Nightsongnightsong.app · User Guide · TestFlight · Sep 2026

One honest number every morning. Measured against you.

How to set it up, how to read your morning number, and what happens to your data. Short version: Your recordings stay on your phone unless you choose to send them.

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Before your first night

A note from our founder.

You own your night. Thank you for trusting us with something this personal. A phone listening to you sleep is a real act of trust, and we treat it that way. Your recordings stay on your phone unless you choose to send them. The listening, the math, and your morning number all happen on the device in your hand, and the number is you against your own baseline, nobody else’s. Your night, your data, your call. Sharing is opt-in: if you choose to share, we get a summary of a few numbers, with no name attached. Never a recording. Never your name. And if anything is confusing, tell us. We read every note.

Matt
Somnus Technologies

How your night runs

Plug in, tap Start, sleep. In the morning, tap stop, then tap how you slept, scroll all the way down, tap Done. Forgot to tap stop? Move around for about five minutes, or open Nightsong, and it ends on its own. Home shows one number: your Somnus Index. Snore burden and breathing regularity, measured against you. That’s the meaning. Do it by hand for the first night or two, then turn Auto-start on (/0.6) and the night runs itself.

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What Nightsong does

The whole idea, in four beats.

A person plugging in the phone on the nightstand at night
01
Plug in
Nightstand or mattress edge, within a few feet of your head.
A person tapping the orange Start button on the phone
02
It starts
Tap the terracotta Start orb at the bottom of Home. After a night or two, turn Auto-start on and it starts when you settle.
A person asleep, the phone glowing on the nightstand
03
Sleep
Lock the phone and forget it. It is listening, and it is not telling.
A person in morning light glancing at the phone
04
Glance
It stops in the morning, or when you get up and walk away. Your Somnus Index™, snore burden and breathing regularity, measured against you, is waiting on Home.

Your iPhone listens, does the math on the phone, and gives you one number each morning. It compares you to you, not to a stranger. The phone does the whole job on its own. An Apple Watch is a nice extra, never required.

Nightsong is a wellness app for understanding your own sleep over time.

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Get the app

You only do this once. Public link, not an email invite.

  1. Install the free TestFlight app from the App Store (the blue propeller icon), if you don’t already have it.
  2. Open this link on your iPhone: testflight.apple.com/join/2tkCUF1M
  3. In TestFlight, tap Accept, then Install. When the button says Open, you are done.
  4. Open Nightsong from your Home Screen from now on, like any other app. You’re off and running.
  5. Updates. When one arrives, open TestFlight and tap Update. Your nights stay put.

If TestFlight asks you to install first, install it, then open the link again. Rare fallback: an email invite from Apple’s TestFlight works too, but the public link is the main way in. Trouble? [email protected] and we will help.

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First open

A few sign-off screens, then a short setup. Everything past the microphone is optional.

  1. A wellness app, honestly. A plain statement that Nightsong is a wellness product. Read it; it is short.
  2. Microphone, for your nights only. Tap Allow microphone. Capture runs only when you start a night. Audio is analyzed on the phone.
  3. Auto-start (optional). Let the night arm itself at bedtime. You can also set this later under Settings & trust; see /0.6.
  4. Connect Apple Health (optional). Tap Connect Health if you want your Watch numbers in the morning picture. You can do this later; see /0.9.
  5. A quiet target (optional). Steps or active minutes, measured against your own days. Skip it or set it later under You.
  6. Therapy & context (optional). What you use, if anything. Context for you, never billing, never a change to your number. /0.13 walks it.
  7. Sharing with Nightsong. Read the one-sentence consent, confirm you are 18 or older when asked, then choose Share & help improve Nightsong or Not now, keep it fully private.

What “Share” actually sends. A summary of a few numbers from the night. No name, no email, nothing tied back to you.

What it never sends. Recordings. Your recordings stay on your phone unless you choose to send them.

Changing your mind. Open the You tab, scroll to About, and tap Sharing choice. It shows the date you accepted. Switch it either way, any time.

