Comparison

A Soft Murmur vs Pixel Thoughts Official

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

A Soft Murmur

Craft your ideal soundscape for sleep, relaxation, study, or work. Mix ambient sounds, play them offline, and save your favorite combinations. Enjoy seamless, uninterrupted audio that helps you focus or drift off peacefully.

Highlights
  • Customizable sound mixes
  • Offline playback
  • Background audio support
  • Adjustable timer and fade-out
  • Save and share favorite mixes
  • Seamless, uninterrupted audio
Features
Read full description

Create your perfect mix of relaxing sounds to help you sleep, relax, study or work! Play sounds in the background while you listen to podcasts or music. Play calm nature sounds to help you drift off to sleep. You can easily set a timer to stop playing after a certain length of time, or set sounds to gradually fade out. Download once, listen whenever and wherever you like. All sounds are stored locally on your device, and once installed you can listen without using any data and without an internet connection. A Soft Murmur plays seamless, uninterrupted audio so it never interrupts your focus. Listen to four free sounds - gentle rain, rolling thunder, ocean waves and gusting wind. And for a one-off purchase, enjoy six additional sounds - crackling fire, morning bird song, chirping crickets, bustling coffee shop, meditation singing bowl and zen white noise. When Meander is active, the volume of each active sound increases and decreases at random, creating rolling waves of sound that are never the same twice. Save your favorite mixes and give them names. Switch easily between mixes or share them with your friends. The modern world is full of distractions, so we've made this app incredibly simple and easy to use. With a few taps you can enjoy seamless, relaxing nature sounds with A Soft Murmur.

About

Pixel Thoughts Official

This app offers a 60-second guided meditation to help you manage stress. Simply type your worries, watch them dissipate into space, and experience a sense of relief. It's a clinically studied tool for mental well-being.

Highlights
  • 60-second stress relief sessions
  • Type and visualize stressful thoughts
  • Clinically studied for anxiety reduction
  • Calming messages after each session
  • Free and ad-free experience
  • Simple, intuitive interface
Features
Read full description

Pixel Thoughts is interactive mindfulness: a 60-second meditation for stress and anxiety where you don't just listen, you take part. Type a stressful thought into the star, watch it shrink into the cosmos, and feel lighter in 60 seconds. CLINICALLY STUDIED Pixel Thoughts was the intervention tool in a randomized controlled trial at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, published in Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research (Westenberg et al., 2018). After a single 60-second session, participants reported: - 29% fewer anxiety symptoms - 30% less depression - 44% less anger - 13% less pain Four research publications, three peer-reviewed, including two randomized controlled trials. HOW IT WORKS 1. Type what's weighing you down 2. Watch your thought shrink into the stars 3. Read a calming message 4. Feel lighter, in 60 seconds CONNECTED BREATH New in 2.0: a live meditation you share with the world. Breathe in sync with people everywhere, and join the daily gathering when everyone breathes together at once. A GROWING UNIVERSE Pixel Thoughts is becoming a home for interactive mindfulness: short, carefully made experiences that respond to what you bring. Two today, more on the way. FREE No ads. Just you, a stressful thought, and the night sky. TRUSTED SINCE 2015 Used by millions to clear their minds. No learning curve. Just type and breathe.

Screenshots

A Soft Murmur4 screens
Pixel Thoughts Official4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Pixel Thoughts Official at none against A Soft Murmur's 7. Pixel Thoughts Official also leads on update cadence (weekly vs every 39 months) and rating (4.7 vs 4.4). A Soft Murmur's advantage is ratings volume (252 vs 12) and review sentiment (77% vs 67%). On price, ads and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. A Soft Murmur sells 7 one-off in-app purchases. Pixel Thoughts Official asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Pixel Thoughts Official holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: A Soft Murmur has 252 ratings behind it against 12, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 77% of A Soft Murmur's written reviews are positive against 67% of Pixel Thoughts Official's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

A Soft Murmur ships an update every 39 months, Pixel Thoughts Official weekly. The most recent releases landed on September 21, 2026 and September 19, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
A Soft Murmur versus Pixel Thoughts Official: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterA Soft MurmurPixel Thoughts Official
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.4 (252 ratings)4.7 (12 ratings) — better
Positive reviews76.9% of reviews — better66.7% of reviews
Number of ratings252 — better12
Update frequencyEvery 39 monthsWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS13.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size145 MB17 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSleepy Rabbit LLCMarc B

Customer experience

A Soft Murmur

All ratings252 ratings
Positive86.5%
Neutral2.0%
Negative11.5%
Written reviews182 reviews
Positive76.9%
Neutral4.9%
Negative18.1%

Pixel Thoughts Official

All ratings12 ratings
Positive91.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative8.3%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive66.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative33.3%

Bugs and requests

A Soft Murmur

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Timer stops working after app updates
  • Purchased sounds disappear after restoring from backup
  • Sounds fade in and out randomly

Requested features

5 requests
  • More free sound options
  • Separate volume controls for each sound
  • Dark mode
  • Green noise sound
  • Additional nature sounds like water streams

Pixel Thoughts Official

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

7 purchases

A Soft Murmur

One-time7
  • Unlock water sounds 1$1.99
  • Unlock animal sounds 1$1.99
  • Unlock musical sounds 1$1.99
Show 4 more
  • Unlock rain sounds 1$2.99
  • Unlock synthesized sounds 1$2.99
  • Unlock all default sounds$3.99
  • Unlock mechanical sounds 1$3.99
None

Pixel Thoughts Official

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is A Soft Murmur free?
A Soft Murmur is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Pixel Thoughts Official free?
Pixel Thoughts Official is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, A Soft Murmur or Pixel Thoughts Official?
Pixel Thoughts Official is rated higher. A Soft Murmur averages 4.4 out of 5 from 252 ratings, while Pixel Thoughts Official averages 4.7 from 12 ratings.
Do A Soft Murmur or Pixel Thoughts Official have ads?
Neither A Soft Murmur nor Pixel Thoughts Official shows ads.
Which is updated more often, A Soft Murmur or Pixel Thoughts Official?
A Soft Murmur ships an update every 39 months, and Pixel Thoughts Official weekly. Most recently, A Soft Murmur was updated on September 21, 2026 and Pixel Thoughts Official on September 19, 2026.

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