Loóna: Sleep Stories Reviews

by Conkichu

I really wanted to like Loóna. Coming out of the gate, it was extremely slow and boring and yes, that will put you to sleep but do you really want to pay $40 to be bored to sleep? It is the equivalent of an audio book narration being set to half speed (that you can’t speed up), and combined with a coloring game. Because I had already spent the money, I was trying to make the best of it, so I adapted.

But then two months into Loóna it started getting laggy and wouldn’t load or would crash once it did finally load. I contacted this app asking for a refund or for someone to fix Loóna . I got an email back saying that they were looking into it and then nothing. It’s been about three weeks and I still haven’t heard anything. I deleted and reloaded Loóna , hoping that would work but it didn’t. Instead, it has forced me to start all over and to have to replay the same boring this app scapes that I’ve already done once and would never want to have to repeat. The only thing there was to look forward to in Loóna is that you get a new scene every day - well, until you start getting into the seasonal changes and then you’re doing the same recycled scenes with snow and Christmas decorations. The graphics are nice, I’ll give them that, but I spent way too much money on Loóna for that kind of result.

by Malcchiato

I had been seeing ads for this app fairly regularly on Instagram stories, and when I realized I was looking for a calming puzzle to play while getting ready for bed, I decided to give it a try. Loóna itself is beautiful. The modeling of the dragon shrine is so smooth and meticulously detailed, and the lighting is warm and calming; I thoroughly enjoyed the music matching the scene, that I could continue listening when I was done with the puzzle, and even that I could set a nightly reminder based on when I usually woke up.

So I finished the first puzzle and wasn’t quite ready for bed, I decided to do another...oh, it’s locked. Okay, I figured it was just one a night for free, and that if I paid for plus, I could unlock it all instantly. At least, that’s what I thought the ad for this app plus was implying, it wasn’t really clear on what content was hidden behind the paywall. Fast forward about 24 hours. I get my push notification that it’s time to unwind; I get myself all comfortable in bed after a stressful day and I’m excited to see what this new sleepscape will look like. But? It says it’s not available? My push notification said it was there but...it’s locked.

One. You can do a single puzzle for free. I guess a well design app comes with premium pricing. No, I’m really not interested in a free trial, as I don’t anticipate paying beyond that. A little more transparency up front would have been lovely.

by Tinycadancer

of what they want you to pay for a year of!

I’m sure one of their people will reply saying I am incorrect like they are doing for every other bad review buuuut... Unless you choose to subscribe and pay the full amount, you will not actually get any sort of trial during the time period they keep bringing up. I was allowed to do only one activity on the first day of my trial which was coloring in this dragon’s shrine thing. Not one single activity was available to me after that first one, durinf the entirety of the free trial. That first activity itself was boring and tedious but I wouldn’t say it made me tired or relaxed. I am sure the experience would be different from person to person, so you might enjoy it! I personally feel that I would need to do at least two activities before being able to decide if I wanted to pay for the subscription. At this point, the single activity didn’t pull me in at all so I won’t be subscribing. If their playlists and little stories that you can listen to quite a few of during the trial actually interest/relax you then I could see it being worth the price. Personally if I want to listen to someone read me a story, I will go into my audible account and fall asleep that way. Add more activities to the multi day trial... Like actually the same amount as nights in the trial lol and available without paying for the subscription first! The you might have another customer!

by Thatchels

First night, The Dragon Shrine. I loved it so much as someone who averages a few hours of sleep a night, with multiple times of waking up. Even when I woke up, I was able to fall back asleep within minutes!! Very rare for me, loved the music and I had soothing dreams. I shared it with friends saying how it’s crazy I got such sleep and this app tailored the dreamscapes with a quiz, etc. I knew it could be a fluke so I tried night #2 last night. My story was the Brooklyn Apartment. The nostalgic story just makes me sad and lonely. The narrator wants me to think of a happy time? Well, I liked this app because it allowed me to have guided focus away from my life and into dreams. This episode’s music made me anxious. I still wanted to try, but after finishing I tried to play the sound playlist portion, well, I tossed and turned all night, anxious, uncomfortable. I woke up 3am. Typical except more tossing than usual. I tried playing Brooklyn again, more anxiety. Tossing... woke up before 4am, tried the Dragon Shrine again, got back to sleep. Woke up again at 5am. I’m frustrated because I don’t want to play the Dragon Shrine for the 3rd time. While it’s comforting, I don’t want to wait every night for something new and I refuse to do another Brooklyn Apartment. I want to subscribe or purchase the lifetime, but would I still have to wait for each story? 5 stars if I don’t have to wait. 1-2 stars if I get more forced stories of anxiety and sadness.

