Bedtime Story Apps
Often, apps to help with sleep contain a library of soothing sounds and music. Many have additional features, such as a timer function or built-in reminders.
These calming bedtime apps feature stories and meditations that will put your kid in a sleepy state of mind.
Bedtime stories can develop their imagination and help them relax and wind down. These are some of the best apps that have bedtime stories for kids.
1. SmartDreams Bedtime Stories
SmartDreams Bedtime Stories uses AI to create unique, personalised bedtime stories accompanied by vivid illustrations. Children’s love for reading will grow through this app which has endless story possibilities. The app is safe and uses only the child’s first name to start the personalised story.
They can then choose from a wide selection of fun characters, fantastical worlds and foods to generate an individualised tale to read. Each story delivers valuable morals and lessons that your child can learn from through customised, colourful artwork and animal noises.
Devices: Download on iPhone and iPad
2. Bedtime Stories - Stella Sleep
Bedtime Stories - Stella Sleep is an app to help parents establish an effective bedtime routine for their kids and is full of soothing stories, music, and ambient sounds. Stella Sleep is an app to help soothe and relax kids. The app contains lots of sound-based content to help kids sleep, with more added regularly. The app includes specially written stories, music, lullabies, and background sounds.
Devices: iPhone, iPad
3. Nighty Night - Bedtime story
Nighty Night is one of our favourite apps for young children. The app is a bedtime story for toddlers that shows a number of farm animals going to sleep. The appeal of Nighty Night! is in the beautiful illustrations and the soothing tone of the narrator, the simple storyline and all the unexpected things animals do as they fall asleep.
Devices: Android, iPhone, iPad
4. Headspace for Kids
Headspace has a specific sleep section, with guided meditations, relaxing sounds, and exercises to wind down for sleep. A meditation app might sound like some Eat, Pray, Love BS, but research shows it’s an incredibly powerful tool for reducing stress, anxiety, and insomnia, and there’s nothing ridiculous about a mentally mindful, calm kid. Headspace now offers kiddie editions of its popular meditations and breathing and visualization exercises. There’s an entire sleep section with kids sleep meditations, soundtracks, and white noise. Customized for kids five and under, six-to-eight, and nine-to-12, former Buddhist monk and professional calm person Andy Puddicombe will talk some sense into your preschooler.
Devices: Android, iPhone, iPad
5. Calm for Kids
If you can’t decide between a sleep story or meditation app, this could be the app for you. Yoga and Montessori teacher Christaine Kerr, founder of Calm for Kids, leads takes your kid through a story meditation with soft, sleep-inducing music playing in the background. One of the key features of the app is sleep stories. There are over 100 bedtime stories for adults designed to help users unwind and fall asleep. It’s meant for kids ages 12 and below, but you may find yourself falling asleep to the app, too.
Devices: Android, iPhone, iPad
6. Moshi
This all in one app contains soothing audio stories (with narrators like Goldie Hawn), meditations, music, and white noise. Each audio journey is carefully designed with sleep in mind. As stories progress, they’re read slower and sleepier and background noise quiets, and music tracks gently fade to avoid abrupt silence. It’s free to download, and a premium subscription unlocks new and additional content and allows users to download tracks and use the app on up to three devices.
Devices: Android, iPhone, iPad
7. Relax & Sleep Well
What sets the bedtime stories for adults available on Relax & Sleep Well apart from other apps is the narrator. Glenn Harrold is a famous hypnotherapist with decades of experience in changing people’s behaviors, who brings his hypnosis skills to sleep health via the app. It’s like a free hypnotherapy session, with recorded meditations that lull you to sleep, while also training your brain to relax before bed. You're given four free hypnosis sessions to see if the app works for you, but you'll have to purchase more meditations after that.
Devices: Android, iPhone, iPad
8. Relax Melodies
This app aims specifically to help people sleep. It comes with a library of sounds, music, and white noise. Relax Melodies also features guided meditation, bedtime stories, and breathing exercises. People using Relax Melodies can set themselves a reminder to use the app. There are a handful of free sounds and meditations for users to try with optional in-app purchases.
Devices: Android, iPhone, iPad
9. Daniel Tiger Day and Night
Bedtime preparation is about routine. This sleep app from PBS Kids helps your kid develop the habit of getting ready to sleep and go to school in the morning. With songs and games, your kid helps Daniel Tiger take a bath, brush his teeth, and pick out what PJs to wear before he hits the sack. There’s also a calming bedtime story, told and sang to your kid as they assist Daniel with floating through the clouds.
Devices: Android, iPhone, iPad
