Guest post: Sleep Bug Review

Hi Smart Phone enthusiasts! My name is Emma and I usually write video game reviews on Gaming Memoirs but today I’ll be writing a different review – an app review. Thanks to Tom from Smart Phone Arm for allowing me to guest post here.

What is Sleep Bug?

Sleep Bug is an app for Windows Phone and iOS that is designed to help you get a better night’s sleep.

How does it work?

It plays ambient sounds from your phone that would normally be considered ‘background noise’. These are quite comforting to some people and can help lull them into sleep.

My Thoughts

 

Since Sleep Bug was free, I thought I would give it a try. There is a pro version that have more sounds and settings. I run it on Windows Phone.

The look and feel of the app is very nice, and although it’s not immediately obvious how to use it, it’s not hard once you get going.

It allows you to choose one of 10 different ‘scenes’ (train, weather, horror, fire, beach, river, sci-fi, music box, city & jungle) and within each of those, up to 6 extra sound effects. The sounds are all very realistic, and it’s fun to play with to find something you consider soothing.

The reason I first used it was because a fire alarm in my building was beeping (there was no fire) and I couldn’t sleep. So I used Sleep Bug to get to sleep. I chose the crackling fire scene, and added some birds singing. The way it works is the ‘main’ theme sounds close, but the added effects sound far away. The sounds are on a loop – not a quick enough loop to be annoying, but enough of a loop for it to feel familiar and help you sleep. Now, the effect of the birds really helped me on this occasion, because that way I was able to convince my brain that the fire alarm in the distance was a bird, and I was able to sleep.

The night after, my girlfriend and I were trying to get to sleep without Sleep Bug. She rolled over and said ‘I liked Sleep Bug’ so we tried it again. Ideally it’s for one person to use with headphones, but you can also play it without. And success! We found it easier to get interruptive sleep. You can put it on a timer so it’s only running while you’re trying to fall asleep.

The Themes

Obviously what people get from the themes will be different for everyone. I find that the fire is my favourite. I thought I would like the river, but I’m afraid any of the themes with a ‘water’ or ‘rain’ sound effect make me think about bathrooms and toilets, so I would advise you don’t use this one if you need to go. The Music Box one is nice, as it has a familiar ‘lullaby’ feel – so it’s probably quite good for children. Although personally I find the City and Train one intrusive, I know a lot of people who like the noise of a busy road and the rhythm of the train. As for the Horror and Sci-Fi one – a little strange, but once again, I know people who often fall asleep watching horror films, so it might work for them.

Overall I think I’ll continue to use it – maybe try it one day with headphones.

Download: App Store and Windows Phone