Among the inexpensive or free sleep apps used for this story -- Sleep Cycle, Sleep Better, SleepBot, Sleep Talk and Go! to Sleep -- the most entertaining and reliable is Sleep Cycle. It's also the most rated, with more than 88,000 user reviews.
What's cool about it? It offers a smart alarm with really lovely, soft notes to rise to; a fun (if completely uncontextualized) line graph charting when you were awake, asleep and in deep sleep; and a "sleep quality" number (which appears to be a simple ratio of time spent sleeping over time spent supine).
But consider something company spokesman Malin Eriksson told me: "First and foremost, Sleep Cycle is used by users who want to wake up by a gentle alarm clock in light sleep." Having used the app myself, I can tell you -- yep.
What's uncool? The optional premium subscription ($1.99 for a month; $4.99 a year) will auto-update from your billable account unless you cancel it.
SLEEP BETTER
COOL? Many of the same metrics (same functioning) as Sleep Cycle but with a fun lunar analysis. (Surely a full moon won't affect my sleep, or will it? Duh-duh-DUNH!) Also, it has a sleep diary component that's nicely integrated. Have a late cup of tea? Not sleeping in your own bed? Stressful day? One touch and it's recorded.
UNCOOL? This app seems glitchier to me -- it once recorded a night's sleep as 38:36 (38 hours, 36 minutes) because I'd forgotten to (or improperly) shut it down in the morning. It's free to try, but its functions are extremely limited and its upgrade nudges are pushy. Also, it simply isn't as intuitive or easy to skip around on as other sleep apps.
SLEEPBOT
COOL? This app boasts smart alarm clock, sleep tracker and sound recorder (snoring) all in one.
UNCOOL? Despite the veritable roulette wheel of functions, this app didn't deliver as advertised. The sound recorder, for one, wasn't nearly as sensitive as Sleep Talk. (Admittedly, I compared them not side by side but night to night.) The sleep tracker had me asleep for 40 minutes when I know I was awake and staring at the ceiling fan.
SLEEP TALK
COOL? The microphone is sensitive. One morning I heard a sound clip of myself half-moaning, half-crying -- terrified -- at 3:30 a.m., and I recalled the nightmare I'd had. I've found that counting the clips (there's usually roughly a dozen for me) and assessing how I feel in the morning tell me what kind of night's sleep I had better than a line graph.
UNCOOL? The overwhelming majority of sound clips over several nights featured the rustling of bedsheets as I shifted positions. Only one recorded snoring. I don't believe it. I simply don't believe it, and I'm tempted to test it by recording an entire night's sleep with a digital recorder.
GO! TO SLEEP
COOL? This app was developed by the Cleveland Clinic under the auspices of a doctorate in the sleep disorders center. It is not a sleep tracker but a smartphone sleep diary that develops a sleep score based on your answers to questions. How long did it take to fall asleep? Did you feel you got enough sleep? Did you exercise, nap, drink the day before?
Eventually, the user begins building a baseline score and then, ideally, making decisions to improve the score. There are tips and feedback.
I think this is the best app for making me mindful of my daytime habits and how they affect my nighttime "productivity." I think investigation -- the same investigation that comes from simply keeping a sleep journal -- is the best way to improve sleep.
As Chris Colwell, director of the University of California-Los Angeles Laboratory of Circadian and Sleep Medicine, says of all of these sleep apps, "I think they're kind of fun devices. They make you aware! The same person not keeping a paper journal would like to play with their smartphone."
UNCOOL? You would think a sleep aid like this put out by a health giant like the Cleveland Clinic would offer a low-cost or free app. It doesn't. Don't be fooled by the free download; this app (and you could say this about all of the others) doesn't really work optimally unless you concede to the in-app -- $$$ -- upgrades.
-- Bobby Ampezzan
ActiveStyle on 02/15/2016