About: About and credits, How Nightsong reads your night, Wellness disclaimer and legal, Sharing choice with the date it was accepted, then Sharing readout
About. Sharing choice sits here.
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Your first night

Placement is the whole game.

  1. Charge and place. Plug the phone in, then:
    • Set it on the nightstand or the mattress edge, within a few feet of your head.
    • Keep the microphone clear of pillows and blankets. Closer is better than buried.
    • Fans and noise machines belong at the foot of the bed or across the room, not next to the phone.
    • Pick one spot and keep it. Same spot, every night, is what makes your baseline yours.
  2. Do Not Disturb or airplane mode: optional, not required. Nightsong keeps listening through the night either way. A call or an alert just makes the night a little noisier. Turn one on for a cleaner night.
  3. Start the night. Tap the terracotta Start orb. Don’t force-quit Nightsong at bedtime. Start and stop it yourself for the first night or two; then turn Auto-start on (/0.6) and the night arms itself.
  4. In the morning: tap stop, then tap how you slept, scroll all the way down, tap Done. Home shows your number. Forgot to tap stop? No problem. Get up and move around for about five minutes, or just open Nightsong, and the night ends on its own.

Your early nights. Home will say LEARNING, “Still learning your baseline,” or “0 of 7 nights.” Normal. Not broken. It takes a couple of nights. Keep running nights the same way: same spot, plugged in. /0.8 shows the screen.

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Set this up once

After your first night or two: open the You tab, then Settings & trust. Turn these on and leave them on.

Settings and trust: Night capture with the nightly start reminder, Noticed reminders when a night moves off your own baseline, then the Auto-start row
Settings & trust. Nightly reminder, Noticed reminders, then Auto-start and Smart wake.
Auto-start: Set this up once, with Auto-start nights, At my bedtime and When plugged in around bedtime all on
Auto-start: all three on. Set your bedtime. Keep Nightsong open or recently used at bedtime.
Smart wake on: a gentle wake by 6:00, sound and haptic ramp from a lighter phase
Smart wake: on. Pick your up-by time, tap Set wake. /0.10 has the detail.

From then on the night arms itself when you settle, and the morning comes up gently. Tapping the Start orb yourself still works any night. Noticed reminders lives on this screen too: when a night moves off your own baseline, Home says so in one short line. Leave it on, or turn it off here.

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While it listens

Lock the phone. Let it be the sensor.

Listening screen: Reading your night, with a note that the recording stays on your phone and an End the night button
Listening. Reading your night. Audio stays on this phone.

Once the night is running, the screen reads “Reading your night” with a clear note that the recording stays on your phone. Lock it and leave it.

No video or heavy apps on the listening phone overnight. It has one job tonight.

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Your morning

Three taps to Home. Then one glance.

The morning reveal

  1. Tap how you slept. Groggy or not. One tap.
  2. Scroll all the way to the bottom.
  3. Tap Done. That is the only way out to Home. If you stop on the orb, you never get there.

Home

Home is where you live. Your Index sits at the top with one plain word. Under it, three cards: Breathing, Snore, Sleep, each against your own baseline. Under the cards, one short line about the night. When a night moves off your own baseline, Home says so once, briefly (Noticed). The terracotta orb at the bottom is Start for tonight.

Tap the big number for the deeper dive: the cards in full, then your loudest moments. Tap Snore to review it and listen to the clips. Breathing and Sleep are there too.

Your Somnus Index™ is real, and it is made on your phone in the morning when you wake up. A large share of it is snore burden and breathing regularity. Other sleep measurements are in there too, but a much smaller portion. It is measured against you and builds a personal baseline over time, not Apple Health or Oura readiness.

Rings and watches score readiness, movement, and heart rate. Nightsong is listening to your night. That is why the number will feel different from Apple Health, Oura, or Garmin-style scores, by design.

How it is made: 60 held-out sleep-lab recordings, from an outside library of 287 expert-labeled overnight recordings. Every engine change is checked against them; none are used to train or tune it. Plain, fixed checks throw out anything not loud enough or steady enough to be real. If the night was not clearly heard, you get no number instead of a guess.

