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Sleep Aid Apps That Are Worth Your Money 2022
Having trouble catching Z's? We tested 10 of the top sleep aid apps to see which ones were worth it for a restful night of slumber.

Quality sleep seems harder and harder to come by these days. With so many apps on the market claiming to help you snooze, we thought it was time to take each one to bed with us and see which ones are really worth your money.
After our extensive research, Moshi came out on top, and at only $44.99 for an annual subscription, we think it’s an essential app if you struggle with your sleep. Want to know which other apps made our list and which apps completed our top 3? Read on to find out more.
Table of Contents
Best overall to help the entire family sleep
This family-friendly sleep sounds app is perfect for adults and children alike and is a fantastic option to help you enjoy a good night’s sleep.
Why we chose Moshi:
- Enjoy a 7-day free trial and sign up for as little as $44.99 for your first year ($59.99 thereafter.)
- A visually pleasing app that you and your child will both enjoy.
- The easy-to-use home screen makes navigating the app and finding the right sounds very straightforward.
- Over 300 bedtime stories that are sure to help you fall asleep.
- You can download sleep sounds for offline listening.
It features a great range of sounds, music, and stories and you can even cater your experience to whether or not you want to relax, have a daytime nap, or go to sleep at the end of a hard day. The app is extremely well built, and, in our opinion, one of the best options on the market.
Read Moshi's Full ReviewReliable variety
We enjoyed testing this app and found it very easy to use. It has a great range of music, sounds, and bedtime stories to choose from and a great timer feature that allows you to fall asleep without worrying about your battery.
Why we chose Calm:
- Includes a 7-day free trial and annual membership is only $69.99 for a wide range of features promoting relaxation and mindfulness
- This comprehensive app has plenty of options to help you get to sleep, calm your mind, or relax your body.
- Great design. The app is user-friendly, inviting, and easy to use.
- Enjoy a new ‘Daily Calm’ on your app, so the content never gets boring or repetitive.
These guided meditations are fantastic for helping you relax. With prolonged use, you can track your app use and start to identify your triggers throughout the day. You’ll find a variety of great features when you use ‘Calm’ including sounds for meditation and a range of videos to help you stay calm overall, whether it’s for work, or to heal your body.
Read Calm's Full ReviewHealthier mind, healthier sleep
Headspace truly aims to help you get to the bottom of your sleep troubles. It features a wide variety of sounds and playlists and some very innovative features that are designed to help you enjoy better quality sleep.
Why we chose Headspace:
- Enjoy a 7-day free trial before signing up for a monthly subscription for $12.99 or join annually for $69.99.
- Includes guided meditations, focus playlists, and video workouts to help you feel better in every area of your life.
- Soundscapes give you 3D recordings from different parts of the world.
- Includes expert advice on sleep to help you learn how to improve your own circadian rhythm.
Fall asleep faster with ‘Sleep Radio’ an 8-hour playlist of the most popular sleep sounds. You can also make use of the ‘move’ and ‘meditate’ features, which will help you feel better during the daytime too.
Read Headspace's Full ReviewEverything We Recommend
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Our Pick
Moshi: Sleep and Meditation
4.7 Ratings 58K+ Reviews 1M+ DownloadsEnjoy calmer day times and quicker bedtimes with this award-winning sleep & mindfulness app.
Join the millions of parents who use Moshi to help their families relax, unwind, and sleep with over 85 hours of original audio stories, sleep sounds, meditations, white noise, and relaxing music that you won’t find in any other app. Includes special guest stories and meditations narrated by legends of stage and screen, including Goldie Hawn and Patrick Stewart.
QUICKER BEDTIMES
Moshi helps the entire family sleep soundly with over 200 pieces of completely original sleep content created by the BAFTA award-winning Moshi team.
- 95% of parents surveyed agree that using the app makes bedtime less stressful¹.
