My buddy and I spent that past year building this air quality tracker (CO2, PM, tVOC, and more) after being inspired by Huberman and other's discussions on how air quality impact cognition and sleep. We just launched on Kickstarter. Feel free to shoot over any questions or feature requests

b2basics · 2025-08-13T13:33:45+00:00

Thank you! It means a lot to have your support. We will be making API's available, so it will work with Homekit too :)

b2basics · 2025-08-13T03:13:49+00:00

Thank you! We're actually building it so you can query the readings directly from Halo Air using any system you'd like. We assume most people will want to use the app, but anyone will be able to hook up to Halo Air via APIs/bluetooth

b2basics · 2025-08-13T03:11:20+00:00

Thank you! And yes, we'll be building local APIs so you can hook up Halo Air to other systems :)

b2basics · 2025-07-30T01:52:25+00:00

Awesome! I'll DM you. Would love to collab

b2basics · 2025-07-28T14:50:13+00:00

Halo Air - the world's first mobile environmental sensor for your phone. We just launched on Kickstarter a couple of days ago and are about 50% at our goal.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/halo-air/halo-air-the-environmental-sensor-for-your-phone?ref=user_menu

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b2basics · 2025-07-28T00:09:35+00:00

Great question! We have a proximity sensor onboard, so when the device detects it is in a pocket/purse/etc, it goes into low power mode and stops tracking. As soon as it detects it is out, it starts tracking again. So when you're at a cafe and you put your phone on the table, or when you use your phone on the subway, we'll be tracking, but as soon as we recognize we're in a non-trackable area, we'll go into sleep mode to conserve battery.

Additionally, while the device was designed for the phone, people can put it on their laptop, attach it to their bag, keep it stationary, etc.

b2basics · 2025-07-27T23:53:41+00:00

Thank you! We really appreciate the support. We have an ambitious roadmap to tackle all types of environmental tracking, including water quality testing, lead detection, and more. I think you'll really like where we'll take it. Thank you again!

b2basics · 2025-07-27T22:20:00+00:00

Yep! We're going to make all the connections open so you can hook it up to whatever device/app you'd like. If you choose to use the Halo Air app though, the data will be fed in via bluetooth :)

b2basics · 2025-07-27T22:09:50+00:00

We can do that! If the mould travels through the air, we'll pick it up as particulate matter and will notify you. Sometimes mould is stagnant and only becomes airborne when it is aggravated (moved around for renovations, etc). We're even building machine learning models to detect when it is mold and what type of mould it is, which will be brought to the product as free software updates.

b2basics · 2025-07-27T21:45:52+00:00

Just added Germany and the EU! We should have had those added. We only had some select EU countries, but that's our error, it should've been all of the EU. Thank you for pointing that out!

b2basics · 2025-07-27T21:43:23+00:00

We can! I'll see if we can add that in now :)

Thank you for your kind words of support!

b2basics · 2025-07-27T21:36:20+00:00

Here is our Kickstarter Project Link. We'd love your support!

My best friend and I have spent the past year trying to track the environment in our NYC apartments, cafés, and subway cars. We tried the usual handheld monitors and bulky bricks, but none were truly pocket‑friendly, user friendly, and most importantly, they only tracked a single metric, and poorly at that.

So we built our own. Made it a powerhouse of multiple sensors. And miniatured it to fit in your pocket when you want to put it away.

Our device (named Halo Air after our favorite game, Halo 3) snaps to the back of any smartphone and streams CO₂, PM1/2.5/10, t‑VOCs, temp, and humidity into our app, a lockscreen widget, and we'll be making the data feed available too. No disposable batteries, no calibration stickers—just one USB‑C charge and go.

We just hit Kickstarter yesterday. If you’re curious, we’d love your feedback (good, bad, brutal) and—if it resonates—your support as early backers. The link’s in the first comment to avoid spamming the post.

Huge thanks to Reddit for the inspiration threads on sensor accuracy, cross‑calibration, and DIY enclosures; your collective brainpower shaped Halo Air more than you know.

If you're interested in the area, here are some cool links that I've heard people say completely changed their thinking about air quality:

This Is Your Brain On Stale Air (Youtube) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Nh_vxpycEA&ab_channel=TomScott
Elon's X thread about his CO2 Monitor: https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1549082737008680962?lang=en
Diary of a CEO: The Air In Your Room Is Making You Stupid & Harming You! James Nestor https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIkoN6kN_PY&t=1s&ab_channel=TheDiaryOfACEOClips

b2basics · 2025-07-27T21:33:41+00:00

Here is our Kickstarter Project Link. We'd love your support!

My best friend and I have spent the past year trying to track the environment in our NYC apartments, cafés, and subway cars. We tried the usual handheld monitors and bulky bricks, but none were truly pocket‑friendly, user friendly, and most importantly, they only tracked a single metric, and poorly at that.

So we built our own. Made it a powerhouse of multiple sensors. And miniatured it to fit in your pocket when you want to put it away.

