Report updated Jun 20, 2026
BrainWave: Altered States ™
For individuals seeking non-pharmacological methods for sleep aid, stress reduction, focus, and meditation.
BrainWave: Altered States ™ is a market-leading lifestyle app that is a paid app. With a 4.9/5 rating from 1.3K reviews, it delivers strong user satisfaction. Users particularly appreciate customizable binaural audio layers allow users to blend background sounds with personal music libraries, though technical regressions post-update cause flat tones instead of functional brainwave audio output remains a common concern.
What is BrainWave: Altered States ™?
BrainWave: Altered States is a lifestyle app for iOS that uses binaural audio sequences to stimulate specific brain states for sleep and focus.
Users hire this app to achieve non-pharmacological mental states, relying on the proprietary entrainment algorithms to bypass the limitations of standard ambient noise apps.
Current Momentum
v10.0 · 10mo ago
Maintenance- Integrated Apple Health Mindful Minutes tracking.
- Added Audio ducking for external apps.
- Ships new background sounds periodically.
Active Nemesis
BetterSleep: Relax and Sleep
By Ipnos Software
Other Rivals
7-Day Rank Pulse 🇺🇸
LifestyleRating Pulse 🇺🇸
Recent User Mood
What makes this app unique?
What Does It Look Like?
What Are The Key Features?
Multi-stage binaural sequences that layer frequencies to guide brain states.
Allows layering of binaural beats with third-party audio from Spotify, iTunes, or audiobook readers.
Exports time spent in relaxation and meditation programs to Apple Health.
How much does it cost?
- Single purchase at $4.99
One-time purchase model anchored by a 15-year history of development and 1,300+ reviews.
Who Built It?
Banzai Labs
Providing neuro-acoustic tools to help users regulate mental states for sleep, focus, and relaxation through binaural entrainment.
Portfolio
6
Apps
What other apps does Banzai Labs make?
BrainWave: Neuro Trainer ™
NeuralStack.io™: Focus & Sleep
BrainWave: Dream Inducer ™
BrainWave: 37 Binaural Series™
BrainWave: Sharp Mind ™
Explore the full Banzai Labs report
Portfolio breakdown, audience, momentum, and every app published by Banzai Labs.
What do users think recently?
Low confidence · 49 reviews analyzed
How did the latest release land?
What is the recent mood?
Recent user voice shows a thrilled sentiment. Users appreciate customizable binaural audio layers allow users to blend background sounds with personal music libraries, but report technical regressions post-update cause flat tones instead of functional brainwave audio output.
Limited review volume (49 reviews). Sentiment analysis will deepen as more data lands.
View the full user-sentiment analysis
Mood gauge, ratings & review-volume history, every praise / complaint / request, and sentiment over time.
What is the competitive landscape for BrainWave: Altered States ™?
Where is it available?
Localized markets (12)
How's The Lifestyle Market?
How does it evolve in the Lifestyle market?
The app maintains a 4.88 rating across 1,332 total ratings, positioning it as a high-authority niche utility. Its $4.99 price point contrasts with the subscription-heavy landscape of meditation apps, signaling a focus on legacy power users over broad-market recurring revenue.
Rank progression
65 active rankings tracked — 30-day window
The rivals identified
Nemeses(1)
With nearly 400,000 reviews and a long-standing market presence, this app dominates the sleep-sound niche by offering a massive library of customizable soundscapes.
Differentiators
- Offers a highly granular sound-mixing engine that allows users to layer multiple tracks simultaneously
- Provides a comprehensive library of guided sleep meditations that complement the core soundscape features
- Maintains a long-term content update cycle that keeps the sound library fresh for legacy users
Head to head
The target app should double down on its unique 'altered states' positioning to avoid a direct feature-parity war with this massive generalist competitor.
Contenders(3)
A specialized competitor that uses psychoacoustic principles to help users fall asleep quickly.
