What Lull Does
Your podcasts and audiobooks everywhere you go, from CarPlay to the nightstand, plus the calmest way to fall asleep to them when the day is done.
Fall asleep to any podcast
Search for any show and follow it, get new episodes automatically, and drift off to it with the sleep timer. Free, and no account to set up.
Audiobooks, free or your own
A built-in library of free, public-domain audiobooks (classics from LibriVox) is ready the moment you open the app. Or bring your own from a Plex or Audiobookshelf server, or import .m4b / .mp3 files from the Files app.
A sleep timer that's for sleep
Pick a length from 15 to 90 minutes, stop at the end of the chapter, or set any custom time, and choose how long the fade itself takes. As it ends, your podcast or book dips smoothly under your sleep sounds, keeping the last words just audible instead of cutting to silence, so you never wake to a jolt or a sudden blast of audio.
Mix your own sleep sounds
Layer ocean, rain, a fireplace, a fan, crickets, a thunderstorm, birdsong, and brown / pink / white noise. Save your favorite blends. Optional gentle tones for winding down (use headphones).
Sounds under your story
Like a little rain or a crackling fire while you listen? Play ambient sound softly beneath your book or podcast, with its own pick and volume, kept separate from your sleep-sound mix. It bows out at the handoff so your sleep sounds take over fresh.
Come right back
Still awake when the sounds start? Shake your phone, or tap your headset or lock screen, and Lull brings your audio back and restarts the timer, rewound to right before you faded.
A stray bump won’t wake it
The classic 2 AM problem: you roll onto a Bluetooth headset and your book blasts back on for hours. Lull guards against it. Once you have drifted off, a single accidental press is held, not obeyed. Bringing your audio back takes a deliberate double-tap.
Easy on sleepy ears
Made for very low volume: Voice Boost lifts soft, mumbly narration, Night EQ softens harsh highs, and Skip Silence races through long gaps so a quiet stretch does not leave you straining to hear.
Bookmarks, favorites, and your speed
Star the books you love, drop a bookmark on a spot (or a spot with a note), and set your playback speed, remembered per book. Your Continue shelf always picks up wherever you left off, across every source.
Listen anywhere
In the car with CarPlay, plus the lock screen, Control Center, AirPlay, and home-screen widgets. Download for offline, and your place, favorites, and saved sound mixes sync over iCloud, so you pick up on your iPhone or iPad right where you left off.
Free & Premium
The whole player is free. One optional, one-time unlock adds the Premium extras, from importing your own sleep sounds to hands-off sleep detection.
Free, forever
- Public-domain audiobooks (LibriVox) & any podcast
- Your own Plex / Audiobookshelf library
- Import your own .m4b / .mp3 files
- Sleep timer, end-of-chapter, and fade-to-sounds
- The full sleep-sound mixer and saved mixes
- Offline downloads, widgets, AirPlay, resume-where-you-left-off
An entirely optional Tip Jar lets you support development, it unlocks nothing.
Lull Premium · one-time unlock
- Your own sleep sounds: import any audio (a rain recording, a fan loop) and mix it alongside the built-in sounds. No extra device needed.
- Sleep Insights: a quiet, factual look at your nights
- Night recordings: snoring or sleep-talking, saved on-device
- Gentle wake alarm: wakes you back into your book
- Sleep detection: an Apple Watch or AirPods notice when you drift off and fade the book on their own, rewound to onset
- Smart Nap: counts from when you actually fall asleep
- Listen on Apple Watch: stream to AirPods, no phone in the room
Several of these (your own sounds, Sleep Insights, night recordings, and the wake alarm) work on any iPhone. Detection, Smart Nap, and wrist listening need an Apple Watch or supported AirPods. Pay once, keep it forever. No subscription. The first few nights are free to try, and Family Sharing is supported.
Getting Started
You can be listening in under a minute, no account required.
- Open Lull and pick something to play.
The Library tab opens on free books and your other sources. Tap a book or podcast episode and it streams right away.
- (Optional) Connect your own library.
On the Library tab, switch the source to Plex or Audiobookshelf and sign in, or choose My Files to import .m4b / .mp3 audiobooks from the Files app (or use “Open in Lull” from another app).
- Set a sleep timer.
On the Now Playing screen, tap the moon, then tap a length (or “End of chapter”). The timer starts immediately and shows a check so you always know what’s set.
- Choose your sounds.
Open the Sleep Sounds tab to build a mix, tap sounds to layer them, drag the sliders to balance, and save the blend. When the book fades, these take over.
- Drift off.
