BetterSleep: Relax and Sleep 4+

Fantastic

I have used the relax melodies to help me sleep for some years and share it with all my friends. The meditations in particular really help me quiet my mind let go of worries and stresses and really relax into good sleep and positive frame of mind. This year in particular I suffered a traumatic experience in hospital on top of other stresses, the life saving treatment I was given repeatedly in hospital had adverse affect on my body (maybe allergy) it was actually overdosing my body, the psychological side effects of the drug were profound , it took some days for professionals to identify what was causing this, it was a lonely scary isolating time. This app helped me stay calm in my hospital bed. When I returned home I was suffering adjustment disorder and post traumatic stress. I used the SOS distress , dropping into the present moment and quieting your mind and back to sleep hypnosis routinely every time I woke up in extreme panic attacks and flashbacks- I cannot describe how these meditations helped me focus myself, orientate myself and get through the crippling fear and anxiety, they were my lifeline every night for about six weeks, until I was able to manage the panic orientate myself and follow medical treatment plan.

No, No Way

It does not and will not work for me. First off, the meditation voice is a grating American one, I’m British, so it’s not calming, it’s infuriating and insincere. The sounds are appalling and unnatural. Suffered insomnia since I was 12, have lived in the middle of nowhere, quiet villages and cities around the world. My husband has a snoring issue, which we’ve done everything we can to solve, including surgery. I’m also prone to panic attacks, further hindering sleep. The “Natural” sounds in this app are some of the very worst I’ve heard, tried it on the Apple TV, iPhone and Bluetooth speaker, they sound dull and fake. I’m certainly not hauling a 30 pound amplifier and surround speakers into the bedroom in an attempt to make this sound more realistic. The looping of the sound is headache inducing, like a ticking clock or rhythmic snoring. The only thing I’ve ever found that relaxes me and puts me out is a genuine violent thunderstorm and torrential rain. This app is nowhere close to reproducing that sound in a natural random way, as I said, the repetitive looping drives me mad. I’ve downloaded a dozen or so of these apps over the years, Thunderspace being the best, but still not good enough.
The best apps and only apps I’ve ever found that will actually eventually put me to sleep are the ones that play audiobooks. Plus a monthly Audible subscription or a 30 hour long book on CD is so much cheaper than the subscriptions offered in this app.

Developer Response ,

Hello Majikats, thanks for reaching out, we added your suggestion to add a British English voice to our meditations and add higher quality thunderstorm and rain sounds on community wishlist. Feel free to contact us at support@ipnos.com if you have more suggestions for us!

FIXED: Can no longer mix audio with other apps

UPDATE: This is going to be fixed in an update and a workaround has been provided for me. Now rating it 5 stars, because it’s a truly brilliant app!

The main reason I have been using Relax Melodies for years now is because I’d been able to have the app play a mix, and then go into Audible or Overcast and play a book or a podcast over the mix, which I’ve found to be a really effective way to get to sleep. As of a recent update, this no longer worked, and as soon as I play audio from another app the mix playing from Relax Melodies stops.

This change is a serious quality of life decrease for me because I have been incredibly reliant on this feature in order to sleep. PLEASE restore this feature or at least make it an option. I have no use for the app otherwise and will have serious issues sleeping until I find a replacement.

Developer Response ,

Hello Nathaniel, thank you so much for your new review! I'm happy to know about this. Thank you so much for your support! Please do not hesitate to tap the in-app Help button if there's anything else we can do to make your life easier. Take care :) Maroussia from Ipnos