[HN Gopher] Show HN: I built a simple ambient sound app with no ...
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Show HN: I built a simple ambient sound app with no ads or
subscriptions
I've always liked having background noise while working or falling
asleep, but I got frustrated that most "white noise" or ambient
sound apps are either paywalled, stuffed with ads, or try to upsell
subscriptions for basic features. So I made Ambi, a small iOS app
with a clean interface and a set of freely available ambient sounds
-- rain, waves, wind, birds, that sort of thing. You can mix them,
adjust volume levels, and just let it play all night or while you
work. Everything works offline and there are no hidden catches.
It's something I built for myself first, but I figured others might
find it useful too. Feedback, bugs, and suggestions are all
welcome. https://apps.apple.com/app/ambi-white-noise-sleep-
sounds/id6...
Author : alpaca121
Score : 71 points
Date : 2025-10-12 14:49 UTC (8 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (ambisounds.app)
(TXT) w3m dump (ambisounds.app)
| monitron wrote:
| This is fantastic, thank you. Recently when trying to sleep away
| from home, I went looking for a noise app and was grossed out by
| the state of the available apps, just like you said.
|
| BTW One unfortunate feature that many noise apps/websites have
| (including Apple Music's official noise buttons) is that after a
| few minutes, they fade out and back in or have some other jarring
| transition when repeating. This is far from ideal for sleep,
| meditation, etc. So this is an enhancement request, if your app
| doesn't already solve this ;)
|
| I'm also curious: do you think that the cost of maintaining the
| app (keeping it up to date with newer iOS versions, for instance)
| will eventually dissuade you from keeping it available in its
| pristine state? I've wondered why there seem to be ZERO free apps
| by hobbyists on the App Store in categories like this...
| alpaca121 wrote:
| 100% agree with you. Most of my time on this project actually
| went into making sure the loops play seamlessly--no gaps,
| glitches, or fades--since even the tiniest hiccup can throw off
| light sleepers. I've also tested the app across different
| headphones and speakers, with and without noise cancellation,
| but if you try it and notice anything off, please tell me. I'd
| really love to make it as smooth as possible.
|
| For the app maintenance side, I'm intentionally keeping both
| the UI and backend super simple so updates are easy to manage.
| And honestly, I just enjoy iOS development, so even the
| maintenance part feels more like fun than work.
| sudo712 wrote:
| I love the idea, and thanks for doing this. I would like to
| create free apps too just for the heck of it but one of the
| biggest issues I find with creating free app store apps is that,
| regardless of whether you are charging money or not, you need to
| keep feeding Apple $100 per year, which is excruciating,
| especially for countries where the developer population is much
| higher and the income disparity is high. Since the Play Store
| only charges 25$ ish and one time, it is much more feasible to do
| it on the Play Store, hence the availability of such apps is more
| on Play Store.
| jpablo wrote:
| The $100 is per year.
| OptionOfT wrote:
| It is still disgusting. There is no need for that fee to be
| there, because remember, it sits on top of the purchase of at
| least $1,500 (a decent Mac).
|
| I tried to see if I could make improvements to Immich. No can
| do, as half of their entitlements require a team account (and
| even then begging Apple to get the entitlements).
|
| Now, they do offer a private account, so I spent time
| removing those entitlements. Guess what? Starting over 3
| times and you're hit with a 'you can only sign 10 apps /
| week'.
|
| Why do apps built for my iPhone, which I explicitly need to
| put in Developer mode, need to be signed by daddy Cook?
| sudo712 wrote:
| True. I completely forgot about that part. I absolutely
| love my windows PC, but I had to buy a mac so I can support
| cross platform
| kiba wrote:
| Apple can charge you that because they have a platform
| which is a monopoly.
|
| Granted, they did the work that built and maintain the
| platform, but at some point it's actually the countless
| developers who contribute value, not Apple.
| sudo712 wrote:
| yeah. sorry my brain was on auto pilot.
