Jun 10, 2023 8:00 AM

The Best Sleep Gadgets and Apps

Do you struggle to nod off or stay asleep through the night? These WIRED-tested tools can help.

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Calm app displayed on iPhone and Macbook screens

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Insomnia is a waking nightmare that can rob you of your health and sense of well-being. Everyone knows we need to prioritize sleep to stay healthy and clear toxins from the brain, but getting to sleep when you’re anxious can prove impossible, and obsessing over it is counterproductive. Sadly, there is no quick fix or cure for insomnia, but the best sleep gadgets and apps can help some.

The pursuit of the sleep-deprived dollar has spawned countless devices that promise improved shut-eye. Some make dubious claims or overstate their soporific powers, and we are all different, so what works for one person may not work for the next. As a long-term insomniac, with kids who have inherited my difficulty dropping off, my household has tested a lot of sleep gadgets over the years. These are the ones that have worked for us.

You can also potentially spend more time in the land of nod by silencing your gadgets at bedtime, tuning in to sleep sounds, and investing in one of the best mattresses around.

Updated June 2023: We added the Hatch Restore 2, Philips Hue Go Portable Table Lamp, Encalife Atmosphere Smart Galaxy Star Projector, and MindLax Sleeping Mat, removed the discontinued Bose Sleepbuds II and Moona, and refreshed links and prices.

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Photograph: Hatch
Rise and Shine
Hatch Restore 2
Waking up to a jarring alarm propels you out of bed with a cortisol jolt, but it is a stressful way to start the day. The best sunrise alarm clocks wake you more gently, emulating the sun by emitting light that gradually brightens your room. The Hatch Restore 2 also offers a wind-down routine with a sunset, soothing music, and sleep sounds. Sticking to a routine has proved the most effective way to combat my insomnia. Our customized schedule gives us half an hour of reading light, a 20-minute sunset with soothing music, and rain sounds through the night. We also set a sunrise alarm with tweeting birds. It helps us get to sleep and is a pleasant way to wake up.
This second version replaces the original in our guide, featuring a more stylish fabric finish with improved controls that include large physical buttons on top. The depth of customization options is excellent, and there’s a wide choice of sounds, sleep stories, and meditations. However, only the basic library of white noise and soothing sounds is free; the rest of the content comes via a subscription costing $5 per month or $50 per year after a one-month trial. If you can stomach the cost, the Hatch Restore 2 bundles several handy features into a single bedside device.
★ Alternative: The second-generation Google Nest Hub (7/10, WIRED Recommends) can perform many of the same tricks as the Hatch, with the option to play sleep sounds, music, or podcasts, a sunrise alarm, and built-in sleep tracking. But it also serves as a great digital photo frame, smart-home control panel, and display for video.
$200 at Hatch
Photograph: Philips
Bedside Light
Philips Hue Go Portable Table Lamp
Whether you like to wind down by reading in bed or you have to get up during the night, a good bedside lamp is essential. The svelte Philips Hue Go Portable Table Lamp has several clever features that make it ideal for the nightstand. It comes with a circular wireless charging stand and can be detached and carried around. It offers up to 48 hours of light, and a full charge takes around four hours. You can set the brightness, color, and warmth or choose a scene in the Hue app (it can emulate flickering candlelight, for example). You can also schedule it to fade on or off. It’s great for bedtime reading or winding down, as you can set a warm, low-level light. A subtle, portable light is also ideal if you need to get up and don’t want to wake your partner.
Compact and robust, the Philips Hue Go Portable Table Lamp has an IP54 rating, so you can even take it outside. Press the physical button on top to cycle through colors and dynamic scenes or long-press to turn it off. With a classic lamp silhouette and a diffuser on the bottom, it blends in anywhere and never dazzles you. The only drawback, aside from the high price, is the lack of a battery level indicator. You can find alternatives in our Best Night-Lights guide.
$160 at Amazon
Photograph: Calm
Sleep Stories
Calm
Perhaps best known as an anti-anxiety app, Calm offers meditations for different situations. But it also boasts a wealth of sleep stories, music, and soundscapes to help you sleep. Dull, meandering tales that don’t go anywhere can be an effective way to cut off your thoughts and help you let go of worries at night. We love the train journeys narrated by Erik Braa and the rain sounds, but there’s a constantly growing library from which to choose. Stories and meditations can also be played on your phone or streamed to headphones and speakers.
While there is some free content in Calm, the good stuff requires a subscription. You can get a seven-day free trial of the Premium service, which jumps to $15 per month or $70 for the year. We recommend keeping an eye out for discount offers (they come along frequently).
$70 at Calm
Photograph: Sleepme
Stay Cool
Sleepme Dock Pro
Temperature impacts our ability to fall asleep and stay asleep, as well as overall sleep quality. When it’s too warm or too cold, we struggle to sleep, and a rising temperature can wake us. Your room should be somewhere between 60 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit (15 to 21 Celsius). But your body temperature will fluctuate depending on your health, bedclothes, linen, and even what you last ate. (Late-night nachos always seem like a good idea, but …) The Dock Pro from Sleepme combines a Chilisleep pad for your bed with a water-pumping unit that can maintain a fixed temperature (55 to 115 degrees Fahrenheit). You can customize the temperature and schedule changes through the night to encourage deep sleep and REM phases.
The Dock Pro is very effective at heating or cooling your bed to the temperature you want, and it’s lovely climbing into a warm or cool bed, depending on the time of year, but you pay a lot for the privilege. Unfortunately, the pad isn’t very comfortable, and the pumping unit makes a continuous sound. (I measured 46 decibels on my Apple Watch.) It was mostly masked by the rain sounds we listen to at night, but it could disturb some people. I'm a hot sleeper, and the Dock Pro helps me banish night sweats. It really came into its own during a heat wave last summer, enabling us to keep cool without AC. Sleepme also offers subscription sleep tracking called Sleepme+ for insights and automatic temperature adjustments, but it's expensive ($20 per month), and we haven't tested it.
$1,149 at Sleepme

