A digital detox rooted in Jeju haenyeo culture

The longer
your phone rests,
the deeper life becomes

Set a dive time and put your phone down. A haenyeo, one of Jeju's traditional free-diving sea women, descends into the sea.
The deeper you stay, the rarer the creatures you meet, filling an ocean of your own.

Download on theApp Store GET IT ONGoogle Play
Dive · Just time and breath Encounter · Deeper is rarer My Ocean · A sea you tend
Put Your Phone Down → Jeju Haenyeo →
Our story

A haenyeo stays in the sea
only as long as her breath allows

We will never tell you to hold on past your limit.
Dive as deep as today's breath takes you, and surface when it runs out.

After every dive, a haenyeo surfaces and lets out one long breath.
"Hoo-ee♪" That sound, the sumbisori, became this app's name.

UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage · Inscribed 2016 The Culture of Jeju Haenyeo →
Three things

Choose, dive, tend

No fiddly settings, no scores, no rankings.
Only what a trip to the sea requires.

Dive

Set a dive that fits you

You choose just two things: dive time and breathing room.
Breathing room is how long you may use other apps mid-dive (0 to 60 seconds).
Use it all, and the haenyeo runs out of breath
and that dive ends there.

Phone calls are okay. Finish the call and your dive continues.

Encounter

The deeper you stay, the rarer the encounter

Stay to the end, and a shell waits on the seafloor.
Open it to meet a creature.
Clownfish in the shallows, green sea turtles in the deep, aurora jellyfish in the abyss.
The longer the dive, the deeper the sea you reach.

Only time in the sea moves the odds.

My Ocean

Not a collection to complete,
an ocean to tend

The creatures you meet live on in your ocean. Meet the same kind again and they school together; when it gets full, you release someone back to the open sea. No numbers, no stats. Just a screen made for gazing.

Even after you let go, the record of the meeting stays forever.

Buddy

You don't have to dive alone

Link up with one person you trust and share each other's dive news.
While you dive, one line stays on screen: "Your buddy is cheering for you!"
Not a watcher. A diving partner.
Words of cheer stay out of the app. Some things are better said face to face.

Sumbi's promise

The sea is fair

Pay money, dive with friends,
and no rarer creature will surface for it.
Only one thing brings deeper encounters: time spent in the sea.

Money doesn't buy the odds

Nothing you can pay for raises the probability. The chance of an abyssal creature is at most 8%, published as-is inside the app.

It's okay to fail

No dying trees, no red warnings. "You surfaced a little early," and that's all. Catch your breath and dive again.

No subscriptions

Everything essential is free. Invite a creature you love for a small one-time price, and it lives in your ocean forever.

Sumbi measures success by the time you don't spend in the app.

FAQ

Things you might wonder

What is Sumbi?

Sumbi is a digital detox app that turns time away from your phone into a haenyeo's dive. Set a dive time and put your phone down; the haenyeo on screen descends into the sea, and completing the dive lets you meet sea creatures and tend an ocean of your own. Sumbi measures its success by the time you don't spend in the app.

What is sumbisori, and why the name Sumbi?

Sumbisori is the long whistling breath a Jeju haenyeo lets out, "hoo-ee♪", when she surfaces after a dive. That is where the name comes from. A haenyeo stays in the sea only as long as one breath allows. Sumbi is built the same way.

How is Sumbi related to Jeju haenyeo culture?

Everything, from the name to the rules, comes from Jeju haenyeo culture. The name comes from the haenyeo's breath, the sumbisori. The "only as long as your breath allows" rule comes from divers who work without oxygen tanks. And releasing creatures back to the open sea echoes halmang-badang, the custom of reserving shallow waters for elderly divers. The Culture of Jeju Haenyeo was inscribed by UNESCO in 2016. Read the full story →

How do I start?

You choose just two things: dive time and breathing room. Breathing room is how long you may use other apps mid-dive (0 to 60 seconds). Use it all, and the haenyeo runs out of breath and surfaces; that dive ends there.

What happens if I fail a dive?

"You surfaced a little early. Your time in the sea is kept in your log." That is how a dive ends. No dying trees, no wilting plants, no red warnings. Catch your breath and dive again.

Why set breathing room to 0 seconds?

You won't dare pick up your phone. And it goes on the record.

Can money improve the odds?

No. Money doesn't buy probability. Not settings, not friends. Only time in the sea moves the odds. The chance of an abyssal creature never exceeds 8% on any dive, and that number is published inside the app.

Is there a subscription?

No. Everything essential is free. If you like, you can invite a few creatures for a small one-time price; once invited, they are yours forever. We don't sell loot boxes.

Does a phone call fail my dive?

No. Phone calls are okay. Taking an incoming call never counts as a failure. Finish the call, come back, and your dive continues, even in the abyss.

What changes when I dive at night?

Dives started between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. meet different faces; some creatures only wake at night. The abyss, though, is always night.

How are my dives recorded?

Like a diary. No scores, no rankings, no week-over-week charts. Just the day's dive and the creatures you met, written down quietly.

What happens if I delete my account?

Everything, including your ocean, dive logs, and invited creatures, is deleted immediately and cannot be recovered. We built nothing to hold on to those who leave.

Now, shall we start a real dive?

Just like the one that brought you down here. Putting your phone down runs deeper, and quieter, than you'd think.

Download on theApp Store GET IT ONGoogle Play

The abyss is always night.