BetterSleep: Relax and Sleep Ratings and Reviews

Got this app years ago (and remember using it a lot)

Update: Got the developer to respond, and didn’t see the option as it is rather hidden I feel like (and unlike before where the music could be played in the app itself, it now just uses outside apps instead to help with sounds) but that’s fine to me because before music would just stop working when trying to play it in the app anyways. So rated 5 stars now for developer help and good answer!

Decided to check this app out again after several years (I bought the lifetime subscription back before there was a lot of other subscription options) and remember being able to use this app with music I had in my iPhone, with the app itself. (So if you had relaxing music, you could have that playing while also having the sounds the app had as well) However I noticed, now it doesn’t use that as an option anymore :( Just wanted to write this review, in case the developer will check this review out with an answer to if there is a reason for this or not (I’d understand if Apple came back at them saying they aren’t allowed to use music from people’s music library, but otherwise I feel like it would be something they should add back in, if possible) It’s cool that they supply other music options, but would really like to use some music that I’d provide, just for myself personally. (I’d rate it higher, as definitely feels worth it, but taking that away as an option just feels like a downgrade too, unless again Apple forced that hand)

Developer Response ,

Hi there. Thank you for your review and for your support. You are able to play other music with our app. To do so, go to Profile > Settings > Activate 'Play with other apps' feature. I hope this helps. Otherwise, send us a message via our in-app Help & Support. We're here to help! -🌿Nat

Love At First Site

This app caused me wonderful yet strange dreams. I’ve never, ever had them until my brain got creative and took me to journies never seen before! I’ve been having these dreams since when I downloaded this app! It’s so peaceful & helps me sleep better. 2013, so it’s 2020, 7+ years of AWESOME! I love Sweet Hour Prayer, Cat Purring, Music Box, and much more! They are so calming and pleasing to hear. You might like other ones, and that’s cool, too! HIGHLY recommend this beauty sleeper. I sleep better and have been doing so for 7+ years after downloading. I deactivated my old account & deleted the app because I wanted to live without it since I slept better, but times I needed the app again. I redownloaded as a result & suddenly I have the free sounds. I saw the sweet hour prayer locked and felt bad even the other ones I’ve had immense dreams with. After hearing the ones I heard now (because I heard them too), it took me back to the dreams I had when I fell asleep with the sounds. I know, sounds weird, but I have memories even with sound and then I remember the DREAMS I had so good. I remember from the middle (a little of the beginning) and mostly the ending of my dreams, so I can picture them thanks to the sounds. TLDR; Some dreams were a little eerie or perhaps crazy, but that are dreams. And I love sleeping so thank you very very much! I enjoy this app! 5 STARS ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ P.S. I’m sorry for making a very long explaination.

Hands down best sleep/soundscape app

I’ve tried a lot of things for sleep sounds. But, year after year after year (how long have I been using this? A decade at least!), I consistently use this app. It’s always improving, even though I’ve never personally found it lacking. It’s amazing to have so much ability to customise mixes. I like layering multiple water sounds, brown noise, and a little quiet thunder. It’s created an almost Pavlovian response; I start playing my mix, and next thing I know, I’m asleep.

I’ve struggled with sleep my entire life, partially due to just luck with biology, and also severe PTSD. I used to wake dozens of times in a night. Every small sound or shift in the room or house, and I’d be awake, full of anxiety. And certain sounds/frequencies bother me and/or trigger migraines, and that made it hard to play sounds that would both sufficiently drown out the tiny noises and also not leave me in pain. I’m a difficult customer. 🤷‍♀️

But this app is, and I cannot emphasise it enough, the absolute crown champ in its genre. Now in fairness, I’ve done a lot of work to reduce my sleep issues and PTSD symptoms, but it’s really nice to have an app that I can make work for me, for any kind of day, regardless of symptoms. It’s not a cure, obviously, but it never pretends to be. It’s just a sleep sound app that goes all in on what it aims to do… and it succeeds.

