Help

No. No audio file ships with the app and none is fetched from the network — every sound is made on your iPhone, the moment you tap it. That is why it starts right away, the very first time as well, and without an internet connection. If you would like to check: switch on Airplane Mode and play a sound you have never heard. Nothing changes.

Choose a duration from the sleep timer in the player. Playback fades out gently when the time is up. “No timer” in the same menu switches a running timer off again. Under Settings › Playback you can also choose a default timer that starts automatically with playback; that one switches off the same way and can start again the next time you begin a new playback session.

Yes. Say “Start Sleep Well”, “Sleep Well for 30 minutes”, “Add 15 minutes to Sleep Well” or “Stop Sleep Well”. Playback begins without the app coming to the front. Siri asks for permission the first time. Every sentence is listed in the app under Settings › Siri & Shortcuts, where you can also build them into shortcuts of your own.

Yes, with Pro. In the sleep timer menu, “Nap” opens four lengths, ten to forty-five minutes. One of them ends playback the way any other duration does, and sets an alarm for the same moment. It rings at the alarm volume, so it is heard through the silent switch, through a Focus, and after the app itself has closed. iOS asks for permission once, the first time; without it no nap starts. After a refusal iOS does not ask again — the notice in the app then leads straight to the switch in Settings. It applies to that one nap and to nothing else. There is no switch that stays on: every ordinary duration, and “No timer”, take the alarm back again. An afternoon nap cannot end up ringing at night. A pause does not extend it either. A call in the middle of a nap costs you nothing — but if playback is only resumed after the moment you asked to be woken at has passed, the nap is over: what is left runs as an ordinary timer and fades out.

Yes. Playback continues when Sleep Well is in the background or your iPhone is locked. You can pause, resume, and change sounds from the Lock Screen, headphones, or Control Center.

iOS pauses playback during an audio interruption. If the system allows playback to continue, Sleep Well resumes automatically afterward. You can also control playback from the Lock Screen or Control Center at any time.

Sleep Well automatically plays the next available sound. Under Settings › Playback you can choose whether sounds play in order or in Shuffle mode.

Open Settings › Playback. There you can choose between “In order” and “Shuffle”. With Pro, you can also limit automatic playback to your favorites. If no playable favorites are available, Sleep Well continues to use all available sounds.

Under Settings › Playback › Crossfade, choose how long one sound blends into the next. Select “Off” if you do not want a gentle transition. The sleep timer’s fade-out is independent of this setting.

Open Settings › Playback and tap the icon at the right of the “Audio output” row. In the system menu, choose an available AirPlay device, Bluetooth headphones, or another speaker.

Switch on “Loud surroundings” under Settings › Playback. Sleep Well then plays a little louder and gives up the restraint that is right for a quiet room — meant for a plane, a train or another loud place. There is not much more to give: anything beyond it would distort the sounds. While the switch is on, a speaker symbol stands at the top of the player; tapping it turns it off again. In a quiet room it is better left off.

Sleep Well pauses intentionally when the previous audio output is no longer available. This prevents playback from unexpectedly switching to the iPhone speaker at night. Resume playback after connecting or selecting a suitable audio output.

A sound is a complete, playable entry in the catalog. A layer is one ingredient in a sound, such as Rain, Wind, Vinyl, or Singing Bowl. Open a sound’s menu and choose “Change layers” to decide which layers you want to hear in that one sound — including ones it did not ship with.

A small person after the title means this is one of your own sounds. The colored bar at the start of the row belongs to the sound and moves while that sound is playing. Favorites carry no mark of their own: they stand at the top in the “Favorites” group.

Open the more menu at the end of a sound’s row and choose “Favorite” — sounds of your own included. Favorites appear as their own group at the top of the sound list and stay saved on your iPhone. With Pro, Settings › Playback can also limit automatic playback to favorites.

Tap “Hidden” at the very bottom of the sound list. Every sound the app is not currently offering is there. The menu at the end of each row leads back — show it again, or delete a sound of your own. A switched-off layer no longer brings a sound here: it simply plays without that layer. Your own sounds cannot be hidden: their menu row says “Delete sound” instead, and a confirmation comes first. If resting sounds of your own are listed too, the list splits into “Hidden by you” and “Resting”.

Open the More menu for a sound and choose “Make another like this”. Sleep Well creates a similar sound on your iPhone. You can keep up to two of your own sounds for free, or up to fifty with Pro.

Yes. Tap “New sound” at the bottom of the sound list. Pick a style there, listen to the music, and tap the die for different music in the same style — as often as you like. As long as you keep nothing, it costs you no space. Layers can be switched while it plays and you hear them straight away. Only “Create” puts the sound in your catalog and counts against your allowance. One style is called Silence. It brings no music at all: what you hear is only the layers you switch on — rain on its own, white or brown noise, and nothing else.

Because hearing both at once helps neither. Sleep Well pauses what is playing as soon as you listen to a draft, and leaves it paused when you leave the screen. Just start it again when you are done.

Your own sounds stand at the top of the sound list and carry a small person beside the title; marked as favorites they stand with the favorites. To delete one, open the row’s More menu and choose “Delete sound” — the confirmation tells you beforehand that this is final, and its place frees up for a new one. If one of your sounds is resting, it is not in the catalog but under “Hidden” at the bottom of the list, where the menu at the end of its row deletes it.

You have probably reached your current limit. You can keep up to two sounds of your own for free, or up to fifty with Pro. The More menu tells you when the allowance is full. Delete one with “Delete sound” in its More menu to make room for another.

