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Show HN: I built a simple ambient sound app with no ads or subscriptions

314 points by alpaca121 1y ago

I’ve always liked having background noise while working or falling asleep, but I got frustrated that most “white noise” or ambient sound apps are either paywalled, stuffed with ads, or try to upsell subscriptions for basic features. So I made Ambi, a small iOS app with a clean interface and a set of freely available ambient sounds — rain, waves, wind, birds, that sort of thing. You can mix them, adjust volume levels, and just let it play all night or while you work. Everything works offline and there are no hidden catches. It’s something I built for myself first, but I figured others might find it useful too. Feedback, bugs, and suggestions are all welcome. https://apps.apple.com/app/ambi-white-noise-sleep-sounds/id6753184615 https://apps.apple.com/app/ambi-white-noise-sleep-sounds/id6...

deleted 1y ago
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monitron 1y ago
This is fantastic, thank you. Recently when trying to sleep away from home, I went looking for a noise app and was grossed out by the state of the available apps, just like you said. BTW One unfortunate feature that many noise apps/websites have (including Apple Music's official noise buttons) is that after a few minutes, they fade out and back in or have some other jarring transition when repeating. This is far from ideal for sleep, meditation, etc. So this is an enhancement request, if your app doesn't already solve this ;) I'm also curious: do you think that the cost of maintaining the app (keeping it up to date with newer iOS versions, for instance) will eventually dissuade you from keeping it available in its pristine state? I've wondered why there seem to be ZERO free apps by hobbyists on the App Store in categories like this...
- alpaca121 1y ago
  100% agree with you. Most of my time on this project actually went into making sure the loops play seamlessly—no gaps, glitches, or fades—since even the tiniest hiccup can throw off light sleepers. I’ve also tested the app across different headphones and speakers, with and without noise cancellation, but if you try it and notice anything off, please tell me. I’d really love to make it as smooth as possible. For the app maintenance side, I’m intentionally keeping both the UI and backend super simple so updates are easy to manage. And honestly, I just enjoy iOS development, so even the maintenance part feels more like fun than work.
- bko 1y ago
  I built a free calculator for iOS because I found the free calculators (for iPad) were super spammy and ugly. There was (and still is?) literally video ads that play between calculations. And since Apple didn't (doesn't?) offer a calculator app that came bundled with iPad, it was a huge market. But I was naive and thought I could just create an obviously superior app and it would find some users. Why hadn't anyone thought of this before? But the app market is so saturated and poorly managed that there's practically no chance you can find users. Or at least I didn't care enough because.. you know.. its a free app. How much can I invest to get you to have a decent experience. And the other point which was really the death blow to my app, is the ridiculous $100+ a year fee to app store to even host a free app. So after a few years and very few users, I decided to kill it. 1. The search sucks and prioritizes "popular" spammy apps.
  - HnUser12 1y ago
    Native calculator is available on iPad now. I think starting last year.
    - quintu5 1y ago
      Having never owned a tablet, finding out now that iPad didn’t have a native calculator until 2024 is shocking!
      - cowboylowrez 1y ago
        yeah but can't you use the ipads built in ssh to just use bc on a linux that you remote to?
        lukevp 1y ago
        Is this a parody of the Dropbox comment or is this sincere? I don’t think iPads have built in ssh… and even if they do, this is a far cry from an app. It assumes you have a Linux machine on your local network and are willing and able to set up ssh to connect to it as well as learn command line tooling for making calculations.
- QuadDamaged 1y ago
  Try MyNoise. I used to build their app, if you can spot a single loop you have superhuman hearing.
  - AndyNemmity 1y ago
    You used to build it? It's wonderful, thank you for your work.
  - deleted 1y ago
    [deleted]
sudo712 1y ago
I love the idea, and thanks for doing this. I would like to create free apps too just for the heck of it but one of the biggest issues I find with creating free app store apps is that, regardless of whether you are charging money or not, you need to keep feeding Apple $100 per year, which is excruciating, especially for countries where the developer population is much higher and the income disparity is high. Since the Play Store only charges 25$ ish and one time, it is much more feasible to do it on the Play Store, hence the availability of such apps is more on Play Store.
- jpablo 1y ago
  The $100 is per year.
  - OptionOfT 1y ago
    It is still disgusting. There is no need for that fee to be there, because remember, it sits on top of the purchase of at least $1,500 (a decent Mac). I tried to see if I could make improvements to Immich. No can do, as half of their entitlements require a team account (and even then begging Apple to get the entitlements). Now, they do offer a private account, so I spent time removing those entitlements. Guess what? Starting over 3 times and you're hit with a 'you can only sign 10 apps / week'. Why do apps built for my iPhone, which I explicitly need to put in Developer mode, need to be signed by daddy Cook?
    - sudo712 1y ago
      True. I completely forgot about that part. I absolutely love my windows PC, but I had to buy a mac so I can support cross platform
    - kiba 1y ago
      Apple can charge you that because they have a platform which is a monopoly. Granted, they did the work that built and maintain the platform, but at some point it's actually the countless developers who contribute value, not Apple.
  - 1y ago
andy_ppp 1y ago
Wow this looks incredible! I quite like the Overcast model where you can optionally pay a little just to support the author rather than for extra features or nagware.
- alpaca121 1y ago
  That's a great suggestion. I haven't given much thought to monetization. And personally I really this to be freely available to all who need and enjoy it. But an optional payment option doesn't sound too bad.
  - andy_ppp 1y ago
    Exactly, no harm if people want to thank you for a great app!
mandeepj 1y ago
Just downloaded! Thanks for your efforts on it. I was thinking of building something similar to the point of even learning music production, for the similar reasons you have listed. I think I can postpone my idea now. I don’t think many people would mind watching once a day ad just to support your work. But, whatever makes you happy.
