Comparison

Sleep Bug vs Starkey Relax

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

Head to head
About

Sleep Bug

This ambient sound mixer creates a variety of calming soundscapes and music with random sound effects. It helps to calm a busy mind, improve concentration, and mask distracting noises, making it ideal for sleep, work, or study.

Highlights
  • 24 high-quality scenes with multiple sound effects
  • Background playback
  • Sleep timer
  • Individual volume adjustment
  • No ads
  • Clock and date display
Features
Read full description

One of the best rated white noise machines on the market. Superior in sound contents: 24 scenes, 83 different sound effects and more than 300 different sounds ensure that everyone will find an ambience matching their needs. Sleep Bug is an ambient sound mixer that produces a variety of scenes and music with random sound effects. The built-in sound generator creates a realistic listening experience to help calm a busy mind and is perfect for adults, children, and babies who are having trouble sleeping. You can also use sleep bug in the office to mask out distracting noises, improve concentration, and increase privacy. So don’t delay, try Sleep Bug today. Improve your mind and improve your life, through sound! More than 3.500.000 users worldwide! With a rating average of 4.75/5.00 Sleep Bug is one of the best rated white noise machines in the App Store. Try it out today! -------------------------- -- FEATURES -- - 24 High quality scenes each with multiple sound effects. - Play scenes in the background while using other apps. - High quality retina graphics. - Clock and date display. - Sleep timer. - Individual volume adjustment for each sound effect. - Accessibility support. - No ads! - GREAT USER SUPPORT! -------------------------- -- 24 SCENES -- Available for both iPhone, iPod and iPad. Sleep Bug includes the following scenes: Beach – With birds, ship horn, chimes and waves Music Box – With bells, birds, guitar and piano Zen – With hok, bamboo, drum, strings and chants (zen scape without voices) Zen Garden – With hok, bamboo, drum and strings River – With birds, insects, frogs, lightning and wind Forest – With birds, wolves, eagles, bird wings and music beats Jungle – With tigers, parrots, drums, monkeys and frogs Classical – With violins, cello, drums and solo violin Fire – With birds, burning wood, crickets, lightning, wind and owls Waterfall – With streams, trees and birds Weather – With lightning, rain and wind Lullaby - With birds, chimes, wind and waves Want to expand your Sleep Bug experience even further? You can also purchase the full version with 12 extra scenes: Horror – With ghosts, screams, chains, doors and owls City – With bicycles, birds, motorbikes and cars Clock - With chimes, mechanical and pound Dreams – With bass, bells, pad loop, pads and organ Train – With carriages, horns and passing trains Sci-fi – With static noises, voices, flares, U.F.O’s and space wind Airport – With planes taking off, music and announcements Outback – With snakes, didgeridoo and chimes Winter – With ice cracking, walking in the snow, bells, music and pads White Noise – With pads, 528Hz noise, wind and waves Underwater – With sonar, whales and bubbles Dark Drone – With storms, aggressive additions & mellow additions -------------------------- -- CUSTOMER REVIEWS -- This app is amazing. My son falls asleep to the music box scene every night! The best ambiance app I've downloaded yet! Use it every single night. Love it! - I use this every night & it has been wonderful! This is great! -------------------------- To learn more, check out our webpage at: http://www.sleepbug.com

About

Starkey Relax

This app offers personalized sound therapy to help manage tinnitus. Customize 12 relief sounds with adjustable volume and frequency, paired with soothing images, for a tailored experience. Stream sounds directly to compatible hearing aids.

Highlights
  • Customizable relief sounds
  • Adjustable volume and frequency
  • Soothing image pairing
  • Sound therapy protocol integration
  • Direct streaming to hearing aids
  • Informational resource
Features
Read full description

Ringing, buzzing, roaring, clicking, and hissing are words which can be used to describe tinnitus, the perception of sound in your ear(s) or head when no external sound is present. While there is no cure for tinnitus, treatment options such as sound therapy and counseling can provide relief. The Starkey Relax app is an informational resource and self-management tool, which is intended for incorporation into a hearing professional’s sound therapy protocol for patients diagnosed with tinnitus. Sound therapy uses sound to decrease the loudness or prominence of tinnitus. Starkey Relax allows you to customize 12 relief sounds by modifying the volume, frequency response, and rate of fluctuation, providing you with highly-personalized relief sounds for your unique tinnitus. With Starkey Relax, you can create new, customized relief sounds coupled with soothing images to best suit the changing behavior of your subjective tinnitus. You can play Starkey Relax relief sounds through your Apple device or any connected speaker/headphone. You can also stream the relief sounds from your Apple device to Made for iPhone hearing aids or 900sync hearing aids (via the SurfLink Mobile device) from Starkey, Audibel, NuEar, MicroTech, and AGX Hearing. Starkey Hearing Technologies is a proud corporate member of the American Tinnitus Association, a global leader in the effort to cure tinnitus. ATA brings together patients, healthcare providers, researchers, and industry partners to improve tinnitus information and support, and fund vital tinnitus research.

Screenshots

Sleep Bug4 screens
Starkey Relax4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Sleep Bug at 4.7 against Starkey Relax's 4.0. Sleep Bug also leads on update cadence (every 2 months vs every 7 months) and ratings volume (405 vs 28). Starkey Relax's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and iOS requirement (9.0 vs 16.0). 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. Sleep Bug sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Starkey Relax asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Sleep Bug holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Sleep Bug has 405 ratings behind it against 28, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 95% of Sleep Bug's written reviews are positive against 83% of Starkey Relax's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Sleep Bug ships an update every 2 months, Starkey Relax every 7 months. The most recent releases landed on October 1, 2026 and October 2, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Sleep Bug versus Starkey Relax: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSleep BugStarkey Relax
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (405 ratings) — better4.0 (28 ratings)
Positive reviews95.0% of reviews — better82.6% of reviews
Number of ratings405 — better28
Update frequencyEvery 2 months — betterEvery 7 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS16.09.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size230 MB83 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperArnt-Henning MobergStarkey Laboratories

Customer experience

Sleep Bug

All ratings405 ratings
Positive93.1%
Neutral3.5%
Negative3.5%
Written reviews242 reviews
Positive95.0%
Neutral2.5%
Negative2.5%

Starkey Relax

All ratings28 ratings
Positive75.0%
Neutral7.1%
Negative17.9%
Written reviews23 reviews
Positive82.6%
Neutral8.7%
Negative8.7%

Bugs and requests

Sleep Bug

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Timer option causes app to close completely
  • Compatibility issues with newer iOS versions

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add more nature sounds (e.g. crickets, wind chimes, starry night)
  • Allow users to create and save custom sound mixes
  • Implement a fade-out option for the timer
  • Sync paid version across devices

Starkey Relax

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Sleep Bug

One-time1
  • full version$1.99
None

Starkey Relax

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Sleep Bug free?
Sleep Bug is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Starkey Relax free?
Starkey Relax is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Sleep Bug or Starkey Relax?
Sleep Bug is rated higher. Sleep Bug averages 4.7 out of 5 from 405 ratings, while Starkey Relax averages 4.0 from 28 ratings.
Do Sleep Bug or Starkey Relax have ads?
Neither Sleep Bug nor Starkey Relax shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Sleep Bug or Starkey Relax?
Sleep Bug ships an update every 2 months, and Starkey Relax every 7 months. Most recently, Sleep Bug was updated on October 1, 2026 and Starkey Relax on October 2, 2026.

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