Photograph: Kudd.ly
Snug as a Bug
Kudd.ly Therapeutic Weighted Blanket Set
A good weighted blanket feels like a warm hug, and it can help you feel safe and relaxed, making it easier to fall asleep. The Kudd.ly (previously Koala) weighted blanket I’ve been testing has a warm fluffy side and a cool silky side. The cover zips off and is machine washable. There’s enough weight to soothe and comfort, and it stays evenly distributed. The whole family has been fighting over it since we got it. This one is only available in the UK, but you can find loads of great alternatives in our Best Weighted Blankets guide.
On the downside, it might be too warm for hot sleepers. Our cats love it, too, but sadly that means the silky side has picked up a couple of holes from the cats kneading with their claws and refusing to budge.
★ Another alternative: The Tranquility Cooling Weighted Blanket ($40) is a similar option for folks in the US that also features a soft side and a slinky cool side.
Photograph: Amazon
Breathe Easy
Moonbird
It is well-established that breathing exercises can reduce stress, help us fall asleep, and combat insomnia. Many devices and apps extol the virtues of breathwork and guide you through various breathing exercises. Having tried a few, I am hesitant to recommend them, because you can learn breathing techniques and get all the benefits without an expensive device or app. (In fact, sometimes they get in the way of relaxation.) That said, if you find it difficult to control your breathing without guidance, Moonbird could be for you.
You hold the Moonbird in your hand with your thumb on the sensor, and it tracks your heart rate and your heart rate variability, with data recorded in graphs in the mobile app. The Moonbird supports various breathing exercises and gently expands and contracts, prompting you to match your breaths. It’s intuitive, featuring exercises to balance your breathing, curb anxiety, and get to sleep. There’s also a box-breathing exercise, and you can set your own breathing rhythms. What I like most is that you can choose your default breathing exercise and simply grab the Moonbird to trigger it (no need to open the app). It has proven effective, helping me drift off, and worked well for my 10-year-old daughter.
$199 at Amazon
Photograph: Amazon
Smart Speakers
Amazon Echo (4th Gen)
The fourth-generation Amazon Echo (8/10, WIRED Recommends) is an excellent smart speaker that works well as an alarm clock and can serve up sleep stories, soothing music, or soundscapes to send you off. If you subscribe to Audible, there are bedtime stories. (I recommend the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius.) Some people may prefer the Echo Dot with Clock as a bedside device, but the sound quality isn’t as good, and having a clock display is not recommended for insomniacs, as it tends to make you anxious about how few hours you have left to fall asleep.
Folks with privacy concerns likely won’t be happy with an internet-connected microphone in their bedroom. We have also occasionally had Alexa fail to understand what we asked for and play something completely different, which is not conducive to a restful atmosphere. One time Alexa creeped us out by piping up in the middle of the night, perhaps in response to some sleep talking. If you’re not an Alexa fan, any of the best smart speakers will tick the same boxes.
$100 at Amazon
$100 at Target