- alpaca121 1y ago
  Thanks for trying:) and its definitely a great way to develop a good ear for sounds and pickup basic audio engineering. i certainly got comfortable with audacity along the way
ssttoo 1y ago
Lovely! Couple questions… - where did you get the noises, are they your own recordings? - how hard it is to support earlier iOS? For folks like me who are on older phones that cannot be upgraded anymore (iOS 16 personally)
- alpaca121 1y ago
  - There are all curated from bunch of different online sources like pixabay that allow usage without any restrictions - Not too hard. I just need to test it thoroughly to make sure the experience is as good as the latest os
- interloxia 1y ago
  Not the author. I built one of these years ago and had fun finding and using sounds from radio aporee. https://archive.org/details/radio-aporee-maps https://archive.org/details/radio-aporee-maps https://aporee.org/maps/info/ https://aporee.org/maps/info/
mft_ 1y ago
Thanks for this - de-installed an alternative and installed this. Any thoughts of some sort of equalizer feature? I like brown noise for sleeping in noisy environments, and would love to be able to add a bit more bass to your sample. (Brown noise plus some Airplane is actually pretty good.) --- Side thought - there needs to be a club (with a curated list?) for simple apps that work well, and commit to staying ad-free. I'd love to be able to search amongst such apps prior to auditioning options from the App Store. (I mean, it would be great to be able to filter for such apps in the App Store itself, but that's not going to happen.)
- Shadowmist 1y ago
  I would love to be able to search for apps without subscriptions and games without gems or whatever. I don’t mind an in-app purchase to unlock a full game or remove ads.
saaaaaam 1y ago
Downloaded this. It drowned out perfectly the noise from my upstairs neighbour sitting on her balcony watching YouTube videos above my open bedroom window. Thank you!
- alpaca121 1y ago
  :) glad its helpful!
caseyf7 1y ago
This is great. I’ve been looking for something like this for a long time after giving up on Portal. Thank you
tonyhart7 1y ago
ok what is Your TOMO llc mean??? does we really need to register LLC to upload into appstore???? that's seem excessive no? especially if your app isnt generating profit
- alpaca121 1y ago
  No you don't. You can submit an app as a solo developer. I formed the LLC for my design consultancy so just used the same for my Apple dev account.
  - demonman12 1y ago
    [dead]
- withinboredom 1y ago
  If you don't use an LLC, then you have to register as a human person and it lists your personal name on the app store. That means weird people will find you and send you letters, packages, random invoices, emails, dms, etc. It really isn't cool (from experience).
finger 1y ago
For those unaware, iOS includes a limited selection of such sounds. You cant mix or anything, but it might be good enough, at least it is for me. Search for Background Sounds in settings.
- bschwindHN 1y ago
  Their "dark noise" combined with airpods / headphones in noise cancelling mode is enough to put me to sleep in almost any environment, it's great.
- HelloUsername 1y ago
  Yup, came here to say that too. iOS Settings - Accessibility - Audio & Visual - Background Sounds. Offers the same as OP's app, except mixing. The only thing I miss is a a fade out possibility. For example, set timer at 01:00 minute and it slowly fades out over that whole minute. Much better than such an abrupt end. Not sure if OP's app does offer that.
- brunosutic 1y ago
  Yes, and the same feature is available on Mac too. I occasionally use it with headphones for work, when I want to stay focused.
orsenthil 1y ago
Thanks for making this avialable. I am Linux (ZorinOS, FTW) and I use SoundScape https://github.com/ddanilov/soundscape https://github.com/ddanilov/soundscape There is https://freesound.org/ https://freesound.org/ which can provide a multitude of free sounds too.
FiddlerClamp 1y ago
I'm a longtime fan of Web-based myNoise: https://mynoise.net/ https://mynoise.net/
- alpaca121 1y ago
  some of the best sounds out there
- uyzstvqs 1y ago
  This, and Nomadic Ambience on YouTube. He actually uses binaural recording, which is absolutely above all the best for ambient sounds. I believe myNoise uses high-quality stereo recording, which is still very good as well.
- andrepd 1y ago
  MyNoise is probably my #1 pick for most outstanding website period. So clean. So functional. So attentive to detail. So beautiful. Such care in assembling the generators. So varied. Free of ads and tracking. Freemium with a pay-what-you-want lifetime subscription. Gentle reminders to donate if you use the site a lot. Damn I need to drop another tenner.
  - dax_ 1y ago
    It's just one of those sites that focuses on one thing, and does that extremely well, without trying to extract as much money from its users as possible. Rare thing nowadays.
  - FiddlerClamp 1y ago
    I also like how people can submit their own presets for each soundscape with comments, so you can see what worked for others. My only wish is for a smooth fade-out when leaving a sound generator page, or a way to cross-fade between them.
- wiether 1y ago
  It should be noted that they also provide a very nice iOS app that is free but comes with IAP to unlock all the soundscapes and help them maintain the whole thing alive for many years now.
thehamkercat 1y ago
Let's not forget https://neal.fun/ambient-chaos/ https://neal.fun/ambient-chaos/
- airstrike 1y ago
  Volcano + Rain + Coffee Shop is my jam.
- alpaca121 1y ago
  cuuute!
- sbarre 1y ago
  Couple Arguing + Nuclear Siren
rjdj377dhabsn 1y ago
Sounds like a convienet app, but is there any advantage to just looping an ambient sound clip in a generic audio player?
- smokeydoe 1y ago
  Not having to go find the ambient sound clips yourself.
  - rjdj377dhabsn 1y ago
    But one could find it on YouTube (ad free with Firefox and ublock origin) in less time than it would take to install an app.
kimos 1y ago
My goodness, thank you. The other white noise apps I use for my kids when we travel work on a subscription. I have to remember to subscribe, to play a single sound, then cancel my subscription. Made me want to learn iOS development out of spite.
hahajk 1y ago
Very nice :) The ability to add my own mp3 loops would be choice. Is that possible? I’m choosy about the exact cafe-train mix I work to…
- alpaca121 1y ago
  Great point.. that's definitely doable
rishi-singh 1y ago
This is awesome, did you use SwiftUI for this?
- alpaca121 1y ago
  Yes :)
Workaccount2 1y ago
Wonderful, thanks so much!
AfterHIA 1y ago
