Frequently asked questions about Hoppel

Yes. Hoppel runs free in your browser, without sign-up or app download. Breathing with Hoppel and crisis help are unlimited; for brown noise, rain, words and Hoppel’s reading you get 5 free plays a day; at night (9 pm–6 am) brown noise and rain play without limit. With Hoppel Plus (hoppel.store) everything is unlimited, plus binaural beats, music and heartbeat, mixer, sleep timer, read-aloud and history.

Hoppel breathes with you at six breaths a minute: 4 seconds in, 6 seconds out. His belly rises and falls with the rhythm. Slow breathing with a longer exhale is a well-studied way to reduce tension.

Brown noise is a deep, steady sound, like a distant waterfall. It masks background noise and racing thoughts. Many people find it pleasant for falling asleep, though the research is thin.

Only for the binaural beats (alpha 10 Hz and theta 6 Hz), where each ear hears a slightly different tone. All other sounds work through speakers too.

After each suggestion you say whether it helped. Hoppel remembers this per mood and next time leans towards what worked for you. Now and then he deliberately tries something new (Thompson sampling) so he doesn’t always offer the same thing.

Not without an account: what you write is analysed only in your browser, and your feedback stays in your browser’s local storage. With an optional account, your history and learnings are encrypted on your device with your passphrase before they’re stored – nobody but you can read them, not even us. No cookies, no third-party trackers, no ads.

No. Hoppel is for relaxation and wellbeing and doesn’t replace medical or psychological care. In an acute crisis, call your local emergency number or a crisis line (findahelpline.com); in Switzerland, Die Dargebotene Hand is available 24/7 on 143 and emergency services on 144.

Not yet, but it’s planned: as part of workplace health programmes, on tablets in waiting areas or as a prevention offer. If you’re interested, write to info@hoppel.store.

Open hoppel.ch/en/. Hoppel asks you up to four short questions and then suggests something that fits. Don’t want questions? Tap “Straight to sleep” or “I’d rather look around myself”.

No. Hoppel runs in your browser on phone, tablet and computer. You only need an account to use Hoppel on several devices or to buy Hoppel Plus. Tip: on iPhone, “Share” → “Add to Home Screen” puts Hoppel on your home screen like an app.

Usually yes, as long as the browser tab stays open. If a call or another app interrupts the sound, tap the page briefly afterwards and Hoppel carries on.

Quiet. A simple rule: low enough that you could still hold a conversation next to it. For falling asleep you often need less than you think. The volume slider is right below Hoppel.

No, Hoppel needs a connection to open. Sounds you’ve played once are then usually loaded from your browser’s storage – which saves data.

It’s very personal. Many people like brown noise or rain because they mask noise and racing thoughts; others prefer calm piano. Tell Hoppel afterwards whether it helped – with every rating, the suggestions fit you better.

Yes. From 9 pm to 6 am, brown noise and rain are free and unlimited. Keep the volume low. A sleep timer that fades the sound out after 10, 20 or 30 minutes is part of Hoppel Plus.

First you breathe with Hoppel for a few minutes, then a sound takes over and fades out by itself when the timer ends. Free: 2 minutes of breathing, then brown noise or rain for 20 minutes. With Hoppel Plus you choose breathing time, sound and timer.

A small programme with one step per evening: a fixed wake-up time, a wind-down before bed, parking your thoughts, bed is for sleeping, coffee earlier, morning light and a look back. The steps are well-known recommendations from sleep research; each night names its source. Night 1 is free, the rest are part of Hoppel Plus. They’re ideas for good sleep habits, not a treatment for sleep disorders.

Stay lying down and breathe slowly with Hoppel for a few minutes. If you’re still awake after about 20 minutes, get up, do something calm in dim light and go back to bed when you feel sleepy. If your thoughts keep circling, jot them down – they can wait until morning.