Photograph: Zenimal
Sleep Sound for Kids
Zenimal Kids+
While lots of devices and apps offer relaxing meditations and sleep sounds, you may not want an internet-connected device or phone in your child’s bedroom at night. The Zenimal Kids+ is a solid screen-free alternative. It’s a small speaker with a silicone cover that looks like a turtle. It has nine different guided audio meditations that calm my eldest before bed. Plug it in, and there are three sleep soundtracks to play as they drift off.
We like that it’s portable, but you have to remember to charge it up frequently. (Battery life is around seven hours.) The meditations are on a removable SD memory card, and you can buy different collections on cards at $20 a pop. It comes with a MicroUSB charging cable when USB-C would be better, as it’s always right side up, so much easier for kids to plug in. There’s also no wall charger, but most phone chargers will work.
★ Another alternative: The Yoto Player ($110) (7/10, WIRED Recommends) plays audiobooks triggered by slotting physical cards into the top, but it also has a sleep mode that plays an ever-changing mix of lullabies, classical music, and sleep sounds to lull them off. You can find more options in our Best Kids' Speakers guide.
$70 at Amazon
$70 at Zenimal
Photograph: LectroFan
White Noise
LectroFan Classic
Topping our list of the best sound machines, the Lectrofan Classic is popular here at WIRED. It’s compact but offers a sophisticated choice of fan sounds or a spectrum of pink, brown, or white noise. The buttons make it easy to operate in the dark, and you can crank the volume up to 85 decibels. It also has a 60-minute timer.
On the downside, it is not the most stylish device, and the feature set is quite limited. If you plan to use this for a child, keep the volume low, at around 50 decibels, and make sure it is not within reach.
$50 at Amazon
$50 at Target
Photograph: Kokoon
Versatile Earbuds
Kokoon Nightbuds
It’s a smart idea to have earbuds double as a sleep tracker. The Kokoon Nightbuds are tiny earbuds that plug into a curved control unit designed to sit on the back of your head. They stay in place surprisingly well, and everything is covered in pliable silicone. The companion app plays meditations, soothing sounds, and sleep stories. The quality is average, and there isn’t much content, but you can choose your own audio and stream via Bluetooth. What I love about the Nightbuds is that you can select a soundscape like rain and layer a meditation, sleep story, or something else on top. There’s also a setting that fades out the audio when the Nightbuds detect that you’ve dropped off, and you can choose to fade to nothing or to sound-masking white, pink, or brown noise.
Unfortunately, I found it was tricky to get comfortable with the Nightbuds on, and sometimes I woke to find that I had removed them in the night. It’s a choice of feeling the control unit if you sleep on your back or the earbuds if you sleep on your side. I also found that sleep tracking failed to work quite often, and when it did, the information it presented was very limited. The Nightbuds are pricey, and while you could use them in the daytime to get more from them, you can buy wireless earbuds with better audio quality for less.
$250 at Kokoon
$290 at Amazon