You're doing God's work. I used to use my white noise generator for a lot of things-- not just, "creating blinding noise" but sampling authentic pink and white noise had applications where having this over an aux cable was pretty handy. ...now my buttfucking IPhone has no aux out and the app I use charges 6.99 to access the mixer. Go figure.
rbalicki 1y ago
Fantastic. Love it. Love the collection of so many sounds. One request I have: please play the white noise on the "other" track, so that one can also listen to music and white noise simultaneously. See how "White noise by sleep pillow" does it. There are some formatting issues (i.e. stuff is off screen), but nbd, still usable. Perhaps that prevents me from layering multiple sounds, though.
- alpaca121 1y ago
  Great suggestion! Will get these sounds to play with other music. Regarding the formatting issues- what phone and os version are you on? Would love to fix it asap
  - rbalicki 1y ago
    iOS 18.5, iPhone 15 Pro I have some accessibility settings on, like button shapes on, on/off labels on, reduce transparency on, increase contrast on, differentiate without color on. But surprisingly no changes to default font size or something that might be expected to cause that.
believ3 1y ago
Congrats! Two comments after trying the app out: 1) The thunder sounds loop too quickly; can you find sources that are longer perhaps (like 15+ mins)? 2) Can you try to source more unique thunder sounds? Thank you!
- alpaca121 1y ago
  For sure..very helpful feedback. Will find better thunders
phibert 1y ago
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MobileVet 1y ago
Really nicely done. Love the mixing capabilities, that was particularly nicely implemented.
ahmedfromtunis 1y ago
If you're on Android and want something similar, try Atmosphere. For years now it's the first app I install on every phone I buy. It's ad-supported though.
basedrum 1y ago
Android please
gslepak 1y ago
Android version would be cool for those using GrapheneOS!
- ocdtrekkie 1y ago
  You aren't the only one doing this in the discussion, but I need to point out: This person made an app for themselves on the device they use, with no ads or subscriptions. So no business model. And you want them to make an app for you on your platform of choice? Please just think about this.
  - amelius 1y ago
    What is wrong with stating your preferences or requirements? It might result in someone making "better" choices and making more people happy. For example by using cross platform tools or building a web app, or releasing the sources (sounds in this case) so someone else can build something better.
    - ocdtrekkie 1y ago
      I don't see anything wrong with someone suggesting similar apps on Android or being disappointed they can't use this because they don't use the same OS as the author. Comments suggesting an iOS developer who made a free iOS app for his own use and then shared it should go and make them an Android app can only be described as entitled ###holes. Why didn't the author use cross platform tools? They weren't making a cross platform app. They did not need those tools. It wouldn't be "better" if they did, it would be unrelated to the requirements the author had for the project.
      - amelius 1y ago
        They only said that an android version would be cool. And I'm just saying that using cross platform tools has the potential to make more people happy. Besides. They weren't just making an app for themselves, because it is in the app store (something which requires more effort). Your comment is not grounded in reality.
skopje 1y ago
Back in 2008 I downloaded an app similar to this and then during one update 6 or 7 years later it vanished from the app store... and my phone! Been looking for a replacement since. I even studied Swift to write my own. Thanks for writing the app, and not collecting any data! Reminds me of the glory days of the first app store before it all went to crap. Also, I searched for the exact search string name of your app and you were STILL the third app down.
- alpaca121 1y ago
  Yeah..the goal is to keep the app as minimal as possible while offering useful functionality to users without charge. Glad it's useful for you. You're right about the low app store ranking on search. I need to look into optimizing those results.
AnonC 1y ago
I really like the reason behind developing this, having seen other similar apps that are annoying to use or have subscriptions. I downloaded it, tried it, and like the clean design. One suggestion I have is to make the sleep timer more granular. Just allow the user to choose a specific number of hours and minutes instead of a fixed list of 5 min, 10 min, 30 min, 1 hr, 10 hr. The current set is too limited for me to use for sleep (to drown out noises after going to bed). Another suggestion is to add more sounds. There seem to be many rain sounds but only one fire related sound.
- alpaca121 1y ago
  Thanks for sharing the feedback. Making the timer granular is very easy. And I'll find more fire sounds as well :)
vzaliva 1y ago
it requiers subscripiton to Apple ecosystem: closed hardware iPhone, closed-source iOS, app store blessing to distribute. :) Could you do an Android version to alleviate some of these hurdles? P.S. Do not mean do diminish your achievement. I've tried many these apps which fed me ads or ask to subscribe, so a free alternative is very welcome! Thanks!
- alisonatwork 1y ago
  I use ChromaDoze from F-Droid when I am sleeping somewhere intermittently noisy and need some base noise to raise the floor. There's a couple of other ones, but I found this the most simple, you just draw a filter and click go.
- mightypirate 1y ago
  [dead]
- b0dhimind 1y ago
  There's a few on F-droid. Soothing Noise Player seemed interesting. I'm sure there's a bunch more on Google Play.
- cyclotron3k 1y ago
  OP makes an app for his own needs and his own phone and decides to share it for free, at considerable cost ($100/yr), and your response is to ask him to remake it for you, from scratch (in another language), for an OS that OP doesn't use? Holy shit
lovegrenoble 1y ago
Also the web-based one, with nature (and fantasy) sounds: https://tabletopy.com https://tabletopy.com
holler 1y ago
very nice! curious if you could comment on the tech stack, did you use swift or react native or something else?
w-ll 1y ago
not to be that guy, but isnt there a bunch of built in white noise/ rain noise/ etc built into ios accessibility
- HelloUsername 1y ago
  Yup, came here to say that too. iOS Settings - Accessibility - Audio & Visual - Background Sounds Offers the same as OP's app, except mixing. The only thing I miss is a a fade out possibility. For example, set timer at 01:00 minute and it slowly fades out over that whole minute. Much better than such an abrupt end. Not sure if OP's app does offer that.
6comb 1y ago
this is ripper. how hard would it be for you to enable homepod support? my dream would be an app that allows me to also add my own track (to be repeated or just played once), that i can start using the homepod. trying not to have a phone in the room, etc.
