Portal - Immersive Escapes App Reviews

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Amazing!. I just downloaded this app, and I am so happy that I did. I’ve been looking for a decent app that plays sound like this for awhile. It helps me to sleep or really focus when I am studying. Some of the other apps just haven’t done it for me, and while searching for a new one I found Portal. You get a few “portal’s” for free, but have to purchase the rest. For me, this wasn’t an issue. I happily paid the $3.99 to unlock all the features as a one-time payment. Some apps make you pay for each separately, so it was nice to only have to pay once to unlock it all. The sounds are so crystal clear and sound great. The look and feel of the app is also very nice. You can hook it up to philips hue lights which I don’t have yet, but plan on buying in the future so I think that will be cool. I really only have one complaint. In the portals there is a guided breathing exercise, and it tells you on the screen when to breathe in and out. I really wish there was a way to have it narrated for you. Sometimes I like to close my eyes when doing breathing exercises and obviously I can’t see the screen when my eyes are closed. Other then that, this app is awesome! 5 stars for sure. I can’t wait to see what other portals they add in the future.

Dear Portal, I love You!. Let’s just get one thing straight, portal is truly amazing! I love the design and layout of the app, it brings on a sense of tranquility before I even indulge in a sound and everything is accessible meaning, easy to navigate :) Plus, there are soooo many different sounds to choose from. I use it 24/7 when i’m meditating, resting, writing, working, studying, walking and etc... I haven’t yet found an activity that doesn’t coincide with this app. It’s also been a great get a way while in quarantine these past 8 months, I found that it helps relieve anxiety & stress! I could rave on and on about this app but I won’t bore you. Just try it, you’ll love it!

So calming and centering. I work a customer service job that is high stress, and during this quarantine for COVID19 has become even more stressful. We are busy beyond our busiest seasons and this app is helping me to keep calm. It has multiple modes, right now I’m using the “focus” feature, and not only is it helping me get through my day, it is inspiring me! The creative inspiration is giving me ideas for projects after work, but keeping me calm and grounded at the same time. If you deal with a lot of stress or anxiety, this is a great app. There are some features that I haven’t explored yet, but so far I am LOVING this app!

Love it!. Portal was great even BEFORE they added Homekit immersive lighting… Try it! Route the audio to your HomePods (or better yet, your AirPods), connect your HomeKit lights, pick an environment, set the volume to a comfortable level and go about your work, reading, relaxing, meditating, sleep or whatever. Before you know it, you’ll forget that you’re sitting in your office. If you need some kind of sound mask to let you sleep, they have that covered too - set the time you want to be awakened and your lights will gently fade on over time (you can choose how gradually and use an audio alarm when it’s time to start your day if you need it.) Great UI, high quality sound and visuals, thoughtful design, many environments and regular updates. Come on, give it a try… whaddya have to lose? Here’s hoping they add a version for Apple TV down the road as well…!

Great app, really disappointed in the subscription.. So I paid I believe 5.99 for the premium version of this app maybe a year or so ago. It was well worth it at the time. After being dormant for a while, I opened it back up to listen while reading and noticed there’s now a subscription. Now, I’m always instantly disappointed with apps with subscriptions. I automatically see it as a way to milk your customers and it seems like Portals no different. Even after paying $6, I’m still locked out of over 50% of what this app offers. I know subscriptions aren’t going away anytime soon, but if you can find something else on the AppStore that has a consumer friendly business model, then I would go with that and pass on Portal. If you’re fine with subscriptions, then I would recommend you still pass. At $40/year, it just doesn’t seem worth it for the amount of content and options you get. Really is a bummer, I had high hopes for this one.

Fantastic and wonderful will only grow more so. I have to go 5 stars I have suggestions but the overall effect is it’s displaced much of my other music listening and ‘white noise’ sleep machine use. Overall currently there is a trend towards steady sounds for relaxation sleep and focus and fewer that make me feel more awake and feel a bright sunny day (like the cows of Slovenia!). The Scottish locales are fantastic along with brooks, the winters mountains and wind awesome. It’s a bit of a learning curve what to navigate (check out the faqs I learned that sleep mode isn’t just certain portals it’s a MODE as are the others), and as above some perhaps ‘activating’ (bright sky something motor than continuous sound but not distracting jars of surprise obviously. The rustling barely field is another good one. I also very much enjoy the smart nightjar integration and had a ‘oooooh’ moment changing to the fireplace and having my light go from some glue to amber flames! Looking forward to playing around getting it on bigger screens and seeing what happens with the range of dynamics in portals as they come up. Clearly some are the favorites but I suspect it’s hard to predict until they make it and see. Shirt of my one fav streaming music app possibly the best yearly subscription (and much less $!) I’ve spent!!

Amazing features: exactly what I wanted. I almost never write reviews, but after the most recent 2.0 update I just feel the need to. This app is perfect. The last two things it needed was Siri Shortcuts and the promised syncing with Hue lights, and the developers have delivered. I haven’t been so happy to update an app in a while, and just getting my shortcuts and automations exactly how I want them has been a dream. Thank you so much to the whole Portals team, I can’t wait to see what you do next. I also can’t wait until my alarm goes off tomorrow morning to hear the sound of a Thai beach and have my lights all come on at just the right color. Seems way better than waking up to music, I’ll tell you that.

Not what i expected. When I got this app I thought you would be able to hear your footsteps on the dirt paths, hear the birds chirping above you, and look up and see the glorious peeks of Rocky Mountain National Park, but it’s not like that at all. I said before that you want to hear the birds, which I did, but the footsteps weren’t in there, the rocky, beautiful experience of the mountains wasn’t in there, I guess I might be expecting too much, but if you want something immersive and you want to basically go on a vacation without actually going there, this isn’t the app for you.

this and Endel = magic. I’m in love with the app Endel but I recently wanted to try something else so I don’t get sick of it. I just started listening to Portal today and I’m in love. The sounds are crisp, quiet enough to not be distracting but loud enough to be immersive, and just overall incredibly calming. I hate ‘focus’ music that has a beat or has any kind of high energy, but I also struggle with finding calming background noise that doesn’t eat up more brain space than the thing I’m actually trying to do. It’s a very tricky balance but I think I’ve managed to find two reliable resources for calming background noises. Bonus: so far there have been no in-app purchases or locked premium content, which is a nice break. :)

Amazing sounds and visuals for relaxation and focus!. I’ve been getting stressed more lately (who hasn’t, with COVID-19?), and thankfully found this app to help. The sounds are outstanding—it really feels like you’re there! I find the Umpqua River sound to be the best for relaxing me, but others are great too. The visuals are excellent as well, but I find that just playing the sound through earbuds is a great way to keep me calm and relaxed. This app has greatly reduced my stress level and increased my productivity and, no, the developer didn’t ask me to say that. I happily paid the one-time fee for the app a few months ago—very much worth it. It’s such a good app that I’ve recommended it to mental health professionals to mention to their clients as a way to relieve stress and anxiety. This is one of the most used apps on my iPhone and iPad, and I can’t thank the developer enough!

I am blown away!. Five minutes into this app and I am HOOKED AND SHOOKETH!The thoroughness and the attention to detail and the sheer beauty of this app is a knock your socks off experience. I have come back to say that you can’t go wrong with this app you just absolutely can’t and they did not tell me to write this. Ok…I am back. If you don’t have this app, you are missing out on incredible sights, sounds.I am an amateur photographer actually a pretty good one and I know good photography. I am an audiophile. Love soothing ambience and this app has it all. FANTASTIC!

Amazing. I rarely write reviews, but I absolutely love this app and had to give my feedback. I’ve looked long and hard for nature scenes that can just fill my phone screen while I’m working in the office or just looking to escape the regular daily routine. This app is awesome in that way. It gives you the ability to feel like you’ve entered into a spot of the world just for you. If there was one critique I could give, I’d like the scenes to be a little longer, they refresh in a few minutes (doesn’t stop soundscape or anything) it would just feel like more of an adventure if you could walk through the forest etc. regardless, amazing app.

Beautiful app that goes beyond. This app is meticulously designed and implemented with technical expertise with gorgeous artistry. It’s thoughtfully developed with the user in mind - it is an exemplary app for being customer-centric. The nuanced sound and visuals, and functionality of the app are impressive. The developers clearly thought through each step of the design, user-experience, and continuously think of ways to improve and expand. As an early purchaser of the app, it’s been such a joy and delight to see the app grow, and keep adding to my enjoyment and daily use of the app. The customer service for the app is top notch. They are responsive and genuine in their passion and commitment to improving to the app, and sincerely listening with intent to the comments and suggestions of their customers. This is a top-notch app built and continues to be thoughtfully improved with passion and dedication with the customer in mind.

