Bedtime Stories Free: calm stories to read to children
Install the appFree, no sign-up, works in your browser. Six original, gentle stories to play or read aloud at bedtime, in 21 languages, with the text on screen, recordings by AI voices you choose, a soft background sound and a timer that fades out after the story. Made for parents and carers, with no accounts and no profile. With Pro, a grown-up can also make a new story from their own idea.
Privacy at a glance
All details- Offline: Fully
- Your data: On device
- Sync: When signed in
- Processing: On device
- AI: None
- Camera & mic: None
- Ads & tracking: Not in app
Ads & tracking: none in the installed app. This page uses analytics and may show ads.
Bedtime Stories
Free · works offline
Why use Bedtime Stories
- Original and gentle
- Six new stories with no existing characters, written to wind down: slow, warm and safe, and different from one another.
- Quiet by design
- The background sound sits low under the voice, the night colours are easy on tired eyes, and the timer fades everything out after the story.
- Nothing about your child
- No accounts for children, no age, no profile and no ads. Only your place in each story is kept, and you can delete it.
- 100% free
- Use it as often as you like. No sign-up and no watermark.
- Private by design
- The stories are recordings the app downloads the first time you open one and keeps on this device. Where you stopped and the stories you star stay on this device, or sync to your account if you sign in, and you can download or delete them at any time. Stories you make and save sync to your account too, and you can delete them. The idea you type goes to our writing and voice providers to make the story, and is not kept in the app. A nickname, if you type one, never leaves this browser.
- Works on any device
- Runs in your browser on Windows, Mac, Linux, Android and iPhone, or install it on your phone to use it offline.
Who it's for
- A calm end to the day
- Put the phone down on the bedside table, press Play, and let a story and a soft background sound take over from you.
- Reading aloud yourself
- Use the text on screen as a script when you would rather do the voices, with the background sound turned down or off.
- Away from home
- On a plane, in a car or at a relative's house, the installed app works without a connection.
How Bedtime Stories compares
| Option | How it compares |
|---|---|
| A picture book at the bedside | A book is hard to beat, and this does not replace it. Bedtime Stories is for the evenings when you are away from the shelf, or too tired to read. |
| Breathing Exercise | Breathing Exercise guides slow breathing with no story. Bedtime Stories is for the part of the evening that has words. |
How to use Bedtime Stories
- Pick a story from the library, the language you want it told in, and whose voice reads it. Each one takes about six minutes.
- Press Play to hear it narrated with a quiet background sound, or read the text aloud yourself. The paragraph being read is marked as it goes.
- Choose how the evening ends: when the story finishes, or after a set number of minutes, with the sound fading out slowly.
- Come back tomorrow. The app remembers where you left off, and you can star the stories you ask for again.
Install it on your phone
iPhone and iPad (Safari)
- Tap Install the app, or open the app's page in Safari.
- Tap the Share button.
- Choose Add to Home Screen, then tap Add.
Android (Chrome)
- Tap Install the app, or open the app's page in Chrome.
- Tap Install when it asks, or open the ⋮ menu and choose Install app.
- Open it from your home screen.
Windows, Mac and Linux (Chrome or Edge)
- Tap Install the app.
- Click the install icon at the right of the address bar, then Install.
Installing is free, and the app opens like any other app on your phone.
Frequently asked questions
Who is it for?
It is a tool for parents and carers to use with a child at bedtime. The grown-up runs it. There are no child accounts, and it never asks for a child's name or age.
What does it keep about us?
Which story you were on and where you stopped, the stories you have starred, and any story you made and saved. An optional name for the cover is kept only in this browser and is never sent anywhere. There are no ads and no tracking, and you can download or delete everything under Your data.
Are the stories from books or films?
No. All six are original, with new characters, in four kinds of story: gentle animal tales, journeys by sea and sky, a fairy-tale kingdom, and a cosy story of home and family. Each is written to be calm from start to finish: nothing frightening happens in any of them.
Do I have to play the recording?
No. The full text is always on screen, so you can read it aloud yourself, or turn the sound off and read it quietly together.
Can I make my own story?
Yes, with Pro. Type an idea, choose 3, 5, 7 or 10 minutes, a language (any of the 21) and a voice, and you see the price in credits before you start: up to 396, 627, 858 or 1,210 credits, depending on the language. You get a new story, written and read aloud by AI, with the words on screen. Save it to My stories, keep it for offline, or delete it. It stays yours and never joins the shared library. A grown-up of 18 or over makes the story.
Can I use it offline?
Yes. The app works offline once it is installed. A story's recording is downloaded the first time you open it, or when you press Keep for offline, and is kept on your device, so that story then plays with no connection. The recordings are not part of the first download, which keeps the install small; each is about two megabytes, and you can remove them in Settings.
What languages are the stories in?
All 21 languages of the site, from English, Spanish and French to Arabic, Hindi, Japanese and Chinese. Each story is written again for every language, for gentleness and rhythm, rather than translated word for word, and the text on screen is the text you hear. All six stories are recorded in 20 of the languages, and one in Korean so far; where a story has no recording, or you're offline and haven't kept it, you can read it aloud or let your device's own voice read it. The story is told in your app's language, otherwise in English, and you can switch language on any story.
Who reads the stories?
AI-generated voices, and you choose who reads: George, a warm, calm man's voice, or Lily or Sarah, soft women's voices. The stories are recorded in advance, so nothing is generated while you listen. Not every voice has recorded every story yet: when yours hasn't, another voice reads it. The full text is always on screen if you would rather read it aloud yourself.
Does the story stop on its own?
Yes. It can stop at the end of the story or after about 10, 20 or 30 minutes, always at the end of a paragraph, and the background sound fades out over the time you choose.
Is Bedtime Stories free?
Yes. It's free to use, with no sign-up, and installing it on your phone is free too.
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