Lissa for sleep: Sound that lasts the night, and a gentle alarm at the end of it.
Lissa's Sleep sessions run from bedtime to your wake time, quietly or all the way through, and end on a Wake Alarm in the same app. Here is how a night is set up and which pattern to choose.
01 · How a session runs
The shape of a session
Every night opens with Settle In, two quiet minutes. Started from your schedule, the pattern is fitted to the time between bedtime and your alarm. The beat sits in the Delta band, the slowest of the six.
- Phase 1
Settle In
Two quiet minutes to get comfortable.
- Phase 2
Fade to Sleep
Sound that settles you down over about half an hour.
- Phase 3
Asleep
The middle of the night: quiet, or sound all night, depending on the pattern.
- Phase 4
Ease Awake
Sound that rises before your alarm, so you surface rather than jolt.
02 · Patterns
Which one to pick
Each pattern is a ready-made session. Lengths can be changed in the app, and Arrange can build one from a sentence.
| Pattern | Length | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| All Night | through the night | For light sleepers and anyone who can't sleep in silence: sound straight through to the alarm. |
| Fall Asleep & Ease AwakeDefault | through the night | The default: it settles you, goes quiet through the night, and rises before the alarm. |
| Fall Asleep | 30 min | Thirty minutes of sound to drift off to, then the room goes quiet. |
03 · The schedule
Set your night once
The Sleep | Wake Schedule is a bedtime and a wake time on a 24-hour dial, for the days you choose, with a sleep goal beside it. Each schedule has its own soundscape and alarm options. Next Schedule changes only tonight, so a late night doesn't undo the week.
A Wind Down reminder comes 15 to 90 minutes before bedtime, and the Tonight card on Home starts the night with one tap.
04 · The alarm
A Wake Alarm that rings on silent
The Wake Alarm is a real system alarm: it rings on a locked phone, in silent mode and through a Focus, with a gentle tone that ramps up. Dismiss it and Handover can start a morning soundscape, a sunrise in sound, in place of silence.
05 · By the bed
A clock and a red night light
On the Lock Screen and in StandBy, the phone becomes a bedside clock with the wake time. The default visual is a deep red light (630 nm) in place of a bright screen.
06 · In the morning
Your night, read back
If you allow Apple Health, the session's summary shows when you fell asleep, how long you slept and how often you woke, read from what your phone or watch recorded. After a short night, the next day's sound plays gentler.
Getting the most from it
- If silence wakes you, choose All Night; if sound keeps you up, choose Fall Asleep.
- Keep the volume low: sound meant for hours should sit just above the room. Lissa's Hearing card shows your week's headphone listening.
- In bed, a speaker or sleep earbuds both work. A binaural beat needs headphones; other layers don't.
Worth knowing
- The guided Sleep setup is part of Lissa Premium; the same schedule is free to build in Account.
- Sleep figures come from Apple Health and the devices that write to it. Lissa doesn't record the night itself.
The research
What the studies say about sleep
Lissa's own articles, on lissa.app.
- The Quietest HoursWhat the research says about sound at bedtime and sound through the night.
- A Beat That Isn’t ThereA 3 Hz beat, a night of polysomnography, and the research around a 2018 sleep study.
- Then the MorningA 3 Hz beat on a 174 Hz carrier, a week of sleep diaries, and the step between sleep and mood.
- Eight Years LaterThe 3 Hz sleep study, the forty-three papers that cite it, and the one that tried to repeat it.
- The Beat That TravelsA binaural beat swept across the whole delta band, and the night it was measured on.
Questions
Lissa for sleep: questions
Is Lissa free?
You can keep one soundscape free in the web player at lissa.app. In the app, Lissa Premium starts with 7 days free on the yearly plan.
Will the alarm ring if my phone is on silent?
Yes. The Wake Alarm is a system alarm and rings on a locked phone, in silent mode and through a Focus.
Do I need headphones in bed?
No. Music, noise and recorded sounds play on the phone's speaker. Only a binaural beat needs headphones, and an isochronic beat plays on a speaker.
Can I fall asleep to my own music?
Yes. An Apple Music playlist can take the place of Lissa's music inside a Sleep session, with the same fade and alarm. Apple's catalog needs your own subscription.
Does Lissa track my sleep?
It reads sleep from Apple Health, recorded by your phone, watch or another device, and shows it on the session's summary. It has no recorder of its own.
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