| andy_ppp wrote:
| Wow this looks incredible! I quite like the Overcast model where
| you can optionally pay a little just to support the author rather
| than for extra features or nagware.
| alpaca121 wrote:
| That's a great suggestion. I haven't given much thought to
| monetization. And personally I really this to be freely
| available to all who need and enjoy it. But an optional payment
| option doesn't sound too bad.
| mandeepj wrote:
| Just downloaded! Thanks for your efforts on it.
|
| I was thinking of building something similar to the point of even
| learning music production, for the similar reasons you have
| listed. I think I can postpone my idea now.
|
| I don't think many people would mind watching once a day ad just
| to support your work. But, whatever makes you happy.
| alpaca121 wrote:
| Thanks for trying:) and its definitely a great way to develop a
| good ear for sounds and pickup basic audio engineering. i
| certainly got comfortable with audacity along the way
| ssttoo wrote:
| Lovely! Couple questions...
|
| - where did you get the noises, are they your own recordings?
|
| - how hard it is to support earlier iOS? For folks like me who
| are on older phones that cannot be upgraded anymore (iOS 16
| personally)
| alpaca121 wrote:
| - There are all curated from bunch of different online sources
| like pixabay that allow usage without any restrictions - Not
| too hard. I just need to test it thoroughly to make sure the
| experience is as good as the latest os
| interloxia wrote:
| Not the author. I built one of these years ago and had fun
| finding and using sounds from radio aporee.
|
| https://archive.org/details/radio-aporee-maps
|
| https://aporee.org/maps/info/
| mft_ wrote:
| Thanks for this - de-installed an alternative and installed this.
|
| Any thoughts of some sort of equalizer feature? I like brown
| noise for sleeping in noisy environments, and would love to be
| able to add a bit more bass to your sample. (Brown noise plus
| some Airplane is actually pretty good.)
|
| ---
|
| Side thought - there needs to be a club (with a curated list?)
| for simple apps that work well, and commit to staying ad-free.
| I'd love to be able to search amongst such apps prior to
| auditioning options from the App Store. (I mean, it would be
| great to be able to filter for such apps in the App Store itself,
| but that's not going to happen.)
| saaaaaam wrote:
| Downloaded this. It drowned out perfectly the noise from my
| upstairs neighbour sitting on her balcony watching YouTube videos
| above my open bedroom window. Thank you!
| alpaca121 wrote:
| :) glad its helpful!
| caseyf7 wrote:
| This is great. I've been looking for something like this for a
| long time after giving up on Portal. Thank you
| tonyhart7 wrote:
| ok what is Your TOMO llc mean???
|
| does we really need to register LLC to upload into appstore????
| that's seem excessive no? especially if your app isnt generating
| profit
| alpaca121 wrote:
| No you don't. You can submit an app as a solo developer. I
| formed the LLC for my design consultancy so just used the same
| for my Apple dev account.
| finger wrote:
| For those unaware, iOS includes a limited selection of such
| sounds. You cant mix or anything, but it might be good enough, at
| least it is for me. Search for Background Sounds in settings.
| orsenthil wrote:
| Thanks for making this avialable.
|
| I am Linux (ZorinOS, FTW) and I use SoundScape
| https://github.com/ddanilov/soundscape
|
| There is https://freesound.org/ which can provide a multitude of
| free sounds too.
| FiddlerClamp wrote:
| I'm a longtime fan of Web-based myNoise: https://mynoise.net/
| alpaca121 wrote:
| some of the best sounds out there
| thehamkercat wrote:
| Let's not forget https://neal.fun/ambient-chaos/
| airstrike wrote:
| Volcano + Rain + Coffee Shop is my jam.
| alpaca121 wrote:
| cuuute!
| rjdj377dhabsn wrote:
| Sounds like a convienet app, but is there any advantage to just
| looping an ambient sound clip in a generic audio player?
| smokeydoe wrote:
| Not having to go find the ambient sound clips yourself.
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(page generated 2025-10-12 23:00 UTC)