Worth it. This app is amazing. Some background: I am ADHD and so I can always find distractions even when there aren’t any. I once caught myself admiring a table instead of reading my textbook. My way to minimize this had been music, but I hadn’t found ambiance that wasn’t distracting and lasted for a while. Portal fixes both of these problems. Especially once you open up the full library, the sounds it provides are amazing and perfect for helping you focus or escape. All of it’s sounds are amazing and I’ve gotten a real boost in efficiency thanks to the app. My only wish is for more sounds. The 14 they provide are all very effective and neat, but I’m very tempted to ask for more. For instance: they provide mainly nature sounds form around the world. Maybe one or two city (I’m a suburb boy) soundscapes would be interesting. Also, maybe another synthesized sound scape like the whale or jellyfish would be nice. But I absolutely love the app and I recommend it much more than the others that charge a subscription fee

Great App. I dont think I have ever left a review for an app before but I love this apps concept. Suggestions for updates - custom wallpaper & sound options - option to choose different sounds for the default on the wallpaper. - a way to see your favorites in the desktop app - more nighttime options - more lighting integration (maybe smartthings?) - scroll arrows on the favorites in the menu bar app or make it scroll when you scroll up and down (I have laptop connected to dock and the mouse I use doesnt scroll left-to-right without holding shift) - a library of all the wallpapers in the desktop app so I can quickly go through testing them and marking my favorites without reading about the location or picking a mood. - a way to choose different wallpapers for different displays - a 360 degree video option if you want to setup screens on multiple walls to feel ultra-immersed or have a vr headset -random wallpaper from favorites that changes daily or with the weather of your location Thank you for making this app!!!

Love this App. Gorgeous and Relaxing.. LOVING this app. I love that it was a one time purchase for DLC rather than subscription. Seriously thank you. i wouldn’t have been able to pull the trigger for a subscription but happy to buy DLC. The sound is exquisite and the video footage is gorgeous without obvious loops. The feature that got me the most excited and convinced me to buy the full version of the app was the ability to mix it with audiobooks and other apps. I’ve been looking for a way to add background sound to my Audible app when i listen to audiobooks for forever! Now this is my absolute Go-To for ambient sound. I leave my ipad by my bed with the ocean soundscape running while i fall asleep and i’m out. A great feature to add would be the ability to airplay it to an apple TV. Right now you can mirror your screen to the TV like you would with any other app but there’s not a built in casting feature. Still that’s just a wish list item for me. This app was made with love and care and special attention to a LOT of handy above and beyond features. It’s not a money grab and is excellent value for what you get. I hope the devs keep up the great work. Can’t wait to see what new environments come next! Maybe an urban setting or a coffee shop? Or maybe more beautiful locations from around the globe. FIVE STARS.

Beautiful app!!!! In sound, design, and videos!!. I love this app, and I literally just opened it for the first time. I immediately bought the premium sounds, because how could I not?? The one thing I works really, really need though is other breathing exercise options, and not just the 1:1 ratio. For my vocal chord dysfunction, my speech therapist instructed me specifically to avoid 1:1 as it's inefficient and to use 1:3 or 2:6. It would be nice to have serval options or the ability to choose. Basically for what I've learned in speech therapy and also yoga is that the exhale always has to be longer than the inhale. I hope it's possible to add this feature! Thank you so much for making such an aesthetically pleasing and sounding app.

Be transported through a journey of sound!. I love Portals, it's everything you could want in an ambient sounds app! It's easy to use and beautiful in every way! The soundscapes are very rich and immersive, and the almost still photography is simply gorgeous. With the full version, you get a nice mix of environments and sound elements. I have several favorites, so sometimes it's hard to decide which to use. This app may fuel wanderlust, so be warned! Even though the free version is plenty sufficient in terms of quality, it's 1000% worth it to upgrade to the full sound library. Considering the handy features and number of high-quality sound portals you get in the full version, $5.99 is exceptionally affordable. I really appreciate that this isn't a subscription-based service; why not get the full version and support some amazing developers? Note: Some people here are confused about the 3 modes (focus, sleep, escape) within the full version. By choosing one of these modes, you're selecting a more specific method for interacting with the app. Focus mode has a focus timer and checklist, Sleep has a sleep timer and alarm clock, and Escape has breathing exercises. The sound portals you have access to are the same regardless of what mode you're in. In summary, Portals is amazing and an absolute gem!!

Seamless. Portal is a seamless app that allows you to escape from daily stress or pressure. The sound selection that is in this app is flawless and surround so you really feel like you enter another environment. I recommend using sound canceling headphones while using portal to really escape. One of my favorite features is the fact that it syncs with hue lights, this allows you to really feel the environment you choose. This app gets a well deserved five stars from me although in the future I would love to see light syncing allow for more than just one color. Possibly “picking” colors from the selected portal and randomly displaying them across your hue lights. I also bought the pro version before it was switched to a subscription service and after they released a big update I was able to get all the new content for free! Thanks a lot people at Portal! I’m really excited to see what comes next!

Absolutely Marvelous!!. It is very difficult to find a good meditation app that will help you relax. This app gives you very soothing sounds from all over the globe, and to get the full version, you only have to pay 3.99$. Other apps make you pay from 60$-120$ each year! I really enjoyed using this app and I recommend it to everyone across the globe. This app helps me relax when I’m anxious, calm down when I’m angry, and when I’m on any type of transportation, I use this app. It is overall an amazing app and I wish they had more apps like these on the App Store.

It's good, but need some voiceover accessibility improvements.. The sounds are really awesome in this app, good job. Also good job for implementing airplay support to HomePods at Cetera, that just makes things sound a lot more realistic. I like that when you open the app, the app plays the last sound you were listening to, no need to select from a list. I also like the background activity, and the mix with other apps feature, because I can listen to audio books or meditations from another app while listening to this app as well. The only thing I would ask for is better VoiceOver support. I am able to navigate through the list of sounds, and figure out basic things in the app, but I can't use other features like the timer, the breathing exercises you provided in the app, and the sleep alarm function. Other than that, good app for listening to relaxing sounds while I am listening to a book, or other meditations, etc.

Never knew I needed an app like this. I’ve always play background sounds and music wherever I work or study but it never relaxing enough. They just sound like noises at the back of my head and I would have to turn them off. After a few time using this app, I decided to purchase the full version and it was the very best decision ever since. It really helps me reduce stress and relax my mind, especially when everything is virtual and you have to look at a computer for a long time. After playing the sound collection for a while, I completely forgot that I turn it on, only realize that when I have to leave the room. I don’t know how you feel but to me that’s the reason why I feel the need to leave a review. It is so natural and relaxing that you don’t even realize it’s there. It was a nice little surprise to see that I have access to all the new contents after the update, so thanks developers for doing that to old customers. I would love see an enhancement in the breathing exercise module. I tend to close my eyes doing breathing exercise so if the app somehow have a way to indicate breath in/out by sound, that would be awesome!

Amazing!!. This is by FAR the Best app for focus and sleep. I use this on a daily basis. It has helped me tremendously while working long hours at work. If I had one tiny detail I would love to see added, it would be the capability to control volume of the app and my music separately. I often have the thunderstorms playing in the background of my music, but when my music is too loud and I would rather hear more of the rain, it turns down both sounds. I would love nothing more than the ability to turn my music down and my soundscape up separately. Like I said, it’s the best in its class, I have yet to find anything that compares, but this simple addition would make it even better! Special thanks to your team for all of your hard work on something that helps change lives! Keep it up! Would LOVE if you could add a lot more different Rain Sounds!!

A subtle masterpiece of visual and audiable effects. In my decades of wilderness travels, I've learned to appreciate the "pace" of scenic vistas -- in terms of their sounds, weather, and creature movements therein. Portal will make you feel "present" in beautifully curated scenic vistas while you work. Install Portal and select from among dozens of stunning scenic vistas for display on your desktop background. Add headphones to "hear" them as well. Twenty minutes in, take a moment to clear your desktop and pause work for 5 minutes to look and listen carefully at Portal's scenic vista. It is the moment when you discern a subtle "pace" -- of a spider's thread gently weaving itself in the breeze, a leaf falling, clouds slowly rising above glacial ice, sunlight movement through the mist etc -- THIS is what makes Portal's scenic vistas so magical and fresh through your day! Portal artfully energizes my unconscious mind with subtle background visuals and audio effects while I work. I am delighted to have found Portal! With gratitude, my thanks goes to Stuart Chan and team!!

Amazing UI and Phenomenal Customer Service. I was initially resistant to try Portal because of concerns about getting to interested in an app with a high subscription cost. However, the nice permanent free offering convinced me that some things are worth it. This app is extraordinary. First, it respects your privacy and collects no data on you which is a rarity these days. Then, if you love soundscapes you will not find a better program to transport you around the world. The sound quality is excellent and the time between loops is long enough to be near imperceptible. The UI makes exploring interesting and seamless. Integration with the 3D audio is great too though I usually do have my phone use speaker or Bluetooth. My only gripe is if my phone is not plugged in overnight, the background battery usage can be more than I expect (10-15%) on an IPhone 13 Pro, as the battery usage chart shows it is active overnight. This may be nothing though. I had questions and a problem with purchasing the app and the team could not have been more helpful. I hope one day the permanent purchase price is more affordable. I look forward to further integrating this app into my workflows. Keep up the great work team! Always excited for new portals!