accrual 1y ago
Very high quality app, thank you! It's simple, looks nice, and does everything it needs to. I love that it automatically allows playing in the background and appears on the lock screen, etc. The only thing I noticed was there's another app also called Ambi that generates background sound which I mistakenly downloaded first. It popped up a message to buy premium, then I knew I had the wrong app. ;) For fun, play train + airplane at the same time. Train in the sky.
- alpaca121 1y ago
  Thanks for the kind words and yeah there's another app with the same name that ranks higher. I need to work on my app store seo.
  - accrual 1y ago
    Of course! And thank you for the great app. A lot of people use "noise apps" as a form of relief, either from sleep disorders, tinnitus (ringing of the ears), general wellbeing, etc. So having a nice quality app for free like this is likely to make a positive impact on someone's life, somewhere. Thank you.
gantengx 1y ago
Thanks for this! Really appreciate it that it has no ads. Curious though, is the sound all generated on the fly or is it static audio file?
CalRobert 1y ago
Any particular reason for requiring iOS 18.2?
- alpaca121 1y ago
  That was just the OS version I was on. But i'll be making it backward compatible soon.
prabakarviji 1y ago
Tried installing it. Simple and Sleek user experience, well crafted. Just curious, is there a way I can add ambient sound to the list locally from my device?
- alpaca121 1y ago
  Not at the moment but its easy to build. Do you already have a collection of ambient sounds that you know will loop seamlessly?
johnjames87 1y ago
I needed this
brunosutic 1y ago
We have 3 young kids in the range from 2 to 5 years old. We use white noise heavily for our kids sleep. It isolates them from the noises we make around the house. For this purpose I recommend "LectroFan" devices. We have like 5 "LectroFan Evos" in our's and our kids' bedrooms. They just work, no apps, no upgrades, no LEDs blinking, and thank god, no screens. These devices are worth their amount in gold. On the phone I recommend using iOS built-in white noise feature. We use it when travelling by car, and our kids sleep in their seats. When we turn the white noise on they stop talking and it quickly lulls them into sleep.
- jedimastert 1y ago
  It's kinda funny these things exist to me. I actually used to keep a window AC unit when I could have upgrade to something much nicer because the noise helped me sleep.
- tmountain 1y ago
  Same here, we have a lot of noise in our area. I have a LectroFan, and it's invaluable. It's simplicity is what makes it so great. We don't need apps for everything. In fact, I prefer to avoid them when possible.
- lukevp 1y ago
  What’s the built in white noise feature in iOS? First time hearing about this!
  - somedude895 1y ago
    Settings > Accessibility > Audio & Visual > Background Sounds It's quite hidden in there but I think you can create shortcuts / quick access to it.
- gblargg 1y ago
  Seconded on LectroFan. I've been using one for years for sleeping all night. No looping at all. Inside it only has 16K of flash, not enough to store samples. I once recorded it for 8 hours and looked for any repeating dips in the waveform, but found nothing. I used the old analog Marsona units for decades before this, so it had some good competition. Customer service was great when I contacted them years ago with a rattling problem with one of mine.
vintagedave 1y ago
One of the earliest apps I installed, back on the first iPhone, was the Sleepmaker Rain / Storms app. These days it's free, because the owner could no longer make money in the modern app store. I've been listening to the same rain sounds for close to twenty years now. Rain recordings through a phone are often too high-pitched and listening to your rain sounds, all other than two have the same issue; they had a great balance of types of rain sound. OP, consider syncing with them? You have a slick interface; they have a wonderful audio library.
jwr 1y ago
Related: if you use iOS or macOS, I highly recommend Naturespace for nature sounds and Iceland White for natural white noise-like sounds. No distractions, excellent quality audio.
oigursh 1y ago
https://rain.today/ https://rain.today/ is nice. Dynamic rather than a recording
zschuessler 1y ago
Very nicely done. Supporting good/honest apps is important, I gave you a five-star review and I hope others do the same. I would've enjoyed an "About" tab, or something similar. I like your basic approach to the app, but if you did want to share more with your users, I think that'd be a good thing.
- alpaca121 1y ago
  Thanks for the support! Will definitely consider adding an about page
jslakro 1y ago
Don't forget https://soundofcolleagues.com/ https://soundofcolleagues.com/ coming straight from the days of lockdown
ada1981 1y ago
Any plans to add bineural beats like brain.fm?
- alpaca121 1y ago
  Yes! very soon. Hopefully in the next update
  - ada1981 1y ago
    Nice! I bought a lifetime license to brain.fm when they first came out for $75, but I’d Recommend this to others. Also is it open source? Would be fun to look under the hood.
encom 1y ago
$ aplay -f cd /dev/urandom Here's your app. If we're being fancy (SoX): $ play -n synth 0 [white|brown|pink]noise
melvinchus 1y ago
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whycome 1y ago
This seems great. It’s similar to https://ambiph.one/ https://ambiph.one/ And I have to say that I like that it offers a PWA version. Would you do a PWA?
smcleod 1y ago
That's really nice and clean. Thank you for making it available for everyone. Have you considered having the ability to save presets of your favourite mixes?
- alpaca121 1y ago
  Yes! Coming very soon
bro-y 1y ago
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Terretta 1y ago
Any plans for sounds of public spaces with unintelligible talking (options ranging from cafe murmur to hip restaurant crescendo), but not crashing dishes or other startle noises? This sort of thing: https://coffitivity.com https://coffitivity.com But local first, app, using sounds curated to avoid engaging language center or triggering startle reflex. FWIW, happy owner of TMSOFT's "White Noise" on iOS for nearly 20 years, which isn't scammy. Particularly enjoy how easy it makes it to capture and loop ambient environments. But still looking for an app with the perfect background cafe/office loop for focused work. (I also really like: https://ozlosleep.com https://ozlosleep.com This is the successor to Bose's sleep buds, the literal tech bought back by engineers to make a go of, and works better.)
- alpaca121 1y ago
  Yes! public noises are next on the roadmap. Also had no idea something like Ozlosleep existed. Very interesting product.
macartain 1y ago
Meh.. Needs ios18.. But thank you - I salute the effort!

