5 iOS Apps That Are Guaranteed To Improve Your Sleep.
Lying awake at night and hitting the snooze button in the morning is becoming more common in our modern era. From Netflix to Candy Crush, there are tons of distractions just waiting to steal your time and attention from your sleep.
Fortunately, there are many free iOS apps and services that can ease insomnia, so you don’t have to resort to medication or watching YouTube tutorials. The main applications and utilities I am focusing on are Pillow , Sleep Pillow , Alarmy , Mathe, and the iOS Night Mode utility.
Over the past week, I’ve tried 5 different iOS 5 apps and utilities on different nights and rated my sleep on a scale of 1 to 10. Here’s what happened. Obviously it doesn’t take too long to properly evaluate each application, but hopefully it gives you a good idea of ??what to expect.
5. Mathe Alarm
I have come to the conclusion that waking up properly is essential for a good rest. Most alarms go off in a way that makes you afraid of waking up or playing your favorite songs to the point where you can’t argue, but waking up can be exponentially less annoying with Mathe Alarm Clock.
When I used Mathe, I was forced to solve a math problem before my alarm went off. While it was a little annoying at first, it proved to be an effective method of waking up, and when I finally turned off the alarm, my mind felt refreshed in a fun way.
I was ready to solve any puzzle thrown in my way. This is definitely something to look out for if you love puzzles and can’t wake up in the morning.
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Pros: Wakes up in the morning with a more active mind, adjustable math difficulty and an easy-to-use interface.
Cons: Setting the difficulty level to “Very Easy” allows the user to snooze alarms, no mind games to fall asleep, and there are slight variations in alarm sounds.
4. pillow
In my opinion, Pillow for iOS was definitely one of the more interesting apps on the list. The software of this app uses a microphone for sleep analysis. One of the interesting features this app has to offer is compatibility with Apple Watch and Apple Health.
Apple Watch compatibility means that all the user has to do is download the app to their smartphone, put the watch on to sleep, and Pillow will automatically detect and analyze sleep patterns.
Another of the coolest features was a smart alarm that tracks your sleep cycles and automatically wakes you up during your lightest sleep cycle. Although I woke up before the alarm clock, I felt more rested than if I slept for another twenty minutes.
The huge problem with Pillow is that the app records sound events while you sleep. Snoring, sleep apnea and sleep talk will be recorded and added to the database for review or deletion.
Personally, I don’t want my voice recordings to be in any database, especially if I snore or speak in my sleep! If it weren’t for this aspect, this app would definitely be in my top three.
Pros: Sleep cycle tracking, various sleep modes, white noise sounds, and Apple Watch / Apple Health compatibility.
Cons: Records voice throughout the night of sleep.
3. Night Shift
For the 3rd place rd , I found the Night Shift mode to be significantly more useful than the other apps I have used.
The Night Shift utility allows the user to set the bedtime on their smartphone, and after that appointed time, the phone screen will dim the blue light emitted from the display to create a warmer lighting effect.
Blue light sends signals to your brain that tell your body to sleep, so a bright phone screen at 11:30 AM basically tells your brain, “The sun is up yet and it’s not time for sleep!” This utility counteracts this principle, and warmer shades help you fall asleep faster.
My favorite part of Night Shift is the ease of use. To activate it, you just need to go to Settings Display & Brightness Night Shift, where you can set your sleep schedule and color temperature. Of all the apps on the list, it takes the least amount of setup time, so give it a try!
Pros: Warmer tones on your phone make it easier to fall asleep.
Cons: The user talks on the phone before going to bed, which always interferes with sleep.
2. sleep pad
When it comes to sound sleep, you need something consistent and easy to use. Sleep Pillow is a white noise app that doesn’t have some features like other apps, but does a great job.
I found Sleep Pillow‘s ambient sound quality to be far superior to the competition. Some of my favorite Sleep Pillow features include a slow-fade alarm, a huge variety of white noise (crickets, oscillating fan, waves) and the ability to set your favorite sleep playlists.
Most of the apps on the list offer a white noise option, but I found that when I used this app, I fell asleep much faster and slept soundly all night. This app has guaranteed some of the best Zs of my life in just one night of use, so I would say it’s definitely worth checking out.
Pros: Highest quality white noise and many options for the free version of the app, slow fade and set favorites.
Cons: Only offers white noise sounds, requires more feature variations instead of audio variations.
1. Alarm
Alarmy is definitely my personal favorite. It was not easy for me to choose the winner, who took first place, but Alarmi gets the victory. Even though CNET, Gizmodo and the Huffington Post have named this app the most annoying alarm clock app, it still remains the best.
Whether it’s shaking your phone, solving a math problem, or guessing the order of a memory puzzle, Alarmy includes and enhances many features from other apps on this list.
The most notable feature of this app is location registration. All you have to do is set a location where the alarm will go off and it will go off only after you take a photo of that location. I used the most common one – the bathroom sink.
As annoying as it was, after I got to the bathroom sink, I didn’t have to press the snooze button. I definitely got up. The alarm also has sleep sounds (present in Sleep Pillow), which create a relaxing white noise to fall asleep under. Alarmy is my favorite app from the package because it combines the best parts of each app into one easy-to-use interface.
Pros: Includes all essential sleep aids from other apps in one complete package.
Cons: Location determination still fails, due to errors, the alarm will continue to ring after the photo is taken.
Summary
Sleep quality will noticeably improve after one night with any of these apps. Finding a service to improve your sleep is a very personal and dynamic experience, and there is no one-size-fits-all solution to getting adequate sleep.
Each app is designed for different types of people, so try them all and see which one works best for your lifestyle.
Good night. You deserve it.
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