Incredible for Sleep and Getting Work Done. This app was a game changer for me. I’ve always struggled to go to sleep. I have tried music, sleeping masks, white noise, muscle relaxation, etc. This app was really helpful in transporting me to beautiful, serene locations, putting my mind at ease, and finally allowing me to sink into the depths of unconsciousness at night, It’s soundscapes are beautifully realized visually, with varied, 3D immersive sound. I discovered that some of the soundscapes, especially the barley field and the cloud rainforest, were great aids to helping me write and work without getting distracted. Overall, the app has been a great improvement to my quality of life, which I did not expect initially. I initially got the free version and was really satisfied with the included features, so I upgraded. I have to say the monetization model was really wonderful, encouraging me to support developers without making me feel like I had to pay for a good experience. Recently the app was updated with tons of new sounds from Scotland and Slovenia. It now includes a subscription model, but for the quantity and quality of content, it seems well worth it, especially because it will help the developers flesh out the app even more. On top of that, they gave everyone who had purchased the app free access to everything, which is incredibly generous! I look forward to great new content in the future. Thank you so much!

Torn. On one hand from just free previews alone this app seems better than TMSOFT’S White Noise. An accomplishment considering White Noise has been my app for 3 years. However, there is one big problem with this, the price. I understand that you need to make money, but this is ridiculous, 10 dollars a month is so expensive for a noise app. 50 dollars a year is plausible but flawed. 250 dollars for lifetime is insane. I will need to see how I feel about this app, but I suggest $3 a month, $25 a year and $50 for lifetime maybe, although even that seems overly priced. Don’t be greedy, you have less than 5k reviews. Anyway, this app does still seem good and if the pricing issue is fixed it could be great.

It’s Perfect and Getting Better!. There’s many ways to use this app: meditation; focus while working/studying; sleep; ambience; travel voyeurism. I have been using it while meditating and working, and it has been helping me to stop multi-tasking so much. Just do one thing and do it well. The Portal team seems have taken this to heart in the design of the application. Every part of the app appears lovingly thought-out. The landscapes are beautiful and are in unique destinations that inspire me to travel, but also to appreciate my own surroundings. Much of the audio is very rich, but with support for spatial audio reportedly coming, this app is going to be even better! So excited for what the team has in store for us in the future…

Love this App!. This is just the greatest, most innovative idea come to life. The quality of the picture is incredible and the sound is amazeballs!! I open the portal and I’m immediately transported…there are so many wonderful locations it’s hard to choose!! I admit, I dropped the coin for the full version, but it is well worth the investment. The options are pretty broad, although I would like to see more beach locations, including at least one with a 🔥 bonfire👍…wind swept dunes. Like that. .I love the whales and more of those would work too! Thank you for a great app! I love it more every time I use it!!☺️

A Multitool for Your Mind - Pure Bliss!. I am absolutely floored by this app! Picture a Swiss Army knife, but instead of being for physical needs, it's designed for rejuvenating the mind and soul. This app is a masterfully crafted gateway to the world's most breathtaking natural vistas, regardless of where you physically might be. The audio is a standout feature for me - the natural sounds are so immersive, you can almost feel the ocean spray or the grass beneath your feet. It's a transformative experience that takes you straight out of your typical environment and into the heart of nature. Best of all, the organic symphony of nature is evergreen. In conclusion, I cannot recommend this app enough. It's a necessity for anyone looking to spruce up their productivity and bring a bit of nature's magic into their everyday tasks!

Soothing app for work, play or resting. At first it seems a little pricey, but, while I’ve only been using the app for a week, I can already say, particularly when synced with the lighting, the app is amazingly soothing. I’ve signed up for a year, but I expect I will move to a lifetime subscription when it renews. The app is smooth and mostly intuitive. There are a couple things it’s easy to miss and even easier to not see why you would want that feature turned on. If you choose to evaluate, try out Summer Thunderstorm with the lighting synced and auto lock disabled. One trivial bit of feedback to the developers: I’ve referred this application to several people now. Two of them had seen it in the store and assumed it was something to do with the game of the same name, so not looked any closer.

Incredible just got better!!!. I originally was overjoyed to come across an app that I loved that actually had a one time payment fee. The design and elegance of this app along with the amazingly rendered sounds and visuals sold me instantly! It’s been an incredible experience sleeping and working to these sounds. Today I open my app to realize that there’s been an update and a huge one at that! This app that I already love just blew me out of the water again! I’m guessing since I was one of the original purchasers I got the whole new library of sounds for free as there is a subscription model now. I went through each new sound seeing which ones I wanted to pick to download and by the end of it I pretty much downloaded all of them because they were so good! To anyone reading this, this is easily worth the price of subscription at this point since it seems like there’s going to be more and more sounds that are going to be put out. In summary keep up the great work and I really appreciate the team taking care of their original customers instead of pushing them out like some other apps that transition to subscriptions have done. Also was this a one time promotion for original purchasers or would I be a lifetime subscriber? If it’s the latter then I’m going to be incredibly happy 😆.

Deep Quality. I’m always looking for apps that will help me to relax and which provide supportive and soothing background environments. One day I came across Portal. Right away, I noticed the excellent content. But what really caught my attention was the obvious and very deep quality that went into the design and creation of this application. That quality made it such a pleasure to use and intensified the experience of the outstanding content. At one point, I contacted support with some questions. The sincerity and supportiveness of their responses has been equal to the quality I experienced in the app itself. It has been such a pleasure to use the app and to interact with the people behind it. I purchased the application. I use it every day. I very much enjoy using Portal.

Great Ambiance App. I am always looking for a good app for ambiance ever since Apple stopped supporting 32-bit apps on their OS and original promoted app from Apple was not supported. All apps I have looked at are subscription based which is a “hard no” for me. This one how ever gives you a solid demo with a few to listen to. I have been listening to them while working from home and wow have they helped with the stress. I purchased the full version and could not be more pleased. I would like to thank the developer for making an ambiance app that I cannot hear the loop on and that is based on a DLC, not a subscription.

Love it!. What beautiful sounds of nature. I appreciate the authenticity of what you’ve created here. No need to add 5-6 sounds to achieve what just one portal has. Although it may seem like the app is expensive to use, I can understand why it’s priced the way it is. These are real sounds from real places and the visuals are beautiful. I’m in awe. This is just simply amazing. When I meditate I can fall asleep exactly where I’m sitting lol. It usually takes me hours to fall asleep but not while using this app, I’m asleep in minutes. I’ve actually just finished meditating and I’m ready for a nap after using this app lol! Kudos to the developers!

No sound. I really want to love this app. I even bought the year subscription. However now I want to return it as the main point of this app is sound and mine keeps going silent. The first time I tried the alarm it worked great. This morning I set it for 15 minutes before my normal alarm app was set to go off. Not only did portal turn on a ‘silent’ alarm, it also silenced my regular alarm that was supposed to go off later, causing me to oversleep. The other issue is that there were multiple times when I went to the app to turn it on and it would show the pictures with no sound. Yes, I checked the app mute and volume as well as every other mute and volume on the phone, nothing showed any problem. Killing the app and restarting it would turn the sound back on.

Been waiting for the Mac app for years. Blown away!. I've been using Portal on iPad (for focus and meditation) and iPhone (for sleep) since right after their launch. Every few months I check if there is a Mac app so I don't always have to keep my iPad nearby to use it. I finally saw the Mac app last week and WOW was I blown away. They've really taken the app to the next level rather than just going with a more simple port. The dynamic desktop and degree of immersion are incredible, especially on large displays. The ease of access in the menu bar is great too, as are so many other little details. Couldn't recommend it more highly!

Great app and respects my privacy!. I LOVE this app! Not only for the beautiful soundtracks, but also because the developers do NOT collect your personal info or track your every move online. I stopped using a similar app now that I can see the ridiculous amount of data it collects and uses from me. I understand developers need to make money, and I bought the premium package. It’s a small price for such a variety of sounds and the extra peace of mind knowing I can use the app and have my privacy respected. I’d give it 10 stars if I could!

Ca$h Grab. An app outside of Arcade that doesn’t collect user data and offers a one-time purchase for content access?? No way! Too good to be true? Yes. Too good to be true. While the days of legitimate free apps that aren’t data mines seems to be a thing of the past, this is just a ridiculous subscription-based cash grab. $10/mth, $50/yr, or $250/lifetime… Yes you read that right, $250 to listen to soundscapes unhindered, unless you want to open your wallet repeatedly. I pay $2/mth for VPN access. How do you justify your spend compared to functionality like that? Immediately removing this app, and to work through mindful, relaxing times that this was intended for I will try to focus on remembering the days when developers weren’t all money hungry scam artists.

Incredible!. I use this app every day. I love the commitment to the people who use this app (didn’t say “user” 😉). The immersive sounds are so perfect for reading, studying, and basically any word ending with ‘ing’. I love this app! Suggestion: you should make at least one more portal free to the user, because I am using the free trial at the moment and I think some portals should be available to the poor people like me. But I totally get trying to make money off of this considering it’s quality and I am just making a friendly suggestion. Keep up the good work!

