Rather than doomscrolling on your phone at bedtime—a deleterious habit for your sleep latency—consider the myriad of apps that can help you unwind, refocus and improve sleep hygiene for the better. The best sleep apps don’t require additional products to function. Instead, they aim to renew rest through sound therapy, guided meditations and/or insightful sleep reports, all through your existing mobile device. Below, we rounded up the six best apps for sleep, with Calm Sleep named the best overall for its approach to deeper repose with premier features like tailored sleep planning and an extensive soundscape library.
Ease stress and inspire relaxation before bedtime with the best sleep apps designed to improve your habits.
ILLUSTRATION: FORBES / PHOTO: RETAILER
The key to falling (and staying) asleep is relaxation and a lowered heart rate, something apps like Headspace, Rise Science and Calm Sleep can help support. All the apps selected in our roundup have risen in popularity thanks to high user satisfaction, easy-to-use interfaces and multifunctional features that aim to enhance overall well-being. See our picks below, with firsthand insights from our mattress and sleep editors who have tried them.
Note that our recommendations don’t replace the expertise of a medical professional, and you should seek advice from your primary care physician if you experience regular sleep deprivation or emotional distress.
Our Top Recommendations
Subscription: Free, premium for $70 annually or $20 monthly | Free trial: 7 days | Availability: IOS
Best for:
An individualized sleep plan
Expert-recommended worklist
A library with over 300 hours of relaxing content
Sleep tracking
Skip if:
You have an Android (consider the regular Calm app)
You prefer a comprehensive look at your general wellness
Calm Sleep is a branch of the top-rated wellness app Calm that expands on existing sleep features, like a vast sound library and guided meditations, with the addition of customized sleep planning, content recommendations, sleep tracking and a focus on inspiring healthier habits. Follow a curated worklist to improve your sleep readiness bar, which increases as you complete tasks related to categories like a comfortable sleep environment, exercise and relaxation.
You can also enjoy sleep tracking and integration with existing health apps to share relevant data. (Keep in mind: Sleep-tracking apps aren’t as accurate as wearable devices.) For now, only IOS users have access to Calm Sleep, but the original Calm app is widely available for Android, Apple, web and more. You can download a free version, but content is limited—features can be explored, but you have to pay the premium subscription to unlock the entire library.
Want to save this story for later?
No need to bookmark—get it straight to your inbox.
We’ve sent this story to your inbox.
Subscription: Annually for $70, monthly for $13| Free trial: 14 days| Availability: IOS and Android
Best for:
Mental health and mindfulness coaching
Online therapy
Sleep sound library
Skip if:
You’d like more detailed sleep reporting and planning
Headspace is one of the most popular wellness apps available on both IOS and Android with over 100 million downloads. It offers aid across multiple facets of your health, from your sleep to mental well-being, with an expansive catalog of content to cultivate improved habits and mindset. You can make use of guided meditations, online therapy, mindfulness practices, binaural beats and relaxing sounds.
Lull yourself to sleep with eight hours of uninterrupted ocean sounds, for example, or wind down with calming bedtime stories that the app calls “Sleepcasts.” Students can access special pricing at 85% off, and families can enroll in the family plan that includes six accounts for $100 a year.
MOST POPULAR
Subscription: Free, premium for $8 monthly or $48 annually| Free trial: 7 days for premium| Availability: IOS and Android
Best for:
Dream journaling
Interpreting dreams and themes
Lucid dreaming
Skip if:
You’d like an app that promotes better sleep
Although dream tracking isn’t an exact science, active dreamers can use the Oniri app to log their dreams, explore personal themes and practice techniques tha support lucid dreaming. I tested the app myself for two weeks, recording the two to three dreams I experienced on a weekly basis. After three entries, the app uses AI, survey answers and psychology theories to conjure a dream analysis. This gives you a look at common themes and how your dreams may relate to your mood and experiences.
In my summary, it explained that the ocean wiping away my belongings symbolized a significant change, which could be leading me to feel overwhelmed (a spot-on interpretation at the time). You can download the app for free if sleep journaling’s the only feature you’re after, but only the premium version offers dream analysis and aid for lucid dreaming. Just keep in mind that there’s skepticism about dream interpretation and its validity within the scientific and psychological communities, since existing studies don’t conclusively show that dreams have reliably interpretable meaning.
Sleep Cycle
Subscription: Annually for $53, monthly around $6| Free trial: 7 days| Availability: IOS and Android
Best for:
Sleep tracking
Integrated smart alarm
Guided meditations
Relaxing sound library
Skip if:
You’re uncomfortable with nighttime audio recording
As valuable as a wearable sleep tracker can be for some people, it can also be overstimulating, uncomfortable and distracting for others—depending on habits and sleep posture. Sleep Cycle is an app that uses patented audio technology to track your breathing patterns and sleep duration, trace sleep cycles and deliver a sleep score based on the data. Its smart alarm then relies on these metrics to gently wake you up during an ideal time in your cycle when you feel most rested.
It’s not as precise as a wearable device, but it can still help highlight meaningful patterns and habits worth improving. With audio tracking also comes recording nightly sounds, which you can revisit to pinpoint snoring, sleep talking or other possible disruptions. Users can also listen to the app’s soundscapes, in addition to guided meditations before bed that are designed to soothe.