- Recommended by top sleep experts and physicians
- Featured in "Hottest Health Trends 2020," NBC Today Show
Moshi helps families fall asleep faster, stay asleep longer, and wake up less. In a recent study², scientists at New York University discovered that when using Moshi, participants:
- Fell asleep 28 minutes earlier on average
- Slept for 22 minutes longer on average
- Woke up 50% less throughout the night on average
CALMER DAY TIMES
Teach the entire family the basics of mindfulness with guided meditations designed to help the entire family relax, reduce anxiety, and manage negative thoughts.
Mindfulness topics to encourage positive emotions in include:
- Kindness
- Gratitude
- Positive thinking
- Recalling joyful moments
- Staying calm
WHY MOSHI STORIES WORK
- Moshi Stories are gentle rhyming journeys with dreamy lullaby style choruses
- Music and ambient white noise are specifically designed to be relaxing
- As each story progresses the narration becomes increasingly sleepy and ambient sounds diminish
Cosy up and snuggle down with the adorable characters from the world of Moshi including:
- SleepyPaws the Snoozy Koala and his eucalyptus-fueled imagination
- Yawnsy the Sleepwalking Otter and his enchanted yawn
- Nodkins the Bedtime Bunny and her ability to hop into any dream
FEATURES TO SUPPORT CALMER DAY TIMES AND QUICKER BEDTIMES:
- Original sleepy stories and calming meditations released each week
- Audio-only. No need for screens before bedtime
- Bite-sized meditations and deep breathing exercises for the whole family
- Soothing sleep sounds and white noise tracks, including pink, velvet, and classic white noise
- Loop and replay functions ensure sleep sounds play throughout the night if needed
- Create multiple personalized playlists for any mood or family member
- Tag stories, sleep sounds, meditations, music, and white noise tracks to quickly and easily find your family’s favorites
- Explore curated playlists for specific situations like “Nap Time,” “Ease Anxiety,” “Bedtime,” and “Calm Down”
Moshi’s originally-crafted Stories, Sleep Sounds, Guided Meditations, White Noise, and Soothing Music help to calm and relax, during the day or at bedtime.
Proud to have received Google Editors’ Choice Award alongside apps such as Headspace and Calm.
Don't just take our word for it…
“Moshi has changed our lives for the better! We had to sit with my daughter reading story after story until she fell asleep...now we put Moshi on and she goes to sleep on her own! It’s honestly amazing!” - Vicky, Google Play User, 25 May 2020
“I LOVE THIS APP. You can't beat a sleepy time story told by THE Patrick Stewart! ❤” - Niki, Google Play User, 8 Nov 2019
Moshi is free to download and use, and there are no ads. A subset of the content is free to use.
Some content is only available through an optional paid subscription. If you choose to subscribe, payment will be charged to your Google Account at confirmation of purchase.
The Moshi annual subscription unlocks the full catalog of Stories, Meditations, Music, and Sleep Sounds available in the app for as long as you are subscribed.
¹Poll of 600 users, Apr 2019
²30 children over 10 days, NYU Langone, August 2020CostFreeFreeIn-App Purchases$0.99 - $239.99 per item$9.99 - $59.99 per item -
Runner Up
Calm - Sleep, Meditate, Relax
4.7 Ratings 2M+ Reviews 10M+ DownloadsCalm is the #1 app for sleep, meditation and relaxation. Sleep better, relieve stress, lower anxiety and refocus your attention. Guided meditations, Sleep Stories, breathwork, exclusive music and stretching exercises fill our extensive library. Discover a happier, healthier you through Calm.
Prioritize self-care and choose a guided meditation session that fits within your busy schedule. Practice mindfulness in your daily routine and join the millions experiencing its life-changing benefits. Whether you’re new to meditation or a seasoned expert, Calm is for anyone.
Relaxing music and calming sounds help you meditate, focus and sleep better. Sleep Stories are bedtime stories that are guaranteed to lull you into a deep and restful slumber. Pick from 100+ exclusive Sleep Stories, narrated by well-known talent like Matthew McConaughey, Stephen Fry, Rosé, Jerome Flynn and P!nk.
