Choose Sleep Cycle
Pick Sleep Cycle if the wake-window smart alarm is the feature you actually want, if you want fifteen years of refinement behind the analysis, or if you want snore and cough detection.
Comparison
Restful vs Sleep Cycle
Sleep Cycle has been the name in phone-based sleep tracking since 2009 and largely invented the category. If you want the feature Sleep Cycle is famous for — an alarm that hunts for a light-sleep moment to wake you — Restful does not have it, and this page will not pretend otherwise.
Facts about Sleep Cycle were read from its US App Store listing on 6 September 2026. Apps change; the live listing is the authority.
Side by side
| Restful | Sleep Cycle | |
|---|---|---|
| How you pay | USD 2.99 once. No subscription, no in-app purchase, no ads, no paid tier. | Free to download, with a subscription for the paid features. Prices change; check the listing. |
| What happens to features you already use | Nothing. There is no paid tier for anything to move into. | Feature access follows the subscription, so what is included can change with the plan. |
| Hardware needed | None beyond the iPhone or iPad you own. | None required; Sleep Cycle also tracks with the phone by the bed. |
| Oldest iOS supported | iOS 13.0, so it still runs on an iPhone 6s. | iOS 16.2, so it will not install on older iPhones. |
| App Store ratings (US) | None yet. Restful is new and from a small team. | 28,831 ratings on the current listing, averaging 4.7. The app has been on the store since 2009. |
| Sound library | Four nature tracks, four night-city ambiences, and a ten-channel mixer with a volume slider per channel. Small, and all of it included. | A large library of sounds and sleep stories, gated by the subscription. |
| Audio and where it goes | Analysed on the device one minute at a time, then deleted. No recordings are stored and nothing is uploaded. | Check the app’s own privacy policy and App Privacy label; practices differ and change. |
| Account required | No. Journals are stored on the device and the app works offline. | Check the current listing — several trackers in this category require or strongly push sign-in. |
| Smart alarm (wakes you in a light-sleep window) | No. Restful’s alarm rings at the time you set. It has 17 wake tones, shake-to-snooze and a snooze limit. | Yes. This is the feature Sleep Cycle is best known for. |
| Snore and cough detection | No. Restful does not detect, record or analyse snoring. | Yes, as part of the paid tier. |
Which one should you actually buy
Choose Restful
Pick Restful if you want a nightly score, a journal, sounds and a nap timer for one payment, and you are content with an alarm that simply rings when you set it.
This page is published by Curastone CORP, the developer of Restful. Sleep Cycle is made by Sleep Cycle AB and is not affiliated with Restful. Product names are the trademarks of their respective owners. We have tried to describe Sleep Cycle accurately and to say plainly where it is the better choice; if something here is wrong, tell us and we will correct it.
Other comparisons
Download
Get Restful for iPhone
Restful is a one-time purchase of USD 2.99. No subscription, no ads, and no wearable to buy — the sleep tracking runs on the iPhone you already own.
Requires iOS 13.0 or later. Overnight tracking works best with the iPhone plugged in and resting near the bed.