Rise Science
Subscription: $70 annually| Free trial: 7 days | Availability: IOS and Android
Best for:
Tracking sleep debt
Predicting energy levels
Expert sleep guidance
Pulling data from existing sleep trackers
Skip if:
You’d like sleep tracking insights
You’d like an app with relaxing sounds
After completing a Rise Science profile, the app requires very little user interaction and uses passive data methods to track vital metrics as you regularly move through your day. Rather than tracking your sleep cycles and delivering a report summary on your data, Rise Science values one metric most: sleep debt. It uses proprietary technology, existing data from Apple HealthKit and other fitness tracking apps, and health survey answers to deliver a sleep debt score. This shows a suggested amount of rest to catch up on and offers guidance on how to improve habits.
It’s important to note that many sleep researchers argue chronic sleep debt can’t be fully repaid—only partially recovered. Because of this, experts recommend to instead prioritize consistent nightly sleep as much as possible. The app also predicts when you’ll feel most energized during your day in addition to feeling most sluggish, letting you map your daily objectives and when to switch focus to more demanding tasks.
Subscription: Free| Free trial: N/A | Availability: IOS and Android
Best for:
Sound therapy for sleep
Promoting feelings of relaxation and peace
Audio customization
Offline use
Skip if:
You’d prefer more advanced sleep coaching
MyNoise is the only free recommendation in our roundup, and it also offers offline access for when you’re traveling or Wi-Fi is unavailable. It gives IOS and Android users access to a customizable sound library with over 300 selections to choose from, from classic white noise and rain sounds to an acoustic piano. Colored noise, nature sounds and binaural beats are popular sound-based methods that may help promote deeper rest and improve sleep latency. Use ten faders (sliders) to adjust different aspects of a sound, like volume, tone and intensity, personalizing your audio experience with greater richness.
Why Trust Forbes Vetted
At the forefront of the mattress and sleep category are seasoned editors and writers with over a decade of collective experience as authoritative voices within the space. They have tested hundreds of sleep products and remain informed on new developments within the industry.
Author of this article McKenzie Dillon is the Forbes Vetted mattress and sleep editor with a sleep science coach certification. She has been a writer, editor and researcher within the sleep and wellness space for over six years, and has experience testing sleep technology, including sleep apps mentioned above.
Bridget Chapman is the senior mattress and sleep editor at Forbes Vetted and has also earned her sleep science coach certification. She’s been a dedicated reporter for over ten years, and has extensive knowledge in the sleep space with hundreds of products tested under her belt, including sleep trackers and apps.
We interviewed Leah Kaylor, a licensed psychologist, and Dr. Carleara Weiss, Aeroflow Sleep’s sleep science advisor, for their input on features like sleep tracking and sound therapy that can help encourage better slumber.
How We Chose The Best Sleep Apps
We asked our editors to share their experiences with their favorite sleep applications and offer their personal insights.
We took top-rated apps into consideration that have millions of satisfied monthly users, and whether or not they’re compatible with a variety of softwares like IOS and Android.
We evaluated each app’s features, highlighting the ones that are most practical and valuable for sleep. This includes sleep tracking, soundscapes, guided meditations and more.
We consulted medical professionals for their advice on sleep app features and what to consider when reading their results and feedback.
What To Consider When Buying The Best Sleep Apps
Sound Therapy
Many of our recommendations are designed to help aid sleep with sound therapy, whether it’s nature noises, colored sounds or calming stories. “A very easy addition to your wind-down routine is playing calming sounds or music,” says Leah Kaylor, a licensed and prescribing psychologist and sleep author, who specifically praises binaural beats as an efficient, non-supplemental sleep aid.
“Binaural beats are an auditory phenomenon that can help promote relaxation, reduce stress and encourage sleep by influencing brainwave activity,” she explains. “This technique involves listening to two tones of slightly different frequencies, one in each ear, which the brain perceives as a single pulsating beat. This effect is thought to synchronize brain waves with the desired frequency, facilitating states conducive to relaxation, meditation or sleep.”
With that said, she recommends you use reliable, professionally created binaural beat tracks to ensure proper frequency alignment, which includes the MyNoise app.
Sleep Tracking
Sleep tracking is a common feature in many sleep apps—including several in our roundup—designed to monitor metrics like breathing patterns, sleep cycles and sleep duration. According to Dr. Carleara Weiss, a sleep doctor and Aeroflow Sleep’s sleep science advisor, sleep tracking “helps people understand their sleep patterns and identify areas for improvement through behavioral changes, such as sleep hygiene, thereby improving their sleep quality.”
She notes that while the data can raise awareness of unhelpful sleep habits, the specifics may not always be accurate because these apps aren’t medical devices. In general, sleep-tracking apps are also less precise than wearable devices or tools equipped with sensors that more reliably capture biometric data.
Subscriptions
Most recommendations in our best sleep apps roundup come with an annual or monthly subscription, with a discount if you choose to purchase for the year. You can also expect either a free version of an app or a trial to test the waters, with trial periods typically lasting seven to 14 days. Charges don’t typically occur until your trial is complete, but it’s important to understand a brand’s company policies before committing to a purchase or trial.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Are Sleep Apps Worth Paying For?
Paying for a sleep app can be a positive investment in your quality of rest, and in turn overall wellness. Apps like Calm, Headspace and Sleep Cycle have free trials where you can sample the technology before committing to a purchase.
Which Is The Best Free Sleep App?
MyNoise is an effective and free sleep app that lets you customize soundscapes for a personalized auditory experience. Enjoy soothing nature sounds, colored noise and more before bed to help promote relaxation.
What Is The Matthew McConaughey Sleep App?
Matthew McConaughey lends his voice as a soothing narrator for a sleep story in the Calm app called “Wonder.”