by Altrosa Lily

I loved my initial impression of Loóna. The first story is very calming is nice. I liked it so much I bought pro and I IMMEDIATELY regretted it.

The initial quiz makes it sound like they’ll curate your experience—give you a line up based on your answers. It doesn’t. You’re forced to play them in order regardless of how they pertain to your interests. In the quiz I chose that I liked fairytales, fantasy, etc. typical escapism. I don’t like the real world and prefer to spend my relax time taking my mind off it. The first chapter is a decrepit building in Brooklyn with a nostalgia motif. I have never been there and have no connection to the place. I find cities stressful. The look of the building was old and depressing. Every now and then there were sirens in the background. All of this just amped up my anxiety and actually put me in a much, much worse mood before bed. This really soured my opinion of Loóna. I sped through it just to get it over with and hopefully get to a better one but, nope. You are locked out of the next one until your next “sleep” 15 hours later. This is a shocking lack of user agency for an app that is $40 a year.

If they create a feature where they actually tailor the list to your interests or give you the option to skip then this world be a 5 star. As it is—without these options it’s massively disappointing.

by Ariana M.

As much as I really want to give Loóna 5 stars, it definitely deserves it, the price just changes everything. I was seriously hoping this would be the answer to what is becoming crippling anxiety but of course, even with the premium subscription, you can only play one chapter, every 24 hours. The first free one truly helped me get into a good head space, and I honestly was willing to try to move some money around to pay for the full version. But it’s NOT worth paying this much when there’s a limit. I understand the developers don’t want us rushing through the chapters but if we are paying for it, we should be able to move on.

As much as the developers deserve support for their unbelievably beautiful work, just seems greedy the way this is set up. It’s supposed to help people but it traps you into a long expensive subscription rather than letting you pay fairly for the content. I’m honestly mind blown that you would have to pay $13 a month for something that takes max 10 minutes of your day. Even worse is the $40 for the year that they don’t even have content to be enjoyed for that long. At least there needs to be a free simple version or a one time payment that is not too much for most people, especially these days.

by ChristianBabe4

Am I the only one who finds Loóna creepy? I mean, I know I means well. But I find the music ominous and the narrator sounds like a voice actor for a suspenseful audiobook. And depending on how light the screen of my phone was or not, made the images on the sleepscapes change from cute to concerning as they looked kinda different. Like the dragon one seems cute with light but with my night mode on it looks a bit demonic. I did enjoy some of the other sleepscapes, but I don’t think Loóna is for me.

Out of the three times I tried, only once did I actually go to sleep during a sleepscape. And even then it took me a while to get past the spooky feeling I originally got from it. I’m sure other people may find Loóna helpful and I really do like the premise. The coloring in is adorable and the stories themselves are sweet. But I just usually end up feeling more anxious than relaxed. Like I get completely surprised when all of a sudden there’s an animal incompletely missed because it was all whited out and once it’s colored it moves. Yeah I don’t need that at bedtime. It’s already hard enough for me to sleep.

TLDR: like the premise of Loóna but using it I found it was too creepy for me to sleep well. Others may benefit better than I did.

by Anonymou740

Hey so the reason I am giving this a three star rating is because the first night I used this it did help me sleep and I can still listen to the sounds however to do the interactive nightly sleepscapes you have to pay a lot of money, now you may say oh she is just 12 so she has no concept of money, but my family struggles with money a bit, not as bad as it could be but not great either, so I actually have a really good concept of money. And I know that you guys have to make money without ads but you would probably make more money if you lowered the subscription price allowing more people to be able to afford your app. See the sleepscapes, they helped me one night, so I undownloaded then redownloaded and tried again another night, every night I got good sleep so I tried just the playlists but they did not help, I have fairly bad insomnia so I have tried other apps, but none worked as well as yours but my whole family is behind me on this, ITS NOT WORTH THE MONEY. Please lower the price so that I can sleep, I believe more people would be able to afford the subscription which means in reality you would make the same amount OR MORE!!!😀 So please Lower the price.