Lull fades the book down, hands off to your sounds, and remembers your spot. In the morning, the book is waiting right where you faded.
Using the Sleep Timer & Sounds
Tap the moon on Now Playing. Tap any length (15 / 20 / 30 / 45 / 60 / 90), End of chapter, or open Custom for an exact time. Tapping a length starts it right away; the running timer shows a check, tap a different length to restart it. As the timer runs out, your book fades down gently (the fade is shorter for short timers) and your sleep sounds rise underneath it.
Once the sounds are playing, a shake of the phone, a headset tap, or the lock-screen play button brings your book back (rewound a little so you re-hear what you missed) and restarts the timer for the same length. Roll over and bump a button by accident and the book stays put; it takes a deliberate second tap to wake it.
The Sleep Sounds tab is a full sound machine on its own. Layer water, rain, nature, and home sounds with brown / pink / white (and more) noise, balance each layer, and save named mixes you can recall with a tap. There’s a separate fade-out timer for sounds-only nights, an optional set of gentle tones (headphones recommended), and a hearing-calibration option under Settings → Audio if a sound seems off for your ears.
Tip: a per-book sound mix
Lull can remember a different sound blend for each book, so your thriller and your bedtime classic each get the right backdrop. Toggle it in Settings.
Sleep Detection, Apple Watch & AirPods (Premium)
Hands-off fading: instead of guessing with a timer, Lull can notice when you’ve actually fallen asleep and fade the book then, rewound to where you drifted.
- Wear an Apple Watch, or supported AirPods.
Detection uses your Apple Watch (motion + heart rate), or AirPods Pro / 3rd-generation-or-later / Max (head stillness; AirPods Pro 3 add heart rate on iOS 26). Without one of these, the sleep timer still works and is free.
- Turn on Automatic sleep detection.
Settings → Sleep → Sleep Detection. Set the sensitivity on a five-step scale from Patient (waits until you are clearly asleep) to Swift (fades the moment you settle), with Balanced in the middle. Start at Balanced and nudge it over your first few nights. You also choose how far the book rewinds when it fades.
- Just listen.
Start your book at bedtime. When you drift off, Lull fades it into your sounds and backs the book up toward the moment you actually fell asleep, so the lag costs you nothing. A tap or shake brings it back if it ever fades too soon.
Detection also powers Smart Nap (a nap that counts from when you fall asleep, not when you press start) and a gentle wake alarm that wakes you back into your book: instead of a blaring tone, your story eases in softly at a light moment near your set time, with a silent buzz on your wrist. Sleep Insights then gives a quiet recap of your nights, just the facts of what played and when, not a clinical sleep score.
Lull is a general wellness app for relaxation and bedtime listening. It is not a medical device and is not intended to diagnose, treat, or monitor any condition. Heart-rate and motion data are read only while you’re listening and stay on your device.
Help & Troubleshooting
Quick fixes for the most common bumps.
My Plex (or Audiobookshelf) server won’t connect
Make sure your phone and server are reachable on the same network, or that your server is available over the internet. For Plex, sign in again from the Library source switcher; Lull auto-discovers your servers, and you can also enter a server URL and token manually.
If only some books appear, check that they’re in a library Lull can read (audiobooks live in a Plex Music library). When you have more than one, you can show a single library, or pick All Libraries to browse them all together.
I imported a book and it won’t play / says it’s protected
Lull plays standard .m4b and .mp3 files. It can’t play .aax / .aa files (DRM-protected, like Audible), those are encrypted, so Lull rejects them with a message. Use DRM-free .m4b or .mp3 audiobooks and import them from the Files app or via “Open in Lull.”
The book didn’t fade when I fell asleep
Automatic fading needs Sleep Detection (Premium) and a worn Apple Watch or supported AirPods, check Settings → Sleep → Sleep Detection, that your wearable is connected, and that detection isn’t set too “Patient.” If you’re not using detection, set a sleep timer instead and the book will fade on schedule.
It faded while I was still awake
That’s safe by design, a quick shake, headset tap, or lock-screen play brings the book right back. If it happens often, set detection to a more Patient sensitivity (Settings → Sleep → Sleep Detection).
I see an orange dot all night
If you turned on Night recordings, iOS keeps the orange microphone indicator lit the whole time Lull is listening. That’s expected, the recordings stay on your device and delete themselves after 14 days. Turn the feature off in Settings if you’d rather not record.
Downloads or sounds use too much data / battery
Turn on Wi-Fi-only downloads in Settings to avoid cellular data. Sleep sounds are generated on the device (no streaming). Overnight listening with detection and recording does use battery, charging on the nightstand is the easy fix.
