Common questions

Attune is a focus audio app that layers ambient soundscapes based on what you're doing and how you're feeling. Before each session, you choose a work mode — deep focus, reading, creative thinking, journaling, or light work — and a mood state: scattered, anxious, neutral, tired, or activated. Attune uses that combination to shape layered audio engineered for that exact cognitive moment.

No — deliberately not. There are no melodies, chord progressions, lyrics, or rhythmic structure. Attune layers synthesized ambient stems: drones, tonal textures, phase elements, and sub-harmonic grounding. The goal is to occupy your auditory cortex just enough to block distracting noise without pulling attention the way music does. If you've ever started humming along to your "focus playlist," you've experienced the problem Attune solves.

Binaural beats occur when each ear hears a slightly different frequency — the brain perceives a phantom beat at the difference. Research associates specific beat frequencies with distinct brainwave states: theta (4–8 Hz) for creative and reflective thinking, alpha (8–13 Hz) for relaxed absorption, and beta (13–30 Hz) for active concentration. Attune embeds binaural beats into every Pro session, automatically tuned to the frequency band that supports your chosen work mode and mood.

Headphones are strongly recommended. Binaural beats only work when each ear receives a separate frequency signal — speakers physically blend the channels, eliminating the effect. The ambient soundscapes still work through speakers, but Pro subscribers get the full binaural benefit only with headphones or earbuds. Any stereo headphones work; expensive audiophile gear is not required.

Before every session, Attune asks two questions: what are you working on, and how are you feeling right now? The mood state isn't just metadata — it shifts the actual audio. Someone who is anxious gets a session tuned toward calming alpha frequencies and lower-density textures. Someone who is tired gets a session biased toward alerting beta and brighter tonal layers. The same work mode (say, deep focus) sounds and feels different depending on your current state.

Lo-fi and focus playlists are curated music — someone chose songs they thought sounded "studious." They still contain melodies, instruments, and emotional arcs your brain can't fully ignore. Attune generates no music at all. It layers ambient stems in real-time, calibrated to your mood and task, with nothing to skip, shuffle, or accidentally start humming.

Attune supports five work modes: Deep Focus (demanding analytical or coding tasks), Light Work (email, admin, low-stakes tasks), Reading (dense material comprehension), Creative Thinking (open-ended ideation and brainstorming), and Journaling (reflective writing and introspection). Each mode maps to different ambient textures and binaural beat target frequencies.

Yes. The free plan includes 5 sessions per month, up to 60 minutes each, across all work modes — no credit card required. You can try it without creating an account. Pro plans start at $4.99/month and unlock unlimited sessions (up to 8 hours each), binaural beats, Pomodoro cycles with automatic breaks, custom durations, and session history with focus stats.

Attune works on any device with a modern web browser — desktop, laptop, tablet, and mobile. It can be installed as a Progressive Web App (PWA) on iOS via Safari (Share → Add to Home Screen) and Android via Chrome (Install App) for a native-feeling experience without an app store download.

Once the app has loaded and a session has been started at least once, the audio stems cache locally via the PWA service worker. Subsequent sessions work even with an unreliable or absent internet connection.

It depends on your work style and cognitive load. Attune supports sessions from a few minutes up to 8 hours (Pro). For most knowledge workers, 25–90 minute blocks work well. Pomodoro mode (Pro) structures sessions automatically: 25 minutes of focus followed by a 5-minute break, cycling until you stop.

Whether you click "End Session" or let the timer run out, Attune plays a soft gong to signal the transition, then fades the audio over several seconds. You'll see a "Session Complete" screen showing your total focused time. There are no abrupt cuts or jarring interruptions.

Attune is designed specifically for cognitive work states. The audio and binaural frequencies are tuned for focus — not parasympathetic relaxation or sleep. The lowest frequency range Attune uses (theta, ~6 Hz) is meditative but still alerting compared to true sleep audio (delta, 0.5–4 Hz). For sleep, you'd want a dedicated sleep audio tool.

Brain.fm uses AI-generated functional music — it still has musical structure. Endel generates soundscapes that adapt passively to environmental signals like time of day and weather. Attune's approach is different on both counts: no music whatsoever, and it asks you directly how you're feeling before every session rather than inferring state from sensors. See our full comparison page for a detailed breakdown.