COMPARISON · COMPLEMENTARY, NOT COMPETING
CPAP treats sleep apnea. SomniSense helps you review a separate breathing record.
Keep prescribed CPAP and your clinician’s care plan. SomniSense, a sleep apnea detector app, independently analyzes breathing sounds on your bedside phone and marks possible pauses and shallow-breathing patterns you can see and hear. Your first complete breathing report is free; the app does not evaluate CPAP treatment.
These tools serve different needs. CPAP uses positive air pressure to keep the airway open as prescribed. SomniSense gives you a personal sound-based breathing analysis to inspect on your phone. Keep treatment decisions with your clinician and CPAP data; a phone report is optional personal context.
WHAT SOMNISENSE ADDS
Keep your treatment plan. Review breathing sounds when useful.
Use the compatible phone you already own, with no appointment or additional monitoring hardware. In the morning, open a marked moment to see its estimated time and duration, follow the waveform and hear available sound around it. Your CPAP data and clinician remain the sources for treatment, mask-fit and adherence questions.
- Candidate pause-like or shallow-breathing-like type, time, and model-estimated duration
- The marked waveform and playback of the sounds before and after the candidate interval
- Whole-night position, followed across nights in recent comparisons and structured reports
Phone audio is a limited wellness signal. Candidate regions are not clinical apnea events, AHI, oxygen measurements, airway-source findings, or a diagnosis.
iPhone · version 1.2.0 interface example. Example recordings; your observations will differ.
Performance with CPAP sound has not been established; do not use this record to judge treatment or change therapy.
Which question are you trying to answer?
For treatment or equipment questions, use your CPAP report and clinician. For a personal sound-based breathing record you can inspect yourself, SomniSense gives you an additional option.
If you are still deciding whether to seek care, you do not need an app result first. Repeated pauses, gasping or persistent daytime sleepiness are useful observations to discuss with a qualified clinician.
Recurring gasping, witnessed pauses, or sleepiness that affects driving are reasons to contact a qualified clinician. A SomniSense reading should not delay that conversation or determine whether the concern is serious.
If you already have a CPAP prescription, follow the care plan. SomniSense is optional and can only add a separate acoustic wellness record; it is not a same-scale check of CPAP performance.
Treatment and a personal breathing record, side by side
On a small screen, swipe the table sideways to compare both roles.
| SomniSense | CPAP | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Wellness monitoring app | Medical treatment device |
| Diagnoses sleep apnea | No | Used after a sleep study diagnosis |
| Treats sleep apnea | No | Yes — positive airway pressure |
| What you wear | Nothing | Mask + tubing + machine |
| Access path | Download to a supported phone and start on your own cadence | Prescription, equipment, and care pathway |
| Payment and availability | Published consumer purchase paths | Varies by insurer, supplier, location, and care pathway |
| What travels | Supported phone already beside your bed | Treatment device, mask, tubing, and supplies |
| Acoustic review | Available local audio around selected candidate regions | Not a CPAP function |
| Lifestyle Lab™ tagging | Yes — every night | No |
| Longer-period report | Structured wellness context (Pro is fuller) | Authoritative device compliance report |
Choose the record that answers your question: prescribed treatment data for care, or your own sound-based observations for personal review.
When a SomniSense record may be useful
You want to open specific breathing moments from an ordinary night: inspect the mark, hear available surrounding sound and save an available minute for your own records. One complete report is enough to begin.
If continued observation is useful, compare your own nights. Lifestyle tags are optional context; a group difference is an association rather than a test of treatment.
You want a separate bedside audio record while following a prescribed CPAP plan. SomniSense cannot measure mask fit, residual AHI, adherence, or treatment effectiveness.
When the CPAP path takes priority
If a qualified clinician prescribed CPAP, follow that plan and use the machine's own report for treatment and device questions. A consumer acoustic reading should not delay, change, or stop prescribed care.
Recurring gasping, witnessed pauses, or sleepiness that affects driving are clinical conversations regardless of an app value. SomniSense may be optional background, never the gate to care.
Quick decision guide
- "I'm persistently tired and I don't know why." → Consider professional guidance. An optional SomniSense record cannot identify the cause.
- "My partner reports pauses in my breathing." → Contact a qualified clinician. Do not wait for an app result.
- "I have a CPAP prescription." → Use the CPAP. SomniSense is optional for tracking.
- "My CPAP says my AHI is 4. Is it actually working?" → Your CPAP report and clinician are authoritative. SomniSense can add a separate acoustic record, not a same-scale check.
- "My clinician suggested a lifestyle change." → Follow that guidance. SomniSense can organize tagged-night observations, but it cannot judge treatment effectiveness.
Put your phone by your bed and review your own night after sleep.
Your first complete breathing report is free to view—and stays free to revisit.
No valid report yet? You can try again for free.
Start for freeRecording and analysis stay free. Pro unlocks later complete breathing reports; snoring stays free.
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Common questions
- Can SomniSense replace a CPAP?
- No. CPAP is a treatment device — it pushes pressurized air to keep your airway open while you sleep. SomniSense is a monitor — it listens and reports. If you've been prescribed a CPAP, follow your prescription. SomniSense isn't trying to replace it.
- Can I use SomniSense to test if my CPAP is working?
- No. Your CPAP's own report and your clinician are the appropriate sources for treatment effectiveness, adherence, mask fit, and residual AHI. SomniSense can keep a separate microphone-based wellness record, but it cannot evaluate the device or your treatment.
- I have a BRI of 12. Do I need a CPAP?
- BRI cannot answer that question and must not be mapped to AHI severity. CPAP decisions belong with a qualified clinician using appropriate clinical testing, symptoms, history, and professional judgment.
- How are these products obtained?
- SomniSense is a consumer app purchased through its published store or web paths. CPAP access, payment, and coverage depend on the prescription, insurer, supplier, location, and care pathway.
- Can I use both at once?
- You can keep a SomniSense acoustic record while following a prescribed CPAP plan, but the two outputs are not interchangeable. Do not use SomniSense to change, stop, or judge prescribed treatment.
Already using SomniSense? Close this page and open a marked moment in your Night Report. More nights and context tags are optional.