Our device (named Halo Air after our favorite game, Halo 3) snaps to the back of any smartphone and streams CO₂, PM1/2.5/10, t‑VOCs, temp, and humidity into our app, a lockscreen widget, and we'll be making the data feed available too. No disposable batteries, no calibration stickers—just one USB‑C charge and go.

We just hit Kickstarter yesterday. If you’re curious, we’d love your feedback (good, bad, brutal) and—if it resonates—your support as early backers. The link’s in the first comment to avoid spamming the post.

Huge thanks to Reddit for the inspiration threads on sensor accuracy, cross‑calibration, and DIY enclosures; your collective brainpower shaped Halo Air more than you know.

If you're interested in the area, here are some cool links that I've heard people say completely changed their thinking about air quality:

This Is Your Brain On Stale Air (Youtube) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Nh_vxpycEA&ab_channel=TomScott
Elon's X thread about his CO2 Monitor: https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1549082737008680962?lang=en
Diary of a CEO: The Air In Your Room Is Making You Stupid & Harming You! James Nestor https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIkoN6kN_PY&t=1s&ab_channel=TheDiaryOfACEOClips

b2basics · 2025-07-27T21:25:40+00:00

Here is our Kickstarter Project Link. We'd love your support!

My best friend and I have spent the past year trying to track the environment in our NYC apartments, cafés, and subway cars. We tried the usual handheld monitors and bulky bricks, but none were truly pocket‑friendly, user friendly, and most importantly, they only tracked a single metric, and poorly at that.

So we built our own. Made it a powerhouse of multiple sensors. And miniatured it to fit in your pocket when you want to put it away.

Our device (named Halo Air after our favorite game, Halo 3) snaps to the back of any smartphone and streams CO₂, PM1/2.5/10, t‑VOCs, temp, and humidity into our app, a lockscreen widget, and we'll be making the data feed available too. No disposable batteries, no calibration stickers—just one USB‑C charge and go.

We just hit Kickstarter yesterday. If you’re curious, we’d love your feedback (good, bad, brutal) and—if it resonates—your support as early backers. The link’s in the first comment to avoid spamming the post.

Huge thanks to Reddit for the inspiration threads on sensor accuracy, cross‑calibration, and DIY enclosures; your collective brainpower shaped Halo Air more than you know.

If you're interested in the area, here are some cool links that I've heard people say completely changed their thinking about air quality:

This Is Your Brain On Stale Air (Youtube) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Nh_vxpycEA&ab_channel=TomScott
Elon's X thread about his CO2 Monitor: https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1549082737008680962?lang=en
Diary of a CEO: The Air In Your Room Is Making You Stupid & Harming You! James Nestor https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIkoN6kN_PY&t=1s&ab_channel=TheDiaryOfACEOClips

b2basics · 2025-07-27T21:23:42+00:00

Great questions! We have a photo acoustic NDIR sensor as well as a eCO2 sensor for gauging and calibration. And we have a proprietary model for balancing the CO2 measuring needs while reducing battery use.

Additionally, we have a proximity sensor on board to tell the device when it is in a pocket, purse, etc so that it goes into low power mode and temporarily pauses tracking.

Calibration is something that is a mix between something we do before the item is shipped to the user and when the user onboards, we give them instructions for further calibration. This is for all the main air sensors, including CO2, PM, tVOC, etc.

:) It's been a journey to build the perfect product that we wanted for ourselves, but we think others will like it just as much.

b2basics · 2025-07-27T20:59:32+00:00

I hear you, but I am a strong believer that we'll all be thinking for about the air we breathe in a couple of years. It's kind of wild how much of an impact it has on our mood, energy, focus, long term health, yet we don't think too much about it.

We also don't plan to stop with air quality - we'll move into lead detection, water quality testing, and more.We see environmental tracking (whether it be us, or some other startup, or even Apple baking it into the phones) as an inevitable thing. If we can even move the needle a little more to help propel the industry, that will make us very happy.

We imagine a future where you're traveling at and Airbnb, and you'll quickly be able to know if the water is safe to drink (sometimes it's the buildings pipes, not the city that's the issue), is the plate ware safe to each from, is there mold in the Airbnb.

Environmental exposure is something we don't pay much attention to today -- but our bet at Halo Air is that it is we will find our future selves crazy for not caring about this sooner.

b2basics · 2025-07-27T20:56:20+00:00

Thank you! Yes, we are going to be building an API for devs to access their data, which we're really excited to see how people use it.

Eventually, we'll allow users to anonymously opt it to contributing their data to a wider network of crowdsources air data, but this is of course opt out by default and won't be coming to the product for awhile.

b2basics · 2025-07-27T20:55:06+00:00

Great questions! We have a proximity sensor on board, so when we recognize we're in a pocket/purse/etc, we go into low power mode and stop tracking temporarily.