Take a deep breath and find your Calm.
CALM FEATURES
MEDITATION & MINDFULNESS
* Meditate with seasoned experts, regardless of your experience level
* Introduce mindfulness into your daily routine and learn to calm your mind
* Mindfulness topics include Deep Sleep, Calming Anxiety, Managing Stress, Focus and Concentration, Breaking Habits, Happiness, Self-Esteem and so much more
SLEEP STORIES & MUSIC
* Sleep soundly listening to bedtime stories for adults and children alike
* Relaxing sounds, full soundscapes and sleep music for every need — explore our exclusive library
* Self-care: Help your mind focus, relax and get into a state of flow
* New music is added every week, from top artists
RELAXATION & ANXIETY RELIEF
* Relax and manage stress with daily meditation and breathing exercises
* Focus on a goal with Dailies - Reduce anxiety with daily 10-minute original programs like the Daily Calm with Tamara Levitt, the Daily Trip with Jeff Warren, or the Daily Jay with Jay Shetty
* Personal growth: Learn to find your calm through inspiring stories with Wisdom
* Daily Move: Mindful movement and stretching to relax your body during the day
ALSO FEATURING
* Self-care tracker through Daily Streaks & Mindful Minutes
* 7 and 21 day mindfulness programs for both beginner and advanced users
* Soundscapes: Calm your nerves with more than 30 soothing nature sounds and scenes
Calm is free to download and use. There are never any ads and some of the programs and features are free forever. Some content is only available through an optional paid subscription. If you choose to subscribe, payment will be charged to your Google Account at confirmation of purchase.
Also, be sure to check out our brand new app for Wear OS devices.
What is Calm?
Our mission is to make the world a happier and healthier place. Through our website, blog, and app—filled with meditations, sleep stories, music, movement, and more—we’re redefining what mental health care looks like in 2021 and beyond. With over 100 million users worldwide, 100,000 new users daily, and our growing partnerships with major companies, we’re having a positive effect on more and more people each day. And while the heart of Calm is digital, we're growing and expanding offline with products like our best-selling Sleep Mist, our mindful puzzle collection, and collaborations like our Tuft and Needle meditation pillow, to help deliver on our mission of health and happiness, world over.
Calm is recommended by top psychologists, therapists, mental health experts, and the press:
* “I’m generally wary of meditation apps because they sometimes weave in too much mystic talk for my taste. But Calm instead contains guidance like ‘Concentrate on your body’” - New York Times
* “In the frenetic, crazy, digital world we live in, sometimes it's necessary to take a step back and smell the roses” - Mashable
* “Eliminating distraction...ended up helping me relax and realize that all the stuff I was stressing about wasn't that big a deal” - Tech Republic
* “Found myself similarly refreshed afterward” - TechCrunchCostFreeFreeIn-App Purchases$0.99 - $399.99 per item$14.99 - $69.99 per item -
Also Groovy
Headspace: Mindful Meditation
4.7 Ratings 1M+ Reviews 10M+ DownloadsMeditate and sleep soundly. Headspace is your guide to practicing mindfulness in your everyday life. Learn how to relax, manage stress, and focus your energy to become more centered and well rested. Create a calm and positive environment with Headspace.
Guided meditation, sleep meditation, and breathing exercises on Headspace can help you stress less and sleep soundly. Learn mindfulness skills from world-class experts like former monk and Headspace co-founder Andy Puddicombe. Choose from hundreds of guided meditations on a new topic each day: anxiety, focus, relaxation, and more!
Meditation for every experience level and lifestyle. Meditate with friends and build your practice your way. Choose between short 3-minute sessions that fit seamlessly into a busy schedule, or longer meditations to set your intentions for the day. Listen to calming sounds and music with Sleep by Headspace, or release stress and tension through movement with Move Mode.
