How do the popular sleep apps compare on scoring?
Checked against each app's App Store listing on 3 November 2026. Names link to each maker's site. We make Sleepward, so weigh our row accordingly.
If you love your data, a tracker is great. This page is for the other people.
What should a sleep app without a sleep score have?
It should help you stop the day and wind down, keep any logging optional and labelled as estimates, and never grade the night or punish a missed one.
Why bother? Sleep clinicians have described patients whose tracker data turned into a "perfectionistic quest for the ideal sleep", and called it orthosomnia ({aB}). In one 2024 survey of 523 adults, between 3% and 14% met the authors' orthosomnia criteria, depending on how strict the definition was ({aJ}). Most people with trackers are fine. Some are not, and they tend to know it.
0 / 6 Tick what your current app does.
Questions about sleep scores
Is there a sleep app that doesn't give you a score?
Yes. Sleepward never scores your sleep and never breaks a chain. Sleep logging is optional, estimates are labelled, and you can hide all numbers. Several popular trackers do show a score; check each listing.
Can a sleep tracker make sleep worse?
For some people, yes. Sleep clinicians described patients whose focus on tracker data became a "perfectionistic quest for the ideal sleep" and named it orthosomnia (Baron et al., Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine (2017)). It is not the experience of every tracker user.
What is orthosomnia?
An unhealthy preoccupation with getting perfect sleep, often tied to sleep-tracker data. In one 2024 survey of 523 adults, estimated prevalence ranged from 3% to 14% depending on how strictly it was defined (Jahrami et al., Brain Sciences (2024)).
Can I turn off the sleep score in my current app?
Some apps let you hide parts of their dashboard; it varies by app and version. If the score is the first thing you see each morning and it changes your mood, that is a sign to switch it off or switch apps.
Is Sleepward free?
The evening reset, Brain Dump, Your Hour, wind-down, routines, Minimal Mode, sleep logs, white, pink and brown noise and the first world chapter are free. Sleepward Pro ($9.99 a month, $49.99 a year or $99.99 once) adds all 13 chapters and 8 studio soundscapes with a mixer.
Does Sleepward treat insomnia?
No. It is a routine and journaling tool, not a medical device. If sleep problems persist, talk to a qualified healthcare professional.
What Sleepward does instead
A four-minute evening reset in three optional steps: a Brain Dump, up to three things for tomorrow, then Your Hour, a protected 15 to 60 minutes that always ends before your bedtime. Then a darkening wind-down screen and free white, pink or brown noise. In the morning, a one-tap check-in with four faces and no numbers.
One decision we made: Grace Nights mean nothing ever resets, and the Moon Fox never gets sad when you miss a night. Or switch the fox off and use Minimal Mode: one action, one timer, one Finish button.
Who this is not for
If you want sleep stages, a smart alarm or snoring recordings, pick a dedicated tracker; Sleepward does none of that. If you suspect sleep apnea or have long-running insomnia, see a clinician rather than any app. And if numbers motivate you, keep them; there is nothing wrong with a score that helps.
Honest limits
- Sleepward does not measure sleep. It can read sleep from Apple Health, never writes to it, and lets you hide it.
- The wake-up reminder is a notification, not a system alarm. Keep your Clock alarm for anything important.
- All 13 world chapters and the studio soundscapes are part of Pro. The routine itself is free.
Updated November 2026. This is general information, not medical advice. Talk to your clinician.
Try a scoreless night
Play free on iPhone: Sleepward on the App Store.
Related
- Sleepward: a bedtime routine app for night owlsA bedtime routine app for people who stay up late: a four-minute evening reset, a brain dump, your own hour, then wind down. Free on iPhone.
- A bedtime routine for college students, night by nightTap your first class time and get tonight's dorm-proof plan, then a 7-night first week. Built on CDC sleep advice and student sleep studies.
- Revenge bedtime procrastination after long workdays: a checklistLong workday, home late, then up till 1 a.m. to feel human again. A sourced checklist and evening calculator for people who work long hours.
- Wind-down routine after a night shift: a 7-step visual guideA wind-down routine after night shift, step by step: sort your morning, see what NIOSH advises, and close the day in four minutes before you sleep.