Intake Breathing UK review: price and where to buy

Intake Breathing UK: where can you buy it?

You can buy Intake Breathing in the UK from two places: Intake's own website, which sells everything including the starter kit, and Healf, a UK retailer that sells the refills, spare bands and the case. We checked every route on 27 October 2026. We haven't bought or tested Intake ourselves. This review is based on what Intake, Healf and Amazon publish and on what Intake's customers say in their reviews.

Intake is a reusable magnetic band that sits across the front of the nose. It clicks onto two single-use adhesive tabs stuck to the sides of the nose, each holding a metal disc. Nothing goes inside the nose.

We found no Intake products at Boots, Superdrug or Holland & Barrett. We couldn't load any of the three sites directly, so read that as "not found" rather than "not stocked".

So today, the only live route to an Intake starter kit in the UK is Intake's own store, which ships from the US. That store also limits starter kits to one per order.

How Intake Breathing works, and what's in the starter kit

The band is made of Nylon-12 with neodymium magnets. Intake doesn't publish a magnet grade or a pull force. The tabs are single use: once you peel one off, it won't stick again. Intake describes the adhesive as medical-grade and latex-free.

Intake's starter kit page lists four bands and either 15 or 30 tabs. Its other pages disagree on whether prep pads, a magnetic applicator or a case come in the box, so we've gone by the starter page.

The Sleep Bundle and the Sport Bundle both cost £54.00 one-time, and each has a 15-tab starter kit plus extras. The Sleep Bundle adds mouth tape, prep pads and a travel case. The Sport Bundle adds Sport Tabs, prep pads and a case. That's 99p less than the £54.99 starter on its own, so if you'd use the extras, the bundle is the better buy.

Sport Tabs are Intake's tabs for training. They have a stronger three-layer adhesive made for sweat and come with prep pads in the pack. Intake says they aren't meant for sleep.

How much does Intake Breathing cost in the UK?

Intake Breathing costs £54.99 in the UK for a 15-night starter kit (£3.67 a night) or £64.99 for 30 nights (£2.17), and refills run from £1.03 a night down to £0.64, all on Intake's own store, before delivery from the US. Prices are from Intake's UK store and Healf on 27 October 2026, counting one pair of tabs a night.

Extras on Intake's UK store: a 2-pack of bands is £16 in black or white, or £20 in clear. Prep pads cost £8 to £12 for 100, the travel case is £27 and mouth tape is £20.

Intake's help centre says it doesn't offer refill subscriptions outside the US. Its UK store does show subscription options, but we couldn't confirm what a UK buyer would actually pay, so we haven't quoted a price.

Starting from nothing, the cheapest way to get 390 nights on Intake's own store (the same number of nights as Airlift's Annual plan) is the 30-night starter at £64.99 plus the 360-night pack at £229. That's £293.99, or £0.75 a night, before delivery from the US. Buying the same starter and then Healf refills on subscription comes to £388.87 for 390 nights. Our Airlift vs Intake Breathing comparison works through six and twelve months for both brands.

Delivery, customs and returns from the UK

Intake doesn't publish a UK delivery rate in pounds. Its help centre gives courier delivery at $18 to $25 outside the US, taking 3 to 6 business days, or a slower postal service that can take one to two months. Intake says it isn't responsible for charges added after purchase, so a UK buyer may face import charges on delivery. Its free-delivery thresholds are for US orders only.

Intake's Better Breathing Guarantee runs for 90 days from delivery: if you're not breathing better, Intake gives a refund. You don't have to send back used tabs, but the band and kit must go back in good condition, in their original packaging, with all accessories, and refill packs must be unopened. On international orders the original shipping and any customs duties or taxes aren't refunded, and Intake doesn't say who pays the return postage from the UK. The refund comes within two weeks of the return being received and checked. Kits from Intake's free-trial offer, which ended on 23 October 2026, aren't covered.

If you bought from Healf or Amazon, the return goes back through that retailer, not Intake. Healf takes returns for 365 days with free UK return postage, as long as items are in their original packaging and consumables are unopened.

Separately, Intake's warranty covers manufacturing defects for one year.

The UK alternative: Airlift

If US delivery, possible import charges or posting a band back put you off Intake, look at Airlift, which is sold by a UK company. It's an external magnetic clip on two single-use stickers, each holding a steel disc, with nothing inside the nose. Our full Airlift vs Intake Breathing comparison goes through both round by round.

