How to do your first session

Open Steady and go through four short steps: the notice, how to do it, your cue choice and an optional reminder. Tap Start first session, then Start, and follow the cues. Your first session is day 1 of Steady 28. When the last round ends, the session is added to your streak and history.

Before you start

There's no account to create. Steady works as soon as it's installed.
Days 1 to 3 of Steady 28, Beginner, Quick squeezes, Relax set and your first routine are free. Days 4 to 28 of Steady 28, Intermediate, Advanced, Long holds and more routines are part of Steady Pro.

The first time you open Steady

Each step shows Step 1 of 4 to Step 4 of 4 at the top. From step 2, the back arrow at the top takes you one step back.

Welcome: two short points about Steady, a line on what's free ("Free: three sessions, Steady 28 days 1–3 and one routine of your own. Pro's yearly plan has a free trial, if Google Play offers one.") and a notice about what it is. Read the notice, then tap I understand, continue.
How to do it: three plain steps for each squeeze and two things not to do. Tap Try 3 practice squeezes to try it once (it isn't added to your history), or Skip for now. See How to do it: the squeeze, step by step.
Session cues: choose how Steady tells you when each step starts. Sound cues plays short, quiet tones. Vibration cues gives a different buzz for each step. Both are on to begin with. With both off, you follow the timer on the screen. Tap Continue.
Daily reminder: optional. Turn on Remind me every day and tap Time to pick when, or leave it off. Then tap Start first session.

Day 1 of Steady 28 opens, ready to start. Nothing begins until you tap Start.

You see these steps only once. You can change the cues and reminders later in Settings, and open the steps again with Settings → How to do it. The notice stays available too: tap Settings at the top of the home screen and scroll to About.

The notice says: "Steady is a personal exercise trainer and diary. It does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment, and is not a substitute for consulting a qualified healthcare professional. If you have symptoms or health concerns, please speak with your doctor."

Do a session

At the top of the home screen, the TODAY · STEADY 28 tile shows today's day, for example Day 1 of 28, with its timings and length. Tap Start day 1 (or the day it shows). To do another session instead, tap it under Other sessions or Steady Pro further down. See How does Steady 28 work?
The session screen opens with the session's name at the top, for example Steady 28 · Day 1. Tap Start.
A row of dots shows the rounds: filled for rounds done, a ringed dot for the current round, and outlines for the rounds to come. While you squeeze and hold, the whole screen turns green and a light shape in the middle turns from a circle into a scalloped shape: it changes while you squeeze and keeps that shape while you hold. While you relax, the screen goes back to its usual background and the shape becomes a circle again. A thick ring around the shape fills as each phase passes. The large word on the shape shows the phase, Squeeze, Hold or Relax, and the number under it counts down the seconds left in that phase. With pocket mode on, the screen stays black once the session starts, and the shape is only an outline.
Follow the cues. Each phase starts with its own vibration. On Android 11 or newer, if your phone's vibration supports it, Squeeze is a buzz that slowly rises, Hold is two light ticks and Relax is a short buzz that quickly fades. On other phones, it's one firm buzz for Squeeze, a gentle double buzz for Hold and one long, soft buzz for Relax. If sound cues are on, a short tone plays too. You can follow along without looking at the screen.
To take a break, tap Pause. The screen shows Paused. Tap Resume to carry on, or End session to stop.
When the last round ends, you see Recorded, the date, and the session with its length, for example Steady 28 · Day 1 · 1 min. Under it, this month's calendar shows the day of this session in orange, and every day with a session has a check mark. Below the calendar it says "Added to your history." The session is already recorded. Tap Finish to go back to the home screen. After your first session, Finish opens the Steady Pro screen once instead: tap Not now to go to the home screen. Free sessions stay free. See How to subscribe, cancel or restore Steady Pro.

To keep today's session one tap away, add the free Steady widget to your home screen. See How to add the Steady widget to your home screen.

To hear each phase word spoken as well, tap Voice off at the top of the session screen so it says Voice on, or turn on Voice cues in Settings. It's off to begin with and uses only a voice stored on your phone. See What's in Settings.

The cues keep time if your screen turns off during a session. To follow a session by vibration only, with the screen dark, see How to use pocket mode.

The plans

Besides Steady 28, the home screen lists these sessions with their rounds and length: the free ones under Other sessions, then the Pro ones under Steady Pro.