My progress isn’t syncing across devices
Lull syncs your position, favorites, saved mixes, and followed podcasts over iCloud. Make sure you’re signed into the same iCloud account on both devices and that iCloud Drive is on. Imported local files stay on the device they were imported to.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Lull free?
Yes. The whole player (free audiobooks, podcasts, your own Plex / Audiobookshelf library, imported files, the sleep timer, and the full sound mixer) is free. An optional one-time Premium unlock adds extras like your own custom sounds, Sleep Insights, night recordings, and a wake alarm (all on any iPhone), plus hands-off sleep detection and wrist listening with an Apple Watch or AirPods. There’s also a voluntary Tip Jar that unlocks nothing.
Do I need a Plex server or an account?
No. You can use Lull entirely free with no account using the built-in public-domain audiobooks and podcasts. Plex and Audiobookshelf are optional, for streaming your own library.
Can I add my own podcasts?
Yes. Search for any show and follow it, and Lull keeps it up to date with new episodes (a dot marks the ones you haven’t played). Each episode plays with the same sleep timer, fade-to-sounds, and resume-where-you-left-off as a book, so falling asleep to a podcast works exactly the way you’d want.
Can I listen to my Audible books?
Audible audiobooks are DRM-protected, so they can’t be imported or played in Lull. Lull plays standard, DRM-free .m4b and .mp3 files, import those from the Files app or with “Open in Lull.”
What sleep sounds are included?
A large library you can mix and match, ocean and waves, several kinds of rain, a fireplace, a fan, crickets, frogs, a thunderstorm, wind, birdsong, a cafe, and brown / pink / white (and more) noise, plus optional gentle tones for headphones. Save your favorite blends and recall them with a tap.
How does sleep detection know I’m asleep?
With an Apple Watch it watches your motion settling and your heart rate easing; with supported AirPods it senses your head going still. When the signs line up, it fades your audio and rewinds toward when you drifted off. It is a best guess, not a medical reading, so if it ever fades while you are still awake, a tap or a shake brings your audio right back.
What if it fades too early, or too late?
Adjust the sensitivity in Settings → Sleep → Sleep Detection. It runs on a five-step scale from Patient (waits until you are clearly out) to Swift (fades the moment you settle), with Balanced in the middle. If it fades while you are still awake, nudge it toward Patient; if it waits too long, nudge it toward Swift. Most people land on their setting within a few nights, and a tap or shake always brings your audio back while you dial it in.
Will an accidental bump on my headset wake the book?
No, and this is a common annoyance with other players: you roll onto a Bluetooth headset or your phone and your audio blasts back on for hours. Once Lull has faded you off to sleep, a single stray press is held instead of obeyed; bringing your audio back takes a deliberate double-tap (or a phone shake). A fast tap right after the fade still works instantly, since that means you are clearly still awake.
Does Lull track me or collect my data?
No. Lull has no accounts and no analytics, ads, or tracking. Your library, listening, and any night recordings stay on your device; your Plex / Audiobookshelf connection talks only to your own server. See the Privacy Policy for details.
Will it keep playing with the screen off?
Yes, Lull plays in the background with full lock-screen and Control Center controls, a sleep-timer Live Activity, and home-screen widgets. It keeps your spot if you close the app, and resumes right where you left off.
Does a phone call or Maps interrupt my book?
Only for the moment. After a call, a navigation prompt, or any audio interruption, Lull picks your audio back up on its own, so a quick beep from Maps or a short call does not leave you stranded in silence.
Can Lull download episodes for me automatically?
Yes. Download anything for offline listening, and turn on smart downloads to have Lull grab the rest of your current book or new episodes of shows you follow, then tidy away the ones you have finished. Keep it Wi-Fi-only if you like.
Is there a dark theme, and a bedtime reminder?
Both. An OLED night theme uses pure-black backgrounds for the least glow in a dark room (with optional quiet hours), and an optional bedtime reminder sends a gentle wind-down nudge at a time and on the days you choose.
What devices does Lull support?
iPhone and iPad (iOS / iPadOS 17 and later), with CarPlay for the car and AirPlay to your speakers. Premium features add an Apple Watch companion for detection and wrist listening, and work with supported AirPods.
Contact & Support
Questions, a bug, or an idea? Get in touch. It’s a one-person project, and feedback genuinely helps.
Corey Feldman
Email: Corey@FeldmanGroupRE.com
Phone: 301-564-3058