How often do you spot a new parent with dark underage circles toting baby around like a sleepwalking zombie? A fussy baby can become a real strain on everyone’s sleeping patterns. Kitefaster has created a Deep Sleep Sounds app, available on iOS, that lulls your baby to sleep.
When CEO Huxley Seidman had his first child, he tried several white noise apps until he found one that kept his son asleep. However, he didn’t appreciate the sound. Deep Sleep Sounds skips the high-pitched noise in favor of soothing white noise to help your baby (and you!) stay asleep.
The UI is simple, with minimal button pressing for the frustrated and overtired parent holding a fussy baby.
Seidman spoke to Hypepotamus about what sets Deep Sleep Sounds apart from other white noise apps, and what else Kitefaster has in store to help raising children a bit easier.
Year/Date Founded: Mid-2016
Funding: Bootstrapped
What’s the pitch?
Deep Sleep Sounds contains 18 high-quality sounds that will help you or your baby fall asleep faster and for a longer duration. Our sounds have helped travelers sleep in noisy hotels, lawyers study for the bar exam, patients with tinnitus suppress the humming noise in their ears, and babies fall asleep.
Babies find it difficult to fall asleep in a quiet room since they are used to the constant noises of the womb. Our app contains many sounds that magically transform a fussy baby into a calm baby such as Fan, Vacuum, Hair Dryer, Air Filter or White Noise. Leave the app on in the background to help your baby sleep through the night.
Each sound is seamlessly looped and transitions use fade-in, fade-out or cross-fading to ensure a soothing listening experience. The app is compatible with Bluetooth or AirPlay for wireless streaming at home or in the car. Use Spotlight Search, 3D Touch or the “play last sound on launch” setting to quickly launch the app and reduce button presses.
Deep Sleep Sounds is available for iPhone, iPad, iPod, and AppleTV worldwide in 22 different languages. The Apple TV version of the App was a Top 3 finalist in AppLovin’s Apple TV contest. The free version is limited to one hour of play at a time, upgrade to the Pro version for $3.99 to enjoy continuous play. The fan sound is by far the most popular sound.
What’s your revenue model?
Software sales distributed through Apple’s App Store (Premium and/or In-app Purchases).
How’d you get the idea for it?
After the birth of my son, I downloaded several sound machine apps to help him sleep. However, none of them contained sounds that both the baby and the parents could enjoy. Most of the sounds were too high pitched and the UI was terrible to use. I purchased a high quality microphone and started recording sounds in and around the house. I learned how to use Audacity for sound editing and combined that with my existing software development knowledge to develop the first version of “Deep Sleep Sounds”. After several months of using the app on our own, I finally released it for everyone to enjoy.
Who are your competitors and how do you stand out?
There are probably close to a hundred sound apps for iOS. Several features set us apart such as our seamless and high quality sound loops that work on both babies and adults, gradual fade in/out/crossfade effects, simple UI, oscillation simulation, and being ad free. In addition, we face competition from traditional sound machines that cost more and do not travel well.
What’s next for you?
We have a new app under development called Starting Solids and Beyond. Once a baby turns 6 months old they can start eating solids, however depending on the number of teeth, they might have to start with purees or they can go right to finger food. Our app will help parents select which foods are safe to feed their baby based on their age and stage of development. In addition, the parent can track each new food or medicine as they are introduced and monitor for any possible allergic reaction or food sensitivity.
The app will feature customized meal planning that will take into account family member’s ages, allergies, dietary restrictions, seasonal produce and more. The user will be able to share and sync data with significant others or their childcare provider. You can sign up for the beta now.
Interview by Muriel Vega. Development by Jasmyne Moody.