Plan	Each round	Rounds	Length	Access
Beginner	Squeeze 3 s, Hold 3 s, Relax 5 s	8	about 1 min 28 s	free
Intermediate	Squeeze 3 s, Hold 6 s, Relax 6 s	10	about 2 min 30 s	Steady Pro
Advanced	Squeeze 4 s, Hold 10 s, Relax 8 s	12	about 4 min 24 s	Steady Pro
Quick squeezes	Squeeze 1 s, Relax 2 s	15	45 s	free
Long holds	Squeeze 3 s, Hold 12 s, Relax 15 s	7	about 3 min 30 s	Steady Pro
Relax set	Breathe in 4 s, Let go 6 s	10	about 1 min 40 s	free

Under Other sessions, after Relax set, Your routines holds sessions with your own squeeze, hold and relax times and rounds. Your first routine is free; Steady Pro keeps up to 10. See How to make your own routine.

Relax set has no squeeze, so the screen keeps its usual background and the shape stays a circle that grows slowly on Breathe in and settles on Let go. Its cues are a light triple buzz for Breathe in, and for Let go the same vibration as Relax.

On the home screen, Intermediate, Advanced and Long holds are under one Steady Pro label. The label shows a lock until you have Pro. Steady 28 days 4 to 28 show a lock too. Pro sessions and days open after your first session: before it, tapping one shows "Try a session first". After it, tapping one opens the Steady Pro screen. Tap Not now to go back. See How to subscribe, cancel or restore Steady Pro.

"Try the next level?"

After you've completed 10 sessions of Beginner, the home screen shows a Try the next level? card that suggests Intermediate. After 10 Intermediate sessions, it suggests Advanced. The card counts sessions only. It doesn't look at how a session went.

Tap Try and the plan's name, for example Try Intermediate, to start that plan. A Pro plan opens the Steady Pro screen if you don't have Pro.
Tap Not now to hide the card for that plan. It doesn't come back.
The card doesn't appear once you've done a session of the next plan.

Sound and vibration

Both switches are in Settings, under Training. See What's in Settings.

Sound cues turns the tones on or off. The tones play at your phone's media volume.
Vibration cues turns the vibration on or off.
Pocket mode plays vibration only. While it's on, the other two switches are greyed out.

Accessibility

TalkBack: during a session, TalkBack reads each new phase, for example "Squeeze" or "Hold", as it starts. It doesn't read the countdown every second. Touch the number to hear how many seconds are left. The round dots read as one line, for example "Round 2 of 8". Buttons and icons have spoken labels, a locked plan reads as "Pro plan, locked", and the Steady 28 days read as, for example, "Day 3, done", "Day 4, next" or "Day 8, Pro, locked".
Remove animations: if you turn on Remove animations in your phone's accessibility settings, the session shape doesn't move. The screen changes color at once when a phase starts, the shape is the scalloped one while you squeeze or hold and a smaller circle while you relax, and the ring moves on once a second. The countdown still counts.
Large text: Steady follows your phone's font size. At large sizes, screens scroll, and buttons that don't fit side by side move to the next line.
Dark theme: Steady follows your phone's light or dark setting. To choose one yourself, open Settings and pick Light or Dark under Appearance.
Not by color alone: each phase has its own word, shape and vibration, not only its own color. A lock icon and the word Pro mark what needs Pro, a check mark marks the days done in Steady 28 and the days with a session in History, and the round dots differ in shape (filled, ringed, outline), not only in color.

Troubleshooting

My session didn't count

A session counts when its last round ends and you see Recorded. A session that stops before the end isn't recorded.

How do I leave a session early?

While a session runs, there's no back arrow at the top, so a stray tap can't end it. Tap Pause, then End session. You can also press your phone's Back button or use the back gesture at any time. Either way, you go back to the home screen and nothing is recorded. If a phone or internet call comes in, the session also ends: you see Session ended. Tap Back to home.

I don't feel the vibration

Check that Vibration cues is on in Settings, and that vibration is turned on in your phone's sound and vibration settings. Some devices can't vibrate at all. On those, follow the screen and the tones.

Voice cues says "No offline voice on this phone"

Steady uses only a text-to-speech voice that's stored on your phone and needs no internet connection. Your phone doesn't have one for English, so voice cues stay off. You can add one in your phone's text-to-speech settings (menu names vary between phones), then turn Voice cues on again. Sound and vibration cues work either way.

I can't hear the tones

Check that Sound cues is on in Settings and that Pocket mode is off. Then turn up your phone's media volume. The tones use the media volume, not the ringer volume.