What a UK buyer gets with Airlift

Under the 90-Night Airlift Test, you email within 90 days of receiving your order and get back everything you paid, delivery included. You keep the clip and send nothing back. It's once per customer. With Intake, the band and kit go back in their original packaging, and on international orders the original shipping and any duties or taxes aren't refunded. With no published, independent study of either product, it makes sense to try one where getting your money back doesn't depend on posting anything.

Every Airlift starter box has all five clip sizes, XS to XL, so finding your fit doesn't mean asking for another size or paying postage. Intake's kit has 4 of its 6 sizes. Our help page covers sizing. Complete and Ultimate also include 30 cleansing prep pads with every 30 nights.

Airlift's prices are in pounds, with no import charges. Standard delivery is £5, free on one-time orders of £50 or more, and every subscription order ships free by next-day delivery, with no minimum spend. Orders placed before 3:30pm on a weekday are dispatched the same day.

It also costs less to start and over a first year. Bought one-time, the Complete starter (£33) plus £5 delivery, then Airlift's 360-night stickers pack at £182, comes to £220 for 390 nights (£0.56 a night), with UK delivery. The catch is that prep pads come with the first 30 nights only. On the Complete Annual plan it's £240 for 390 nights (£0.62 a night), with prep pads in every delivery. Intake's cheapest route to 390 nights is £293.99 (£0.75 a night), before delivery from the US.

Where Intake Breathing wins

• It has been around since 2019 and has far more reviews.
• It lists nine US patents on magnetic nasal dilation.
• It makes six band sizes, and sends the smallest or largest free on request (UK buyers pay the postage).
• Sport Tabs are made for sweat, with prep pads in the pack.
• Bulk refills are cheap: £0.64 a night on the 360-night pack and £0.68 on the 90-night pack, before delivery from the US. The 90-night pack costs less per night than Airlift's 90-night stickers pack (£0.76).
• Healf, a UK retailer, sells the refills, with free UK delivery on subscriptions and 365-day returns.
• It has commissioned a home sleep study. Airlift hasn't commissioned any.

Airlift has drawbacks too. The company was set up in November 2024 and has no Trustpilot reviews yet. There's no study and no test data for it, no sport version, and it's sold only to UK addresses.

If you already own an Intake band, its 360-night pack at £229 (£0.64 a night, plus delivery from the US) is the cheapest year of refills. Airlift's Annual plan is £240 for 360 nights (£0.67 a night), with a new clip, prep pads and UK delivery included, plus 30 bonus nights in the first box. For the same 360 nights, Intake's pack costs £11 less before delivery.

Which Intake band size do you need?

Start with the four sizes in the starter kit. You only need another size if none of them fits. Intake makes six band sizes in all: S1, S2, M1, M2, L1 and L2. The kit has the middle four, S2, M1, M2 and L1. Healf gives widths for four of them: 29mm for S1, 32mm for S2, 35mm for M1 and 38mm for M2.

If S2 is too big or L1 too small, Intake sends an S1 or L2 band free if you ask. Its help centre says international postage for that band isn't covered, so a UK buyer pays it. Spare 2-packs in any size cost £16 in black or white.

Intake's own pages list the kit's sizes in two different ways: S2, M1, M2 and L1 in some places, and S, M, L and XL in others. Intake also offers fitting help by video, and 6 of the 54 five-star Trustpilot reviews we read mention help with fitting or service by video, phone or in person.

Is Intake Breathing legit?

Yes. Intake Breathing is a real US company: Intake Breathing Technology LLC, in Santa Barbara, California. It describes itself as family-owned. Its pages say the inventor, Jim Castillo, started it in 2019 with his daughter and son-in-law, after crowdfunding, and that the idea began as a design for motocross goggles.

Intake lists nine US patents on magnetic nasal dilation on its help centre, with their numbers and dates, plus related patents in Australia, Europe, China, Japan and Hong Kong.

Its ratings, each checked on 27 October 2026:

• Trustpilot: 3.7 from 91 reviews, with 62% five-star and 29% one-star.
• Intake's own site: 4.4 out of 5 from 2,103 reviews on the starter kit page.
• Amazon US: 3.8 out of 5 from 5,905 ratings on the 15-tab starter kit.
• Healf: 4.62 out of 5 from 26 reviews on the 30-night refill.

Some claims on Intake's pages come without published data, such as opening the nose up to 70% wider than disposable strips, or its four starter sizes fitting 99% of users.

