I began by searching for the highest-rated and most popular sleep aid apps on the market. Once I found them, I downloaded the top ones onto my phone so that I could test them over the next 10 days. 

The majority of the apps I tested had a 7-day free trial, so I upgraded to the premium subscription through the trial before I began to use them. Each night, before bed, I then picked a different app to use. I explored the features and tried some of the different sounds, music tracks, and stories on offer so that I had a clearer idea of which one to use when I went to bed. 

I also used the apps with my kids when they went to bed and during the daytime if they were having a nap. This gave me a chance to use each app more than once and better understand how they worked, and identify which ones were worth the investment once the trial had expired. 

Throughout the testing process, I paid attention to how well the apps worked, how easy they were to use and how effective they were in helping me to get to sleep. I didn’t expect to drift off immediately, but I wanted to know how hearing music or sounds would impact my sleep compared to my usual practice of going to sleep in silence. 

The result was surprising, and I found the apps worked much better than I would have imagined. They even helped when I woke up in the night, which is something I have always struggled with in the past. 

With all this in mind, I reviewed all the apps, collected my findings, and decided on my top picks.

When we started to use the app, we realized just how impressive it was, and we quickly fell in love with the colorful and exciting interface. When you enter the ‘night’ screen, you’re presented with three choices to help you sleep and can choose between stories, music, or sounds. 

The stories are all great for falling asleep. They're just interesting enough to keep your mind from wandering but not too interesting that you can't drift off in the middle. There are so many options and types of stories to choose from, but perhaps the most impressive feature is just how well thought out they are. 

You can select stories to help you fall asleep, stories in case you wake up in the night, and you can even select a story from guest narrators if you wish. Each story we tried was of fantastic quality, and whether you use the app for your kids or yourself, you’ll find a story that can help you sleep. 

If the stories aren’t for you, you could make a selection from the music or sounds section instead, which are also great options for winding down. Here you’ll find the typical options such as white noise, weather, chilled beats, or calming music, and there are over 80 pre-recorded tracks to choose from. 

They range in length, from 15 minutes to an hour, and have been designed to give you a calming, soothing sound to help your mind relax as you drift off to sleep. Just like the stories, they do the job, and we had no trouble at all falling asleep with these sounds. 

The app itself is super easy to use, and everything you need is right there in front of you, so you don’t have to scroll through various screens trying to find the sounds you want. 

When you do make a selection, the preset timers on the tracks ensure they don’t keep playing all night. We also found that the sound volume was pitched just right for optimal slumber, which is more than we could say for some of the other apps that we tested. 

You have the option to download your tracks if you wish, to use offline, which is perfect if you’re going camping or you don’t get reception in your bedroom, and there’s also the option to build your own playlist. 

Overall, this app did everything we needed and was a great help as we went to bed each night, and for only $59.99 for over 300 stories, songs, and meditations, we felt this was a fantastic choice.

This app has been designed with kids in mind, but the developers are clearly aware that adults may want to use it too, which is why there are sections for the whole family and the option to select meditations and more calming tracks for the daytime. 

With all that being said, it would be great to see an option for a family plan. As it currently stands, if you purchased this app for your child and your other child wanted to use it too, you would have to download and pay for another app on their device. It could be played over a Bluetooth speaker, but in our opinion, that’s a lot more effort than you want to be putting in every night as your household gets ready for bed.

You should absolutely consider this app if you need help getting to sleep. First off, it’s easy to navigate. When you open the app, you’ll be presented with a few basic options based on your current needs.

 Suggestions for you can be found on the home screen, or you can scroll through some of the other features on the sleep, meditate, or music sections. 

Each section has been designed to help you calm your mind and relax, and for the purpose of this test, we focussed on the sleep screen. Just like on the Moshi app, you can select from sleep stories, music, and sounds. Although with Calm, you can also choose to listen to some sleep-based meditations before you go to bed. These meditations can be very useful if you like to prepare your body and mind before you even attempt to drop them off. 

Once you’re ready, you can make a selection from one of the other categories. There are over 200 stories for you to choose from, giving you a really comprehensive selection of relaxing stories to help you sleep. You can even choose the voice of your favorite narrator or celebrity to lull you to sleep. 

