Free forever: The Night Train, in full · no account · no ads
Hour-long sleep stories for adults, read slowly in a low voice over painted scenes that move and dim as the night goes on. And 198 night sounds to mix by hand, with slow music underneath.
How a night goes
Press play 0 min
A few seconds in, the controls fade away and leave only the painting, moving softly. Nothing flashes, and nothing asks for a tap.
Settling in 9 min
A slow, low voice describes one calm place. There is no plot to follow and nothing to remember, so a busy mind has something gentle to hold instead of the day.
Under the voice 20 min
Field recordings of rain, wheels on the rails or a fire sit under the words. Choose more voice, more ambience or an even balance.
Slowing down 24 min
The voice gets slower and the pauses get longer as the story goes on, so there is less and less to hold on to.
Dimming 33 min
Each scene is a little darker than the one before and moves a little less. If you open your eyes, the room is still dark.
Sleep timer 43 min
Set it for 15, 30 or 45 minutes, or for the end of the story. The sound fades out over half a minute instead of stopping mid-sentence.
Drifting off 55 min
The story ends without a sign-off. Its sounds carry on for a few minutes, half an hour or all night, while the picture fades to black.
Seven sleep stories for adults
Each story is a place and a single, unhurried night in it. Nothing goes wrong, nobody is in a hurry, and there is nothing to follow. About an hour each, with more on the way.
A small, slow steam train climbs all night through snowy mountain forests, and the conductor turns the lamps down carriage by carriage as the passengers fall asleep.
High on a mountain in the rainy season, a woman washes the cups, checks each tea tin and watches the clouds come down the copper rain chain.
Hazel opens the dome above a sleeping village, shares soup and Saturn with the baker’s grandson, and closes up as the first snow drifts in.
Down a wide, slow river, gently through an old lock, past meadows and a mill, to moor beneath an oak while glow-worms light the bank.
Watering bench by bench, banking the boiler, counting the sleeping plants, while snow falls on the glass overhead and turns, late on, to soft rain.
The keeper fills his twelve lamps and bakes bread for whoever the road brings, and everyone carries a mattress up to a roof still warm from the sun.
Eight cows brought in and milked by hand, whey stirred over a slow fire, and a box bed under a turf roof with the brook running past the door.
More about all seven sleep stories, with the opening of each to read
The stars came into it a few at a time. Two or three at first, very bright and very steady, low over the hills. Then a dozen.The Caravanserai on the Salt Road
Read to you, not at you
Every story is written in movements, from arrival to drift. The reading slows from section to section and the pauses get longer, until the last few minutes are fragments with rain or wheels in between. There is no sign-off at the end; the sound just carries on.
Sleep sounds & white noise
Rain on a window, a fire in the grate, a field of crickets, a slow river, and a piano somewhere in the house. Layer up to five sounds and one piece of music, drag each to the level you want, and they play until morning. Or start from one of 164 blends already balanced by ear.
Play the mix, then drag any column up or down
Real recordings. Headphones if you have them.
Drag anywhere on a column to set its level
Fourteen kinds of night · 198 sounds
Rain20 sounds
Water18 sounds
Wind & air13 sounds
Fire & shelter12 sounds
Night life20 sounds
Noise & drones23 sounds
Meditation tones25 sounds
Rooms & places12 sounds
Journeys13 sounds
Gardens & fields11 sounds
Space & drift11 sounds
Ice & snow5 sounds
Underwater9 sounds
Body & breath6 soundsSleep music
Original instrumental pieces made for Lalai, from a Swedish keyed fiddle in a cold church to a piano in the next room. Every one loops without a seam, so it can play all night: on its own, under a story, or under your mix at its own level.
Keys and tape
Somebody playing in the next room, and the room itself.
Press play, or choose any piece below
Free in the app, and it loops all night.
Free in the app, whole · six of the 64
One from each family · 9 of the 64
Tap a painting to hear it. The six free pieces play whole; the other three play their first 30 seconds. All 64 are in the app.
The light only changes colour. It goes from white to gold, and from gold to apricot, and from apricot to a soft rose that lies on the mountains for hours.
Made for the dark
Everything is night-coloured, and nothing flashes, pings or reminds you to come back.
No sign-up and no email address. The app doesn’t ask who you are.
We don’t measure what you listen to. There are no analytics or trackers in the app.
The sleep timer lowers the sound slowly instead of cutting it off in the middle of a sentence.
Everything stays on your phone after the first listen, so a cabin or a flight still works.