314 points by alpaca121 1y ago

deleted 1y ago

[deleted]

monitron 1y ago

This is fantastic, thank you. Recently when trying to sleep away from home, I went looking for a noise app and was grossed out by the state of the available apps, just like you said. BTW One unfortunate feature that many noise apps/websites have (including Apple Music's official noise buttons) is that after a few minutes, they fade out and back in or have some other jarring transition when repeating. This is far from ideal for sleep, meditation, etc. So this is an enhancement request, if your app doesn't already solve this ;) I'm also curious: do you think that the cost of maintaining the app (keeping it up to date with newer iOS versions, for instance) will eventually dissuade you from keeping it available in its pristine state? I've wondered why there seem to be ZERO free apps by hobbyists on the App Store in categories like this...

alpaca121 1y ago
100% agree with you. Most of my time on this project actually went into making sure the loops play seamlessly—no gaps, glitches, or fades—since even the tiniest hiccup can throw off light sleepers. I’ve also tested the app across different headphones and speakers, with and without noise cancellation, but if you try it and notice anything off, please tell me. I’d really love to make it as smooth as possible. For the app maintenance side, I’m intentionally keeping both the UI and backend super simple so updates are easy to manage. And honestly, I just enjoy iOS development, so even the maintenance part feels more like fun than work.
bko 1y ago
I built a free calculator for iOS because I found the free calculators (for iPad) were super spammy and ugly. There was (and still is?) literally video ads that play between calculations. And since Apple didn't (doesn't?) offer a calculator app that came bundled with iPad, it was a huge market. But I was naive and thought I could just create an obviously superior app and it would find some users. Why hadn't anyone thought of this before? But the app market is so saturated and poorly managed that there's practically no chance you can find users. Or at least I didn't care enough because.. you know.. its a free app. How much can I invest to get you to have a decent experience. And the other point which was really the death blow to my app, is the ridiculous $100+ a year fee to app store to even host a free app. So after a few years and very few users, I decided to kill it. 1. The search sucks and prioritizes "popular" spammy apps.
- HnUser12 1y ago
  Native calculator is available on iPad now. I think starting last year.
  - quintu5 1y ago
    Having never owned a tablet, finding out now that iPad didn’t have a native calculator until 2024 is shocking!
    - cowboylowrez 1y ago
      yeah but can't you use the ipads built in ssh to just use bc on a linux that you remote to?
      - lukevp 1y ago
        Is this a parody of the Dropbox comment or is this sincere? I don’t think iPads have built in ssh… and even if they do, this is a far cry from an app. It assumes you have a Linux machine on your local network and are willing and able to set up ssh to connect to it as well as learn command line tooling for making calculations.
QuadDamaged 1y ago
Try MyNoise. I used to build their app, if you can spot a single loop you have superhuman hearing.
- AndyNemmity 1y ago
  You used to build it? It's wonderful, thank you for your work.
- deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]

sudo712 1y ago

I love the idea, and thanks for doing this. I would like to create free apps too just for the heck of it but one of the biggest issues I find with creating free app store apps is that, regardless of whether you are charging money or not, you need to keep feeding Apple $100 per year, which is excruciating, especially for countries where the developer population is much higher and the income disparity is high. Since the Play Store only charges 25$ ish and one time, it is much more feasible to do it on the Play Store, hence the availability of such apps is more on Play Store.

jpablo 1y ago
The $100 is per year.
- OptionOfT 1y ago
  It is still disgusting. There is no need for that fee to be there, because remember, it sits on top of the purchase of at least $1,500 (a decent Mac). I tried to see if I could make improvements to Immich. No can do, as half of their entitlements require a team account (and even then begging Apple to get the entitlements). Now, they do offer a private account, so I spent time removing those entitlements. Guess what? Starting over 3 times and you're hit with a 'you can only sign 10 apps / week'. Why do apps built for my iPhone, which I explicitly need to put in Developer mode, need to be signed by daddy Cook?
  - sudo712 1y ago
    True. I completely forgot about that part. I absolutely love my windows PC, but I had to buy a mac so I can support cross platform
  - kiba 1y ago
    Apple can charge you that because they have a platform which is a monopoly. Granted, they did the work that built and maintain the platform, but at some point it's actually the countless developers who contribute value, not Apple.
- 1y ago

andy_ppp 1y ago

Wow this looks incredible! I quite like the Overcast model where you can optionally pay a little just to support the author rather than for extra features or nagware.

alpaca121 1y ago
That's a great suggestion. I haven't given much thought to monetization. And personally I really this to be freely available to all who need and enjoy it. But an optional payment option doesn't sound too bad.
- andy_ppp 1y ago
  Exactly, no harm if people want to thank you for a great app!

mandeepj 1y ago

Just downloaded! Thanks for your efforts on it. I was thinking of building something similar to the point of even learning music production, for the similar reasons you have listed. I think I can postpone my idea now. I don’t think many people would mind watching once a day ad just to support your work. But, whatever makes you happy.

