This week I have another app review for you. As of last Wednesday, I started using the app called Sleep Cycle. According to iTunes, Sleep Cycle makes “waking up easy. Sleep Cycle is an intelligent alarm clock that tracks your sleep patterns and wakes you up in light sleep – the natural way to wake up, feelings rested and energized.”

The Editors note goes on to say, “When your alarm goes off in the morning, is your first reaction to throw it against the wall? The problem isn’t with you – it’s with your alarm clock. Thankfully, Sleep Cycle offers a clever solution for improving your rest. Rather than yanking you from your slumber at a specific minute, the app analyzes your sleep patterns and then picks the most moment you’re sleeping lightest (within a half-hour window you define) to rouse you gently. Best of all, unlike some smart alarms, this one doesn’t need extra hardware or require your device to be resting on your bed: it tracks your sleep using just its microphone!”

So what the means essentially is that the app tracks my sleep pattern. The night before I set an alarm of when I need to wake up – usually between 6 and 6:30 AM. Within that time frame, when I am in a light sleep phase, the alarm will go off waking me up from my sleep. Because it wakes me up while I am in a light sleep phase, I am supposed to be less groggy when awoken and more aware throughout the day.

Let’s take a look at my results:

As you can see, I wake up quite a bit throughout the night – no surprise there. Based on the results, it looks like I was still in a deep sleep cycle when woken up throughout the week. So… the app does not do what it claims to, which is disappointing. It sounds promising, but for me, at least, it was a total flop. I did not wake up feeling rested or less groggy; if anything, I found myself more irritable than most mornings prior to using the app.

Now let’s talk pricing. To use the app is free, but that’s just it – you’re using the app to track your sleep, but cannot do anything other than that. If you want to monitor anything additional, you have to upgrade to a premium membership which costs 29.99 yearly! There are numerous other features that could make this app loads better, but I’m not trying to pay that much money for something that I may or may not like…

Maybe I am being biased as I am totally in love with the Sleep Better app that I previously reviewed and feel some type of way towards this Sleep Cycle App, but it is what it is. I just don’t like it. It didn’t do what it claimed to do, the pricing is kinda ridiculous, and I am not a fan.

Have you tried this app? What are you thoughts?