Comparison

Halo vs Drift

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

Head to head
About

Halo

This app uses a wearable device to deliver gentle electrical currents to the brain, aiming to improve mood, sleep, and focus. It guides users through sessions, tracks progress, and offers educational content for wellness goals.

Highlights
  • Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS)
  • Mood improvement
  • Better sleep support
  • Enhanced focus
  • Usage tracking
  • Educational content
Read full description

Improved mood. Better sleep. Sharper focus. Clinically tested. Halo is a wellness device and companion app that uses transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to support mood, sleep, and focus. It delivers low-level electrical currents to the prefrontal cortex - an area of the brain linked to emotional regulation, sleep quality, and attention control. The Halo app guides you through stimulation sessions, tracks your usage, and offers regular check ins and educational content to help reach your wellness goals. Developed by the team behind Flow Neuroscience, a leader in clinical brain stimulation. Halo is built on Flow’s proven brain stimulation platform - technology that’s supported thousands of people in Europe. What Halo helps with: * Improving your mood * Better sleep so you wake feeling more refreshed * Enhance your focus so you perform better at work and day to day * Building better routines that align with your goals How does Halo work? Halo is a brain stimulation wearable that uses transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). It delivers gentle, low-intensity electrical currents to the prefrontal cortex, a region of the brain involved in cognitive and emotional processes. Who it's for: * Wellness-focused individuals seeking safe, natural tools * Anyone looking to improve their mood, sleep or focus. * High-performers, creatives, and biohackers Halo is a general wellness product designed to support wellbeing. Halo is not approved or cleared by the FDA and is not intended, marketed, or sold to treat or cure any disease or condition. Halo is intended for use by healthy adult individuals. At this time, Halo is only available for shipment within the United States.

About

Drift

Features
Read full description

Drift teaches the CBT-I techniques clinicians use — a guided sleep-window plan you follow yourself, built from your own morning diary. Trackers measure your sleep. Drift is built around the intervention side: each week it reviews your diary and suggests how your in-bed window could move, using the published sleep-restriction titration rules (AASM clinical practice guideline; Edinger 2021), with a hard 6-hour minimum window and the full reasoning shown for every suggestion. NO FAKE SLEEP SCORE Your real sleep efficiency — time asleep over time in bed — charted against the 85% goal line from the published literature. No proprietary composite number, no grades. A 60-SECOND MORNING DIARY Apple Health pre-fills what it can (sleep stages, HRV, resting heart rate) so you confirm instead of typing. The diary accepts any schedule, including cross-noon and rotating shifts, and "not sure" is always an answer. BUILT FOR REAL SCHEDULES - Standard track for classic insomnia patterns - Shift-work track with a higher safety floor - Perimenopause track that doesn't penalise hot-flash wake-ups - Pain-aware track with gentler pacing READS APPLE HEALTH, NEVER WRITES TO IT Drift is read-only on Apple Health, so it can't alter or corrupt your existing health data. AUDIO NEVER LEAVES YOUR IPHONE On-device snore, cough, and sleep-talk detection stores only event labels — never recordings. Plus audiogram-tuned pink, brown, white, and rain noise. SAFETY-FIRST BY DESIGN A real safety screener: bipolar disorder, seizure history, and untreated sleep apnea switch Drift to diary + education mode, where the window never narrows. Drowsy-driving warnings are built in, and the window never goes below 6 hours. AN HONEST FREE TIER The morning diary, your efficiency trend, stimulus-control education, your first computed window and your first weekly review — free, forever. Drift Pro continues the weekly reviews and adds the coach, sound analysis, pink noise, and sleep stories. Cancel anytime: Restore and Manage Subscription are right inside the app. YOUR DATA IS YOURS Sign in with Apple, or keep a fully private on-device journal. CSV export is free. Delete everything, permanently, from inside the app. Drift is a private journal and educational tool, not a medical device. It teaches published CBT-I techniques but does not diagnose, treat, or cure any condition. If your sleep problems are severe or persistent, please talk to a clinician. Terms of Use: https://drift.keenshift.ai/terms Privacy Policy: https://drift.keenshift.ai/privacy

Screenshots

Halo4 screens
Drift4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Halo at none against Drift's 2. Halo also leads on iOS requirement (15.0 vs 18.0). Drift's advantage is update cadence (monthly vs every 2 months). 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. Drift sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Halo asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Halo ships an update every 2 months, Drift monthly. The most recent releases landed on June 12, 2026 and September 18, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Halo versus Drift: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterHaloDrift
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (2 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews50.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings2 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsMonthly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.0 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size176 MB5 MB
Age rating17+12+
DeveloperFlow Neuroscience ABMitaanshu Agarwal

In-app purchases

None

Halo

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

Drift

Subscriptions2
  • Drift Pro Monthly$4.991 Month
  • Drift Pro Yearly$29.991 Year

Questions

Is Halo free?
Halo is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Drift free?
Drift is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Halo or Drift have ads?
Neither Halo nor Drift shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Halo or Drift?
Halo ships an update every 2 months, and Drift monthly. Most recently, Halo was updated on June 12, 2026 and Drift on September 18, 2026.

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