This app saved my life

After my mother's bloody death, sleep became a distant memory. I was up all the time. Couldn't sleep. I still felt her blood on me, heard her panicked voice.....I never thought I'd sleep again. Then.....I discovered better sleep. It did what other apps don't. It turned my phone into my friend. Helped me relax through all kinds of meditations, bedtime stories and more. I began to find joy in turning on my phone, putting on a story and listening to the narrator as I fall asleep. It didn't take long for me to get hooked on this app. In a good way. Better sleep is like a friend. A life long dear friend.....no....it's more like.....it's a compassionate experience like what you get when you're a child held by your mother. The voice overs are so gentle and inviting while the background music is so magical and mood inspiring. The stories are something you can't help but embrace. The meditations are guided by the narrator as if it's a teacher in your room. Better sleep is my hero. Wonder if this could have saved mom if I had known abiut better sleep back then. Thank you better sleep for giving me a future to look forward to. I was starting to think I would live the rest of my life fearful of sleep. Now I live my life normal again with a healthy view of sleeping, wrapped in the arms of my friend, better sleep.

Developer Response ,

Hi there. Thank you so much for your review. We would like to first express our deepest condolences for your loss. We understand that no words can truly capture the emotions of this kind of tragedy. Your willingness to share your healing experience with us and others is truly appreciated. It's an honor to know that our app could bring even a small sense of comfort during such a difficult time. Kindly send us a message via our in-app Help & Support, we'd love to hear more from you and make sure you have what you need from our app. We are here for you. Wishing you a peaceful and relaxed day ahead -🌿Nat

Happy and Peaceful Escapes to Beautiful Worlds

This app has been the greatest gift to help me SLEEP! I can create happy sounds of the nighttime environment experienced when I was a child, taking me far away from the pressures and responsibilities of the days responsibilities to joyful happiness and peace. My breathing slows down, my body succumbs to a relaxed state and often a slight restful happy smile comes to my lips as my mind travels through space and time, enjoying imaginations created by gentle sounds, time and space. 3 years ago someone ran a red light and changed my physical world forever. I will never know the absence of sound or still quiet again because of the constant buzzing sound of tinnitus created in my head by the crash impact to my head. My form of tinnitus is the ability to hear the normal sounds of the brain functioning, which normally we can't hear. Relaxed Melodies has given so much to strengthen my life, rest better and feel positive. My brain may never experience quiet again, but the creators of Relaxed Melodies has given me something far better and more valuable to my life than experiencing 'quiet'. They've given me the ability to experience beautiful dreams and imaginations in waking and sleep states of mind. I will be forever grateful to their work and share it with as many people as possible.

Compare 5/5 Suggestion 4.5/5

I recently saw an app called “Calm.” It described something similar to how this app runs but you couldn’t customize your choices. The only difference is there is bed time stories. Also... Everything is locked. You have to pay $80 to actually get most things in that app. Plus it’s a membership... I could get most of that and more in RelaxMelody’s and still get the membership. In my opinion $5 a month is reasonable. $50 a year is so much better than the other. We have choices to keep our subscriptions and to buy the monthly membership or yearly. Either way we still have an easier time paying. With “Calm”, the membership is only the option for a year. That’s asinine... I was introduced RelaxMelody’s by my old therapist and I’ve never stopped loving it. I have zero complaints what so ever. Though I do have a suggestion... In an app I’ve used in the past, I got the option to watch a video and get that button/function for free (for a span of 24 hours)... You’d still get ad revenue but you’d also get people to be more interested in not wasting time on ads & just buy the membership. -Just an idea I liked. Thank you for making this app, I’ve honestly benefited from this way more than anyone could imagine. I love all the new updates, too...

Great work

As far as I can remember this app represents great features, I remember in old days it had eye comfort wood sound and etc etc, but now it's changed and still is one of the most adorable ones, I do care about how a service can provide me best options because I have tried my best in other to be the best in my field, so I want the best, but unfortunately, I live in Iran and haven't access to pay the app for sounds, and it's really helpful, or it was, I do understand how complicated things are in developed countries but in Iran 😂😂😂😂 I can't find a good word to describe 😂 so please in some points think about some middle eastern countries like us that we don't have access to payments and even if we had we couldn't due to our economic problems but overall thanks for your hard work I have always been thankful for your app and hard work, great management sight well done 🤝❤️

What a great response dear Nat what a classy move well-done guys world-class phenomenon. Well done this is classy well done your answer made my day Nat. Well-mannered I am for one grateful to have this app and if I get to US I would definitely buy your app, have represented to others and I will we'll done guys well-done manager making this atmosphere well done 🫵🏽🫡

Developer Response ,

Hi there. Thank you for your review and for sharing your BetterSleep experience 😊. We're glad you love our app and all that we have to offer 🎼😴. We appreciate your support. Have a wonderful day! -🌿Nat

New subscriber , super excited!

