Lucidly

I have had this app installed for about a week, and have spent a lot of time working with it. It works great, you just have to know how to use it. It does exactly what it says it will, and it's the ONLY app for an Apple Watch/iPhone that can do what it does. The app uses health readings to evaluate for REM sleep in real time! This is exactly what you want for Lucid Dreaming attempts. However, you MUST use it correctly for it to work. It's not the developer's fault that the following is required, it's just the way it is, and I'm thankful he has done what is necessary to give us this great app to use. Before trying to use the app for the first time, I recommend opening the Lucidly app on your iPhone, going to the "Customize" tab, and clicking on the "i" box in the top left to read about all the settings and understand them. You will spend the first few days using this app tweaking the settings to find the right Haptic response and alert time to get your attention while dreaming without waking you up, or to wake you up if you're doing WBTB, etc. Now, here is how to use the app: First, personal watch settings: I would recommend setting your Apple watch to not wake on wrist raise, so it doesn't light up all night long every time your roll over or move your hand, etc. These are personal settings that are really up to you. I also dim my watch screen and turn off crown roll wake up. Second, Sleep Focus: You need to have Sleep Focus running while using the Lucidly app. Apple's sleep tracking is finicky, and this part is your responsibility. You must learn how to use your own devices. For me personally, rather than setting a sleep schedule, I like to turn it on manually just before I lay down. But this must be done FIRST, before starting the Lucidly app. However you want to deal with running Apple's Sleep Tracking data is up to you, but you have to have Sleep Focus on. Third, open the Lucidly app on both your Apple Watch and your iPhone at the same time. THIS PART IS CRUCIAL. You must have them both in the foreground, then click the start button on the Lucidly app on the iPhone, and then you CANNOT OPEN ANYTHING ELSE! You also MUST NOT TURN OFF YOUR IPHONE SCREEN! Leave it on all night long. The iPhone screen will automatically dim after a few seconds on it's own. When I get up to use the bathroom, I take the iPhone with me so it doesn't loose connection with the watch. This step may not be completely necessary, but I'm not taking any chances, because it all re

It is hit or miss if the software will keep working. I get it all setup, pulse light on face of watch is going and app on phone is running, then I wake up in the morning and it’s off. Check the logs to see an error soon after I went to bed. Also, it could really use a daytime reality check feature. Nothing crazy complicated, but just the option for random notifications to check if you’re dreaming. Seems stupid I need to use a separate app for that at this subscription price.

I’ve been using this app for about 2 or so weeks now. At first I though it was straight trash. Then I played around with the haptic alarm length, delay, and used “theater mode” on my watch to prevent any accidental turn offs. It works wonderfully now!! It definitely wakes me up mid dream during the latter part of my sleep cycle. This has improved dream recall significantly. I’ve still not had a lucid dream yet, but I do fee closer to that goal and I do feel this does accurately wake you up during REM cycles. I’ve had no issues with exercise data being recorded as I saw in other reviews. Sleep recording on the Health app also seems to be entirely unaffected by using this app.

I want to like this app so bad. I’m signed up for a subscription and everything, but it just doesn’t do what it says it does. The watch app and the phone app will not stay connected to each other. Once the watch dims the phone app will say that the watch app needs to be in the foreground. Well it is, but the screen on the watch is going to dim after a while, no matter what you have set in settings (it’s just how the watch works) and as soon as the screen dims the phone app loses connection like it can’t see the watch app anymore. I’ve restarted both devices multiple times and Bluetooth is definitely working, so I don’t know what else to do, but I’m definitely canceling my subscription until this works the way it’s supposed to. Update: uninstalling and reinstalling the app on the watch seems to have fixed the connection issue. However I still sometimes get an alert about it not being able to write to the health app and to check my Bluetooth. When this happens I have to restart my watch and it works again. Hopefully these bugs will get sorted out soon. Second update: the developer response was useless. I’ve already done things the way he describes to do them and the apps will NOT stay connected. I’m not stupid and know how to follow instructions. Blaming the user for your app’s problems is not a good business strategy.

The developer might find that a subscription model allows for a lower entry point into their technology, but I for one have too many of these siphoning off money on a monthly basis. Everything is a subscription. This might make sense for developers but it’s represents a death by thousand cuts to lots of users’ available funds, and at this point in the bleed, I’m just not willing to pay a monthly fee for a judiciously delivered vibration to my wrist.

I wish this had more options. It only allows you to have a 270 minute session. I can’t remember my dreams when I use this app. But it does issue alerts. I am having trouble getting the settings right but I’m still trying and hopeful. It would really help me if I could extend its detection to the whole night. That’s when I lucid dream the best, carrying from rem cycle to rem cycle.

The app writes to your health data so you end up will your rings fully filled every morning. When you change the settings it stops working. It constantly asks for you to reconnect the watch when the watch never lost connection. This happened so much I gave up on trying to use it. The screen is literally white, leading to a super bright phone in the middle of the night. It requires you that you leave the app open on your phone when you fall asleep - why? Other sleep tracking apps don’t require this. Those are just the issues. There are many ways this app could improve in terms of optimizations and UX.