Photograph: Encalife
Star Gazing
Encalife Atmosphere Smart Galaxy Star Projector
Establishing an optimal bedtime routine means ritualizing your wind-down activities and finding things that relax you and that you can repeat night after night. Through repetition you can condition your body and brain, so starting your routine signals time to snooze. While screens can be too stimulating, a projector that casts an animated nebula and stars onto your ceiling can be very calming. This one from Encalife is easy to set up and angle to suit your room (it works best in large rooms). You can change the colors, turn the laser stars on or off, and set a timer or schedule, and it works with Alexa and Google Assistant. Since it doesn’t make any sound, you can use it while you read or listen to a podcast or simply lie back and gaze.
The options to customize the Encalife Atmosphere Smart Galaxy Star Projector are limited, and I’m not keen on the green grid of stars (you can’t change the color of these, though you can turn them off). It’s also a shame that the projections are not scientifically accurate. But if you want proper constellations, you must pay more to snag a planetarium like the Sega Toys Homestar Flux ($259).
$100 at Amazon
Sleepio via Simon Hill
Online Therapy
Sleepio
While sleep gadgets can be helpful, when my insomnia got really bad, it was a six-week course of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) that enabled me to sleep through the night again. With Sleepio, you keep a sleep diary and set goals in weekly 20-minute sessions. It requires some considerable commitment to changing your behavior and building a healthy bedtime routine, but it worked for me. You can read about my Sleepio experience to learn more.
Unfortunately, Sleepio is very expensive, though you can access it through some employers and insurers in the US. (It is free through the National Health Service in parts of the UK.) You may be able to track down other CBT courses and resources for insomnia that are free or at least more affordable. Just be aware that all will require you to change your routine.
Buy at Sleepio
Photograph: Amazon
Tracking Your Sleep
Withings Sleep Tracking Mat
This clever, sensor-packed mat slips under your mattress where your chest usually lies and tracks your movements, breathing, and heart rate throughout the night. What I love most is that it doesn’t require you to wear anything or switch it on. There’s a one-time calibration process when you first set it up, after which it just works. It can detect sound, determine between snoring and other noises, and alert you to breathing disturbances that may indicate sleep apnea. The results sync to the Health Mate app on your phone, providing you with a chart divided into awake, REM, light, and deep sleep sections and a sleep score out of 100 based on duration, depth, regularity, interruptions, time to fall asleep, and time to get up. Data records permanently, so you can see long-term trends.
Several doctors and sleep specialists I’ve spoken to over the years have cautioned me about tracking sleep. If you are having sleep issues, tracking your sleep can sometimes increase your anxiety about insomnia and do more harm than good, and even the best sleep trackers can be inaccurate. The Withings Sleep Analyzer also needs a power outlet (though that means you never need to worry about charging). The only problem I find is that it will assume you are trying to sleep if you are lying still in bed watching TV or reading, and that can skew your score (though it’s best to only use your bed for sleep if you suffer from insomnia).
$130 at Amazon