Turn the phone over and leave it. The story keeps going.
A look inside
Tonight’s story comes first. Six more wait below it, each about an hour long.
The painting fills the screen, with one button and a sleep timer under it.
198 sounds and 164 ready-made blends. Layer up to five, each on its own fader.
The controls fade after a few seconds, and the picture dims as the story goes on.
Then put it down.
Inside the app
Explore opens on tonight’s story, with the other six a thumb’s reach away. Every one is about an hour long.
The painted scene fills the screen above one large play button, with the sleep timer just below it.
Up to five sounds side by side, each on its own tall fader. Drag anywhere on a column to set its level, then save the mix for tomorrow.
After a few seconds the controls fade away and leave only the picture, and the pictures dim as the story goes on.
iPhone, iPad and Android phones and tablets. A television version is on its way.
Pricing
Start a free week and everything opens: all seven stories, all 198 sounds, all 64 pieces of music. Fall asleep somewhere new each night, and decide at the end of the week.
Your free week a different story every night, on us
Night 1The Night Train
Night 2The Tea House
Night 3The Observatory
Night 4The Houseboat
Night 5The Glasshouse
Night 6The Caravanserai
Night 7Bell Mountain$0forever
A whole story, a starter set of sounds and six pieces of music. No card, no account.
Best value · Save 33% vs monthly
$24a year
Just $2 a month, billed once a year after your free week.
7 nights free before you pay anything
$3a month
Billed monthly after your free week. Stop whenever you like.
7 nights free before you pay anything
The free week is for new subscribers, one per Apple ID or Google account. Payment is charged to your App Store or Google Play account when the free week ends. Subscriptions renew automatically until cancelled: cancel at least 24 hours before your free week or a billing period ends, in your App Store or Google Play subscription settings. Deleting the app does not cancel a subscription. Prices are in US dollars and vary by country, and may include tax. See the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Questions
A long, slow story read in a low voice, written so that nothing much happens and nothing needs following. Lalai’s stories run about an hour each. The voice slows and the pauses lengthen as the story goes on, and each one ends in several minutes of ambient sound with no sign-off.
The Night Train Through the Snow, all 57 minutes of it, 14 sounds, six pieces of music, the mixer, the sleep timer and saved mixes are free forever. A subscription opens all seven stories, all 198 sounds, 164 blends and 64 pieces of music, for $24 a year or $3 a month. New subscribers get 7 nights free first. Apple or Google run the trial and the billing, and the subscription renews automatically until you cancel; cancel at least 24 hours before the free week ends and you pay nothing.
Yes. 64 original instrumental pieces made for Lalai, from bowed fiddles and plucked zithers to flutes, choirs, singing bowls and a piano in the next room. Every one is a seamless loop, so it can play all night on its own, under a story or under a mix, with its own level. Six are free.
No. Lalai has no sign-up and never asks for an email address. Your subscription belongs to your Apple or Google account.
Yes. Everything is kept on your phone after the first listen, so a night with no signal still works, and playback continues with the screen off. The sleep timer fades out rather than stopping dead.
The rain, rivers, fires, wind and night creatures are field recordings of the real thing. The noise colours and meditation tones are generated, as they are everywhere.
iPhone and iPad, from the App Store. Android phones and tablets are coming soon, and a television version is on the way.
Very little, and nothing that says who you are. There are no ads, no analytics and no account, and Lalai doesn’t measure what you listen to. To unlock paid content the app uses a random id that isn’t linked to your name or email, and our servers keep short-lived logs, as every website does. The Privacy Policy has the details.
No. Lalai is for relaxation and enjoyment. It is not a medical device, and it is not meant to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent insomnia or any other sleep, medical or mental-health condition. Everyone is different, and we can’t promise it will help you sleep. If poor sleep goes on for weeks, or you snore loudly, stop breathing in your sleep or feel very sleepy during the day, please see a doctor.
Never listen while driving, cycling, operating machinery or doing anything else that needs you awake: the stories and sounds are made to make you drowsy. Don’t listen in the bath. Keep the volume low, especially with earphones. Don’t charge your phone under the pillow or in the bed. If you play sounds for a baby, keep the phone and its cable out of the crib, at least 7 feet (2 metres) away, with the volume turned down. More on our Health & safety page.
Download Lalai and fall asleep on the night train tonight. It’s free, all the way to the end of the line.
Coming soon forAndroid
On a computer? Point your iPhone’s camera here to open Lalai in the App Store.
لالایی
Lalai is from the Persian lālāyi, “lullaby”.
