It's sleep and relaxation week here at iMore for Mobile Nations fitness month, so what better time to take a look at a white noise app that also features dreamy scenes that will bring a mini vacation to your desk: Magic Window -- Living Picture for iPhone and iPad.
Magic Window -- Living Picture for iPhone and iPad is not your ordinary white noise app because it's main purpose isn't just to provide a background noise to help you sleep, but it also features gorgeous time-lapse scenery for you to display on your desk, night stand, or Apple TV.
Magic Window comes with 20 different scenes with three of them automatically downloaded. The other 17 scenes are available to download for free, but you must download them individually so that you can be in control of how many you want stored on your iPhone or iPad. The scenes range from sunsets, lakes, beaches, mountains, wineries, forests, cities, and more.
Each scene in Magic Window is presented as a time-lapse video with a calming ambient soundtrack. The sounds are so realistic, that it's easy to get lost and imagine that you are really there. The videos are played at a moderate pace and you can control the speed by adjusting the slider, or you can touch and drag your finger left or right to temporarily control it.
Tapping the screen will bring up a small menu that gives access to scenes, settings, speed, weather, and night mode. There is also a button that allows you to take a quick snapshot of the scene and saves it to your Camera Roll.
The weather button overlays weather information including the current conditions, a 5-day forecast, and an hourly forecast.
In night mode, the scene simply dims way down so that it's not too bright if you have it displayed on your nightstand when you sleep.
In the settings section of Magic Window, there are options to display the clock, weather, and title on the scenes, an option to keep the display on by disabling auto-lock if your device is plugged in, the ability to toggle off the ambient sounds, and an option to keep the sound on when the device is locked.
If you want more than the 20 included scenes, Magic Window offers collections as in-app purchases ranging from $0.99 to $2.99. There are 15 collections available, each containing 5 to 16 scenes and sounds. All collections are available as one purchase for $9.99.
The good
- 20 scenes included
- Scenes are gorgeous and presented as time-laps videos
- Weather
- Night mode
- 15 collections available as in-app purchases
- Relaxing
- Includes sleep timer and alarm clock
- Universal for iPhone and iPad
The bad
- Not many scenes from the East Coast
The bottom line
If you're someone who benefits from white noise while you sleep, Magic Window -- Living Pictures is a great app to having running on your nightstand. You can also use Magic Window during the day as a screensaver on your desk to bring beauty and relaxation to your day.
- $1.99 - Download now
