Press kit
Facts, assets and background on Veil for journalists, reviewers and anyone writing about sleep sound apps. Everything on this page may be quoted or reproduced. Questions go to [email protected]; replies usually come within a day.
Veil in one paragraph
Veil is a white noise and sleep sounds app for iPhone, iPad and Android. Every one of its 23 sounds is synthesized on the device while it plays: six noise colors, seven fans, mechanical sounds such as a window air conditioner, an airplane cabin and a clothes dryer, and rain. Nothing is a recording, so there is no file to repeat and no seam to hear. Each sound can be tuned to the listener's ear, the volume control is fine enough to find the quietest level that still masks a room, and the app works with no connection, no account and no ads. It sells as a monthly or annual subscription or a one-time lifetime unlock. Veil is made by one developer in New York City and was released in April 2026.
Facts at a glance
| Name | Veil: White Noise & Sleep Sounds |
|---|---|
| Platforms | iPhone and iPad (App Store), Android (Google Play) |
| Released | April 2026 on both platforms |
| Sounds | 23, in four categories: noise colors (white, pink, brown, green, grey, blue), fans (slow, medium, fast, bladeless, tower, box, ceiling), mechanical (window AC, central AC, heater, airplane cabin, train cabin, clothes dryer, vacuum cleaner, shower) and rain (light, heavy) |
| How the sound is made | Synthesized on the device from filtered noise and slow modulation, using the same Web Audio node graph on iOS and Android. No audio files ship with the app. |
| Free | White, pink and brown noise and the slow fan, with the sleep timer and fade, tone shaping and the bedside clock |
| Premium | All 23 sounds, mixing up to 3 at once, and saved mixes |
| Price (US) | $1.99 a month, $9.99 a year, or $19.99 once for a lifetime unlock. Prices vary by storefront. |
| Also | Sleep timer with fade-out, bedside clock, bedtime reminder, lock screen controls, AirPlay and Bluetooth output, Siri Shortcuts on iOS. Works fully offline. No account. |
| Developer | Colin Shepard Hanson, an independent developer in New York City. |
| Website | veilsleep.app. The noise colors and fans can be played free in a browser at veilsleep.app/noise-colors. |
| Contact | [email protected] |
What is different about it
- Nothing is a recording. Sleep sound apps almost all play audio files. Veil synthesizes each sound on the device from filtered noise, so there is no file to restart and no seam to catch at 3am. The browser players on this site run the same generators, so the claim can be checked without installing anything.
- Seven fans. Fan noise is the most used sound on hardware noise machines and the thinnest category in apps. Veil ships slow, medium, fast, bladeless, tower, box and ceiling fans, each with its own tonal shape and sweep.
- Every sound can be reshaped. Because the sound is generated live, its treble, cutoff and character can be adjusted while it plays. A recording cannot be reshaped without degrading it.
- Precision volume. A fine, continuous control modeled on hardware machines, so a listener can find the quietest level that still masks the room rather than the nearest of ten steps.
- A way to own it. The category runs on $40 to $70 a year subscriptions. Veil offers subscriptions too, and a one-time lifetime unlock for people who would rather buy a noise machine than rent one.
- Built for adults, in the dark. A dark, hardware-style interface meant to be used with one eye open, with no lullabies, no baby branding and no content feed.
- Offline, no account, no ads. Every sound is generated on the phone, so nothing streams and nothing needs a signal.
The story
Colin has been a light sleeper his whole life and lives in New York City, where the noise never stops. He spent years on white noise apps, sound machines and a window air conditioner that worked better than any of them. The apps failed him the same way each time: recorded loops whose restart his brain would catch in the middle of the night, interfaces built for babies or meditation, and subscriptions priced like a streaming service for what is, in the end, a fan.
With a background in software engineering, he built the app he wanted instead: sounds synthesized live rather than played back, the depth of fan sounds a hardware machine has, a volume control fine enough to matter, and a price that includes the option to pay once. He still builds and supports Veil alone. The full account is in Why I built Veil.
Quotes you can use
Every white noise app I tried was a playlist of recordings. You fall asleep fine, and then at 3am your brain catches the restart. I wanted the sound to be generated, so there is nothing to catch.Colin Shepard Hanson, developer of Veil
The most used sounds on a real noise machine are fans, and most apps have one. Veil has seven, and because they are synthesized they never click, never pop and never carry the room they were recorded in.Colin Shepard Hanson, developer of Veil
The subscriptions exist so someone can find out cheaply whether Veil works for them. The lifetime unlock exists so that once it does, they never have to keep paying for a fan.Colin Shepard Hanson, developer of Veil
Assets
The icon is also available at 512 x 512. Screenshots may be cropped or placed in a device frame. Please do not recolor or restyle the icon. Higher resolution captures, video and a demo build are available on request.
Coverage guidelines
The accurate claim is that every sound is synthesized on the device and nothing is a recording. Veil does not make medical claims: it masks noise, and whether that helps a given person sleep or focus is theirs to judge. Store ratings change daily, so please pull the current figure from the store rather than from an older article.