Portal 3D App with video and incredible sound. I read the reviews and decided to try this app. I have other nature sounds apps - this one is really excellent. I tried the free version and enjoyed the offerings very much. When I found that all of their options were a one time fee of $3.99 - I agree with other reviewers that this app is definitely worth this one time fee for what is offered. There are options to have this app work with smart lights in your home and to mix it with other apps while you might be working around your home or just relaxing. I am very glad I have downloaded this app and recommend giving it a try. Worth the price and your time!

Best of its kind, but…,. I have used just about every app of this kind available. This is no doubt the best of the bunch. Quality of the spatial sound is fantastic. Clearly some sound engineers who know a thing or two about recreating soundscapes. However, I am on a subscription boycott. I will subscribe to a magazine that gives me a new issue every month. I will subscribe to a book club for the same reason. With this app my experience tells me that I will find a group of sounds that I use frequently and the others I likely won’t touch. So just paying monthly…., because. ….. I would purchase this for a reasonable fee and would be happy to buy a la carte different portals as the need arose. But I won’t pay indefinitely (and the lifetime subscription is a bit pricey)

Just do it!!!. This is a no brainer. Few things you do with your technology will have more of an impact on your space and experience (perhaps pending Vision Pro). Hands down my go to app while I use my devices and when I don't!!! Having these scenes on my other displays or TV is priceless. the video capture and looping is to perfection. I have never noticed or been distracted by a loop. I have to take a pass on any of the scenes with random backgroud animal sounds like birds etc. Ocean, waterfall, river and creek, no problem. But the sudden bird chirp which then my brain captures as part of the loop doesn't work for me. breaks the virtual reality of it all. So with those beautiful scenes, what I do is silence the sound and use a different ambient sound app. Please pull the trigger and tell your friends. better still; Show your friends and visitors. We need to support this kind of excellent attention to detail in the modern OS era. Thank you to the creators. Your work is affecting my life in a deliberate way. Calming. Mindful. Beauty. I can't wait to see what you do with the Vision Pro!!! Your work has certainly positioned you to become one of those killer applications in the up and coming spatial computing experience.

Amazing app,,improved my focus x100. I didn’t think this app would help me but since I could never focus on doing chores or schoolwork, I downloaded it anyway. Now, I absolutely love this app! It seriouslyyy helps with my focus. The sounds are very realistic? not sure how to describe it, but it has great audio and it really sounds like you’re there. I also like how it says the location of the sounds and has the pictures. It’s a nice touch. I can relax and imagine myself being there, even while I’m working on a difficult project. I paid for the subscription so I can listen to all the sounds, but if you don’t pay, you can listen to only 6. The subscription is $39/Year, but if you struggle with focus, sleep, or stress, it’s totally worth it. This is also the most aesthetic app I’ve ever seen. ((If the Devs see this)) I’m wondering how often a new sound is made? And will there ever be a sound taken from a cafe or some city?

Literally Amazing. I cannot go to sleep without listening to the Nighttime Aquarium, Lake Bled, or Lake Kawaguchi. I don’t know HOW you guys capture the sounds of Nature, but I’m entranced. It literally sounds like I’m right there surrounded by the sound. It distracts me from overthinking when I’m falling asleep at night and I go to sleep feeling so relaxed. I’ve been using this app for I think over a year now and I normally don’t buy apps or leave reviews, but I think this one is WORTH every cent. I hope you guys never take this off the App Store because it would destroy my life lol. Thanks for making the different portals so awesome!

Nice Addition to a Mac. Full disclosure...I've been using the iOS version of this since it came out. The background screen is totally awesome, especially when you add in the water animation. I find this really relaxing. One thing I do miss from the iOS version, though, are the timers. When you selected a Mode (Focus, etc.) you could also set a timer so it would "bring you back to reality" as it were. I always found this really useful and miss it here. Of course being able to download portals like you can in the iOS version would be nice as well, but that's in no way a deal-breaker. This is one of the best ambient sound apps I've ever seen, and the looping sound isn't really noticable (unlike some others outt here).

Fantastic! A few suggestions.... I am in love with this app. I have just a few suggestions. First, please increase the quality of the sound. Spatial audio is nice but the water sounds like low bitrate white noise. Second, please make it possible to hide the app icon from the dock and only have it in the menu bar. Third, it would be awesome if the surrounding/wallpaper could be set to automatically change every few minutes. Lastly, it would be amazing to have this on the Apple TV (hint hint)!

Great app! Great developers!!. Update: Everything said before still goes! A year (or more?) later and developers still staying true to their customers! And thankyou for update on new sounds coming, I can not wait!!! And thankyou for taking in customer feedback and adding more variety of sounds💛 Previous review: I just wanted to update review since last app update and say again, it was refreshing to see an app devoloper stay consitent, although they switched to a subscription model they did add a way to pay a 1 time fee, and although its more then the $4, still compared to other apps $30 for lifetime is far more reasonable. But most important thing to note is they allowed the users who previously paid the $4 to buy the app to keep the full version along with all the updates, so when you purchase from this devoloper you can be assured you will keep what you paid for regardless of any future changes in the pricing model, and that is hard thing to come by now a days in the apple world, so thankyou! Suggestions: I also would love to see some more light autumn/forest sounds, maybe without birds (or at least light bird sound in distance and spread out a bit) in future, there are lots of water ones wich are great but more like the barley field one (wich is PERFECTLY done!) I would love!

Really great except one thing: Could be 5 stars. I don’t listen to my music loud so I usually have it on the lowest setting, and even when I have the sound on this app turned up all the way I’m am still not able to hear these wonderful sounds. Wish the volume slider was higher on this or have the sounds louder in general. Also, if there was just regular white noise that would be AMAZING!! Edit: i like that the developer takes suggestions and responds to reviews, good customer service. But if i raise my volume my music will be too loud and if i keep it where it is it wont be loud enough :( The balance is off. I decided to give them another star. I REALLY enjoy that you can listen too “white noise” in the background while SIMULTANEOUSLY listening to something else. I have yet to find another FREE app that does a better job of this. The “white noise” also pairs really well with noise cancellation. Props to you guys. A few minor problems

This app is definitely a favorite!. I’m a Portal pioneer (I don’t remember exactly when I originally got this app but it’s been an almost daily use ever since)! This is an app I would not hesitate to recommend! It’s tough to pick a favorite sound…they’re all great! Looking forward to the remaining St. Lucia ones as well! As for the Mac app…you knocked it out of the park! The motion desktop is awesome! I’m also really enjoying the Iceland sounds. Hoping to see these come to the iOS/iPadOS apps as well! Overall, no complaints! Keep up the great work! Can’t wait to see what’s coming in the future!

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Sound in background useless. I love this app - however j gave it 3 stars as I like to listen to it with music/podcasts. Unfortunately despite the background option, you cannot hear it and turning it up just turns up the other app I’m listening to Very frustrating

Cool images. Not bad really want to airplay this on my telly

Check the review. What going on with your app

Honestly, amazing yet simple app. So I got this app during V2 and purchased the ‘premium’ version, it was definitely worth it. This app is just outright simple but amazing in every way. It is so calming for when you are tying to sleep or want to focus on studies or a book, there is always a portal to fit your need. I do have a recommendation for a portal: Maybe a city themed pack with one of the portals being a rainy street, with the occasional footsteps or car passing by and in the distance you can hear the sound of the city and maybe a police/ambulance/fire truck siren? Just a suggestion, keep up the great work guys! Thanks 😊

Doug. Love the sounds

So Helpful!. I found the vivid videos along with the audio calming my stress levels significantly especially when combined with the breathing exercises available within the app!Really appreciate the development of this app!Helped me calm myself significantly!

Very helpful. I love this app. I have depression and have struggled to sleep and relax. This app has been really helpful. Having the Philip hue lights does really enhance the experience. Without the lights it is still effective.

Not bad. I would love to lock my screen and listen to the audio But other then that great app

In love with this app. The recordings are beautifully and richly rendered with such a strong sense of place. It blew me away from the get go. It’s important to me that these are real, field recordings with amazing sound engineering, coupled with lovely visuals which help make sense of the sound. The looping is seamless and the extra bits like timer are super useful for working with the app. Can’t wait to see how it evolves. What I would also love to see: Longer recordings or the option to loop longer recordings More winter stuff, I really love the one where you can here the wet snow falling More of the interesting natural blends of bass and mid level sounds like you get with stuff like wind and water, thunder and wind or multilayered environments. Support for some of the emerging 3D sound in headphones. Anyways, I’m a big fan.

Really good. It helps a lot but I couldn’t sleep idk it’s my hearing or it’s the thing that better is the money ones so yeah 4/5

Amazing. Such an aesthetically pleasing app that really does what it says. The only white noise app I’ve decided to keep and use!

Just what the doctor ordered.. I find it extremely difficult to sleep. Often hours will go by, and I still have not nodded often, even after work, a jog and family commitments. This app is absolutely gorgeous aesthetically. The design is a joy to use and the sound is so organic and serene. The first few nights with it, I found that I was unwinding more and I could at least let my imagination roam through peaceful vistas. Now I am using the escape function to unwind before setting a sleep timer. It is working! Thank you. Highly recommended. Oh, the alarm function is a joy too.