alpaca121 1y ago
Thanks for trying:) and its definitely a great way to develop a good ear for sounds and pickup basic audio engineering. i certainly got comfortable with audacity along the way

ssttoo 1y ago

Lovely! Couple questions… - where did you get the noises, are they your own recordings? - how hard it is to support earlier iOS? For folks like me who are on older phones that cannot be upgraded anymore (iOS 16 personally)

alpaca121 1y ago
- There are all curated from bunch of different online sources like pixabay that allow usage without any restrictions - Not too hard. I just need to test it thoroughly to make sure the experience is as good as the latest os
interloxia 1y ago
Not the author. I built one of these years ago and had fun finding and using sounds from radio aporee. https://archive.org/details/radio-aporee-maps https://archive.org/details/radio-aporee-maps https://aporee.org/maps/info/ https://aporee.org/maps/info/

mft_ 1y ago

Thanks for this - de-installed an alternative and installed this. Any thoughts of some sort of equalizer feature? I like brown noise for sleeping in noisy environments, and would love to be able to add a bit more bass to your sample. (Brown noise plus some Airplane is actually pretty good.) --- Side thought - there needs to be a club (with a curated list?) for simple apps that work well, and commit to staying ad-free. I'd love to be able to search amongst such apps prior to auditioning options from the App Store. (I mean, it would be great to be able to filter for such apps in the App Store itself, but that's not going to happen.)

Shadowmist 1y ago
I would love to be able to search for apps without subscriptions and games without gems or whatever. I don’t mind an in-app purchase to unlock a full game or remove ads.

saaaaaam 1y ago

Downloaded this. It drowned out perfectly the noise from my upstairs neighbour sitting on her balcony watching YouTube videos above my open bedroom window. Thank you!

alpaca121 1y ago
:) glad its helpful!

caseyf7 1y ago

This is great. I’ve been looking for something like this for a long time after giving up on Portal. Thank you

tonyhart7 1y ago

ok what is Your TOMO llc mean??? does we really need to register LLC to upload into appstore???? that's seem excessive no? especially if your app isnt generating profit

alpaca121 1y ago
No you don't. You can submit an app as a solo developer. I formed the LLC for my design consultancy so just used the same for my Apple dev account.
- demonman12 1y ago
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withinboredom 1y ago
If you don't use an LLC, then you have to register as a human person and it lists your personal name on the app store. That means weird people will find you and send you letters, packages, random invoices, emails, dms, etc. It really isn't cool (from experience).

finger 1y ago

For those unaware, iOS includes a limited selection of such sounds. You cant mix or anything, but it might be good enough, at least it is for me. Search for Background Sounds in settings.

bschwindHN 1y ago
Their "dark noise" combined with airpods / headphones in noise cancelling mode is enough to put me to sleep in almost any environment, it's great.
HelloUsername 1y ago
Yup, came here to say that too. iOS Settings - Accessibility - Audio & Visual - Background Sounds. Offers the same as OP's app, except mixing. The only thing I miss is a a fade out possibility. For example, set timer at 01:00 minute and it slowly fades out over that whole minute. Much better than such an abrupt end. Not sure if OP's app does offer that.
brunosutic 1y ago
Yes, and the same feature is available on Mac too. I occasionally use it with headphones for work, when I want to stay focused.

orsenthil 1y ago

Thanks for making this avialable. I am Linux (ZorinOS, FTW) and I use SoundScape https://github.com/ddanilov/soundscape https://github.com/ddanilov/soundscape There is https://freesound.org/ https://freesound.org/ which can provide a multitude of free sounds too.

FiddlerClamp 1y ago

I'm a longtime fan of Web-based myNoise: https://mynoise.net/ https://mynoise.net/

alpaca121 1y ago
some of the best sounds out there
uyzstvqs 1y ago
This, and Nomadic Ambience on YouTube. He actually uses binaural recording, which is absolutely above all the best for ambient sounds. I believe myNoise uses high-quality stereo recording, which is still very good as well.
andrepd 1y ago
MyNoise is probably my #1 pick for most outstanding website period. So clean. So functional. So attentive to detail. So beautiful. Such care in assembling the generators. So varied. Free of ads and tracking. Freemium with a pay-what-you-want lifetime subscription. Gentle reminders to donate if you use the site a lot. Damn I need to drop another tenner.
- dax_ 1y ago
  It's just one of those sites that focuses on one thing, and does that extremely well, without trying to extract as much money from its users as possible. Rare thing nowadays.
- FiddlerClamp 1y ago
  I also like how people can submit their own presets for each soundscape with comments, so you can see what worked for others. My only wish is for a smooth fade-out when leaving a sound generator page, or a way to cross-fade between them.
wiether 1y ago
It should be noted that they also provide a very nice iOS app that is free but comes with IAP to unlock all the soundscapes and help them maintain the whole thing alive for many years now.

thehamkercat 1y ago

Let's not forget https://neal.fun/ambient-chaos/ https://neal.fun/ambient-chaos/

airstrike 1y ago
Volcano + Rain + Coffee Shop is my jam.
alpaca121 1y ago
cuuute!
sbarre 1y ago
Couple Arguing + Nuclear Siren

rjdj377dhabsn 1y ago

Sounds like a convienet app, but is there any advantage to just looping an ambient sound clip in a generic audio player?

smokeydoe 1y ago
Not having to go find the ambient sound clips yourself.
- rjdj377dhabsn 1y ago
  But one could find it on YouTube (ad free with Firefox and ublock origin) in less time than it would take to install an app.

kimos 1y ago

My goodness, thank you. The other white noise apps I use for my kids when we travel work on a subscription. I have to remember to subscribe, to play a single sound, then cancel my subscription. Made me want to learn iOS development out of spite.

hahajk 1y ago

Very nice :) The ability to add my own mp3 loops would be choice. Is that possible? I’m choosy about the exact cafe-train mix I work to…

alpaca121 1y ago
Great point.. that's definitely doable

rishi-singh 1y ago

This is awesome, did you use SwiftUI for this?

alpaca121 1y ago
Yes :)

Workaccount2 1y ago

Wonderful, thanks so much!

