Feature
Interval
bells
A quiet bell at chosen moments — calling your awareness back without pulling you out. The contemplative tradition's gentle anchor, available in Meditation Stillness.
Background
A quiet rhythm
with deep roots
Interval bells are a quiet centerpiece of contemplative traditions. In Zen monasteries, the strike of a wooden block or the chime of a small bell has long marked the rhythm of zazen — calling practitioners back to the breath, anchoring drifting attention, signaling the slow unfolding of a session. In Tibetan practice, the resonance of a singing bowl or a pair of tingsha plays the same role: a sound that doesn't intrude, but reminds.
The function is simple. At chosen moments during a meditation, a soft bell rings. Once. Briefly. Then silence resumes.
In modern meditation apps, interval bells serve the same purpose with one small upgrade — you can set them to ring at exact intervals, freeing your awareness from any need to track time. Set a thirty-minute session with a bell every ten minutes, and you'll experience three quiet markers along the way, each a gentle return to the present.
In Meditation Stillness
Customizable.
Authentic. Quiet.
Choose your bell
A curated selection of authentic meditation sounds — from the warm resonance of a Tibetan singing bowl to the bright clarity of a brass bell. Preview each one and pick the sound that matches the texture of your practice.
Set your interval
Every 5, 10, 15 minutes — or any custom duration. For long sessions, a gentle bell every ten minutes keeps you anchored. For walking meditation, shorter intervals work beautifully.
Bookends and rhythm
Choose one sound for the start and end of your session, and another for the intervals within. The opening and close share a tone — like bookends — while the rhythm in between gets its own voice.
Pair with ambient sound
Run your interval bells alongside one of the ambient soundscapes — rain, ocean, forest, and more — for a layered backdrop. Or strip everything back to silence and a single bell.
Why they matter
More than
convenience
For longer sessions, interval bells are more than a timer feature. They're a contemplative tool in their own right.
They give your awareness something to gently return to. The mind wanders — that's the practice. A bell rings at the ten-minute mark, and you notice you've drifted. You return, without judgment, to the breath, to the body, to the present. The bell doesn't pull you back; it offers you the chance to come back on your own.
They mark the passage of time without requiring you to track it. There's a particular calm that comes from knowing the bell will ring before you need to look at a clock. You're free to let go of time entirely. The bell does the keeping.
They turn a long session into a series of smaller ones. A thirty-minute sit with bells every ten minutes can feel like three contained periods, each with its own arc, rather than one undifferentiated stretch. For new practitioners, this segmentation can make longer sessions feel more accessible. For experienced practitioners, it can deepen them.
And they support walking meditation. Set a short interval — every two minutes, say — and the bells become a signal to shift attention. From breath to footstep. From sensation to surroundings. From one direction to another. The contemplative tradition has paired walking with the bell for centuries, and Meditation Stillness brings that pairing forward intact.
Questions
Common questions
about interval bells
Try it
Free for fifteen days.
Yours for $4.99.
Meditation Stillness includes interval bells, ambient soundscapes, iCloud sync, and everything else — free for fifteen days, then a single one-time purchase. No subscription, no account, no servers, no compromise.