An unexpected must-have app!

As a content creator who works a full-time 9 to 5 job, I live a pretty busy lifestyle.

Being an early bird, my day usually consists of waking up early and doing my morning routine. After that, I try to fit in at least an hour for planning and creating content.

This may be an hour at my desk before I start my shift when working from home, or around an hour on the train when I’m on my way to the office.

I don’t know why, but I seem to work better like this, and the evidence is out there as some of my best blog posts were written on the train on my morning commute.

But there are times when I just don’t feel like writing and end up procrastinating. I either end up on social media or just listening to music or an audiobook when I’m on the train.

Lately, this has been a common occurrence for me, and it didn’t feel great. But that’s when I discovered Endel.

What is Endel?

Endel is an audio app that creates personalised soundscapes that match your activities. With the help of artificial intelligence, the app helps you to enhance focus, sleep, relax and power you through activities.

Endel is available on a wide range of platforms including iOS, Android, WatchOS, WearOS, Mac, Alexa and even on music streaming platforms if you just want to listen!

Based on my experience with the app (which we’ll talk more about later in this article), I think that the app is very clever, especially that the app creates soundscapes that adapt in real-time.

According to the Endel website, it reacts to inputs such as the time of day, weather, heart rate and your location. They also state that Neuroscience shows that Endel consistently improves focus and lowers stress.

But how does Endel help me?

On their website, Endel talks about 4 main ways in which Endel can help you, these include focusing, relaxing, sleeping as well as being active. I decided to use categories to form the basis of the review, starting with focus…

Focus

At the beginning of the article, I mentioned that I live a busy lifestyle and that sometimes, I procrastinate on planning and creating content in the mornings.

With the help of Endel and a good set of active noise-cancelling (ANC) earbuds, I start a focus session, which could either be a Deep Work timer or a Focus timer, which is essentially a Pomodoro timer.

I don’t know how to explain it, but the second the timer starts and the soundscapes start to play, I remember I have to work and I guess the fact that I am listening to calming sounds and that I have a timer running makes me want to work.

This method has proven to be very effective for me, especially during times that really are difficult to work, such as a noisy and overcrowded train or when I have a lot on my mind.

With the help of the app, I have been able to get more work done, when I thought it wasn’t possible.

But, it doesn’t stop there!

Relax

Let’s talk about using public transport for a minute.

When I’m not working from home, I tend to commute by train to the office. It takes me roughly 45 minutes by train and around 15 to 20 minutes to walk to my local train station unless I catch a bus, rent an e-scooter or ride my bike.

You are probably wondering why I’m talking about my commute in the relax section, well it turns out that on the days that I don’t plan to make content, Endel proves to be great for relaxing during those busy commutes.

It really does help me get away from the loud bus or train carriage which sets me up nicely for the day ahead or a quiet evening.

Endel is great for relaxing in general too, especially if you had an extremely busy day, I haven’t used Endel with Alexa as of yet, but I have played it in the background on some evenings, at it proved to be a very relaxing experience.

I do however recommend using headphones or earbuds and if they have ANC, even better!

Sleep

Moving on from relaxing, Endel is also great for sleep and best of all, you can set Endel to turn off after a certain time so that once you fall asleep, you don’t have it running all night, which you can do if you want to.

Endel has really helped me get to sleep when I found it difficult to, which proved to be great with the weather that has been battling the UK over the last couple of weeks.

I don’t know what it is about nighttime in general, but it’s definitely a time when I tend to overthink things and worry about the things that I shouldn’t worry about. I found that Endel really helps me with this sort of thing as it helps clear my mind with the gentle sounds it plays.

At present, I tend to play these sounds on either my phone or iPad, but I am seriously thinking about setting up an Alexa in my bedroom, which is not something I currently have set up. I have a Google Nest Hub instead.

Activity

Moving on to activities, I like going for walks during my breaks at work. I find it to be a great excuse to get some steps in and to get away from the computer screen.

I usually tend to listen to audiobooks and podcasts during these walks, but I have started using Endel too and I find it to be very helpful, especially when I’ve had a busy morning. I find that it helps me refresh for the afternoon ahead.

As mentioned before, Endel is a very clever app, in this case when I’m walking the soundscapes respond to my steps which I think is an awesome feature as it motivates me to go on longer walks and makes the sound more interactive.

Final thoughts and is it worth it?

As a whole, I’ve been using the app for a while, and I definitely think that it has improved my life, no, they are not sponsoring me to say that, nor are they sponsoring me at all. They don’t even know that I am writing this. But if you do want to sponsor me (I’m looking at you Endel) feel free to reach out!

On a more serious note, Endel does have a free version with limited features available, you can read more about these features here.

I, however, decided to pay for premium, speaking of which, it’s nice to see that at the time of writing this blog post, they have 4 payment options available including 12 months for £48.99, 3 months for £26.99, 1 month for £8.99 or lifetime for £249.99.

I love the fact that we have a lifetime option available, more app vendors need to offer this as an option! I however decided to go with the yearly subscription.

Overall, based on my experience, I think that Endel is a really good app that I didn’t even know I needed!

Since I started using the app I have become more productive, especially at times when I am feeling distracted. The app has also allowed me to unwind after busy days at work and be prepared for the busy day ahead of me when commuting to work in the mornings.