Braintunes vs Quell
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side ā with what reviewers say about each.
Braintunes
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Braintunes is a music app for work, study, sleep, and meditation. If you are looking for music for work, music for study, or calming soundscapes for sleep, Braintunes gives you focused ambient sessions designed to help you stay in the right state without distractions. Choose the mode that fits the moment: Focus for deep work and studying, Relax to unwind, Sleep to slow down at night, or Meditate for quieter sessions. Each session is built to stay in the background with smooth ambient soundscapes, no vocals, and no abrupt changes. Pick the intensity that feels right and let it play without interruptions. Features include: ⢠Focus, Relax, Sleep, and Meditate modes ⢠Three intensity levels ⢠Continuous background playback ⢠Lock screen and native player controls ⢠Sleep timer options ⢠Favorites and disliked-track filtering ⢠Daily reminders and listening streaks ⢠Multilingual support ⢠No ads Built for people looking for study music, focus music, and a calmer alternative to binaural-beat apps.
Quell
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Quell is a deep-focus app with one job: help you sit down and do one undivided thing. No streaks. No badges. No feed. You tap Begin, a calm arctic ring starts counting up, and a 40 Hz binaural beat plays underneath. When you are done, you end. That is the whole ritual. WHY 40 Hz 40 Hz is the gamma band ā the brain rhythm tied to attention and memory, and the most-studied frequency in sound-based focus research. Quell generates it live: two pure tones, one slightly different in each ear, that your brain fuses into a single 40 Hz pulse. WHAT IT DOES - A 40 Hz binaural beat, generated live on your device. Two pure tones on a deep, warm carrier (130 Hz left, 170 Hz right). It needs stereo headphones to create the beat. - An optional coach voice. Short, grounded lines, spaced minutes apart, that nudge you back when your attention drifts. It is sports-psychology self-talk, not generic meditation, and it is a natural recorded voice, not a robotic one. - Optional music under the beat. Four moods of original, AI-generated tracks (lofi days, lofi night, global beats, ambient) that sit quietly beneath everything. Off by default. - A count-up timer. No fixed length, no pressure. The session lasts as long as you stay. THE SCIENCE, HONESTLY We lead with 40 Hz because the research is real ā it is the gamma approach popularized on the Huberman Lab podcast. A 2022 meta-analysis found binaural beats gave a small but significant lift to attention and memory, and a 2025 study confirmed that a 40 Hz beat measurably entrains the brain while improving attention. But we will not oversell it: not every study agrees, and the effect varies from person to person. Treat the 40 Hz tone as a low-risk way to settle into deep work, not a guarantee. DESIGNED TO DISAPPEAR Quell is dark, still, and quiet on purpose. The only bright thing is the ring. It keeps playing while your screen is off, with controls on the lock screen, so you can put the phone down and work. PRIVATE BY DESIGN Everything runs on your device. No account, no sign-in, no tracking, no analytics, no servers. Your settings stay on your phone. FREE AND PAID The 40 Hz beat and the timer are free, forever. A single one-time purchase unlocks the music moods and the coach voice. Pay once, it is yours. No subscription. Quell. Quiet the noise.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Braintunes at none against Quell's 1. Braintunes also leads on iOS requirement (15.1 vs 17.0). On price, ads and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price Ā· Rating Ā· Positive reviews Ā· Number of ratings Ā· Update frequency Ā· Ads Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Monetization Ā· Best chart rank Ā· Devices Ā· Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Quell sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Braintunes asks for nothing beyond the download.
| Parameter | Braintunes | Quell |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | ā | Daily |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No ā better | Yes |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod ā better | iPhone, Mac |
| Requires iOS | 15.1 ā better | 17.0 |
| Further details ā not scored | ||
| Size | 43 MB | 58 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Aleksandr Novikov | Oleksandr Pavlov |
In-app purchases
Braintunes
No in-app purchases
Quell
- Quell Unlock$9.99