Nothing is deleted on its own. When Pro ends — after a refund or an account change, for example — as many of your own sounds keep playing as the free allowance covers. The rest go resting: they stay saved and are listed under “Hidden”, at the bottom of the sound list, where you can delete them one by one. Delete an active sound and the first resting one takes its place, so you decide which sounds you keep. With Pro they all play again straight away.

Open that sound’s menu — at the end of its row in the sound list, or above the title in the player — and choose “Change layers”. Every layer is shown there, with the ones this sound is built from highlighted. Tap the one that bothers you and Sleep Well prepares the sound again without it. The sound stays where it was. The choice belongs to that one sound: another sound with the same layer keeps it.

Almost nothing does. Taking out a layer a sound came with is free, and so are putting it back, “Reset to original” and every level. One direction is paid for: adding a layer to a sound that shipped with the app when it never had that layer. That is part of Pro. On a sound you made yourself, and in “New sound”, even the layers that were not there are free.

On a sound you made yourself, any time — exactly the way you switch one off: open “Change layers” and tap the layer that is missing. On a sound that shipped with the app it is part of Pro; the layers it did not come with stand there under “More layers” with the Pro mark and lead to the purchase page. What it did come with stands above them and can always be left out and brought back. Once added it stays the same sound: same name, same place, same favorite mark, and it takes no place in your allowance for sounds of your own. On a sound that shipped with the app, “Reset to original” puts it back the way it was published at any time.

Yes. In “Change layers” and while creating a sound, every layer tile doubles as a volume control: swipe across the tile to set how loud that layer plays. The tile's fill shows the level — empty is off, half filled is half as loud, fully filled is full level, and the small percentage says it exactly. Swiping all the way to the left is the same as switching the layer off; a tap brings it back at the loudness it was left at.

Sleep Well prepares the sound again — it takes a few seconds — and then picks the new version up exactly where you are: the layer goes away, the music carries on. The only thing ever swapped is what you just changed yourself; Sleep Well never does it on its own during the night. A changed length waits for the next start instead: it lays the same piece out over a different time, so there is no place to carry on from.

A changed length does not take effect immediately, because it applies to every sound. Open Settings › Sound length and tap “Apply”. Sleep Well then prepares the sounds again at the new length.

Without Pro, sounds use the standard length of five minutes. With Pro, you can choose a length between 4 and 20 minutes under Settings › Sound length. Tap “Apply” afterward. Longer sounds use more storage.

Exporting belongs to Sleep Well Pro. Open a sound’s More menu and choose “Export”. What you get is exactly the audio file Sleep Well plays at your length and with your layer changes: if it is not prepared yet, Sleep Well makes it first — which takes a few seconds — and then opens the iOS share sheet. From there you can save the audio file to Files or share it via AirDrop, for example.

Every sound you hear is kept as an audio file as it plays. That is the storage you see — and the reason your iPhone never has to work the same sound out twice. Under Settings › Storage you can have the files for the whole library made in advance, or leave that to the app, which mostly does it while the iPhone charges. It rests in Low Power Mode, when the battery is nearly empty, and when the iPhone has become too warm.

Open Settings › Storage and choose “Free up space”. Only audio files are removed: favorites, hidden sounds, sounds of your own, playback settings, and layer adjustments all stay in place. Your sounds go on playing exactly as before — they are worked out again as you listen.

Because every sound you hear is kept as a file again. If you want the space to stay free, switch “Prepare library automatically” off under Settings › Storage: then only what you have actually listened to comes back.

Pro is a one-time purchase, not a subscription. It lets you keep up to fifty sounds of your own, choose a length from 4 to 20 minutes, play only your favorites, export sounds as audio files, be woken after a nap, add layers to an included sound that it didn’t come with, and sync your sounds and settings through iCloud. Without Pro, you can keep two sounds of your own; all included sounds, basic playback, and leaving out single layers remain free. Switching iCloud syncing off — taking this device’s data out of iCloud again — is always possible, even without Pro.

Open Settings › Sleep Well Pro and choose “Restore purchase”. Use the same Apple Account that made the purchase. You won’t be charged again.

Yes. Playback, settings, and sounds of your own work without internet — including making a sound of your own, because it is created on your iPhone rather than downloaded. Only buying or restoring Pro uses the App Store. With “Sync with iCloud” switched on, the app catches up with iCloud whenever there is a connection again; nothing ever waits for it.

Sleep Well needs no account and uses no advertising, tracking, or analytics. The app sends no usage data. Settings, favorites, hidden sounds, and sounds of your own are managed locally. Only if you switch on “Sync with iCloud” under Settings › iCloud are your own sounds, favorites, hidden sounds, layer choices, and playback settings also copied into your iCloud — there and nowhere else. The switch is off to begin with.

Sounds of your own live on your iPhone and are part of the device's iCloud backup. Set up a new iPhone from that backup, or with Quick Start, and they are there again. Delete the app and install it again and they are gone. A device backup is only restored while a new iPhone is being set up, never for a single app. “Sync with iCloud” under Settings › iCloud, part of Sleep Well Pro, is what covers that. With it on, your own sounds — along with favorites, hidden sounds, layer choices, and playback settings — are in your iCloud and come back after a reinstall as well, and other devices on the same account keep the same state. What is there stays there until you switch it off on every device — a device that keeps it on puts its own copy back at the next sync; deleting the app does not clear it. Switching it off works with or without Pro. Syncing is still no backup. If the iCloud page says “Not in iCloud yet”, your sounds are only on this device, so back up your iPhone before you reset it. Sounds that came with the app are unaffected: it brings those along.