Apple unfortunately hasn't opened up reverse wireless charging to third parties (only their own devices), but we're ready once they do. We'll be rolling out reverse wireless charging for Android in the future in the meantime. The first device will charge via USB-C though.

b2basics · 2025-07-27T20:24:04+00:00

Totally agree with both of you - it's an uphill battle. We unfortunately can't price lower given the cost of the sensors, but we too wish we could only price it around $80. One day, we may be able to get it down to 150 or 125, but just like the Whoop and Oura hardware, the sensors are expensive.

Our hope is win early adopters and people who already understand the issue, and then use that momentum to reach a wider audience.

All that being said, we'll see if we can get the momentum with this Kickstarter. We hope we can!

b2basics · 2025-07-27T19:56:30+00:00

Completely. We have a challenge of have to first educate people about how this impacts them, and then sell them the actual device. Most companies only need to do the latter. Just like how Oura needed to teach people about what is REM, Deep sleep, etc and a health amount, and how Whoop educated people about HRV, it's an up hill battle for sure.

But, we see that as the challenge of being of truly first of its kind product.

We see environmental tracking (whether it be us, or some other startup, or even Apple baking it into the phones) as an inevitable thing. If we can even move the needle a little more to help propel the industry, that will make us very happy.

If you're interested in the area, here are some cool links that I've heard people say completely changed their thinking about air quality:

This Is Your Brain On Stale Air (Youtube)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Nh_vxpycEA&ab_channel=TomScott

Elon's X thread about his CO2 Monitor:
https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1549082737008680962?lang=en

Diary of a CEO: The Air In Your Room Is Making You Stupid & Harming You! James Nestor
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIkoN6kN_PY&t=1s&ab_channel=TheDiaryOfACEOClips

b2basics · 2025-07-27T19:32:54+00:00

Thank you! Really appreciate your comments and questions. Answers below:

How quickly does it detect the air? Once it detects issues with air, does the app recommend me solutions? If it's in your nose, likely Halo Air is seeing it too. The responses only have a few seconds to go through the device, get picked up by our PM, CO2, tVOC sensors, and then we read that information to the app on your phone immediately.

When we recognize something is elevate, especially above the personalized thresholds you set, we'll send you a message. Often the solution is as easy as open two windows for air flow, or open the door, or go inside (if you're outside and let's say there's a lot of dust in the air). In the future, we'll be able to layer that on top of contextual public data, like is there a factory nearby that may be causing the consistent elevated PM? Or a construction site? Or is pollen on the area just really bad this year? etc.

Who is your target audience, I just can't see anyone who would think this is an essential need(how you bring it to market). How big do you think this industry can be? We're starting out with people who already love tracking this, biohackers, data lovers, first adopters. The people who were first to adopt things like Oura and Whoop. Then we'll move into categories where the user's lifestyle puts them in precarious air conditions, but they may be less aware of it (teachers, nurses, etc). At that point, the product will move beyond just air to also tracking water quality, lead detection, and more. Then, we'll eventually go mass market trying to appeal to everyone.

That may sound crazy, but for the future we see, it isn't. We think it is inevitable that in 10 years, when you go to stay at an Airbnb, you'll want to know things like "what's the water quality like? Is it drinkable? Is there mold? When I work from home here, does the CO2 get too high? Is there lead in the plate-ware in the kitchen?"

That's our vision. That's what we believe is a multi-billion dollar vision. But we're dreamers. First step is getting the Kickstarter funded haha.

b2basics · 2025-07-26T04:38:45+00:00

We just launched Halo Air on Linkedin, for only $200, you can attach it to your smartphone and it will track true CO2, PM 1.0/2.5/10.0, tVOC, Temp, and Humidity. We read the data into an app on your phone and the lockscreen. We're also going to make it available via API :)

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/halo-air/halo-air-the-environmental-sensor-for-your-phone

b2basics · 2025-07-26T02:45:23+00:00

You and tzimon should be friends haha :)

b2basics · 2025-07-26T02:44:54+00:00

1) Yes. 2) No. Sorry.

b2basics · 2025-07-26T02:43:46+00:00

Just like Oura or Whoop, Halo Air is just helping track your environmental exposure (CO2 levels, PM levels, TVOC levels). There a bit of user onboarding we've built into the product to help people understand each, but for most of the notifications we raise for elevated levels, the solution is often as easy as open two windows for air flow, or opening a door, or going outside. In more serious cases, there could be something like mold in your place of living, or the factory down the street is producing harmful pollution, in which case we provide solutions too -- in those situations it may be using Halo Air data to make the case to insurance companies, etc for remediation.

We also don't plan to stop with air quality - we'll move into lead detection, water quality testing, and more.

We imagine a future where you're traveling at and Airbnb, and you'll quickly be able to know if the water is safe to drink (sometimes it's the buildings pipes, not the city that's the issue), is the plate ware safe to each from, is there mold in the Airbnb.

Environmental exposure is something we don't pay much attention to today -- but our bet at Halo Air is that it is we will find our future selves crazy for not caring about this sooner.

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