by Anonymous50

I love Loóna, but feel like it should have been way more completed before it was released instead of being a “growing collection”. I had many options for a sleep app, and chose this one based off of ads that I saw. I did the one night for free and really enjoyed it, so I did the week of free trial and forgot to cancel. But that was fine because I loved it! I just questioned whether I should continue due to the cost. I was so happy with it until I got to the end of chapter 6 and that’s it. Huh? I just paid $40 and now I have no sleepscapes for a while?! Yes I know there’s music but I have music elsewhere- not why I bought a subscription. Sooooo... how long do we wait for the next chapter? I’m sure it does take a lot of time to create this- but wait to release it until you have more than a month and a half of Sleepscapes done. Or at the very least charge an introductory fee during this time. Loóna - BEAUTIFULLY done sleepscapes. The glowing blues and purples are my favorites. The water looks so realistic. It’s just fantastic. I have to give credit where credit it due. Also the narration is wonderful and relaxing. I’m sad that I don’t have a new one anymore for each night. (I don’t like doing repeats.) The music is so calming and soothing. It’s a quality app.

by Emizzilly

So I tried Loóna a while back and didn’t really get into it. Recently it came back up in my ads and I decided to give it another shot. I finally went for the free trial and was still the same level of “meh” about it until around the third night. I realized that it actually DID help me get into a more relaxed state. When I was in a “hurry up and get to the point” frame of mind in regards to the narrative, it made me wait. While I was impatient at first it’s grown on me and reminds me to slow down.
It’s definitely a pricier app, but will drop down to $20 a year after the trial. Even if I don’t end up playing this beyond a month, it’s more than worth it for the work that the developers obviously put into it. A lot of the time I find myself focusing more on the details that someone included rather than the story being told, and that in and of itself is worth the money. Will I use Loóna regularly over the next year? Nope. Will I gladly spend $20 to help pay some poor developers working hard to make people happy? Abso-friggin-lutely.
Developers: keep up the amazing work y’all are doing!
Advertising/customer service: great job reeling me in! Keep it up as well.
CEO’s etc: YALL BETTER BE PAYING YOUR PEOPLE WELL! They obviously know their stuff and are DOING A GREAT FRIGGING JOB!

by Crispytofucubes

First of all, I gotta say I love Loóna . The narration is so soothing and the guided coloring really helps me slow down. I do have one main concern though about the last update: I had caught up with all of the sleepscapes before the update, but now I have to go through all of them again in order to play chapter 4. Lots of the comments say they like replaying chapters, but for me it gets a bit tedious. PLEASE make it so we don’t have to start again from the beginning every time there’s an update.

Oh and another smaller suggestion. I sometimes fall asleep in the middle of a sleepscape, which I would assume is supposed to be a good thing. But because of how the timer works, that means I only get to complete the last part of a sleepscape (usually only a couple minutes, plus, as I mentioned before, replaying the sleepscape doesn’t work for me) and I have to wait until the next night to actually get to the next installment. I get why the timer is there, but it feels almost like a punishment for letting Loóna do its job. Maybe some kind of idle timer would be helpful? Like if we had Loóna open for a while but with no activity, a pop up could come up with sort of a “are you still there” notification? Just a suggestion!