AfterHIA 1y ago

You're doing God's work. I used to use my white noise generator for a lot of things-- not just, "creating blinding noise" but sampling authentic pink and white noise had applications where having this over an aux cable was pretty handy. ...now my buttfucking IPhone has no aux out and the app I use charges 6.99 to access the mixer. Go figure.

rbalicki 1y ago

Fantastic. Love it. Love the collection of so many sounds. One request I have: please play the white noise on the "other" track, so that one can also listen to music and white noise simultaneously. See how "White noise by sleep pillow" does it. There are some formatting issues (i.e. stuff is off screen), but nbd, still usable. Perhaps that prevents me from layering multiple sounds, though.

alpaca121 1y ago
Great suggestion! Will get these sounds to play with other music. Regarding the formatting issues- what phone and os version are you on? Would love to fix it asap
- rbalicki 1y ago
  iOS 18.5, iPhone 15 Pro I have some accessibility settings on, like button shapes on, on/off labels on, reduce transparency on, increase contrast on, differentiate without color on. But surprisingly no changes to default font size or something that might be expected to cause that.

believ3 1y ago

Congrats! Two comments after trying the app out: 1) The thunder sounds loop too quickly; can you find sources that are longer perhaps (like 15+ mins)? 2) Can you try to source more unique thunder sounds? Thank you!

alpaca121 1y ago
For sure..very helpful feedback. Will find better thunders

phibert 1y ago

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MobileVet 1y ago

Really nicely done. Love the mixing capabilities, that was particularly nicely implemented.

ahmedfromtunis 1y ago

If you're on Android and want something similar, try Atmosphere. For years now it's the first app I install on every phone I buy. It's ad-supported though.

basedrum 1y ago

Android please

gslepak 1y ago

Android version would be cool for those using GrapheneOS!

ocdtrekkie 1y ago
You aren't the only one doing this in the discussion, but I need to point out: This person made an app for themselves on the device they use, with no ads or subscriptions. So no business model. And you want them to make an app for you on your platform of choice? Please just think about this.
- amelius 1y ago
  What is wrong with stating your preferences or requirements? It might result in someone making "better" choices and making more people happy. For example by using cross platform tools or building a web app, or releasing the sources (sounds in this case) so someone else can build something better.
  - ocdtrekkie 1y ago
    I don't see anything wrong with someone suggesting similar apps on Android or being disappointed they can't use this because they don't use the same OS as the author. Comments suggesting an iOS developer who made a free iOS app for his own use and then shared it should go and make them an Android app can only be described as entitled ###holes. Why didn't the author use cross platform tools? They weren't making a cross platform app. They did not need those tools. It wouldn't be "better" if they did, it would be unrelated to the requirements the author had for the project.
    - amelius 1y ago
      They only said that an android version would be cool. And I'm just saying that using cross platform tools has the potential to make more people happy. Besides. They weren't just making an app for themselves, because it is in the app store (something which requires more effort). Your comment is not grounded in reality.

skopje 1y ago

Back in 2008 I downloaded an app similar to this and then during one update 6 or 7 years later it vanished from the app store... and my phone! Been looking for a replacement since. I even studied Swift to write my own. Thanks for writing the app, and not collecting any data! Reminds me of the glory days of the first app store before it all went to crap. Also, I searched for the exact search string name of your app and you were STILL the third app down.

alpaca121 1y ago
Yeah..the goal is to keep the app as minimal as possible while offering useful functionality to users without charge. Glad it's useful for you. You're right about the low app store ranking on search. I need to look into optimizing those results.

AnonC 1y ago

I really like the reason behind developing this, having seen other similar apps that are annoying to use or have subscriptions. I downloaded it, tried it, and like the clean design. One suggestion I have is to make the sleep timer more granular. Just allow the user to choose a specific number of hours and minutes instead of a fixed list of 5 min, 10 min, 30 min, 1 hr, 10 hr. The current set is too limited for me to use for sleep (to drown out noises after going to bed). Another suggestion is to add more sounds. There seem to be many rain sounds but only one fire related sound.

alpaca121 1y ago
Thanks for sharing the feedback. Making the timer granular is very easy. And I'll find more fire sounds as well :)

vzaliva 1y ago

it requiers subscripiton to Apple ecosystem: closed hardware iPhone, closed-source iOS, app store blessing to distribute. :) Could you do an Android version to alleviate some of these hurdles? P.S. Do not mean do diminish your achievement. I've tried many these apps which fed me ads or ask to subscribe, so a free alternative is very welcome! Thanks!

alisonatwork 1y ago
I use ChromaDoze from F-Droid when I am sleeping somewhere intermittently noisy and need some base noise to raise the floor. There's a couple of other ones, but I found this the most simple, you just draw a filter and click go.
mightypirate 1y ago
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b0dhimind 1y ago
There's a few on F-droid. Soothing Noise Player seemed interesting. I'm sure there's a bunch more on Google Play.
cyclotron3k 1y ago
OP makes an app for his own needs and his own phone and decides to share it for free, at considerable cost ($100/yr), and your response is to ask him to remake it for you, from scratch (in another language), for an OS that OP doesn't use? Holy shit

lovegrenoble 1y ago

Also the web-based one, with nature (and fantasy) sounds: https://tabletopy.com https://tabletopy.com

holler 1y ago

very nice! curious if you could comment on the tech stack, did you use swift or react native or something else?

w-ll 1y ago

not to be that guy, but isnt there a bunch of built in white noise/ rain noise/ etc built into ios accessibility

HelloUsername 1y ago
Yup, came here to say that too. iOS Settings - Accessibility - Audio & Visual - Background Sounds Offers the same as OP's app, except mixing. The only thing I miss is a a fade out possibility. For example, set timer at 01:00 minute and it slowly fades out over that whole minute. Much better than such an abrupt end. Not sure if OP's app does offer that.