Differentiators
- Features a 'Nap' mode specifically designed for short-duration energy recovery during the day
- Utilizes a proprietary 'DreamAudio' engine that creates unique soundscapes for every listening session
Directly competes in the 'brain-stimulating' audio space with a focus on scientific validation and productivity.
Differentiators
- Uses patented 'Neural Phase Locking' technology to scientifically influence brainwave activity for focus or sleep
- Categorizes content strictly by functional outcome (Focus, Relax, Sleep) to simplify the user experience
Endel uses AI-driven, personalized soundscapes that adapt to real-time environmental data, posing a significant innovation threat.
Differentiators
- Generates real-time, adaptive soundscapes based on user location, weather, and heart rate data
- Positions itself as a productivity and focus tool rather than just a sleep aid
Same space(3)
A popular soundscape app that focuses on visual and auditory immersion.
Differentiators
- Pairs high-quality audio loops with immersive, high-definition background imagery for each soundscape
- Allows users to save custom sound combinations as 'scenes' for quick one-tap recall
A legacy utility app that serves the basic sound-masking needs of the target audience.
Differentiators
- Provides a simple, utility-first interface that prioritizes quick access to basic white noise loops
- Offers a digital clock and alarm feature integrated directly into the sound-playing interface
A high-scale meditation app that competes for the user's 'mindfulness' time budget.
Differentiators
- Uses personalized coaching plans that adapt based on user feedback after every single session
- Focuses on long-term habit formation through structured, multi-day meditation programs
New entrants(1)
High release velocity indicates an aggressive push to capture market share through constant feature iteration.
Differentiators
- Operates as a completely free, non-profit model which disrupts the subscription-heavy meditation market
- Maintains an extremely high release cadence to rapidly iterate on community-requested features
Compare BrainWave: Altered States ™ against every rival
All rivals in one side-by-side table — identity, store metrics, ratings & sentiment, and strategic intel — plus a head-to-head page for each.
The outtake for BrainWave: Altered States ™
Strengths to defend, gaps to attack
Core Strengths
- 15-year brand authority in binaural audio
- Proprietary Progressive Brainwave Entrainment algorithm
- Flexible external audio mixing engine
Critical Frictions
- Technical regressions causing flat audio output
- Fragmented app model across multiple titles
- One-time purchase model limits recurring revenue
Growth Levers
- Consolidate fragmented apps into a single interface
- Expand B2B partnerships for sleep aid
- Integrate wearable heart-rate data
Market Threats
- Subscription-based competitors siphoning market share
- Technical instability eroding long-term user trust
- High-velocity free alternatives like Medito
What are the next best moves?
Rebuild audio playback engine because recent updates caused flat tone output → restore core functionality
Technical regressions post-update cause flat tones instead of functional brainwave audio output.
Trade-off: Pause the new background sound library expansion — audio stability has 10x the churn impact.
Consolidate fragmented apps into one unified interface because users request a single environment → reduce churn
Users request a single app environment instead of managing several identical apps for different tracks.
Trade-off: Defer the Apple Health feature polish — consolidation is the #1 request for reducing clutter.
A counter-intuitive read
The app's fragmented multi-app model is not just an outdated development approach, but a deliberate legacy strategy that prevents a single point of failure from impacting the entire user base.
Feature Gaps vs Competitors
- Real-time adaptive soundscapes (available in Endel but absent here)
- Patented Neural Phase Locking (available in Brain.fm but absent here)
Key Takeaways
The app holds a strong niche position through proprietary entrainment algorithms, but technical regressions threaten its 15-year brand equity, so the PM must prioritize playback stability to prevent further user churn.
Where Is It Heading?
Declining
The binaural audio market is consolidating around subscription-based platforms that offer broader content libraries and adaptive AI features. BrainWave's current maintenance-mode updates leave it exposed to these rivals, so the PM must pivot to a unified interface to remain relevant.
Technical regressions in the latest update cause flat audio output, which directly erodes the core value proposition and drives negative sentiment.
The app maintains a consistent update cadence, but recent focus on minor sound additions fails to address the critical playback stability complaints.