Steady means a solid night, for you. Strong means a better night than your usual.

If a night is too noisy to read, Nightsong says so instead of guessing. What matters is the trend, not one night.

Don’t chase the number. It is not a grade. It is a mirror.

The morning reveal: an orange orb inside a ring, showing your Somnus Index
The morning reveal. Do not stop here. Scroll down, tap Done.
Home: Somnus Index 81, Steady, cards for Breathing, Snore and Sleep, and one short line about the night
Home. Index 81, Steady.
Snore: Light night, 10.4 percent, Hear your night, Loudest moments with three 20 second clips, and a note that recordings never leave your phone
Snore. Your loudest moments, kept on this phone. Auto-clear after 7 nights.
Breathing: Steady, in your typical range, last 7 nights versus your range, and what this means
Breathing. Last 7 nights against your own range.
Sleep: 4h 35m asleep, Deep, Core, REM and Awake, and the stages through the night
Sleep. Stages through the night. Tap any stage.
Your Night: Breathing, Snore, Sleep and Vitals cards, then Loudest Moments
Tap the big number. Cards, then your loudest moments.
Your Night, further down: Go deeper with Trends, All-night audio, and What is shaping your number, then Measured now
Scroll on: Trends, All-night audio, What’s shaping your number.

Still learning

Seeing LEARNING, “Still learning your baseline,” or “0 of 7 nights”? Normal. Not broken. It takes a couple of nights. Keep running nights the same way: same spot, plugged in. Dashes or “no reading last night”? Check placement (closer to your head, mic uncovered, fan across the room), then try another night.

Home while learning: LEARNING, Still learning your baseline, 0 of 7 nights, no reading last night on each card
Learning. Normal for the first nights.
Learn and grow card explaining the Somnus Index in plain words
Learn & grow. The Index, explained in the app. Heart rate, HRV, and oxygen numbers in this read come from Apple Health when a Watch is connected, not from the microphone.
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Watch and Apple Health

Optional. Two switches, one in Nightsong and one in Apple Health.

You do not need a watch. If you wear an Apple Watch to bed, its numbers can join the morning picture. Two switches have to be on.

In Nightsong

  1. Open the You tab and find Apple Health.
  2. Tap Connect Health. On the sheet that appears, turn everything on, then tap Allow. Connected shows a dot.
Units and format with a 12-hour time format, then Apple Health: Connected. Reads only.
Apple Health: Connected. Reads only. Units & format sits just above it.

In Apple Health, if you skipped it or said no earlier

  1. Open the Health app, tap your picture (top right), then Apps.
  2. Tap Nightsong and turn on each category, or tap Turn On All.
  3. Same switch from the other side: Settings, Health, Data Access & Devices, Nightsong.

Wear it with charge

Wear the watch to bed with enough battery to last the night. If the watch dies, the phone night still counts in full.

Extra, not a gate

Heart rate, HRV, and oxygen come from Apple Health when a Watch is connected. Nightsong does not measure those with the mic. The Index is still mostly snore burden and breathing regularity from the phone. Nightsong only reads from Health, never writes. No watch still means a full phone night. A watch number on Home is extra context, not a second score to chase.

Side bonus: a quiet target

Under You there is a quiet target for steps or active minutes, measured against your own days, never a stranger’s average. Set it once if you want it.

Your quiet target: Let Nightsong set it, or choose your own measure
Your quiet target. Set it once.
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Smart Wake

Turn it on. A softer way up.

Skip the jarring alarm. Smart Wake eases you up from a lighter phase, and you are up by the time you set no matter what. If Sound is on, pick Gentle, Firm, or Sharp. Sound off taps only your wrist, not your partner. Tap Set wake.

Smart wake on: a gentle wake by 6:00, sound and haptic ramp from a lighter phase, up by 6:00 no matter what
Smart wake: on. Up by 6:00 (hard), starts looking 5:45.
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Ask Nightsong

The sparkle button. Questions about your night, answered on your phone.

Have a question about your night? Tap the sparkle marked Ask on Your Night or You. Ask Nightsong answers plain questions about your own nights from what is already on your phone. Wellness only, never a verdict.

