The Evolution of Sauna Assistant

Set your plunge time, lock the screen

Improved

• Plunge setup on Apple Watch:

  Turn the crown to pick how long you want to hold, tap start, and Water Lock comes on with the timer so a wet screen cannot tap things for you.

• The Watch owns the clock:

  Your time stays right when your iPhone is in a locker, and the plunge still saves to your history afterwards.

• Plunges in your history:

  Cold plunges show up where they happened, each with its own water temperature, hold time and heart rate. Two new charts track how often you plunge and how cold the water has been.

• Share cards for plunge-only sessions:

  Your coldest water or your longest hold becomes the headline number.

Fixed

• Sessions reach history reliably:

  A finished session no longer goes missing, and never shows up twice.

Live heart rate on your wrist

New

• Heart rate page on Apple Watch:

  A live chart of the session as it happens, your lowest, average and highest BPM at a glance, and every round and plunge listed with its own average.

Improved

• One session timeline:

  Rounds and cold plunges now share one timeline on iPhone, so you can see the whole session in order instead of two separate lists.

• Cold plunges on your charts:

  Charts mark your cold plunges alongside sauna heat, on iPhone and Watch, with smoother lines that are easier to read.

• Cleaner Watch session screen:

  Easier to read mid-round, with less on screen competing for attention.

• Quicker session end:

  A simple confirmation instead of extra taps.

Guided Rituals are here

New

• Guided Rituals:

  Pick Finnish Classic or Evening Wind-Down and let the app carry you through every round: gentle chimes, haptics, and hydration cues, completely hands-free.

• Ritual history and achievements:

  Every ritual you finish is tracked in your history with phase breakdowns, plus new achievements to celebrate your progress.

• Start from Apple Watch or Siri:

  Begin a ritual from your wrist or with a voice command while the phone stays outside.

Improved

• Redesigned session controls:

  Quick presets and hold-to-repeat steppers make dialing in round and plunge times faster.

• Polish:

  Better-looking share cards, consistent temperature units across the app, and accessibility improvements.

Wood-Fired theme and a smaller app

New

• Wood-Fired theme:

  The new Wood-Fired theme adds a crackling fire soundscape to guided sauna sessions.

Improved

• Simpler onboarding:

  The welcome flow now uses one overview screen instead of several steps, so new users can start a session sooner.

• Smaller app, clearer audio:

  We remastered the ambient tracks for clearer sound and reduced the app download by nearly 200 MB.

• Most-used sessions:

  Session History now shows which session types you use most.

Fixed

• Social sharing:

  Fixed an issue that could stop the share sheet from opening after a session.

The Contrast Therapy Update

New

• 🧊 Cold Plunge Support:

  Start a plunge in one tap, log water temperature, and track your heart-rate recovery after every session.

• 🔄 Standalone or Paired Sessions:

  Run plunges as standalone sessions or seamlessly pair them with sauna rounds using the redesigned Home tab.

• ⌚ Apple Watch Cold Plunges:

  Cold plunges are now supported on Apple Watch with the same ease as sauna sessions — start, pause, and finish right from your wrist.

• 🏝️ Dynamic Island & Live Activities:

  Plunge timers and recovery details now stay visible on your Lock Screen and Dynamic Island even when the app is closed.

Improved

• ✨ Refined Session Flow:

  Polished session flow and visuals across iPhone and Apple Watch for a cleaner, more intuitive experience.

Apple Watch & Session Redesign

New

• ⌚ Full Apple Watch Companion:

  Start, pause, resume, and end sauna sessions right from your wrist. Complete companion support is now live.

• ❤️ Heart Rate on Watch:

  Heart rate from Apple Watch is now visible during sessions, with improved live visuals and a dedicated tracking setting.

Improved

• 📱 Redesigned Active Session:

  The Active Session screen was redesigned for faster control, clearer timing, adaptive metrics, and better guidance during rest periods.

Fixed

• 🔧 Polished Session Flow:

  Fixed round counter accuracy, end-session confirmation placement, and post-session streak and achievement tracking.

What's New in 26.10

• 🌸 Two New Sessions:

  Discover Spring and Lotus, two new ambient themes to elevate your sauna experience and bring the app to 16 total themes.

• 📱 Home Screen Widgets:

  Add Sauna Assistant to your home screen. Three new widgets let you quickly start a session, see your last session summary, or check your streak and stats at a glance.

• 🏆 Achievement Icons:

  Achievements now display richer, more distinct icons that better reflect each milestone category: streaks, sessions, time, variety, and rounds.

iCloud Sync & Achievements

Version 26.9 is here, bringing our biggest update yet to your daily wellness ritual with seamless backup and a brand new progress system.

• ☁️ Seamless iCloud Sync:

  Your sessions, maintenance logs, and settings now automatically backup to your private iCloud. Your data is always up to date across all your devices.