—Tiffany

by Blu_Jess

As the title says, Loóna is excellent and I would recommend it to anybody, however, it is sorely lacking in daytime activities. The sleep scapes are absolutely wonderful and so relaxing, but I’d love to have maybe “dayscapes” to do when I’m anxious or stressed. Normally I wouldn’t complain because technically I wasn’t promised anything like this, but given that all of the advertisements for Loóna show tons of things to color, one would get the impression you can color scapes at will if you feel stressed or need a break. Not so, you can only color one sleep scape per night. If you wanted to recolor it you could start it again the next day but again it would be much better if they had something to color during the day. They definitely have sounds and relaxing things to use but no coloring activities except one per night. What I did really enjoy about the nightscape was the relaxing narration and fun facts about objects I was coloring. All in all I think it’s a great app but I would love to see more things to color during the day, and also more choices rather than just the scape of the night or something.

by Eelder88

I’ll start by saying I do really like Loóna, a lot. The narrators are wonderful and have such hypnotic voices. The stories are magical and imaginative, and the pictures are really beautiful. I do wish that there was more user control over what content you have available to you, especially when paying for Loóna . I agree that the purpose (I’ve read the this app responses to feedback reviews) is not blow through content each night. However, there are some stories that I just REALLY don’t connect with and it’s a bit irritating to have to complete the story in order to make it to the next “chapter”... again, especially on an app you pay for. The user should have the ability to skip a chapter if they so choose. I have several times exited a story only to have to “deal with it” another night, which doesn’t seem like the intent for Loóna . It would be wonderful to be able to skip the stories you don’t connect with and move on to engage with the stories you do. Again I’m fine with just having the ability to complete only one story a night, but I’d like a say in what that one story is. That’s all, just some feedback!!!! Thanks!!

by Electricgod

UPDATE: in their most recent updates/releases, I see I’m now able to choose whichever sleepscape I want which is a massive improvement, and so I’ve updated my rating to 5. Loóna is wonderful and helps me sleep every night. Highly recommend. I really love Loóna - it 100% helps me fall asleep. It’s beautiful, and very relaxing with the colors and calming narration. My one qualm about it that will probably have me not continue my subscription is that for the price, I’d really like to be able to choose which sleepscape I do from a library, instead of being forced onto a set path in which I cannot move forward unless I complete the one I’m uninterested in. Sometimes I have to begrudgingly complete a sleepscape that doesn’t really resonate with me just to get to the next one the following night. Please, please consider changing this feature. There are enough reviews on here of people frustrated with this, that it seems to be an issue for a lot of people that would make a lot of users happy if it was changed.

by Angdyehvisub

First off- this is awesome! I did an episode after a grueling, stress filled day and it calmed me down and helped me come back to the world. Honestly, this is so cool. The graphics and colors are beautiful and the narration is soothing. 5 stars is well earned.

Two downsides: first, everything is aimed at sleep. I’d love there to be a calm phase where sleep isn’t the goal. There are questions at the beginning of what you want to achieve, and I didn’t mark sleep, yet sleep goals are all that were offered. Granted- I only did the free episode. It’s possible there are more features available after subscribing?

Second- I have a different app for sleep that works well for me. I was hoping to try a few episodes before deciding whether or not this was for me. Unfortunately, only one episode is available without subscribing and that just isn’t enough to persuade me to drop that much money. Maybe open up 3 or 4 episodes for free so people have a chance to see if it works for them. I’d have no problem subscribing to something long term if it worked for me. :-)

by It's Ok But Tiring

This is awesome. I enjoy the immersive stories and coloring to bring the story alive. Each night I can’t wait to open up Loóna! I fall asleep real fast with Loóna. It’s funny. Once, I opened Loóna and loaded a sleepscape and was asleep before it even started! I actually think about it during the day an anticipate the next immersive story. I have favorites as well that I never thought I’d like! I play these over and over again! There are so many immersive stories I have Loóna for several months now and still haven’t completed them all. More stories get loaded regularly so your never without a sleepscape! You can choose to color a sleepscape with story or a story without coloring and also just music or sounds from the sleepscape. I love it all. If I don’t want to do the sleepscape. I either choose the immersive story alone or one of the music or sounds. I just stuck in my ear buds and listen. But don’t get me wrong… the sleepscape’s are the best. You have simply got to try Loóna out! It’s really hard to visualize this without trying it. Yes! I do pay for it! It’s that good! And I don’t pay for apps often at all! You will be missing out if you don’t try it our fully! I did the Dragon Shine (free one-great sleepscape by the way but once I payed for Loóna - I never went back to the dragon shrine! And I LOVED the dragon shrine!) there’s is just so much to EXPLORE!

