Reviews for BetterSleep: Sleep tracker

I paid for this app when it was a different name ten years ago. When it changed names I lost my purchase but still stuck with it because I liked some of the sound effects. Over the past two years they have been wanting to charge me $60 per year to use it which I have not done, still using the couple free sounds that I have used for years. Now, those couple sounds are locked behind the pay wall. I understand you have to do business but I don't have to participate. Sadly this is uninstalled.

It used to be great, where about half of the library was free and the other half premium. Apparently that wasn't generating enough revenue because now there are only 7 sounds you can listen to unless you want to pay, which honestly is insulting. How do you go from 50% to 1% access? I had used this app for over 2 years, never once paid, never did free trials. Now to have virtually nothing available, it's no longer worth the storage it takes up on my phone.

*2025 edit* words of advice, don't get attached to the free stuff—it won't be free for long. Crazy how after years of listening to the same 4 sounds, I am now required to pay for one of them... *Old edit of review after app lock issue* Team responded quickly to issue and all my favorite stories and sounds are accessible again! I can sleep in peace and all through the night once more

My partner showed me this app a year ago and I loved it. However, I've noticed several times over the year, they were slowly locking more and more behind their subscription. Last night, in the middle of the night, they moved 90% of their sounds to premium, leaving a handful to use. Both my partner and I were shook to have to wake in the middle of the night and figure out sounds because they want to lock anything actually usable behind pay walls. Shame on you, Subscriber-Sleep.

I was using this app for a while because I liked the variety of free sounds and control with them. They sounded good and really did help me sleep. However, they recently restricted the free sounds to a dismal 7 sounds out of 200+. I can no longer use ANY of the sounds I used to without upgrading to the paid version. I don't like any of the sounds that are still free. The free generic rain sounds more like a faucet running than rain. I will not be using this app thanks to this change.

I wrote this: ",easy to use, love the features and design!" in 2019. WOW how times have changed. I can't do ANYTHING in this app anymore without paying for a subscription. I can only access my very first mix when I signed up, and even though I had several saved, can't access them. they used to have various sounds available for free, not anymore. very disappointed. deleting and finding a new sleep source.

So, mixes that I've already favorited and saved and have been listening to for as long as I've used the app are now behind a pay wall? And when I browse other sounds it looks like 99% of pretty much EVERYTHING is also behind a paywall. The only way you can get away with this is if you were the only game in town. I assure you that you're not.

This used to be a really nice app to use but as of late they have restricted almost all the sounds behind a subscription service. Its a bit annoying as you should just charge for the app at this point. All the sounds are mixed and you are not able to filter by free or behind a paywall. Definitely something that could be improved on.

Warning: I've had this app for years (10?), I loved that there was such an abundance of free sounds to mix and save. A few years ago, some of the free sounds were taken away, and I had some locked up saved mixes, which I deleted. Well, whatever, it is what it is, but recently there was another update, and now that there are so few free sounds, I had to delete all my saved mixes because they are locked up. I don't even get thunder anymore. I'm so disappointed.

Update: Everything is working again, as of the evening of 2025/09/10. However, the developer response included that I should use in-app support. The problem is that I hadn't been aware that there was such a mechanism, and struggled to find it. Once I found it, it was easy to get back, but the navigation makes no sense to me. Two star deduction until it's easier to locate.

UPDATE: YOUR IN APP MESSAGING DOES NOT WORK. purchased this app years ago and had access to many of the sounds and could play the sounds in the background. When they updated it, they changed it to a subscription, and I lost access to many of those sounds and background play. That seems like corrupt thing to do, it's no different than buying a product then having the seller take the product and remove features and ask me to pay more to get them back.

Back in 2017, I gave this app a 5-star rating. That was back when it was just called relax melodies and you could choose from several free sounds. Been having a very rough time and opened the app to turn on the mix I've been using for years, only to find out that it is locked out and I have to pay. There are only three sounds I use. Not interested in the rest of them. Looks like I'm also going to be looking for a new app. I'd have taken an ad when I got in over mandatory pay.

I've never actually seen an app with this extreme level of restriction before. Nearly every single thing in the app has a lock icon on it. Ive been searching all the tabs for something that wasn't locked or premium and I finally found it: "Sounds" has 4 buttons for free, and... that's all. (Not counting the stories/narrated ones which make me tense.) You'd be better off getting Spotify or something and playing a big meditation playlist/radio mode.

Beware, most positive reviews were from before the update that required obscene prices. If you don't want to shell out 40 dollars for an app that can be replaced by YouTube videos, you will only have access to 3 sounds. Everything else is behind a paywall. I highly suggest looking for another free app instead of paying a single cent to the developers. I've been using this app on and off for many years, don't insult me with an offer to look at pricing plans.

I've used the premium relax melodies through the Amazon appstore for probably over a decade and it was fantastic though buggy more recently. Now with the app store discontinued, I came to find the updated version and I'm shocked at how much is behind not just a paywall but subscription. I wish there was a one time fee lite version with just the sounds, I don't need any of the other stuff that's been added on. So disappointing.

The app looks sleek but is mostly a library of sounds you can mix together, most of which are relaxing. The issue is that there are so many sounds with little to no guidance. I came looking for a specific thing, but felt encouraged to add more sounds to the mix, I ended up with something that sounded very nice but either had no effect or made my sleep worse. I also signed up for the trial of their premium plan, and it didn't even save my login info, so I ASSUME I didn't use any premium sounds...

Used to be amazing with tons of free sounds to mix. However, now you only get 3 free sounds and you have to pay for the rest. I'm really disappointed. they've been slowly locking sounds for a while. I'm not going to pay for sounds that used to be free and are in some of my previous mixes which are now locked and unavailable because it uses other sounds. again I had that mix with about 7 or 8 FREE sounds but now I have to pay to listen to MY old mixes??? honestly don't waste your time.

Been using this (& sharing it with more people than I remember) for 10 years. it's that good, no joke. It was, & still is the best app of its kind. But I hate that there aren't any specified areas/ways to navigate to free content. It wasn't a big deal at first. there would be at least 1 or 2 samples for free of each type of new feature, but with more additions & no filter/section for free content, I can't easily find anything free but what I already had favorited. But A+ overall!

I used to love this app, legit, it was the best "free" sound sleeper app out there. The most recent update with the "pay for essentially all the sounds" makes it virtually unusable. You might as well download a different app. Not even a single white noise sound left for free use?! I had the perfect mix. Feel like I've been using this app for 5 yrs and this app was soooooo good, I was tempted to buy a better version to access all the sounds and sleep tracker but now I feel cheated and will not.

Don't bother. There are only 10 sounds still available in the free version. I've loved this app for a long time but the reduction in features is ridiculous. I opened the app today and 90% of my mixes are now locked because sounds that used to be free are now paid. For some people, me included, $5 isn't nothing and I don't have extra to throw at a formerly free app. I recommend finding another app - preferably one with more than a dozen sounds.