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...
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.
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.
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.
It's quite hidden in there but I think you can create shortcuts / quick access to it.
Damn I need to drop another tenner.
My only wish is for a smooth fade-out when leaving a sound generator page, or a way to cross-fade between them.
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.
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.)
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.
- 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)
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.
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.
OP, consider syncing with them? You have a slick interface; they have a wonderful audio library.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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!
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!
For years now it's the first app I install on every phone I buy.
It's ad-supported though.
$ aplay -f cd /dev/urandom
If we're being fancy (SoX):
$ play -n synth 0 [white|brown|pink]noiseAnd you want them to make an app for you on your platform of choice? Please just think about this.
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.
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.
"It’s something I built for myself first, but I figured others might find it useful too."
Let someone make things for the sake of it, and share that thing because they want to. Because it brings them joy. Without asking for more because you would make different choices. I urge you to self-reflect on what led you to the comments you are making.
This is a forum, where people discuss things and make suggestions.
If some suggestions rub you the wrong way, then maybe take some distance and don't try to take it as a personal attack. Because that is totally not the intention here.
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.
does we really need to register LLC to upload into appstore???? that's seem excessive no? especially if your app isnt generating profit
...now my buttfucking IPhone has no aux out and the app I use charges 6.99 to access the mixer. Go figure.