If you don’t want to listen to a story, you can always select one of the sound or music tracks that are available, which you can tell straight away, that has been created with your best interests at heart. 

The tracks they offer, such as the Sam Smith ‘Sleep Mix’ or the ‘Sea of Diamonds’ soundscape, aren’t just thrown together so you have something to listen to. They’ve been carefully curated to help you enjoy better quality sleep, and it shows. 

Whatever you decide to listen to, you’ll enjoy a relaxing and calming experience, and in our experience, you’ll find yourself asleep before the tracks stopped playing. 

Although we tested this app to get better quality sleep, we feel it’s also worth mentioning just how much more is available to help you in your day-to-day life. There are talks to help you find your spark in life, breathing exercises to help you relax when things are getting too much, and even a range of ‘calm body’ stretch routines for you to follow along with when you need them. 

For the annual price of $69.99, we feel the calm app is one of the best apps out there right now.

Headspace is a unique app designed to help you sleep and help with your overall mindfulness and wellness, which is why we felt it deserved a place on this list. After all, your mental health has a huge impact on your ability to get a good night's sleep, and quality sleep can impact your mental health in return.

The sleep options are good, and while it doesn’t have as many as some of the other apps we tested, the sounds and sleep casts do their job and help you sleep. 

There’s the non-stop sleep radio for when you just want to drift off, and there’s the option to listen to 3D recordings from the world’s most-loved nature spots, which we certainly enjoyed. You can even listen to the nighttime SOS track, which has been designed to help you get back to sleep when you do wake up in the night.

Where this app comes into its own is how it can be used when you’re awake, in your normal day-to-day life. You’ll find a range of meditation tracks to help you destress, lower your levels of anxiety and simply relax, and you’ll even find helpful support and guidance on mindfulness techniques to help you improve. 

There is a great range of ‘focus’ tracks for you to listen to when you’re working if you’re someone who likes to get in the zone when working, and there’s the ‘move’ section which features a great selection of workouts for you to complete in the app. 

Whether you want to take part in some mindful cardio sessions or do a fast-paced workout when you’ve got a few minutes to spare, you’ll be able to find a session to follow on the Headspace app. We really appreciated it because it makes the app a bigger part of your life and can be used for your entire self-development. 

With such comprehensive features, and only costs $69.99 for an annual membership, we think it’s a bargain for something which can have such a positive impact on your life.

This is a very solid app, and you’ll find plenty of sounds to help you sleep. There are 5 themes of sound for you to choose from, and you have the option of choosing one of the preset sounds or building your own with the mix function. Overall this is a very strong app and a worthy contender.

This is a really popular app with a huge focus on meditation, and although it did have sleep stories, we would have liked to have seen more sounds on the app. If we were reviewing meditation apps, it would have scored higher, but with such a high annual subscription ($99 per year!) in comparison to the other apps and more of a focus on meditation, we couldn’t justify putting it into the top.

We didn’t feel there was enough variety on this app or a big enough range of sounds. We also found the volume was very quiet at times depending on the track you were listening to, and a few times, we had to pause to adjust the volume, which isn’t ideal when you’re trying to go to sleep.

This was a really great app, and at $39.99 for an annual membership, we think it’s very suitably priced. However, we do feel that the app needs some work as visually pleasing as some of the others. We also felt that some of the features could be improved, such as the timer settings to give you a better option when using before bed.

The best thing about this app is that it allows you to build your own sounds rather than using preset tracks. So whether you like rain, wind, or the sound of the ocean, you can find the right type of sounds to help you sleep. There’s even an additional section for baby sounds or additional sections for relaxation, meditation, or focus.

This was a pretty solid app with a nice range of sounds to help you sleep including the usual nature and weather sounds, but we felt that for the annual price of $49.99, there were better options available

This is a good app that has a variety of sleep sounds for you to choose from. The app also includes sounds to help you meditate. When you use the main section, you can create your own mix, which is a great feature, but if you want to listen to the preset sounds, there is a selection of favorites for you to enjoy.