Sound Sleeper
Sound Sleeper listens for crying and automatically starts playing soothing sounds - no parent intervention needed. Age-specific sound libraries: womb and hairdryer for newborns, fan and rain for infants, ocean for toddlers. The cry detection is the killer feature. Pricing is messy (multiple tiers from $7 one-time to $40/yr), but the lifetime unlock at ~$20 is the move.
The pitch is simple: leave your phone in the nursery, and when baby cries, the app hears it and starts playing sounds automatically. By the time you're half-awake wondering "was that a cry?", the app has already kicked in with rain sounds and your baby is drifting back off.
The sound library is organized by age, which is smarter than it sounds. Newborns respond to womb-like sounds (heartbeat, hairdryer, shushing). Older infants prefer steady ambient noise (fan, rain). Toddlers do better with gentle environmental sounds (ocean, market). Sound Sleeper sorts this for you.
Also includes lullabies, classical music, and guitar melodies. Not a massive library like BetterSleep (200+ sounds), but curated specifically for babies.
Pricing is confusing - there's a free version, a one-time full unlock (~$7), monthly subscriptions (~$7/mo), yearly (~$40/yr), and a lifetime option (~$20). The lifetime unlock is the obvious choice if you plan to use it beyond a month.
Compared to White Noise Baby ($0.99, no subscription), Sound Sleeper costs more but the auto-cry-detection is more polished. Both have cry detection, but Sound Sleeper's age-specific libraries and auto-play feel more refined. Compared to myNoise or BetterSleep, those are broader sleep apps for adults that happen to work for babies too. Sound Sleeper is baby-first.
Won Parents' Choice award for colic relief. Works great. Costs too much for what it is, unless you grab that lifetime deal.
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