What do Intake Breathing reviews and complaints say?

The praise is mostly for its customer service and easier breathing. The complaints are mostly about support, delivery and refunds, plus tabs not staying on. Almost none of these reviews come from UK buyers.

On 27 October 2026 we read 90 of Intake's 91 Trustpilot reviews. Only 2 showed a UK location. Most were from the US, with some from Canada. Intake's Amazon UK pages say there are 0 reviews from the UK, and the star ratings they show come from other countries. So what follows is mostly US and Canadian experience, not UK opinion.

What people praise, in the 54 five-star Trustpilot reviews: 27 mention helpful customer service, including the 6 that mention help with fitting or service by video, phone or in person. 17 say breathing feels easier, 6 use Intake for sport and 6 say the tabs hold well. Trustpilot also shows that Intake replied to every negative review.

What people complain about, in the 31 one- and two-star Trustpilot reviews (one review can raise more than one theme):

15 of the 31 complain only about service and fulfilment, not the product. Four relate to a free-trial offer that ended on 23 October 2026.

On Amazon in the US, Amazon counts how often reviews mention each topic, and its counts separate the starter kit from the refills. On the 30-tab starter kit, 117 of 251 mentions of adhesive strength were positive (47%). On the refills, 83 of 286 mentions of adhesiveness were positive (29%). Each figure is Amazon's own count for that listing, and on the refills a smaller share of the mentions about hold were positive.

What the evidence says

We could find no published, independent study of any magnetic nasal dilator, including Airlift's. A 2026 review by UK surgeons reached the same conclusion.^[1] The same review found most research is on adhesive nasal strips, which are a different product.^[1]

Intake cites a home sleep study it commissioned from SleepScore Labs. The participant numbers, methods and full results haven't been published, so we can't assess it.

Snoring results for strips are mixed, and mostly show no effect. In a 2001 trial of 18 heavy snorers, strips widened the nose and made it feel clearer, but didn't change how long or how loudly people snored.^[2] That's a result for adhesive strips, not for Intake, Airlift or any magnetic dilator.

You can read more on our science page and in do magnetic nasal strips work?

Who should buy Intake in the UK?

Plenty of UK buyers should choose Intake, especially anyone who already owns a band.

Buy Intake if

• you want the brand with the longer track record and far more reviews
• you train hard and want a tab made for sweat
• you already own an Intake band and want cheap refills, from Healf on subscription or Intake's 360-night pack
• you're happy to buy from a US store and wait for delivery

Look at Airlift if

• you want every size in the box
• you'd rather buy from a UK company, in pounds, with no import charges
• you want 90 nights to try it, with nothing to post back
• you're starting from scratch and want the lower first-year cost

You can try Airlift for 90 nights under the 90-Night Airlift Test.

Comparing more options? See our guide to Intake Breathing alternatives, the best magnetic nasal strips in the UK, or how Intake compares with adhesive strips.

Sources checked

All checked on 27 October 2026.

1. Intake starter kit, UK store: starter contents, sizes, UK prices, review count and claims.
2. Intake refill packs, band 2-pack, prep pads, travel case, Sport Tabs, Sleep Bundle, Sport Bundle and mouth tape: UK prices and contents.
3. Intake help: why magnets and are the tabs reusable: how the band and tabs work.
4. Intake help: a different size or replacement band: sizes and the free S1 or L2 band.
5. Intake help: international shipping: delivery to the UK.
6. Intake help: Better Breathing Guarantee, guarantee terms and international returns: the guarantee and return terms.
7. Intake help: refill plans outside the US: subscriptions for UK buyers.
8. Intake help: Sport Tabs FAQ: Sport Tabs.
9. Intake help: patents, limited warranty and Intake's about page: patents, warranty and company history.
10. Intake help: Intake vs nasal strips: the "up to 70% wider" claim.
11. Intake's post on its SleepScore Labs study: how Intake describes the study.
12. Healf Intake collection, Healf Intake refills, Healf S1 band, Healf M band and Healf FAQs: what Healf stocks, its prices, band widths, delivery and returns.
13. Intake's Amazon UK listings for the starter kit and refills: availability and review origin.
14. Intake's Amazon US listings for the 15-tab starter, 30-tab starter and refills: ratings and Amazon's topic counts.
15. Intake on Trustpilot and Airlift on Trustpilot: ratings and the review themes.
16. Airlift's shop, refills, refunds, shipping and help pages: Airlift's products, prices and policies.

Questions people ask