I downloaded all the Ipnos apps ages ago, and they were some of my favorites. But, they became out of date. I recently rediscovered the fully reworked Relax Melodies, and it seems they’ve wisely decided to concentrate their attention on a single app with a subscription service. But, my old purchase with access to sounds was retained (before subscribing), giving me confidence that they are a good company.

The strength of the app is the design / visuals. It is quite beautiful and relaxing to look at before you even use it. But, as a person who has long suffered with insomnia, it’s clear that the developers are actually dedicated to the function of the app. I love the random feature - choosing sounds added a bit of anxiety for me (as a perfectionist, I wanted to try them all and create unique combos). Luckily, I can pay ppl to do that for me, and it makes my life a little easier.

But, the new expanded app is not just a noise machine. It has breathing exercises, meditations, and stories which make up most of the content. What started as a simple concept is now a one stop sleep app. I’ve also tried Insight Timer and Calm, plus various music apps, but this one seems like it might be my favorite for bedtime. Thanks!

Great Sound Machine App!

Update: After using it a few days, I like this app so much that I decided to pay for the lifetime subscription! There's lots of customization available: there are many sound options (both ambient and musical), you can control the volume of each added element and you can even add binaural beats or isochronic tones to enhance your experience (e.g. deep meditation, relaxation, concentration). I've been looking for a good sound machine app and this app is a perfect fit. I use it mainly to concentrate & focus at work. But I used one of the meditations before bed the other night & fell right to sleep. So it's great for concentration AND relaxation.

The only thing I'm missing is the ability to add some of my own recorded sound bites. I thought I could because it allows you to use your own music, but I have some clips of my dog barking, my phone ringing, background office chatter, etc, that I wanted to mix in with the included sounds and I don't see any way to do that. Other than that, it meets all my expectations plus there are some nice guided meditations. :)

Previous review: I've played around with it a little and it seems great. You can mix custom ambient sounds and listen to them along with guided meditations. I'm looking forward to using it on a regular basis.

Developer Response ,

Hello Judiemk, thanks for your new review! We added your suggestion to our wishlist, as you can add songs purchased from iTunes to your mixes only. Contact us at support@ipnos.com if you have more questions or suggestions!

Very very frustrated

I’m very frustrated because of a couple things… I did a free trial and liked the app, so I got an annual membership. The MOMENT the trial was done, which was of course in the middle of the night and woke me up, the app didn’t utilize my membership even after restoring it over and over, and repeatedly locked me out and deleted all my mixes and favorites. I ended up reinstalling and that seemed to fix it, although I had to start from scratch on everything… but now the best and only feature that compelled me to purchase premium no longer works. This app won’t play in the background anymore. And I can find any instructions, documentation, anything to help me find the widget button thing I read in the reviews. My settings screen doesn’t have anything like that, and I’ve tried looking in every screen so far and still cannot find it. Why can’t this app have a user guide? One that shows screens and buttons, like normal apps, and explains the settings and how to find things, etc. this is really frustrating since I still can’t get it to work and haven’t heard back from anyone. If you change features, tell your users and provide documentation. It’s that simple.

Edit: changed to 3 stars after customer service addressed the issue. Still not impressed by the help site and lack of user guide.

Developer Response ,

Hi there. Thank you for your review. Sorry about the trouble. We know that the workaround to activate an alarm to be able to play other audio in the background is not ideal and we're looking into it. I also passed along your feedback about making the Help & Support section that includes an FAQ section more visible to you in the app settings shortly. Thank you for your patience and your support, have a wonderful day - 🌿 Nathalia