Worth it. The sounds are very natural and have lots of details. Really good and gentle. I listen to them daily. Hopefully there will be more portal to be updated

10 out of 10 customer experience!. This app is by far my favorite app on the App Store, hands down. Top quality audoscapes that are well worth getting you hands on! I recently experienced a glitch with one of the newest updates. I reached out to the team and explained my situation and got a response from them within 10 minutes! After a few back and forth a they pushed out 3 updates in an attempt to help me with my issue! 3! These guys are amazing. The guy I was talking to was very polite and apologetic and worked his hardest to help me resolve my issue. Stu, you are a legend mate, thank you! Dave.

Wow!. Actually does what it says!

Love it - Recommendation. I wish I could cast it to my lounge TV so I can relax after work.

nothings free. looks cool but nothings free

Brilliant. The app is simple, stripped of anything not functional - and a beautiful interface! Would recommend

The Quality of this app blows my mind. The effort and thought put into this app is really impressive, the price per year to have full access is really fair too (please don’t get greedy😆) the only concern I have is I get jealous because I’m a developer myself! Lol

Magic!. I have several apps for relaxation, this outstrips them all by far. I love that it is just a one off payment. Well worth it, I’m not a fan of subscriptions. And the tracks! Absolutely awesome, my most favorite is the Amazon rainforest, I always go back to that one. Well done to the developers, and thank you!

Works. This app is so nice I love the music and the background and the timer is great to otherwise I would spend the whole day on this app

Portal. My oasis and foil against it all .Damien McDonell

The developer says they are developing a desktop version for Mac. I don’t have a Mac, but I’m thinking to get a Mac just to use the app. This is how good it is.

Portal is the best relaxing app out there. I like portal very much I use it if I’m having a bad day streets or sleeping prity much. I like how you only have to pay a one time fee and that’s it no monthly or annual subscription. Like Luther apps do. One thing I will mencheaon is the Philips hue section is a little bit buggy I find that I will have deleted and reinstall the app to get it working again Luther then that aslsome

Very beautiful app.. Update is awesome. Would love it if dev would make compatible with Apple TV 😉

Must buy. Love the app and love the story behind it.

Review. Absolutely love the sounds in the app. However, I hate the fact that it’s subscription based rather that one time pay. It would be great, if I could buy a certain sounds only. Thanks for such great app

One of the best apps I own. I consider myself somewhat of a connoisseur when it comes to these types of apps. For me, this one is the best one I’ve ever downloaded since Apple started the App Store. Thank you.

L. There should be an option for vertical videos

Everything I've Been looking For. If you're looking for quality audio and a crisp refreshing video to pull you into a scene this app does so perfectly. There's so many options to choose from I've had no trouble selecting favourites depending on my mood or what I needed to get done that day. A few highlights I've loved: -The ease of access to background noise and a favourites selection directly from the menu bar. -A dynamic and high quality video of the scene which automatically becomes the desktop background to enhance its effect. -The customer support (shoutout to Stu) is awesome, with a fast response time, amazing attitude and you can be assured they’ll help in any way they can. All in all great experience, 5 stars.

I❤️🌧. I love portal because the rain sounds are so realistic and I use it every night, so I 100% recommend using portal for relaxing❤️☺️

Bedtime bliss. Paid for the premium version and well worth the money! Excellent high quality sound scapes. It would be handy if the time spent meditating fed into Apple Health mindfulness minutes, otherwise perfect app!

Worth the money. I bought this app not knowing if it were going to be worth the money and so far I have enjoyed it. There aren’t really that many sounds to choose from, however the sounds that are available are fantastic. I use this app most days to help get me ready for sleep and it’s working.

Free portals. Wish there were more free portals but overall great app👍

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Garbage. Nice 12 second loop on the escape vids. Not worth even a free trial.

Incredible. By far the best sound quality and user interface. I love this app. I would love some Canadian portals though. The familiarity makes it that much more calming.

Incomparable to other apps. Beautiful UI Excellent developers Awesome updates

Why only 30 seconds for loop?. Surely if you went to the expense of having someone expertly record the audio and video at these locations around the world, you would have more than 30 seconds to loop at each portal? Does the paid subscription provide longer loops, I am hoping for 1 hour or more even though I know that means more data.

Beware... Rip-off!. I purchased the additional “portals” specifically to share with my wife. Then I noticed the fine print that family sharing was allowed but not the “in-app purchase” that I wanted for my wife. Then when I tried for a refund I got the message that my reason didn’t meet the criteria. This was a few hours after purchase! Rip-off!

Portal just keeps getting better!. Thank you for your zero-data approach to privacy. So refreshing and cool! Keep up the great work!

Cost. Yeah I’m not paying $11 a month for nature sounds. Spotify has more utility for $11 a month than Portal.

Very relaxing. Just started using the app and while I love all the relaxing visuals and sound I wish I could adjust the length of each in and out breathe. I find it too fast to really be able to meditate. Please consider adding a feature to set individual preferences on breathing time.

I dig it!. I just love when technology is used for great things! This is a thoughtfully designed app that leverages the power of technology to help benefit society as a whole … It’s really delightful to see. As a project manager who works in tech, this app checks all the boxes for me … It makes sense/addresses a need, it’s beautiful AND is easy to use (LoL), and it’s inspirational, which is the real game changer nowadays … Oh, and an added bonus when I had questions, the team got back to me quickly with a personalized response. So delightfully unexpected! My suggestions (and why I gave 4 out of 5 stars) — I would love the ability to project the landscapes to my tv. It’d be nice to swap out these scapes between reruns of Star Trek to play in the background as I work during the day ;D! Also, I would love love love, if I could send the sound to my Sonos speakers! What’s more immersive than surround sound baby! Keep up the great work team! And if you ever need a peep in PM / Operations - put me in coach! Love what I’m seeing so far! Best, -j.

Stunning Design. You guys really took advantage of the mac's potential and made something truelly remarkable. Beautiful addition to the iOS version. Great work!

One of my favourite apps. I used to use this app on my IPad on my desk. I am just as happy with it on my iPhone. I love how it can sort of merge with other apps so I can listen to my audiobook while feeling relaxed. This was definitely worth the purchase as I’ve used it almost every single day.

Very inaccessible. I found this app while browsing the App Store, it looked intriguing so I installed it, not a good decision. This app is very inaccessible for people who use voiceover. If you don’t know, voiceover is a software that reads the screen to viewers who are visually impaired or blind using either iPhones or iPads. I was really looking forward to using this app for concentration, I guess I’m gonna have to find a new one instead of this one, going to be deleting this app when I’m done writing this review.

Brillant. Il s’agit d’une application très professionnelle, bien faite, bien pensée. De la belle intelligence, bravo aux concepteurs! J’adore littéralement! Le seul point négatif est le prix, c’est vraiment trop dispendieux car ont peut se débrouiller gratuitement sur internet pour avoir de sons semblable et de haute qualité. Un Life Time à 350$, soyons sérieux…

why is this listed as "Free"??. ok so lets say you get people like me to download the app labeled as "free". But the minute, the second I open the app and it asks me for money with no free content (NONE), then I know it wasn’t free. So why would you mislead your customers? What part of this is free? Why do some developers think people are dumb? I really encourage people to give this one star. I really wana know, what part of this is free?

Doesn't work with Hue.. Doesn't work with Hue.

No option to test out. I would love to try out the app and see if it's something I'm willing to pay for. But unfortunately there is no option for a free trial without committing to an annual 50$ subscription and proving your payment information. I wish there was an option to test out without signing up for a subscription, or at least give us the option for a free trial on the monthly plan - as of now it's only on the annual plan and I don't want to accidently forget to cancel and be charged 50$.

Excellent... est exceptionnel en Mac. Superbe application et la version mac est simplement incroyable avec les fonds d'écran vidéo. Facile d'oublier que je suis en ville ou dans un café! ;)

Awesome App !!. I usually only rip the garbage ripoff apps on here but by sheer luck happened upon this one and let me tell you: IT'S AWESOME !! The most beautiful app I have yet found especially if you have a large monitor and background lighting (Look up Govee Monitor lights) You will be amazed at how peaceful and relaxing this is. Perfect app if you work from home and want some relaxing audio with great visuals thrown in. I would give it more stars if I could !!!

LOVE THIS. Thank you so much for creating a clean, minimal design. I love it! P.s. I’m from Africa and it would be cool to have some African portals I.e. Serengeti, or Maasai Mara… wind in the dessert or through grass ❤️

Beat my expectations. I expected this app to be like the rest, an app that played choppy and low quality audio from “places in nature”, but it’s the exact opposite. The audio quality is on point, and the visuals compliment it. Great app, I would recommend.

More impactful than I initially thought. I was a bit skeptical about this app. And then I started to play around with it and not only is the immersive experience super enjoyable and soothing, but it also really ehlps my focus focus while working. Truth is during the winter months, I miss being outdoors in the mountains and forests that I get a bit blue. But this app tricks my brain into thinking I'm outdoor and it helps me survive the indoor months. Who knew? Thanks for creating the app!

