CBT vs mySleepButton
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
CBT
This app guides users through Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-i) to improve sleep habits and alleviate insomnia symptoms. It teaches strategies for better sleep routines and environments, complementing professional therapy.
- Sleep education
- Positive sleep routines
- Sleep environment improvement
- Structured CBT-i program
- Integration with Apple Health and Fitbit
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CBT-i Coach is for people who are engaged in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia with a health provider, or who have experienced symptoms of insomnia and would like to improve their sleep habits. The app will guide you through the process of learning about sleep, developing positive sleep routines, and improving your sleep environment. It provides a structured program that teaches strategies proven to improve sleep and help alleviate symptoms of insomnia. CBT-i Coach is intended to augment face-to-face care with a healthcare professional. It can be used on its own, but it is not intended to replace therapy for those who need it. CBT-i Coach is based on the therapy manual, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia in Veterans, by Rachel Manber, Ph.D., Leah Friedman, Ph.D., Colleen Carney, Ph.D., Jack Edinger, Ph.D., Dana Epstein, Ph.D., Patricia Haynes, Ph.D., Wilfred Pigeon, Ph.D. and Allison Siebern, Ph.D. CBT-i has been shown to be efficacious for insomnia for both Veterans and civilians. CBT-i Coach was a collaborative effort between VA’s National Center for PTSD, Stanford School of Medicine, and DoD’s National Center for Telehealth and Technology. CBT-i Coach works with the Apple Health app and Fitbit.
mySleepButton
This app uses a "cognitive shuffle" technique to help users fall asleep by distracting their minds with imagery. It offers guided meditations and can be used with audio devices for a screen-free experience.
- Cognitive shuffle technique
- Guided imagery for sleep
- Affective body scan meditation
- Configurable meditation pack
- Audio playback on external devices
- Siri shortcuts
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mySleepButton® is a CogSci Apps® invention. Its purpose is to help you fall asleep with the "cognitive shuffle", as featured in the The New York Times, The Guardian, Forbes Magazine, Canadian Government’s Institute of Health Research, The BC Medical Journal online, Popular Science Magazine, Forbes Magazine ("disrupt all patterns and rest in blissful chaos"), LifeHacker ("surprisingly effective"), etc. It’s so easy: Just lie in bed, touch the “Put Me to Sleep” button, imagine the various descriptions it reads to you, and let yourself fall asleep… pleasantly. That is the Cognitive Shuffle! O, The Oprah magazine, calls mySleepButton “An easy little game to trick yourself to sleep.” The Guardian wrote: "My top recommendation remains the visualisation method known as the “cognitive shuffle”: download the MySleepButton app". Quartz says mySleepButton is “a drug-free sleep trick for your restless mind”. International Business Times of London says “mySleepButton App Hijacks Thoughts to Help Sleep”. Into mindfulness meditation? mySleepButton also contains a configurable "affective body scan" meditation pack. It taps into the brain's body maps. Still awake after the meditation? Instantly proceed to guided shuffled imagery. You can try mySleepButton for FREE! There's no subscription fee. Buy the pack(s) that you like, and shuffle your thoughts to sleep. The goal of mySleepButton is to keep your mind off your concerns while putting it in an imagery rich state conducive to sleep. mySleepButton can also be triggered with Air Pods and played on Apple's Home Pod (or other devices) if you don't want an iPhone or iPad in your bed room. It even has Siri shortcuts. So, why not enjoy a dreamy transition to sleep? “Shuffle Your Thoughts to Sleep” with mySleepButton.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: CBT at none against mySleepButton's 14. CBT also leads on ratings volume (13K vs 212). mySleepButton's advantage is review sentiment (73% vs 47%) and iOS requirement (15.6 vs 17.0). On price, rating, update cadence and ads 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
Both are free to download. mySleepButton sells 13 one-off in-app purchases. CBT asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for CBT against 4.5 for mySleepButton. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: CBT has 13K ratings behind it against 212, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 47% of CBT's written reviews are positive against 73% of mySleepButton's.
CBT ships an update every 7 months, mySleepButton every 5 months. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 23, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | CBT | mySleepButton |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (13K ratings) — better | 4.5 (212 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 46.9% of reviews | 72.9% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 13K — better | 212 |
| Update frequency | Every 7 months | Every 5 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 15.6 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 217 MB | 45 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 4+ |
| Developer | US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) | CogSci Apps Corp. |
Customer experience
CBT
mySleepButton
User reviews
CBT
From 13K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🙏 Thank you
- 👍 Helpful
- 👍 Easy to use
- 👍 Excellent resource
- 👍 Valuable for treating insomnia
Room to improve
- 🐛 Zero direction
- 🐛 Worthless
- 🐛 Compatibility issues
- 🐛 Not a sleep journal
- 🐛 Completely dysfunctional
mySleepButton
From 212 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 No fuss, just works
- 👍 Effective for insomnia
- 👍 Puts me to sleep quickly
- 👍 Helps shut down racing thoughts
- 👍 Better than sleeping pills
Room to improve
- 🐛 Audio quality issues (crackling, clicking)
- 🔧 Requires in-app purchases to unlock full functionality
- 🔧 Repetitive content in free version
Bugs and requests
CBT
Reported bugs
9 issues- Sleep data import broken
- Date malfunction in sleep diary
- Cannot set date past 7/23/2024
- Functionality
- Export doesn't work
Show 4 moreShow fewer
- Cannot access sleep prescription
- Alarms don't work
- Save button does not work anymore
- App stopped working after 1/1/19
Requested features
5 requests- Add cycle tracking
- Separate napping & dozing
- Dark mode option
- Advanced analytics dashboard
- 5 minute increments for time tracking
mySleepButton
Reported bugs
2 issues- App crashes after iOS updates
- Purchased content not restoring properly
Requested features
4 requests- More diverse content and voices
- Randomized word/scene order
- Support for additional languages
- Apple Watch app
In-app purchases
CBT
No in-app purchases
mySleepButton
- Disable iAd$0.99
- Album d'items simples$3.99
- 単語パック$3.99
Show 10 moreShow fewer
- 简单事物专辑$4.99
- Simple-Things Pack$5.99
- Drawing Pack2 variants$5.99
- Scenes Pack$5.99
- Album d'items à dessiner$5.99
- Simple-Things Pack$6.99
- Album d'items simples$6.99
- Scenes Pack$8.99
- Body Scan Pack$8.99
- Kids Pack (4+)$8.99