• 🏆 Achievements & Streaks:

  Track your consecutive sauna days right from the Home tab and unlock special milestone badges as you deepen your practice.

• 🏠 Refined Home Experience:

  We have redesigned the Home tab to put your wellness journey front and center, from sensor reporting to your tip of the day.

• 🛠️ Fixes & Improvements:

  Resolved a sensor toggle issue and implemented under-the-hood performance optimizations for a smoother experience.

The "Share Your Story" Update

A complete overhaul of how you share your sauna sessions, plus live environmental charts to keep you informed in the heat.

• 📸 New Share & Story Experience:

  Create stylish sauna story cards with multiple templates. Add your own focused photo background from Camera or Photos for personalized post-session shares.

• 📈 Live Environmental Chart:

  Now available during sessions! See real-time sensor values and round tracking with a clean, live chart overlay.

• 🤘 Better Reliability:

  Improved session recovery after backgrounding, smarter silent-session media controls, and overall stability fixes.

• 🍎 Health Export:

  Improved accuracy for export timing, ensuring your rounds match up perfectly in Apple Health.

Sauna Everywhere & Maintenance Journal

Extend your sauna control to all your Apple devices and keep your saunas in top shape with detailed maintenance logs.

• 🖥️ Multi-Platform Control:

  Control your sauna’s activity from anywhere! Manage your session via Live Activities on your Apple Watch, Mac, or iPad.

• 📓 Maintenance Journal:

  Keep a detailed journal of your sauna’s maintenance, with support for tracking multiple Saunas.

The "Welcome Aboard" Update

A new 4-page onboarding flow introduces you to everything Sauna Assistant can do — get started faster and discover features you'll love.

• 🌡️ Your Preferred Units:

  Choose between Celsius and Fahrenheit in settings, and the entire app will respect your preference.

• ⏱️ Improved Round Tracking:

  Each round now tracks exactly when it started and ended, giving you more accurate session data.

• 📲 Better Social Sharing:

  Session summary cards are now more polished and optimized for sharing on social media.

• ✨ Smoother Experience:

  Fixed Live Activity staleness issues, improved audio handling, and squashed various bugs for a more reliable experience.

The "Connected Sauna" Update

We focused on making your sauna session seamless with your health data and smart home sensors.

• 🌡️ Real-Time Climate:

  Connect your HomeKit temperature and humidity sensors (like Eve or Netatmo) to see live heat conditions directly inside the timer.

• 🧘 Mindful Minutes:

  Your relaxation now counts. Sessions automatically sync to Apple Health as "Mindful Minutes."

• ❄️ Holiday Themes:

  Added Winter and Santa themes to keep the vibe festive.

• 🔊 Custom Sounds:

  You can finally choose your own custom sound for the countdown start.

Interactive Lock Screen

• Interactive Live Activities:

  You no longer need to unlock your phone. Start, stop, and pause rounds directly from the Lock Screen or Dynamic Island.

• Fixes:

  Resolved display sleep issues so your timer is always visible.

The "Visual & Siri" Overhaul

A massive redesign of the app's core engine and visuals.

• 🗣️ "Siri, Start My Sauna":

  Full Shortcuts support. Use voice commands to start sessions and control scenes.

• 📊 Beautiful Charts:

  We completely rebuilt the Session History. Visualize your heat tolerance progress with smooth, scrolling charts.

• 👻 Spooky Season:

  Added limited-time Halloween icons and "Ghost" sessions.

• 🌘 True Dark Mode:

  Optimized visuals for OLED screens to reduce battery usage and eye strain in dark sauna rooms.

The Audio Experience

• 🌊 Binaural Beats:

  Added "Theta" waves and "Waterfall" ambience for deep mental recovery.

• 🎛️ Quick Toggles:

  Mute audio or toggle HomeKit scenes instantly from the active session screen.

• 🎨 Dynamic Themes:

  Switch visual themes mid-session without stopping the timer.

Universal Audio & Guidance

• 🎧 Universal Audio Control:

  Listen to your own Podcasts, Spotify, or Audiobooks. The app now lowers the volume for alerts and respects your external audio.

• ♾️ Open-Ended Rounds:

  For those who want to go with the flow—stop the session whenever you feel ready, rather than on a fixed timer.

• 🧘 Yoga Nidra:

  Added a "Non-Sleep Deep Rest" (NSDR) theme for recovery days.

The Automation Integration

• 🏠 HomeKit Begins:

  The first version of our smart home engine. Control lights and fans automatically when a session starts.

• 🌲 Nature Sounds:

  Added "Forest Walk" and "Healing Forest" for nature-inspired relaxation.

The Launch

• 🚀 Liftoff:

  Sauna Assistant hits the App Store.

• 📝 Logging:

  Added the ability to log temperature, humidity, and subjective notes after every session.

• 📲 Social Sharing:

  Create beautiful share-cards for Instagram to track your streak.