Safety
Freediving safety
Freediving is one of the most rewarding ways to be in the water, and it is unforgiving of shortcuts. Everything in the Freediving Buddy app, and everything on this site, assumes you train within these rules.
Never hold your breath in water alone. Ever.
Not in the sea, not in a pool, not in a bathtub. No exceptions for experience, fitness, or short holds. Every water session needs a trained buddy watching you: actively, at arm's reach, doing nothing else.
Why solo is the one unbreakable rule
Almost every freediving fatality has the same shape: a capable swimmer, alone, who blacked out in water with nobody there to lift their airway clear. A blackout in itself is survivable; a blackout alone in water is usually fatal. The rule is absolute because the failure mode gives you no second chance.
Shallow water blackout
A blackout is a sudden loss of consciousness caused by low oxygen, and it arrives without reliable warning: no pain, often no distress, sometimes a feeling of ease. It can happen to fit, experienced swimmers on holds that felt comfortable, most often near the surface at the end of a dive as pressure drops. Hyperventilating before a hold makes it far more likely: it strips carbon dioxide (the urge to breathe) without adding meaningful oxygen, and silences the alarm that keeps you conscious. Never hyperventilate. Breathe calmly, and end every hold long before you think you must.
What a trained buddy actually does
A buddy is not company at the beach. A trained buddy watches one diver at a time, stays close enough to touch you, knows the blackout signs, and can perform a rescue: airway clear of the water, blow-tap-talk, and calling for help. If your buddy can't do those things, you don't have a buddy yet. Take a course together.
The web timer is a dry-training tool
The timer on this site is for dry practice only: sitting or lying down, on land, nowhere near water. Dry breath-holds are how CO₂ and O₂ tables are meant to be trained: a blackout on a sofa is a scare; the same blackout in water is a drowning. Never use this timer, or any timer, to pace holds in water without direct supervision.
Get real training, and listen to your body
A certified freediving course (AIDA, Molchanovs, PADI Freediver, SSI and others) teaches breathing, technique, rescue, and the judgment this page can only sketch. Progress slowly: the urge to breathe, contractions, and discomfort are information, not obstacles. Skip sessions when you are ill, exhausted, or have been drinking. No personal best is worth pushing through warning signs.
If you witness a blackout in water: airway above the surface, remove mask, blow across the eyes, tap the cheek, talk to them, and call your local emergency number immediately if they do not resume breathing within seconds.
Ready to train dry, within these rules? Open the breath-hold timer