Focus music apps: Brain.fm, Endel and free options compared

What to look for in a focus music app

A good focus music app plays something you can ignore for an hour: no lyrics, no sudden changes, no adverts. After that it is about price and which devices you use.

Weigh these:

• Lyrics. Music with words gives you something to sing along to while you are trying to write. All three apps here play instrumental sound.
• How much it changes. Brain.fm plays composed tracks. Endel generates soundscapes that shift slowly. myNoise and a white noise machine play steady noise that barely changes at all. Some people like a little movement; others find any change pulls them out.
• A built-in timer. Pairing sound with a countdown saves a second app. Brain.fm lets you set a timer when you start. Endel's Focus Timer is a Premium feature.
• Devices. Brain.fm runs on the web, iPhone, Android and desktop. Endel's UK App Store listing covers iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, Apple Watch and Vision Pro.
• Adverts. Free plans on the big streaming services can drop an advert into the middle of your hour. Paid focus apps and myNoise do not.
• Price after the trial. Brain.fm charges in US dollars. Endel and Headspace charge in pounds.

Brain.fm or Endel?

Pick Brain.fm if you want one paid app that works on every device; pick Endel if you mainly use Apple devices and want to start free.

Brain.fm sorts its music by what you are doing: Deep Work, Creativity and Learning for work, plus sleep, relaxation and meditation. You choose one, set a timer and press play. The company says its tracks use patented "neuromodulation" and points to peer-reviewed research and a US National Science Foundation grant on its site. We have not assessed that research, and nothing in this guide says any app changes how well you concentrate. Judge it on whether you like working to it.

Endel makes sound that moves gently rather than repeating a playlist. The free edition gives you four soundscapes: Focus, Relax, Sleep and Move. Premium adds nine coloured noise variations, Study and Dynamic Focus modes, a Focus Timer and collaborations with artists including James Blake and Grimes. The UK App Store lists Premium at £2.99 to £12.99 a month or £17.99 to £59.99 a year, with a student price of £16 a year.

Headspace is a meditation app first. Focus music is included in the subscription, along with short guided sessions for breathing and sleep. At about £49.99 a year after a 14-day trial, it only makes sense if you would use the rest of the app too.

Free focus music and sound

You can get most of this for nothing.

• Endel's free edition covers the basics if you are on an iPhone, iPad or Mac.
• myNoise is a website of sound generators, each with sliders so you can turn down the bits you do not like. It can generate white, pink and brown noise tuned to your own hearing. It has no adverts and runs on donations; its maker, sound engineer Stéphane Pigeon, offers lifetime extras for a one-off donation. There are iPhone and Android apps too.
• Freedom Premium includes focus music and ambient sounds, if you already pay for the blocker.
• A fan or a white noise machine needs no account at all. The Yogasleep Hushh has three sounds and a lock so settings cannot be changed by accident.

Headphones and volume

Keep the volume just high enough to hear comfortably, which is the NHS's own advice on protecting your hearing.

Noise-cancelling headphones make that easier in a noisy room, because you are not turning the music up to drown out the office. The soundcore Q31i uses four microphones for adaptive noise cancelling and quotes up to 50 hours of playback with it switched on, 80 hours without, and 10 hours from a 10-minute charge. If you want to spend more, our noise-cancelling headphones guide compares higher-end pairs.

Things to know

• We have not tested these apps. Features and prices come from each maker's pages and the UK App Store, checked on 11 September 2026.
• Marketing language is not evidence. App listings for focus and sleep sound often describe effects on your mind. We describe what the app plays and what it costs, and leave the claims to the makers.
• Trials turn into payments. Brain.fm and Headspace both start with a trial. Put a reminder in your calendar a day before it ends.
• Dollar prices move. Brain.fm's US$99.99 a year will cost a different amount in pounds depending on the exchange rate and your card.
• If sound starts to feel muffled or you notice ringing, the NHS hearing loss page lists what to look out for and when to get your hearing checked.