Photograph: Apple
Sleep Routine
Apple Watch Series 8
Every sleep specialist I have spoken with has talked about the importance of establishing a proper routine. Many of the best smartwatches offer sleep-related features, and you can always install third-party apps, but I especially like Apple’s approach. Open the Health app on your iPhone and tap Get Started under Set Up Sleep to set a sleep goal, choose a bedtime and wake time, use Wind Down to create a sleep routine, and more. If you have an Apple Watch running watchOS 7 or later, you can track your sleep, though the information it provides is basic. I appreciate the gentle bedtime reminder, and the haptic alarm that gently vibrates to wake you without waking your partner is very handy some mornings.
To get the best from Apple’s sleep routine, you need Apple devices and services, but you can include third-party sleep apps in your wind-down routine. You can do most of this via Digital Wellbeing and the Google Fit app on Android. (Samsung offers its own options.) But whatever devices you have, you can and should create a regular sleep routine.
~~$400~~ $329 at Target
$399 at Best Buy
$399 at Apple
$329 at Amazon
Photograph: Somnox
Honorable Mentions
Other Sleep Gadgets We Tested
Somnox 2 for $599: Offering all the same features as the original in a more compact package with better battery life and an improved speaker, the Somnox 2 (6/10, WIRED Review) can help you drift off. The addition of Bluetooth streaming (iOS only for now) to listen to your own choice of content is also welcome, but this gadget is simply too expensive.
Loop Quiet for $25: These top our Best Earplugs guide for sleep. They can reduce noise by up to 27 decibels, they're made from comfortable soft silicone, and they stay in place through the night.
MindLax Sleeping Mat for $399: This padded mat has built-in speakers and plays weird mixed soundscapes designed to relax you. It connects to an app on your phone using Bluetooth, and you can feel the sound vibrate through your body. While I found it pleasant to use, I’m not convinced it had any real impact on my time to fall asleep, sleep duration, or sleep quality compared to just lying down listening to sounds on a regular speaker. It is far too expensive, the app is basic, and the website makes suspect claims about its abilities and the science behind it.
Sandman Doppler for $225: This chunky bedside alarm clock has Alexa inside, offers some nifty customization options (set the color of the huge time display or attach Alexa routines to buttons), and boasts plentiful charging ports for your gadgets (3 USB-C and 3 USB-A). The speakers sound good for the size; it’s perfect for podcasts or soundscapes to lull you off at night and can be relied upon to wake you in the morning. But it is enormous, far too expensive, and kinda ugly.
Sensate 2 for $299: This odd device is like a large vibrating pebble that you rest on your chest for brief relaxation sessions (between 10 and 30 minutes). The makers claim that the vibrations can help tone your vagus nerve to improve your heart rate variability (HRV). I’m dubious, and it seems very expensive for what it is, but the vibrations, guided controlled breathing, and original soundscapes are very relaxing.
Ice Cube Cooling Pillow for $115: A blocky, firm memory foam pillow with a cooling material. It only works if you sleep on your side, and you can’t comfortably slide your arm under it. Although I did enjoy the cool feel, and it stayed fairly cold through the night, I prefer a softer pillow. I also think it’s pricey for what it is, but my eldest has pinched it and really likes it.
Jabees Serenity Sleep Mask for $40: While the combination of Bluetooth earbuds with a sleep mask is a smart idea, this mask is too bulky for me, and I found the earbuds uncomfortable. Your mileage may vary. The audio quality is just OK, and it’s easy to stream music, podcasts, or relaxing sounds to the tiny earbuds. The thick mask blocks light effectively. It is also comparatively cheap for a sleep gadget.
SleepPhones for $100: If you find earbuds uncomfortable or prefer to sleep on your side, this fleecy fabric headband with tiny speakers inside could be the answer. You connect via Bluetooth to stream your choice of music, podcasts, or soothing sounds. The headband is machine washable, and hardly any sound escapes to bother a snoozing partner. On the downside, the control unit shifts around and is not comfortable for back sleepers, there’s no indication of remaining battery life, and the overall quality is lacking for the price.
Morphee for $100: A lovely clockwork wooden music box design makes this a desirable bedside device, and it offers various sounds and meditations. The child version looks like a super cute wooden radio. Both are pricey, and we don’t like the Micro USB port for charging or the limited 20-minute time on sleep sounds.
Muse S for $280: If you have trouble meditating, the Muse S headband can help guide you, and it measures your heart rate, breathing, brain activity, and movement. But I found it uncomfortable to wear in bed and struggled to pass a full night with it on. It helped relax me but did not help my insomnia.
Embr Wave 2 for $300: This wrist-worn device can help you deal with feelings of cold or warmth. It is recommended for relief from hot flashes but can supposedly help you sleep better as well. It is comfortable but also chunky, so not ideal for wearing to bed. It did not have much impact on my sleep quality.

Simon Hill has been writing about tech for more than a decade. He is a regular contributor to WIRED, but you can also find his work at Business Insider, Reviewed, TechRadar, Android Authority, USA Today, Digital Trends, and many other places. Before writing, he worked in games development. He lives... Read more

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