6comb 1y ago

this is ripper. how hard would it be for you to enable homepod support? my dream would be an app that allows me to also add my own track (to be repeated or just played once), that i can start using the homepod. trying not to have a phone in the room, etc.

accrual 1y ago

Very high quality app, thank you! It's simple, looks nice, and does everything it needs to. I love that it automatically allows playing in the background and appears on the lock screen, etc. The only thing I noticed was there's another app also called Ambi that generates background sound which I mistakenly downloaded first. It popped up a message to buy premium, then I knew I had the wrong app. ;) For fun, play train + airplane at the same time. Train in the sky.

alpaca121 1y ago
Thanks for the kind words and yeah there's another app with the same name that ranks higher. I need to work on my app store seo.
- accrual 1y ago
  Of course! And thank you for the great app. A lot of people use "noise apps" as a form of relief, either from sleep disorders, tinnitus (ringing of the ears), general wellbeing, etc. So having a nice quality app for free like this is likely to make a positive impact on someone's life, somewhere. Thank you.

gantengx 1y ago

Thanks for this! Really appreciate it that it has no ads. Curious though, is the sound all generated on the fly or is it static audio file?

CalRobert 1y ago

Any particular reason for requiring iOS 18.2?

alpaca121 1y ago
That was just the OS version I was on. But i'll be making it backward compatible soon.

prabakarviji 1y ago

Tried installing it. Simple and Sleek user experience, well crafted. Just curious, is there a way I can add ambient sound to the list locally from my device?

alpaca121 1y ago
Not at the moment but its easy to build. Do you already have a collection of ambient sounds that you know will loop seamlessly?

johnjames87 1y ago

I needed this

brunosutic 1y ago

We have 3 young kids in the range from 2 to 5 years old. We use white noise heavily for our kids sleep. It isolates them from the noises we make around the house. For this purpose I recommend "LectroFan" devices. We have like 5 "LectroFan Evos" in our's and our kids' bedrooms. They just work, no apps, no upgrades, no LEDs blinking, and thank god, no screens. These devices are worth their amount in gold. On the phone I recommend using iOS built-in white noise feature. We use it when travelling by car, and our kids sleep in their seats. When we turn the white noise on they stop talking and it quickly lulls them into sleep.

jedimastert 1y ago
It's kinda funny these things exist to me. I actually used to keep a window AC unit when I could have upgrade to something much nicer because the noise helped me sleep.
tmountain 1y ago
Same here, we have a lot of noise in our area. I have a LectroFan, and it's invaluable. It's simplicity is what makes it so great. We don't need apps for everything. In fact, I prefer to avoid them when possible.
lukevp 1y ago
What’s the built in white noise feature in iOS? First time hearing about this!
- somedude895 1y ago
  Settings > Accessibility > Audio & Visual > Background Sounds It's quite hidden in there but I think you can create shortcuts / quick access to it.
gblargg 1y ago
Seconded on LectroFan. I've been using one for years for sleeping all night. No looping at all. Inside it only has 16K of flash, not enough to store samples. I once recorded it for 8 hours and looked for any repeating dips in the waveform, but found nothing. I used the old analog Marsona units for decades before this, so it had some good competition. Customer service was great when I contacted them years ago with a rattling problem with one of mine.

vintagedave 1y ago

One of the earliest apps I installed, back on the first iPhone, was the Sleepmaker Rain / Storms app. These days it's free, because the owner could no longer make money in the modern app store. I've been listening to the same rain sounds for close to twenty years now. Rain recordings through a phone are often too high-pitched and listening to your rain sounds, all other than two have the same issue; they had a great balance of types of rain sound. OP, consider syncing with them? You have a slick interface; they have a wonderful audio library.

jwr 1y ago

Related: if you use iOS or macOS, I highly recommend Naturespace for nature sounds and Iceland White for natural white noise-like sounds. No distractions, excellent quality audio.

oigursh 1y ago

https://rain.today/ https://rain.today/ is nice. Dynamic rather than a recording

zschuessler 1y ago

Very nicely done. Supporting good/honest apps is important, I gave you a five-star review and I hope others do the same. I would've enjoyed an "About" tab, or something similar. I like your basic approach to the app, but if you did want to share more with your users, I think that'd be a good thing.

alpaca121 1y ago
Thanks for the support! Will definitely consider adding an about page

jslakro 1y ago

Don't forget https://soundofcolleagues.com/ https://soundofcolleagues.com/ coming straight from the days of lockdown

ada1981 1y ago

Any plans to add bineural beats like brain.fm?

alpaca121 1y ago
Yes! very soon. Hopefully in the next update
- ada1981 1y ago
  Nice! I bought a lifetime license to brain.fm when they first came out for $75, but I’d Recommend this to others. Also is it open source? Would be fun to look under the hood.

encom 1y ago

$ aplay -f cd /dev/urandom Here's your app. If we're being fancy (SoX): $ play -n synth 0 [white|brown|pink]noise

melvinchus 1y ago

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whycome 1y ago

This seems great. It’s similar to https://ambiph.one/ https://ambiph.one/ And I have to say that I like that it offers a PWA version. Would you do a PWA?

smcleod 1y ago

That's really nice and clean. Thank you for making it available for everyone. Have you considered having the ability to save presets of your favourite mixes?

alpaca121 1y ago
Yes! Coming very soon

bro-y 1y ago

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Terretta 1y ago

Any plans for sounds of public spaces with unintelligible talking (options ranging from cafe murmur to hip restaurant crescendo), but not crashing dishes or other startle noises? This sort of thing: https://coffitivity.com https://coffitivity.com But local first, app, using sounds curated to avoid engaging language center or triggering startle reflex. FWIW, happy owner of TMSOFT's "White Noise" on iOS for nearly 20 years, which isn't scammy. Particularly enjoy how easy it makes it to capture and loop ambient environments. But still looking for an app with the perfect background cafe/office loop for focused work. (I also really like: https://ozlosleep.com https://ozlosleep.com This is the successor to Bose's sleep buds, the literal tech bought back by engineers to make a go of, and works better.)

alpaca121 1y ago
Yes! public noises are next on the roadmap. Also had no idea something like Ozlosleep existed. Very interesting product.

macartain 1y ago

Meh.. Needs ios18.. But thank you - I salute the effort!