Intake Breathing Review: Do Magnetic Nasal Strips Work?
Intake is a reusable magnetic band that clicks onto two sticky tabs beside the nostrils. Here is what it does, what the evidence shows, and what the refills cost.
Quick Summary
Plausible if your nose is the bottleneck. There is no independent trial showing it beats a cheaper adhesive strip.
How Intake works
Intake has two parts. The tabs are single-use adhesives. The starter-kit page calls them hypoallergenic and latex-free. The band is reusable and rigid, with magnets on each end. The starter kit includes four band sizes.
Because the band is rigid, the brand says it will not collapse when you breathe in the way a flexible strip can. Intake also says it opens the nose much wider than a regular strip. We did not find a published measurement of that claim, so treat the width line as marketing.
Does Intake Breathing work?
The brand's study, published on Intake's own site, says SleepScore Labs tracked people for 3 weeks without a strip and then 3 weeks with Intake, across more than 840 nights. Intake reports 41% less nasal congestion, a 47% boost in perceived sleep quality, and 88% of users reporting less snoring.
Limits: Intake commissioned and published that study. The outcomes are what people said about their own sleep. There was no placebo and no comparison strip, and everyone knew they were wearing Intake. We did not find it in a peer-reviewed journal. It shows that users liked it. It does not show that Intake works better than a cheaper strip.
The stronger evidence is for ordinary adhesive strips. A 2016 systematic review in JAMA Facial Plastic Surgery (Kiyohara and colleagues) found five studies supporting external nasal dilator strips on measures such as airflow and nasal-valve area. It concluded they can relieve internal nasal valve obstruction in some people. A randomized placebo-controlled trial of Breathe Right, published in the European Respiratory Journal in 2000, cut snoring frequency from 258 to 173 snores an hour in 12 snorers with chronic rhinitis. Loudness and sleep quality did not change. Our best nasal strips guide uses that same trial.
Intake pulls the sides of the nose outward, which is the same idea. It has not been tested the same way. If your nose is the bottleneck, it is plausible that Intake helps. There is no independent proof that it beats a standard strip.
Magnetic nasal strips vs a regular strip
| Feature | Intake (magnetic) | Breathe Right | Sleep Karma nose tape |
|---|---|---|---|
| How it opens the nose | Rigid magnetic band pulls on two side tabs | Spring strip across the bridge | Flexible bamboo-silk strip across the bridge |
| What you throw away | The tabs. The band is reusable. | The whole strip | The whole strip |
| Independent trials | None found | Small randomized trials | None |
| Regulator status | The brand says the product is FDA registered. Registration is a listing. It is not FDA clearance. | FDA-cleared Class I nasal dilator, 510(k) K953772 | Not stated on the product page we read |
| Price checked | $49.99 for 15 uses. $69.99 for 30 uses in black. | No price on the brand site | $38.97 for a 1-month supply, one-time |
What Intake costs
| Feature | Price | About per use |
|---|---|---|
| Starter kit, 15 uses, black or clear | $49.99 | $3.33 |
| Starter kit, 30 uses, black | $69.99 | $2.33 |
| Starter kit, 30 uses, clear | $79.99 | $2.67 |
| Refill pack, 30 uses | $39.99 | $1.33 |
| Refill pack, 60 uses | $59.99 | $1.00 |
| Refill pack, 90 uses | $79.99 | $0.89 |
A separate store item is titled Refill Plan Trial and says it renews at $24.99 a month. That title is the price clue. The checkout amount was not opened. Intake also describes a 90-day money-back policy. Read the terms. This page does not state a refund rate.
Our alternative: Sleep Karma nose tape
Disclosure: Evident and Sleep Karma are the same company. We make money when you buy Sleep Karma products. We feature them here, and we show the evidence and limits for them the same way we do for every other brand.
If you would rather skip magnets and tabs, Sleep Karma Premium Bamboo Nose Tape is a flexible bamboo-silk strip in packs of 30. It was $38.97 one-time for a 1-month supply on sleepkarma.co on November 9, 2026. Like Intake, it has not been tested in an independent clinical trial. If you want the strip with the trials, choose Breathe Right.
Shop it at sleepkarma.co/products/nose-tape.
Who it is for
Who Might Like This
- ✓Nighttime nasal stuffiness, a nose that collapses when you breathe in, snoring that starts in the nose, or training where you want nasal breathing.
Who Should Consider Alternatives
- ×Loud snoring with pauses or gasping, or heavy daytime sleepiness. Those can be signs of sleep apnea, which a nasal strip does not treat. See a doctor. Mayo Clinic's sleep apnea page is the same source our nasal-strips guide uses.
- ×Broken or irritated skin. Stop if the adhesive bothers you.
Sources
How we checked
intakebreathing.com product catalog, November 9, 2026: starter kits at $49.99, $69.99, and $79.99, and refill packs at $39.99, $59.99, and $79.99.
Starter-kit description calls the tabs hypoallergenic and latex-free. A width claim was not backed by a published measurement.
Sleep Karma nose tape variant price $38.97 for a 1-month supply, sleepkarma.co, November 9, 2026. The Okendo review count was not refreshed.
Kiyohara 2016 (PMID 27367589) and the Breathe Right trial already cited on the nasal-strips guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
It uses the same idea as nasal strips, which have small trials showing better airflow in some people. Intake itself has a brand-commissioned, self-reported study and no independent trial that we found.
Breathe Right has the trials and an FDA clearance. Intake avoids a pull across the bridge and has a reusable band. There is no head-to-head study.
The magnets sit outside the nose, on tabs. The main everyday risk is skin irritation from the adhesive.
On November 9, 2026 a 15-use starter kit was $49.99 and a 30-use black kit was $69.99. A 30-use refill pack was $39.99.
No study on this page shows that. If you might have sleep apnea, see a doctor.
This is not medical advice. A nasal strip is not a treatment for sleep apnea. Evident and Sleep Karma are the same company. Evident does not use affiliate links. No score: we did not run a methodology score for Intake.