Show HN: I built a simple ambient sound app with no ads or subscriptions
89 comments
·October 12, 2025monitron
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
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.
QuadDamaged
Try MyNoise. I used to build their app, if you can spot a single loop you have superhuman hearing.
AndyNemmity
You used to build it? It's wonderful, thank you for your work.
bko
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.
brunosutic
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.
tmountain
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.
jedimastert
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.
zschuessler
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.
AnonC
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
Thanks for sharing the feedback. Making the timer granular is very easy. And I'll find more fire sounds as well :)
FiddlerClamp
I'm a longtime fan of Web-based myNoise: https://mynoise.net/
wiether
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.
uyzstvqs
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
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_
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.
alpaca121
some of the best sounds out there
thehamkercat
Let's not forget https://neal.fun/ambient-chaos/
sbarre
Couple Arguing + Nuclear Siren
airstrike
Volcano + Rain + Coffee Shop is my jam.
alpaca121
cuuute!
finger
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.
brunosutic
Yes, and the same feature is available on Mac too. I occasionally use it with headphones for work, when I want to stay focused.
bschwindHN
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
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.
orsenthil
Thanks for making this avialable.
I am Linux (ZorinOS, FTW) and I use SoundScape https://github.com/ddanilov/soundscape
There is https://freesound.org/ which can provide a multitude of free sounds too.
oigursh
https://rain.today/ is nice. Dynamic rather than a recording
vintagedave
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.
mft_
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.)
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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
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.
rbalicki
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
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
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/id6...