Impressive work from a small team!. First off the fact that theres 3 FREE scenes 8k with spatial audio and links up to your hue lights? Unreal. Im so thrilled that i stumbled onto this and ill be telling my apple friends. To all 4 of you, thank you for this free no-strings version that updates monthly. i'll be closely watching to see if the monthly subscription drops/has a sale or promotion. Hell, if i get some overtime ill probably get the annual. 5/5 fantastic stuff guys, well done

A Wonderful Journey Every Day. I’d love to name this app what it is—a superb audiovisual experience. My line of work (as an iOS developer) requires long hours of concentration—and I tried many times to improve my concentration with music. While music helped for a while, I found myself unable to continue—finding new music is often time-consuming and not always fruitful—music is often just too disruptive. It was hard—until about a year ago, I found Portal. The seamless cinematic clips of places all around the world combined with natural ambient sound produces exactly the calming and focused effect I need—almost trancelike. I’d give a lot to be able to work in the midst of nature—and with Portal I think I’ve found exactly what I needed. Thank you, developers!

Truly amazing.. Helps get me through the day. Such an awesome product.

Can't recommend it unfortunately. Really great concept as I like to plug my Macbook in clamshell mode into my 4k TV and just let ambience videos run in the evening. I thought I could do this with this app and have more quality videos to choose from but there is no way to see the videos in full screen. They only take over your desktop. It breaks the immersion since you see the top and lower bar of the desktop and can't simply look at it in full screen. Had to stop the trial and delete it because of that. Such a shame because it's only a feature away from being a truly great app.

Great!. Really great app but i wish you guys had just a little bit more free content just to demo the app a little bit. I dont necessarily want to pay for a bunch of different scapes that I havent been able to try yet.

Nothing available for Free. There is nothing available for Free without starting the Trial. The app should clarify that - I'm all for charging users for good apps, but don't make us install apps and then tell us we need to give you our credit card info to even try it out. Some of us are on limited data caps.

AMAZING but..... amazing, but paying another subscription prevents me from using it

Stuck at updating. 5 stars because it’s the best. However it’s stuck at updating some of the places it says 100% complete but it stays there forever. Luckily i can still play those sounds.

This is the best money Iv ever spent.. Hands down. I use it to sleep, wake up, meditate, my kids like watching and exploring the different sights and sounds and my husband, who has an honours degree from VFS in Sound Design was very impressed with the quality of the recordings.

Alarm function. The app is great, I wish it didn’t change my phones screen brightness to the highest setting when stopping an alarm. Not how I want to wake up.

Careful!!. The app itself is great, no issues and their team is top notch. I was billed for the year even though I cancelled the trial in time. Apple won’t refund me and I’ve tried to dispute it twice. I mean, they can literally see the data that I hadn’t used it beyond day 3 of my week long trial and still refused. Their team said their hands were tied. Not their issue but I’m now out 60$ and I can’t afford that :(

Life changing app. There is nothing like this app on your Mac. Transport yourself, free your mind, relax, escape it really opens up your perspective on how dull your desktop has been all these years. I use this app every single day, all day and have a monitor devoted to it. I should also add that the team that makes this app is phenomenal and incredibly talented.

It doesn’t work !. The apps closed when I choose a sound. I have iPhone 12.

A truly wonderful experience. Combined with sound and hue lightbulbs this is a transformative experience. Not to be missed.

Thunder?. The last thing I need when trying to unwind to a lovely rainstorm is a sharp crack of thunder. Also. When looking at the lovely scenes, I found staring at the superimposed clock disconcerting. No thanks.

The 8k footage looks super sharp. This is like a window to these different environments, very cool idea

Alarm. Alarm feature doesn’t work even if I have the app running and turned notifications on. There should be more options for time to set your alarm (e.g. 10:05 am, 10:30 am).

Good Support. Bought a one year subscription in July, really loved the app. It does what is promised. Now, when I use it, I am prompted to take out a membership, with no option for signing in and no acknowledgement that I already have paid for a membership, which should still have 10 months to run. Unless they can fix these bugs, it is simply not worth paying for. (UPDATE: Support were helpful. Deleted and reinstalled app, and updated OS from 13.4.1 to 13.4.2. This resolved the issue, though it is unclear why it started in the first place).

Perfect. Perfect for when you need to relax. Great graphics. Thanks for making such a great app.

Useless…. Well, I paid my money and absolutely regret it. Loops are still limited, you have to download “libraries” and you have to keep your screen on otherwise the 30 second loops stop playing. All this is NOT worth the paid “upgrade”. Useless app as several others out there (free and paid) offer more. I can’t believe I paid and deleted within three minutes of “discovering” it was a poor decision to pay for the app. Save your money - many, many, many better options out there for you, and free.

I love it but.... This is awesome... except it’s ridiculous that you need to pay $45 a year for all the features, it’s such a good idea and is super relaxing but it should be less expensive because it’s just a small relaxing app that I won’t use that often. My suggestion, add a life time feature, so instead of people paying each year, they pay like $30 to have all the features forever. If you made it a bit less expensive I probably would have paid for it.

I love it!!. It really helps me focus, feel calmer and more present. I hope they will updload a cricket sound though, that’s the only thing i’d say missing for my nature experience 🙂

Price. Thérèse than the price its very good

REFUND!!!. So Today I updated my Apple’s payment info by adding a new credit and as soon as I did that Portal made a quick deduction of $45 CAD from my new Credit card even tho I subscribed yearly membership back in March, on March 15’22(2 Months ago) and paid the full amount of $45 from my previous credit. Please I request the devs to look into it and kindly make the refund asap as this is completely unacceptable. Thank you

Great support team. Really like the sound of the App. Was having an issue with AirPlay, which seems to have resolved itself for now, but nonetheless after leaving a review, the team was really quick to reach out and their commitment to a great user experience was obvious. I may or may not run into my AirPlay issue again, but I feel confident the team is looking into what caused it and there’ll be a fix for it. Thanks to Stuart!

Great Soundscape App, But Volume Issue Needs Attention!. The quality of the recordings is top-notch, providing a truly captivating experience. However, the app's maximum sound level is too low, making it difficult to hear over other audio sources like Spotify. I kindly request the developers to address this volume issue and provide an option to adjust the sound level. With this improvement, the app would be even more enjoyable and perfect for relaxation and ambiance. Highly recommended though!

Great meditation app. One of the best app for relaxing and enjoying an afternoon meditation. Use it at nights to fall asleep. The Interactive interface is sooo beautiful. Thank you Portal you guys are the best

Cool app with room for improvement.. This is a pretty cool and innovative app. Multiple portals with visual scenery, spacial audio support and even smart lighting integration for HomeKit for more immersion. Two things I would like to see though are an Apple TV app and Mindfulness tracking in HealthKit for breathing exercises.

It’s ok. Sounds are nice, I liked the thunderstorm one. Fell asleep relaxed so I guess it does it’s job there. I just wish the visuals weren’t just a still image. It would be cool if we could move the picture around and see more of the place. Kind of like google earth.

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Such a wonderful app!. The developers didn’t such a great job with the app! Even just scrolling through menus and options is a joy to use, the interface is extremely well designed! So many apps have boring blank interfaces and this one balances simplicity with a sleek futuristic design that’s not overwhelming. The sounds and clips are very high quality and nice to watch. The integration with Hue is so cool and a great idea. I love using this app for mediation and background sounds while working. The only thing I would add is more color/brightness effects with hue lights when you use this feature. I would love to see my lights react to changing scenery (maybe even add an apple tv version). Nevertheless this app absolutely worth keeping on your phone. Can’t wait to see what else they add, well done!

Subscribe To Try. Look, we all live in a fast paced world and like instant gratification. I'm not going to subscribe to something just to even start using something. You need to at least let us try one thing before even having to subscribe to the service. Right now, I honestly believe this is nothing more than an app that has a library of high quality static photos. There's a lot more apps out there that provide that, but you at least get 1 wallpaper for free before you can. Not trying to be cheap. I'm just saying that this app looked like it would be more, but I see no evidence of it ACTUALLY being more than that. I shouldn't have to have a gatekeeper to see how a free app works.

Excellent app. Loaded with features. Huge file size though. Love it. Only problem is it’s file size. It’s 500mgs. If space is a issue for you then you may want to seriously consider uninstalling a few things first as this is a must have. Wish the developers could’ve done something about the file size but considering how beautiful the app is and how crispy the UI runs, looks and feels it all makes sense.

Surreal Soundscapes. While there may be a ton of apps like this on the App Store, I’ll go ahead and say that this one is by far my favorite. The soundscapes are so detailed and have so much movement that it actually seems like you’re surrounded by the scene. I can put on my headphones and become completely engulfed by the sounds. The app itself is very beautifully designed as well, something a lot of other apps fall short on. I hope the Hue integration comes shortly!