by LBasham5122

As someone who lives with both ADHD and anxiety, Loóna has been an amazing way to wind down before bed and get my brain to focus on calm, happy things. Recorded guided meditations aren’t always my thing, and coloring the scene helps me stay on track and not open other apps. Speaking of the scenes- hats off to the visuals team. They are stunning and memorable. Beautiful use of color and texture within the modes. My favorites so far are the Luminescent Tree, the Rain Garden, and the Japanese garden. The soundscapes are also lovely! Easy to loop but not too repetitive or disruptive to sleep. Thanks for the easy hint button too- I love that there’s nothing frustrating about this. This has been a nice break from my “ambient music” routine and I genuinely feel calmer, sleepy, and happier for bed. I’m going to start recommending this to my friends, family; and students! THANK you this app!! I can’t wait to see how Loóna develops in the future.

PS- I REALLY love the nature scenarios. The narratives have all been nice but I think I preferred those to the stories about aliens ;) more water scenes and glowing scenes please!! ❤️

by TershaMusica

Update: up until now Loóna has been free to use. I still stand behind my statements and feel that the quality of Loóna is absolutely worth paying for. With that being said there is now a $40 annual fee (as of writing this the first year is half price as a promotion.) While I personally can’t afford it right now, I still have access to my past chapters (thank you for that devs.) If you can afford the annual fee, please consider supporting the this app team.

Before this app, ASMR was one of the only things that could help me sleep. this app has been an amazing new experience for me and has completely changed my sleep routine for the better. I love Loóna wholeheartedly and I have so much appreciation for the developers, the voice actor/s, and everyone else involved in the making of this app. Please, if you haven’t already, give Loóna a chance. If you’re like me and struggle to sleep just give it a try. I’ve found it helps me relax and unwind enough to actually sleep. The sleepscape stories are wonderful in my opinion, and the soundscapes are equally great. So much love and time went into Loóna and I honestly don’t think I can write in words how much this has helped me. This may not be an app for everyone, and that’s okay, but I’d say download it and find out for yourself. Thank you developers. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

by Leeza Fedosova

I have ADHD and struggle with falling asleep. Before I was diagnosed my brain would not stop working at night; constant thoughts. Once I was diagnosed and started taking medications, my intrusive thoughts disappeared BUT trying out different stimulants until I found the right one was a tough time. No more active brain at night, instead I just didn’t feel sleepy. So I re-downloaded Loóna and tried it again. I now drink Sleepy Tea, and do relaxing yoga 1 hour before bed to get my body relaxed. Then I spend the next 30 minutes using Loóna with a wireless headband I bought online that has speakers built in. Loóna is like a guided meditation but also lets the user get hands on and use their fine motor skills. I personally need stimulation to relax; regular guided meditations just don’t do it for me…my brain can never stay on topic. But Loóna is the GOAT. The sleep scapes are beautiful, and I LOVE the mans voice over. There are nights where I can’t even finish the full 25-30 minute sleep scape and I have to switch to one of the playlists they offer. I bought the yearly subscription and it was worth every penny.

by Sarahmmm0010

Loóna is one of the best non medication tools I’ve ever found for falling asleep, so it’s 100% worth the subscription price. The sleepscapes are gorgeous, imaginative, and relaxing. I seriously look forward to getting in bed and starting my sleepscape every night. I would recommend that anyone who has trouble winding down give it a try and see if it works for you!

My only issue is that there just isn’t that much content on Loóna at this point. If I use Loóna every night (which I do because it’s amazing), there are just over a month’s worth of sleepscapes before I have to start redoing the ones I’ve already done. There are soundscapes and stories on Loóna as well, but I feel like other apps have those things and the sleepscapes are what make this app unique. This is not necessarily a negative since I know it must be time consuming to create the sleepscapes compared to other types of content, and I wouldn’t want the quality to suffer in the name of releasing them faster. Just something to keep in mind in case you get addicted like me - it’s well worth the price as is, but I hope as the developers gain more resources they can release sleepscapes a little faster.

by Krukau

The most quality app I ever seen in App Store!)

by Flastar

The dragon scene was so cool! Waiting for tomorrow one!