Sleep sound apps without a subscription: costs by year

Free options, before you pay anyone

Background Sounds on iPhone: Built into iOS 15 and later. No ads, nothing to install.
Rain Rain Sleep Sounds: Its listing says no limit on playback time, with a small banner ad.
White Noise Lite: Free with ads, and no in-app purchases on the listing.
Fall Asleep (ours): Three sounds each in two rooms, ads, and it stops when the screen locks.

What each way of paying gets you in Fall Asleep

This is the part a store listing doesn't line up for you. One room is the cheapest way to keep sound going with the screen locked, but only in that room, and its sleep timer stays at 15 minutes. With no timer set, the sound plays until you stop it.

	Free	One room	Plus
Price	$0	$4.99 once	$19.99 a year, or $39.99 once
Rooms	Rain, Beach	Adds Forest, Fire or Underwater	All 5
Sounds	3 per room	All 6 in that room	All 30
Screen locked	Stops	Keeps playing in that room	Keeps playing
Sleep timer	15 minutes	15 minutes	15 minutes to 3 hours
Ads between sessions	Up to 3 a day	None	None
Saved mixes	No	No	Up to 5

From the app's own code for version 2.0.1, the version on the App Store on November 1, 2026, and its listing. Rain and Beach aren't sold on their own: playing those rooms with the screen locked needs Plus.

Where our app is weaker

Our one-room price is for one room, not the whole app. Bedtime Fan lists an Unlock All at $7.99, Rain Rain's listing gives its timers and mixer away free with a small banner ad, and Fall Asleep has no ratings yet on the US store. It has no white noise yet and no Android version. The free version also stops as soon as your phone locks, and iPhones lock on their own unless you change Auto-Lock.

Prices we didn't add up

These appear on the listings, but the listing doesn't say whether they are one-time, monthly or yearly, so they aren't in the calculator. The listings we read showed ten purchases at most, so an app may sell more than this. Check inside the app before you buy.

Calm Premium: $14.99 to $79.99
BetterSleep Premium: $11.99 to $99.99
Sleep Pillow: packs at $9.99 to $19.99, and an All Sound Packs Subscription at $4.99
Rain Rain: Premium at $3.99 and $5.99, a Premium monthly purchase at $9.99, sound packs at $4.99, One Sound Token at $1.99
Bedtime Fan: Premium at $0.99 to $14.99, Unlock All at $7.99, Remove Ads at $4.99
White Noise Deep Sleep Sounds: Premium at $19.99 and $39.99, weekly and monthly plans, Continuous Play at $4.99

Questions

Does Fall Asleep have a subscription?

Yes, it sells one: Plus Yearly at $19.99, with a 7-day free trial for eligible new subscribers. You don't have to take it. The free version needs no payment, and Plus Lifetime and the single rooms are one-time purchases.

Will I see a subscription offer when I open the app?

Yes. The first launch shows the Plus offer. You can close it with the X and use the free version. No account is needed, and any purchase goes through your Apple Account.

Is a one-time purchase always cheaper?

No. At these prices Plus Lifetime costs the same as two years of Plus Yearly, so it only saves money from year three. If you stop within a year, the yearly plan is cheaper, and free apps cost nothing.

How we made this page

We read each app's US App Store listing on November 1, 2026. Fall Asleep's rules come from its own code. We did not install the other apps, none of them paid to be here, and there are no affiliate links. The full comparison of what each free version does is on eight sleep sound apps side by side.

Can you get a sleep sounds app without a subscription?