Excellent App. I have been using this app since 2020 and it is awesome. The sounds are extremely crisp and are very high quality. I also love the timer feature which I use while attempting to sleep. The company is also updating the library of locations pretty often and you can download your preferred sounds so you don’t need wifi to access them.

Best in Breed. I have been through a lot of white noise type apps but none compare to portal. As a V1 user I fell in love with the clean design, beautiful visuals, great sounds, and functionality. It’s hard to find a sleep timer these days and portal has one! I also love the constant updates that keep making the app better and better making me thankful I bought the full version months ago. Easily worth a subscription. Best sleep aid I’ve ever used. I fall asleep to this app nightly and I think anyone reading this will too.

Wonderful App... But One Suggestion. Perhaps most importantly, this app *works* very well. The Hue integration is seamless and it is very intuitive. The idea is solid and has a lot of room to grow in the future with more portals. The one time payment model is far favorable to a subscription. That said, it would be very useful to be able to control multiple rooms’ lights simultaneously, like Living Room and Bedroom, to spread the ambiance, especially in smaller living spaces. Otherwise, great app and lots of room to grow!

A Truly Elegant & Well Designed App. I really enjoy this app for so many reasons. The UI is very user friendly and straightforward. The overall quality is excellent! My favorite feature is the morning alarm with Philips Hue integration. An improvement that would make the alarm so much better is the ability to schedule the alarm (for it to occur weekdays, or every day, or just a specific morning) as opposed to having to manually set the alarm every day. Thank you Portal devs!

A must have. At first I had my doubts about the app but I decided to try it out any since it was on my recommendation app list. When I opened the app I was immediately struck by the intensely dynamic sounds that met my ears. An extra cool thing about the app is that the sounds will keep playing even if you exit the app or you turn off the phone. This app is a must have and I highly recommend that you get it as well.

Beautiful, Peaceful, Focused.. I've been a long time user of the Portal iOS app to play soothing ambient noise as I fall asleep. The Mac app takes the original Portal concept and ampilifies it 1000x to become something much more. Each soundscape is incredibly detailed, really the best audio quality you can imagine. The accompanying visuals are stunning and together they create an immersive effect unlike anything I've ever tried before. This app is a must have if you work in a noisy distracting environment as I do.

Well done but limited, expensive. One of my favorite apps. I use it every day. I wish there was a greater variety of environments. The sound is amazing. This app is too expensive at $50/year. I quite after the trial. The app developer responded by offering to let me subscribe for $25. That’s probably a fair price, given that these recordings are pretty sophisticated. However, if I could find the equivalent on Apple Music, I would use that instead of ponying up the fee.

Really relaxing! I love how it’s a one time purchase too.. I really like to fall asleep to calming sounds sometimes but in my opinion it’s not worth buying a subscription like some apps do just to listen to some waves or rain while you drift off. This app has so many good ones, it’s honestly worth the upgrade. I love the recent update where they separated the sounds as well, it makes it easier to go through.

Love this app. This app allows you to create natural settings with audio, hue lighting, and a timer. The natural settings help me focus. You can define the task you are working on. Has really boosted my productivity. Giving it four stars instead of five because I would love to be able to just enter the task and have the settings automatically created. Can probably do this with a shortcut. Also wish the app tracked amount of time on each task. Still, I’m using it all the time. Creates great setting that you come to associate with your activities. Great start.

Great app - helpful and relaxing.. This app is great as background noise for tasks if, like me, you can find music or podcasts often distracting when it comes time to focus. It also just feels relaxing to listen to even when I don't have anything I need to focus on. Good selection of sounds, and the upgrade to premium was worth it. Not sure how easy it is to find new high quality sounds, but consider as additions, if you can find them, a bamboo grove, or drift ice.

Makes RTO (almost) tolerable. As someone who frequently finds music or podcasts distracting while working, having a source of ambient sound to complement noise cancelling headphones is critical to getting work done in the office. I've been a huge fan of the mobile app since it launched, and the desktop app is a wonderful implementation of that experience for larger screens (with a few extra bells and whistles). Seriously worth checking out.

Great use for an old iPad. I keep an old iPad that isn't much use with anything else hung up in my cubicle running this app at work. It's a nice little window of stress relief in my beige world. Once in a while I fire the Mac version up at hom, and it looks pretty good on my 49" ultrawide, but unless you pick a very slow moving scene (like the lava flow I'm enjoying right now) it can get a little distracting.

Well executed. The sounds on this app are beautiful. Especially through my AirPods Pro. And I love that it’s a one time price to upgrade. I think it is well worth the small fee. My only complaint is that some of the sounds are a bit similar. And the premium whale sound is not really whales. I thought that would be a really nice and original sound. Hoping there will be updates with other sounds that are a little more diverse!

Perfect. This app is, quite simply, my favorite app on iPhone. I use it for several hours every workday to focus on my research and ignore the noises from my office. I occasionally also it it for getting to sleep. The careful attention to detail, including lack of noticeable looping noises, the fantastic audio, and even the beautiful looping video in some cases, has no rivals. The developers clearly have a vision, attention to detail, and passion. Thank you so much for this gift.

Portal: The perfect sound relaxer.. Terrific product, very well designed, fairly expensive and you can see why. But there are around five locations you can enjoy for free if you can't afford the whole package. The only problem with that it places a desire to try the other places that feels like an obsession. That's how good the program is. Relax, stress release, meditate, breathe correctly, plus more. Amazing!

Interesting Idea with Great Execution. I have been lucky enough to test out the beta for the past few months, and really appreciate the way in which this team has been working to improve this app. I feel that the immersive landscapes presented in the iPhone app transfer well to the Mac app, and have found it to help me with high quality ambient noise during a busy study period. Look forward to seeing how the app can continue to improve over time.

Awesome App. Thoroughly enjoy using this app on a daily basis. I strongly urge to purchase the annual membership as it provides great value for the price. This app definitely helps me destress from my daily stresses of the day. I believe u can’t put a price on that! The customer service dept is just as wonderful as the app. They are quick, very timely, and offer great support. You definitely will be happy to use this app!

I am blown away!. Five minutes into this app and I am HOOKED AND SHOOKETH!The thoroughness and the attention to detail and the sheer beauty of this app is a knock your socks off experience. I have come back to say that you can’t go wrong with this app you just absolutely can’t and they did not tell me to write this. Ok…I am back. If you don’t have this app, you are missing out on incredible sights, sounds.I am an amateur photographer actually a pretty good one and I know good photography. I am an audiophile. Love soothing ambience and this app has it all. FANTASTIC!

Privacy!. I love love love love that no data is collected by this app. Recently studies have been done of all sorts of wellness apps like meditation and mental health, and almost all of them collect data so intrusively. Of course they all defend it but there are so many potentially exploitative uses, and once the data is out there, who knows who will acquire it? Your health insurance company? I don’t want to deal with that while I’m using an app to relax or get my head straight. So anyway, super-thumbs-up to Portal’s developers for being good people.

Simple. Beautiful.. The recordings in Portal are soothing, immersive, and beautifully rendered. I was a 3D sound skeptic until I sat with their Log Fire portal. For the first 15 minutes, I kept taking my headphones off to check if there was something crackling just behind me! I hope they’re able to add even more soundscapes in the future. I don’t have Hue lighting, and it’s highly unlikely that I’ll ever want to drop that much money on a personal light bulb. It’s a cool concept, but I can’t speak to Portal’s integration with Hue.

Not what i expected. When I got this app I thought you would be able to hear your footsteps on the dirt paths, hear the birds chirping above you, and look up and see the glorious peeks of Rocky Mountain National Park, but it’s not like that at all. I said before that you want to hear the birds, which I did, but the footsteps weren’t in there, the rocky, beautiful experience of the mountains wasn’t in there, I guess I might be expecting too much, but if you want something immersive and you want to basically go on a vacation without actually going there, this isn’t the app for you.

Love love love this app!. I really do love this app and I cannot say enough great things about it. I use it when I’m trying to focus on planning my busy work month out, and I use it in the evenings to decompress& relax, and I also use it in the morning to wake up to. Not only does it create an entire experience of sounds it adds a great touch by syncing with my hue lights if I wish it to. I highly recommend this app, if you are on the fence, hop off and give this app a try, you won’t be disappointed!!

Very nice! 😀. I love this app! A few months ago I saw this in the app of the day so I decided to try it. I do not like sleeping with the radio because the scary sounding emergency alert system would come on and scare me and wake me up and I would have a hard time sleeping after that. But this really helps and there is no advertisements and I hope there isn’t. Thank you for this amazing app to help me sleep through the night! 😁

Where are the one time pay options?. I don’t know which app some of these 5 star reviews are using but it surely isn’t this one with regard to giving praise for not using subscriptions for soundscapes. That is solely the reason I downloaded this app. To browse the library and buy-once licenses to listen to various soundscapes wherever, whenever, and without the need for internet. When I opened the app, I see a bright yellow banner that asks me to subscribe for different lengths for different prices. Nope. Immediate uninstall. The other 5 star reviewers talking about one-time purchases in this app are misleading and incorrect.