In just a few minutes a day, Headspace can help bring balance to your everyday life. Even if you’ve never meditated before, the Basics course teaches you meditation essentials.
Download Headspace today and be kind to your mind.
HEADSPACE FEATURES
DAILY MEDITATIONS
- Guided meditations and hundreds of mindfulness exercises
- Daily meditation practice on a new topic each day with Everyday Headspace
- Breathe easy with 3-minute mini-meditations for a quick mental reset
- Practice mindfulness with “Mindful Moments” to keep you present throughout the day
- Learn meditation skills and find answers to your mindfulness questions
SLEEP MEDITATIONS
- Relax for a more restful night with Sleep by Headspace
- Fall asleep with sleepcasts — calming stories paired with relaxing sounds
- Soothing sleep sounds with ambient nature recordings
- Tranquil sleep music to help you reach a deep slumber
- Start your day inspired with The Wake Up — a short, daily video series made to brighten your day
STRESS RELIEF & COPING MEDITATIONS
- Ease stress with “SOS” sessions for moments of anxiety
- Learn breathwork to help relax & calm down
- Build resilience with the Weathering the Storm collection
- Meditations to help you cope with sadness, anger & adapting to change
FIND FOCUS & BUILD PRODUCTIVITY
- Improve focus with meditations for working from home
- Boost your concentration & productivity with focus-enhancing music
- Focus music - Choose from 12 different stations to set the right mood for your day
- Tune in to the moment with Headspace’s Chief Music Officer, John Legend
CENTERED FITNESS & TENSION RELEASE
- Relieve stress and release everyday tension with Move Mode
- Mood boosting and motivating at home workouts
- Centered fitness courses: 28 days of mindful fitness and cardio
- Train with experts and Olympians Kim Glass & Leon Taylor
SUBSCRIPTION PRICING AND TERMS
Headspace subscription
Explore the full Headspace library — including hundreds of meditations, mindfulness training, and calming breathing exercises — with your membership or free trial.
○ Over 40 meditation courses on topics like stress and sleep
○ Dozens of one-off meditations and exercises to add mindfulness to your day
○ Short mini-meditations — great for busy schedules
○ Full access to Sleep by Headspace and Move Mode — bringing mindfulness and meditation to every part of your lifeCostFreeFreeIn-App Purchases$4.99 - $119.99 per item$12.99 - $94.99 per item
The 411 from our Appventurer
How we tested?
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.
Why get the app?
Obviously, many sleep experts and doctors will urge you to stay off of screens before bed, so an app to help you sleep might not be an immediately obvious choice. However, these relaxing sounds, stories, and meditations can actually be a great way to stay off social media before bed while you take a moment just to listen and clear your thoughts.
Sleep apps can help you enjoy better quality sleep in a very unique way. Whereas masks, scents, restricting light, and many other methods may work, none of them can do what sleep apps do, which is soothe and calm your mind.
Through using the apps, I found it much easier to switch my brain off, and therefore it became easier to fall asleep. Not only that, but I was able to enjoy a better quality of sleep too. Sleep apps often use sounds that calm and relax our bodies and minds, so if you struggle with sleep, it’s certainly worth investing in an app to make your bedtime more pleasant.
More About Moshi: Our Pick
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.
Snags but not drags:
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.
More About Calm: Runner Up
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.
More About Headspace: Also Groovy
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.
Other Apps Considered
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.
Anton Mark
As a freelancer, I use all types of different apps so that I can manage my time and remain organized with ease. I’m always on the go so I love anything that can help me to stay on top of my tasks but for fun, I love playing games or watching movies.
I’m a huge sports fan so I’ll usually be checking the latest scores or following up on my teams and I also like to expand my mind with audiobooks and podcasts. Using apps allows me to get through so much more in a typical day that I simply wouldn’t be able to cover otherwise and I love it.
Being able to write about apps is pretty great as I get to research the best apps out there and find the hidden gems that people may not know about then share that information to help others discover their new favorite apps.
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