Gave it a try: okay but needs work

[Rob]

I use Alexa to play sleep sounds almost every night and would love some variety so decided to give this app a try. The first thing I noticed is that some of the sounds are god awful and would be more likely to keep me awake or give me nightmares rather than help me sleep (bus, train, hair dryer, boiling kettle!)

The UI takes a minute to figure out because the icons and words below it are poorly aligned:

1. The minus, plus, infinity belong to the TIMER/OFF/ON below it
2. The 3 lines belong to the MIXER/OFF/ON BELOW it

Then you've got an ad below the controls which honestly isn't a big deal.

Using the mixer, finding a few sounds you like, and blending them is pretty easy. Might give it a try but not sure these beats Alexa. Would be nice if there were a related Alexa skill.

 

[man1977]

Thanks for your feedback!

some of the sounds are god awful and would be more likely to keep me awake or give me nightmares rather than help me sleep (bus, train, hair dryer, boiling kettle!)

- Yes, sounds like a hair dryer may not be suitable for adults, but believe me, such sounds perfectly calm babies. I can talk about this with confidence, as the author of a similar popular app (1M+ downloads): https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.amikulich.babysleep

The UI takes a minute to figure out because the icons and words below it are poorly aligned

- The words below do not refer to the icons above, this is just an information line. However, I will probably review this.

 

[Rob]

Awesome to have a developer that responds! Thanks for the follow up.

Hair dryer for babies makes sense. I was thinking inside the confines of my own use case- thanks for the clarification.

I think if you visually pair the words with the icons it will make a lot more sense for the user.

Do you intentionally put the controls near the ad in hopes of more clicks? It looks pretty good there. Nice work overall!

 

[man1977]

Do you intentionally put the controls near the ad in hopes of more clicks?

- Placing ad banners, as well as controls at the bottom of the screen, is a standard practice used in the vast majority of such (and not only) apps. Users will pay attention to such a banner much more than placing them at the top of the screen, for example. At the same time, I try to prevent accidental clicks - controls and the banner are separated by a non-clickable information line (TIMER ... MIXER ... TIME ...). In this matter, I follow Google’s recommendations, although in many popular apps, even those marked with the "Editor’s Choice" sign, you can see the banner placed immediately next to the controls.
https://support.google.com/admob/answer/6275345?hl=en
"Close proximity of banner ads to other elements within an app is one of the biggest causes of accidental clicks. To avoid accidental clicks, banner ads should not be placed immediately next to interactive elements and app content [...] This banner ad placement can put your app or your account at risk if too many accidental clicks occur, and we recommend against such an implementation."

Nice work overall!

- Thanks!