If you’ve been sleeping badly several nights a week for a few weeks and it affects your day, or if you snore loudly, have pauses in your breathing while you sleep or fall asleep during the day. Sleep problems are very treatable; the recommended first treatment is cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (guideline: Edinger et al. 2021).

It varies, and Hoppel says so for every sound. Slow breathing with a long exhale is well studied (Zaccaro et al. 2018; Laborde et al. 2022). Music lowers anxiety in studies, e.g. before surgery (Bradt et al. 2013). For noise and rain there are only a few small studies; for binaural beats the results are mixed (Garcia-Argibay et al. 2019). More under “About Hoppel”.

Some people get headaches or feel uncomfortable. That’s why Hoppel starts binaural beats quietly. Only listen with headphones, at low volume, and stop right away if you get a headache. If you have a neurological condition such as epilepsy, ask your doctor first.

Hoppel is made for adults. If you want to use sounds for a child, talk to your paediatrician about volume and distance from the bed first.

If Hoppel notices signs of a crisis in what you write, it shows help straight away: in the US call or text 988, in the UK & Ireland Samaritans on 116 123, elsewhere findahelpline.com; in Switzerland 143 and 144. Hoppel can’t replace a person – please reach out.

In Switzerland and Liechtenstein: CHF 6.90 a month or CHF 59 a year as a subscription, or CHF 64 as a one-off 1-year pass (TWINT accepted). In other countries you buy Hoppel Plus from Paddle.com, who act as the reseller and handle payment, tax, invoices and any refunds. You pay in euros or US dollars and see the price before you pay.

The yearly subscription renews automatically and can be cancelled any time, effective at the end of the period. The 1-year pass is a single payment for 12 months and simply ends – there’s nothing to cancel.

In Switzerland: under “Account”, tap “Manage or cancel subscription” – there you can cancel, change your payment method and see invoices. Elsewhere: use the link in your confirmation email from Paddle. Hoppel Plus stays active until the end of the paid period.

The free version gives you 5 free plays a day. Starting a sound, the kind words or “Let Hoppel read” with text uses one. Breathing with Hoppel and crisis help are always free, and at night brown noise and rain don’t use any. New free plays arrive at midnight.

A sleep timer, the sleep piano and a calm heartbeat, mixing sounds, alpha and theta binaural beats, kind words read aloud, your full 14-day history, the evening ritual your way and all seven nights of the sleep programme – with no daily limit.

Nobody but you. Hoppel analyses what you write only in your browser; it isn’t sent to us or anyone else. Your typing rhythm (not the keys) is also used only on your device to sense tension.

With an account, your history, what Hoppel learned and your personal settings are encrypted on your device with this passphrase before they reach our server. We don’t know it. If you forget it, no big deal: your account and Hoppel Plus stay, only your saved data starts fresh.

Without an account: “Reset what Hoppel learned” or clear your browser data. With an account: “Sign out and delete data on this device” and “Delete account” – we then delete your record on our server straight away. Important: cancel a running subscription separately first under “Manage or cancel subscription” (outside Switzerland via Paddle). Payment data stays with Stripe or Paddle under their rules and legal retention periods.

Only anonymously: we count page views without cookies or third parties and keep daily totals only. If your browser sends “Do Not Track” or “Global Privacy Control”, we don’t count you. Details in the privacy policy.

Current browsers on iPhone and iPad (Safari), Android (Chrome) and computers (Safari, Chrome, Firefox, Edge).

Check the volume on your device and below Hoppel, whether Bluetooth headphones are connected, and whether another sound was just stopped. Tap the page once (some browsers only allow sound after a tap) or reload it. If that doesn’t help, try another browser.

Hoppel uses your device’s voices and picks a natural one if it’s installed. You can download better voices in your system settings (on iPhone: Accessibility → Spoken Content → Voices). You can switch reading aloud off at any time.

Yes: hoppel.ch (German) and hoppel.ch/fr/. Switch the language at the top right.