Ask Nightsong on this phone
Ask Nightsong. On this phone.
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You, privacy, and therapy tags

Your context. Your record. Never changes the score.

The You tab holds your settings and privacy. One line says it all: your recordings never leave your phone. Your sharing choice lives here too, under About. Enhanced explanations is an optional one-time download (about 400 MB, Wi-Fi only) that brings richer plain-words reads of your nights. It is stored on this phone.

Therapy & context

Under You, the first row is Therapy & context: CPAP, oral appliance, nerve stimulator, or Something else. It never changes your Index. /0.13 walks it one tap at a time.

Privacy and trust: your recordings never leave your phone, then Privacy Policy, Consumer Health Data Policy, Terms of Use, Consents and sign-offs, Help and support
Privacy & trust. The policies, one tap away.
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The two screens that help us most

Everything else in Nightsong works without these. These two are the ones that help us learn, and they take about a minute. Here they are, one tap at a time.

Screen one: Sharing with Nightsong

Sharing choice screen: Sharing with Nightsong, the one-sentence consent, and the Share and help improve Nightsong button 1 2
  1. You will see this screen during first open. If you already tapped past it, open the You tab (the person icon at the bottom of Home), scroll to About, and tap Sharing choice. It shows the date you accepted.
  2. Read the one sentence in the box. It says what sharing means, in plain words. Confirm you are 18 or older when asked.
  3. Tap the terracotta button: Share & help improve Nightsong. That is it. You are done.
  4. Changed your mind later? Same place under You. Tap Not now, keep it fully private and sharing stops.
What this sends. After the phone makes your Somnus Index, a summary of a few numbers from that night’s sleep, with no name attached goes to us. Never audio. Never your name. It is how the app gets better for the next person, and for you.

Rendered from the app, so every word and button matches what you will see on your phone.

Screen two: Therapy & context

  1. Open the You tab. It is the person icon in the pill at the bottom of Home.
  2. Tap Therapy & context. It is the first row, under “Your context & settings.”
  3. Tap the circle next to what you use: CPAP, Oral appliance, or Nerve stimulator (HGNS or similar).
  4. Track my usage: switch it on. Nightsong asks one quick question in the morning. It is stored on this phone.
  5. Using something not listed? Tap Something else. Using nothing? Leave the screen blank; the app works exactly the same.
Why we ask. This never changes your score. It tells us what people are really using alongside their nights.
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When something is off

Most of it is placement or battery.

No number this morning?
Usually the phone ran out of battery, or the night never started. Plug in before bed. Tap Start, or turn Auto-start on. Don’t force-quit Nightsong at bedtime.
It says “we didn’t hear the night”?
That is placement, not a fault. Move the phone closer to your head, uncover the mic, and put the fan or noise machine across the room. Nightsong would rather say nothing than invent a number.
Still learning?
A couple of nights build the baseline. Missed or unheard nights do not count toward it. Keep the same placement and it will get there.
The number looks off?
Give it a few nights. One night is never the whole story.
Battery drain?
Keep the listening phone plugged in. No video on that phone overnight.
Watch numbers missing?
Check both switches in /0.9: Connect Health inside Nightsong, and Nightsong turned on inside the Health app. Then make sure the watch had charge.
Smart Wake missed?
Confirm Smart Wake is on and the time is set. Check volume. If you use the Watch tap, make sure the watch had charge.
Sharing a bed?
Keep the phone on your side, closer to you, and keep that spot the same each night. Nightsong follows your night.
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Talk to us

We are a small team and this is a beta. Your notes shape what ships next.

Screenshot feedback, right from the app
Take a screenshot of whatever looks wrong. Tap the thumbnail that appears, then choose Share Beta Feedback. TestFlight sends the picture and your note straight to us. Nothing in the app can see your data, so add what you are comfortable sharing in your own words.
General questions and feedback
[email protected]
Privacy questions
[email protected]
Everything else
nightsong.app/contact

On-device. Your own baseline. Real nights, on real phones, scored where they were heard.