Living with short-term or chronic insomnia can be challenging. It can affect your physical and mental health in ways that extend far beyond waking up feeling groggy. But a resource for getting more restful sleep may be right in the palm of your hand.
We chose this year's best insomnia apps for Android and iPhone devices based on their quality, reliability, and user reviews. See how learning about your own sleep patterns may be the key to deeper, more restful sleep.
iPhone rating: 5 stars
Android rating: 4 stars
Price: Free with optional in-app purchases
Sleep Cycle monitors your sleep patterns and offers detailed statistics and daily sleep graphs so you can get a better understanding of what's going on when you hit the hay – or what may be interfering with a good night's sleep. The app also features an intelligent alarm clock designed to gently wake you up when you're in the lightest sleep phase.
iPhone rating: 5 stars
Android rating: 4 stars
Price: Free with optional in-app purchases
Glenn Harrold is an experienced hypnotherapist with more than 20 years of experience. His hypnosis and meditation app features four free hypnotherapy and meditation recordings and over 80 in-app purchases to address insomnia, stress, anxiety, sleep, and many more. Try the 29-minute hypnotherapy session designed to help you find profound feelings of relaxation and mindfulness to overcome insomnia.
iPhone rating: 5 stars
Android rating: 4 stars
Price: Free with optional in-app purchases
Pzizz promises restful sleep without changing habits, keeping a sleep diary, or limiting your activities. The app's patented system plays sleep-optimized 'dreamscapes' that mix music, voiceovers, and sound effects. Try the nap module to boost alertness and improve your mood, or the 'focuscapes' in the focus module to help you get more work done.
Android rating: 4 stars
Price: Free with optional in-app purchases
Six nature-based relaxing tracks on this Android-only app will help you start your personal audio therapy. Choose from high-quality water sounds, nature sounds, animal sounds, white noise, and more, all designed to help you relax and sleep.
Android rating: 4 stars
Price: Free with optional in-app purchases
This Android app is designed to track your sleep cycle and measure its quality in terms of duration, deficit, deep sleep percentage, snoring, efficiency, and irregularity. These insights into your sleep patterns can help you make adjustments for a better night's sleep. The app is compatible with multiple wearable devices, including Pebble, Wear OS, Galaxy Gear, Garmin, and Mi Band.
Android rating: 5 stars
Price: Free with optional in-app purchases
Sleepo features a great collection of high-definition sounds that can be mixed into relaxing ambiances with a timer designed to automatically stop the app. Choose from 32 sounds in four groups — rain, nature, city, and meditation — plus three kinds of white noise, and start relaxing into sleep today.
iPhone rating: 5 stars
Android rating: 5 stars
Price: Free with optional in-app purchases
Choose sounds and melodies to customize and mix on Sleep Melodies to lull yourself to sleep, or try Sleep Moves. These sleep-inducing programs feature guided exercises with a pillow to help you enjoy restful sleep, and they've been approved by health and sleep professionals. The app's five-day programs and single sessions can help you achieve deep sleep, better sleep, stress and anxiety relief, more effective napping, and more.
iPhone rating: 5 stars
Android rating: 4 stars
Price: $1.99 for iPhone, free with optional in-app purchases for Android
Learn to fall asleep quicker and wake up feeling refreshed by understanding your sleep cycles and sleep quality. The app includes soundscapes and white noise, 20 built-in alarms, sleep-cycle analysis, detailed monthly and weekly grabs, and an advanced wake-up optimization algorithm. Plus, the app's full history and graphs make sleep comparisons easy.
iPhone rating: 4 stars
Price: Free with optional in-app purchases
Pillow is a smart-sleep assistant for iPhone users. The app analyzes your sleep cycles automatically through your Apple Watch, or you can just keep your phone nearby when you sleep. Features include a smart alarm clock to wake you during the lightest sleep stage, sleep trend tracking, sleep aid sounds, and personalized insights and tips for better quality rest.
iPhone rating: 4 stars
Android rating: 4 stars
Price: $4.99 for iPhone, free with optional in-app purchases for Android
Wake up rested with the Good Morning Alarm Clock, which tracks your sleep quality and wakes you during the optimal sleep phase so you feel rested and energized. Browse the nightly records of your sleep in the app's statistics and graphs, and create your own playlists or choose from a selection of relaxing sounds to help you fall asleep.
Android rating: 5 stars
Price: Free with optional in-app purchases
Sleep Sounds does exactly what it says. The app features high-quality, soothing sounds for better, uninterrupted sleep. Pick from 12 customizable nature sounds, and choose your timer duration so the app turns off automatically after you've drifted off.
iPhone rating: 4 stars
Android rating: 4 stars
Price: Free with optional in-app purchases
Take advantage of advanced hypnosis techniques, calming sound effects, music, and beautiful visuals, all designed to create a meaningful and restful experience. The app's deep sleep and relaxation sessions will help you get the rest you need.
iPhone rating: 5 stars
Price: Free with optional in-app purchases
This collection of sleep-inducing stories and meditations is designed to help you beat insomnia so you can fall asleep quickly. The app's slumber episodes put you into a state of deep calm, making it easy to drift off. You can also adjust the nature sounds and background effects to create the perfect ambiance for restful sleep all night long.
If you want to nominate an app for this list, email us at nominations@healthline.com.
Jessica Timmons has been a writer and editor for more than 10 years. She writes, edits, and consults for a great group of steady and growing clients as a work-at-home mom of four, squeezing in a side gig as a fitness co-director for a martial arts academy.