Review
Sleep Foundation Special Offer
10% off with code: SLEEP10
The moonbird is a sleek, handheld device designed to guide your breathing and calm your nervous system. Its subtle movements give you cues for when to inhale and exhale as part of controlled breathwork while a small sensor on the device tracks your heart rate.
How you breathe can influence your cardiovascular function, nervous system, and mood. By helping you regulate your breathing, the moonbird is intended to promote stress reduction and better sleep.
The moonbird can be used alone for a screen-free experience, but it also pairs with either a basic or premium app for additional features.
I tried out the moonbird for two weeks, using it at least once per day to get a feel for how daily use could affect my sleep and state of mind. I found it simple and comfortable to use, and it made it easier for me to stay focused during a guided breathing session.
In this review, I’ll get into what the moonbird does, how you use it, its benefits and drawbacks, and details about shipping and returns.
What Does Moonbird Do?
Moonbird launched in 2020 with the goal of helping people practice guided breathing to enhance their mood, sleep, and cardiovascular health.
The moonbird was created by a couple in Belgium who understood that breathing exercises could benefit their health, but couldn’t find the right tool to support a regular breathwork practice.
The device rests in your hand and provides tactile signals for when to inhale and exhale. It can also pair with a smartphone app that tracks session data, while a paid premium version of the app adds personalization and advanced health insights.
Guided Breathwork
The moonbird is impressively simple. During a breathwork session, the device gently expands and contracts. When you feel it expand, you breathe in. When it contracts, you breathe out.
One thing I loved about the moonbird is that you can use it without having to look at a screen or rely on audio from your phone. While there are a ton of breathwork apps out there, if your phone is the focal point, it’s easy for your session to get interrupted by notifications or the lure of social media.
Through its movements, the moonbird gives you a physical cue to guide your inhalations and exhalations. In my experience, there’s a real comfort in that. Even better, the device includes a “wake and shake” mode, so you can start a breathing session without touching your phone at all.
Keeping the device in a handy location was a good reminder to use it, and I found myself enjoying these moments of disconnection. Of course, using the moonbird away from home means you have to remember to bring it with you.
App-Driven Biofeedback and AI-Powered Customization
The fact that you can use the moonbird without your phone doesn’t mean that this device lacks “smart” capabilities. As you hold the moonbird, you lightly press your thumb against a sensor that measures your heart rate. This data is sent to the moonbird app.
There are two versions of the moonbird app.
- Basic: The basic version is free and tracks metrics from your sessions. If you want, you can look at the app while using the moonbird to see how your breathing affects your heart rate in real time. The basic app also includes a library of guided breathing exercises and lets you set parameters for your own exercises.
- Premium: The premium version of the app is designed for personalization and deeper health insights through Aura, an AI breathwork coach. By analyzing your sessions, it adjusts the pace of breathing to help you better achieve goals like enhanced sleep or reduced stress. You can also interact with Aura to choose music that aligns with your session’s goals.
With the premium app, you can get information about your heart rate variability (HRV) and heart coherence. Your HRV can be an indicator of the state of your nervous system, and heart coherence helps you understand how well your heart rate synchronizes with your breathing.
I tried the moonbird with both versions of the app, and both have their merits. The basic version was enough when all I wanted was a quick reset to calm myself down between meetings or help ease into sleep. The premium app felt like it was tailoring each session to my needs, and it added some variety, especially with the soundscapes provided by Aura. This version of the app also provided more data, which appeals to me as someone who has tried lots of different sleep trackers and health wearables.
With both the basic and premium apps, you can connect with other health data platforms like Apple Health, Google Health, and Oura.
How Does Moonbird Look and Feel?
The moonbird looks like a medium-sized avocado, but a bit narrower. It comes in four muted colors (sky blue, black gray, blue green, and soft white).
The device weighs a little less than half a pound, and I found its medical-grade silicone cover felt soft and smooth. The curved shape is designed to help it rest gently in your hand. Near the top of the device, there’s a divot with a heart rate sensor where you place your thumb.
I found that the moonbird fit well in my hand, and I didn’t have any issues holding it during 10-minute sessions (the longest in the app library). That said, some users with smaller hands may find the moonbird a bit large.
While you want your thumb to press against the sensor, you shouldn’t grip the moonbird too hard. During my sessions, it was easy to feel the movement of the device and align my breathing with it. For some people, the expansion and contraction may be too subtle, but I had no trouble feeling it.
The moonbird app also has a sleek and modern look. I found both the basic and premium versions of the app to be intuitive and easy to use.
One sticking point for some people is the charging mechanism. The moonbird has a special magnetic charger that connects to a USB-A port. This means you can’t use just any USB cable to charge the moonbird. If you lose the included cable, you’ll have to contact the company for a replacement. The company also sells a small magnetic charging stand.
Buying Moonbird
For the practical logistics of getting a moonbird, here’s what to expect.
| Availability | Moonbird ships to all 50 states. Shipping is also available to countries in the European Union and United Kingdom. The moonbird is available for purchase on the company’s website. It can also be purchased from some third-party retailers, including Amazon. Policies for returns and shipping can differ when buying from a third party. The moonbird is available in four different colors. Moonbird also offers other accessories like a travel case and charging stand. |
| Pricing | The moonbird device with the basic version of the app costs $150. The device plus one year of the premium app costs $200. After the first year, the premium app subscription renews for $80 per year. The moonbird may be eligible for HSA/FSA reimbursement. The company can provide a Letter of Medical Necessity, which you can send to your provider to determine if the purchase is reimbursable. |
| Shipping | The moonbird device ships for free to customers in the U.S. It usually arrives within five business days after you place an order. You’ll get a tracking number when your order ships, so you’ll know when to expect it. |
| Returns | The moonbird comes with a 30-day return window. If you aren’t satisfied with the device, you can return it for a full refund. Moonbird covers the cost of return shipping, but you must send it back in the original packaging. The device must also be undamaged. |
| Warranty | The warranty for the moonbird lasts for two years from the date of purchase. The company will replace a defective device, but the warranty does not cover misuse, accidental damage, or normal wear and tear. |
The Bottom Line
After two weeks of testing, I found the moonbird more effective at keeping me engaged with breathwork than any standalone app I’ve tried.
Having something tactile that gives physical cues just worked better for me than looking at an app. This made me actively seek out the moonbird to do breathwork, and I felt the benefits of that more consistent practice.
The biggest drawback I found was the charging issue. I didn’t love needing a separate charger for the moonbird, but that wasn’t a dealbreaker for me.
It’s hard to truly measure how calm you feel, but I felt like regular sessions with the moonbird made my usual stress feel less burdensome. Using the moonbird before bed also helped put me in the right state of mind for a good night’s sleep.
My overall takeaway is that the moonbird makes the most sense if you’re interested in developing a regular breathwork practice but find app-based exercises difficult to stick with. Its tactile guidance offers a simple, screen-free alternative that I found easier to incorporate into my routine.
Still have questions? Ask our community!
Join our Sleep Care Community — a trusted hub of product specialists, sleep health professionals, and people just like you. Whether you’re searching for the perfect mattress or need expert sleep advice, we’ve got you covered. Get personalized guidance from the experts who know sleep best.
Eric Suni has over a decade of experience as a science writer and was previously an information specialist for the National Cancer Institute.