Too many pet peeves. The idea is great, but there are some quality issues with the video. like with Radovna Hut Rain at the beginning the camera literally shakes. so you see the camera shake everytime the video loops. Eskey Sunrise has a camera-shake as well. the Summer Thunderstorm video is like 15 seconds long, and you can visibly see the loop-point every 15 seconds, which is very distracting. In general all of the videos are short and you can see the loop-points (the cow pops back into the bottom-left corner in Alpine Cows, etc). These little things kill my focus and bring my attention back to the video glitches.

Sounds. I think you should have different things for focus sleep and escape for the people who just want free and e erything for the people who want everything or just one decide what sounds would be sleep focus or escape or if some one wanted to pay for one sound or if they wanted to pay for two or more gift them ten percent the more they buy or if they buy all then they can decide what sounds should go where other wise you decide that’s what I would do that way you can tell what sounds people prefer for focus sleep or escape

Beautiful, the best soundscapes. Absolutely love this app - I typically use sleep stories to help me fall asleep, but have started using this app more often. It’s beautiful deigned, simple to use - and the free version comes with some great soundscapes! My suggestion: I appreciated the free trial for premium, but only listened to one of the soundscapes offered on it - it’s a hefty price for a small collection. I’d like to see some more content (or a lower price), and would then consider upgrading.

Ocean sounds are perfect. This app is exactly what I needed— I play the ocean sounds every night behind my Calm meditation (their nature sounds give me anxiety) and it puts right into a tranquil flow that usually ends up with me falling straight to sleep! My partner likes the jellyfish music. How often are new sounds released? I would request an update to allow the iPad version to have portrait mode rather than just landscape. Thank you!

Worth it. A true successor to Naturespace, my most used iOS app of all time (dont even wanna know the amount of waking hours I spent with it, not to mention sleeping). That’s pretty much the highest praise I can give. The Spatial Audio is awesome too….it gives everything a less dense and airier, more diffuse sound that feels more like a huge, dynamic open space. Outside of the scope of this app, but I would love these guys to do the usual house sounds like air conditioner, ceiling fan, washer/dryer, etc

A must-have app!. I love listening to nature soundscapes and I have several apps for this already. But since I discovered Portal, it’s the only one of its kind that I use. The free soundscapes are great - and paying a few bucks for additional soundscapes is a no-brainer. Portal has a setting that lets you mix their sounds with other apps and so lately I’ve been mixing nature sounds with music, audiobooks, and podcasts. I love adding this additional depth to my listening experience - especially to audiobooks or quiet, ambient music. I love this app!

Fantastic as a nightstand. This app is just plain awesome! Great functionality, wonderful options....and superb customer service. I couldn’t find the auto lock feature (look for the gear icon and you’ll find it), so I sent them some feedback with that as a suggestion. They reached out to me within hours, showed me where to find it and couldn’t have been more helpful. I plan to use this app for a long time! Thank you!

An incredible concept, well-executed.. I didn't think the desktop version of Portal could be that much better than any other "background noise" app—I was wrong. The whole experience is so seamless and so gorgeous that it blows any other app I've tried out of the water. Having these vistas as the *true* background to daily computer activities feels so indulgent and peaceful. You definitely want to try this.

Finally an honest app!. I just downloaded the app a few minutes ago and I’m trying it out now. It’s honestly such a great app and I understand that you have to pay for certain sounds, but it’s a great deal if you plan to use this app constantly. Personally, I want to stick with the free portals for now, but I am thinking about doing the one time purchase. I absolutely love this app so much! Especially the fact that you can also listen to regular music with it. I’d give this app more stars if possible. Great job to the developers

Really Wonderful App. Beautifully designed - just exploring through the app is a relaxing experience. It’s helped me greatly with finding a sense of calm through the soundscapes and breathing exercises. It’s definitely easier for me to find patience in meditation when there’s a sound to focus on. It’s also cool they inspire different ways to engage with it, like a time for a focused activity or recommended “portals” for sleeping. Their customer support was great too when I reached out. Seems like a good team of guys with good values.

Congratulations!. While I have rated this app on the iOS side, I forgot to rate it here, until I saw that Portal is a Finalist for App of the Year! Congratulations on all levels for a spectacular app! From the unreliazed beginnings of MyDreamApp, this app was a Phoenix and rose again to be everything that ap wanted to be and far more, too! Love this app and am proud to see it finally become all it could be! Great work to everyone involved!

I did uninstall. Upon first seeing this app, I could not have known the drawbacks, so let me tell you what they are for me. It is hard to see all the options, as the selection of themes underr each of the three sections does not show all options. For that, you have to type a key word in the search bar. The few themes I tried had avery short look of sounds, especially noticable when there are birds involved. The vision is stunning, but the sound is too repetitive to be effective. In the end, the repetition of the bird sounds is what drove me mad, so I uninstalled.

Service. I discovered this app and have been using Version 2 for some time. With Version 3 I had some difficulty setting it to play in the background with other apps (i.e. cued meditation apps.). I sent a quick email with a question and had a response within hours of my initial message and a followup detailed response clarifying how to adjust settings. The app is outstanding and supported by phenomenal customer service.

Great iOS made even better by MacOS support. The iOS app is stellar (I use it daily) and the new features exclusive to MacOS are fantastic. Philips Hue integration does not appear to work correctly though (the bridge connects but no zones are shown). Please correct because it is otherwise a 5 star experience. Just a note on my MacOS setup. I set my background to a motion background today and activated Scrivener in full screen mode for a really nice experience today. I could see myself using this a lot. I can’t wait to connect this to Shortcuts on the desktop. Great job!

Best nature sounds app ever.. If I had to leave only five apps on my phone, Portal would be one. It’s amazing to see how this app has grown since it’s early days. I couldn’t imagine a better study/reading/contemplating/sleeping companion. The only feature I would desperately hope to change is adding a Mac app. Often when working seriously I prefer not to take my eyes off my computer, and a mac app for portal would be an incredible feature. Otherwise, I look forward to new Portals coming out. Some other ideas would be a watch app for portal, compatibility with spatial audio, or more breathing exercises, if any of those are feasible. I also look forward to trying Philips Hue integration in the near future. I can’t thank the developers enough for adding such a blessing to the app store. If you’re reading this and on the fence to download, GET IT - you will be amazed.

Absolutely Beautiful. The video and audio experience provided by Portal is absolutely beautiful and incredibly immersive. I use Portal throughout my day with my morning coffee, during work and while relaxing in the evening. The experience on Mac and iPad are my favorite due to the larger screens, but having Portal on iPhone is the perfect companion when on the go. Combining Portals’ spacial audio experience with AirPods Max or AirPods Pro is a definite treat!

Almighty Allah, the creator of every things. Amazing app really I love it, 2days I’m crying whenever I listen to its sound, I’m contemplating in it, it puzzles me , it makes me reflect more about the great attributes of the Almighty Allah, How are you Great my lord , O Allah you are the most powerful, most compassionate, most merciful, most beautiful , let me more close to you, O Allah , let me know more about you . This app is a treasure, thank you very much may Allah bless you. Really I hope that all my family,friends and all human beings listen to these sounds and contemplate in it.

AMAZING. I am 7 months pregnant with my 4th baby and the insomnia has kicked in BIG TIME. I’ve tried everything even a few other sleeping apps that were no help. After one to many nights of this I tried this app. I turned it onto the whale encounter and set the timer for an hour. Next thing I remember is waking up to my alarm this morning. I honestly wouldn’t have made it through another day if I hadn’t gotten any sleep and this app saved me...literally.

Excellent app and service. I downloaded this upon a recommandation not thinking I was actually going to like it. I really came to this app thinking it was just too hippy dippy. **I was so wrong**. The focus mode is really improving my productivity. My girls are using it to sleep at night. The interface is very well done. The setup is seemless and the light control is a really nice addition. On top of it, I emailed the devs with a question and got a response quickly. In other words, do yourself a favor and try it!

High quality + beautiful design & easy to use. Portal is simple to use & I love the diverse range of beautiful, super high quality soundscapes offered in the pro version. I bought it immediately after finding out that it plays overtop any app playing another sound. This is by far the best feature. I love connecting to bluetooth speakers around the house to make the space feel more alive, and I highly suggest using it underneath of music playlists, lectures/TED talks, yoga classes, etc. Couldn’t be happier with the app & excited to see it continue to evolve!

garbage. I ONLY gave this 5 stars so it would show up at the top of the reviews BUT THIS APP IS WORTHLESS!!!subscription models posing as free apps need to be erradicated from this platform. It's bait and switch at its most basic. No one likes to feel like they've been bamboozled and I understand keeping some features behind a paywall, but making it so the whole app is of no use after downloading until you pay for it is quite simply a deceptive and dirty practice. DO better.

Bought it outright when it first launched; would subscribe today. I bought this app when it was pretty new on the market, before the subscription model. But it’s worth whatever they’re asking, without question. The interface is beautiful and easy to use, and the soundscapes are the best I’ve found compared to Headspace, Calm, Insight Timer, etc. If you want a great ambient noise app for sleep or focus, or just ambiance, then I’d highly recommend Portal.