Review Insights · App Store
Hatch Sleep
Hatch Baby, Inc. · 61,280 ratings · ★ 4.5
4.5
★★★★★
61,280 ratings
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Top complaints - extracted from 74 negative reviews
Recurring phrases mined from 1-2★ reviews. The bigger the percentage, the more users have the same problem. Fix the top 2-3 in your version and you have product-market fit on day one.
1
"hatch"
25 negative reviews mention this · 34% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Awfully slow with connection. The hatch device itself is great, but the app is always SO SLOW to load every time I open it. I’ve tried it with multiple WiFi connections and it is still so slow every time. It’s so annoying when I want to change a setting and I have to wa…" - nastycass45
2
"subscription"
17 negative reviews mention this · 23% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Paywalling features that used to be free. BUYER BEWARE. This clock is a waste of $180, and the subscription in this app is getting systematically stripped apart, with features that were once free now hidden behind a paywall. When I got this device over a year ago, the cue to unwind…" - SincerelyFlorence
3
"device"
15 negative reviews mention this · 20% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Awfully slow with connection. The hatch device itself is great, but the app is always SO SLOW to load every time I open it. I’ve tried it with multiple WiFi connections and it is still so slow every time. It’s so annoying when I want to change a setting and I have to wa…" - nastycass45
4
"alarm"
15 negative reviews mention this · 20% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Paywalling features that used to be free. BUYER BEWARE. This clock is a waste of $180, and the subscription in this app is getting systematically stripped apart, with features that were once free now hidden behind a paywall. When I got this device over a year ago, the cue to unwind…" - SincerelyFlorence
5
"change"
14 negative reviews mention this · 19% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Awfully slow with connection. The hatch device itself is great, but the app is always SO SLOW to load every time I open it. I’ve tried it with multiple WiFi connections and it is still so slow every time. It’s so annoying when I want to change a setting and I have to wa…" - nastycass45
6
"frustrating"
12 negative reviews mention this · 16% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Paywalling features that used to be free. BUYER BEWARE. This clock is a waste of $180, and the subscription in this app is getting systematically stripped apart, with features that were once free now hidden behind a paywall. When I got this device over a year ago, the cue to unwind…" - SincerelyFlorence
7
"light"
12 negative reviews mention this · 16% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Not Intuitive. We got the baby hatch for our toddler to start a green and red light schedule for waiting to wake up and setting up this schedule has been confusing. There’s no support, only AI and the tutorial is NON existent. The supper site takes me to …" - Ericfafoglia
8
"every"
11 negative reviews mention this · 15% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Awfully slow with connection. The hatch device itself is great, but the app is always SO SLOW to load every time I open it. I’ve tried it with multiple WiFi connections and it is still so slow every time. It’s so annoying when I want to change a setting and I have to wa…" - nastycass45
9
"product"
11 negative reviews mention this · 15% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Paywalling features that used to be free. BUYER BEWARE. This clock is a waste of $180, and the subscription in this app is getting systematically stripped apart, with features that were once free now hidden behind a paywall. When I got this device over a year ago, the cue to unwind…" - SincerelyFlorence
10
"doesn"
11 negative reviews mention this · 15% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Alarm in App is Unreliable. The app is slow and unreliable. Every night, I set alarms for both myself and my son. Sometimes, I’ll set an alarm and it doesn’t go off. I’ll check the app and it’s definitely set, but it just doesn’t go off. Other times, I’ll disable the …" - cassiell7
11
"times"
10 negative reviews mention this · 14% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Alarm in App is Unreliable. The app is slow and unreliable. Every night, I set alarms for both myself and my son. Sometimes, I’ll set an alarm and it doesn’t go off. I’ll check the app and it’s definitely set, but it just doesn’t go off. Other times, I’ll disable the …" - cassiell7
12
"sounds"
10 negative reviews mention this · 14% of all complaints
★★★★★ "An Expensive Device & Subscription. …with a lot of sleek-looking potential and a lot of problems. When you pay close to $200 for a device, the last thing you want is to pay $50/annually to use all its features. When you have to delete the app, reinstall, and then restart your…" - Wildflower Mom
📋 All 74 negative reviews
Every 1-2★ review we fetched. Use the copy button to grab them all for your own analysis (paste into ChatGPT/Claude with a prompt like "summarize core user problems, group by theme, ignore bugs, focus on missing features").
Awfully slow with connection
The hatch device itself is great, but the app is always SO SLOW to load every time I open it. I’ve tried it with multiple WiFi connections and it is still so slow every time. It’s so annoying when I want to change a setting and I have to wait 5 minutes for it to even load. It also constantly forgets my hatch so I have to wait for it to sync to my device. Would give it no stars if I could.
Not user friendly
This is an app that’s only interested in collecting data and enabling notifications, emails, and the rest above all else. I’m writing this review because I can not find any way to contact this company.
Paywalling features that used to be free
BUYER BEWARE. This clock is a waste of $180, and the subscription in this app is getting systematically stripped apart, with features that were once free now hidden behind a paywall. When I got this device over a year ago, the cue to unwind feature was free. Nighttime routines were free-you could create up to three. I paid for Hatch+ all of twice because I wanted to switch up my routine or try a new limited-time sound. The most recent time, when my subscription ended, I was shocked to find that they had locked nighttime routines down behind a paywall. If you can believe it, this was far more frustrating than the time I disabled my unwind cue while I was on vacation only to return and find that it could not be turned back on unless I subscribed. Why was this worse?? Because I felt I was suddenly punished for giving them $5 and then cancelling. A beautiful product with a disgustingly greedy, nightmarishly wasteful subscription model. This $180 alarm clock is no more than a paper weight now because this evil company isn’t getting a dime more from me.
Diana
I love my Hatch restore but the app is the worst. Every single time there’s an app update it disconnects from WIFi and it’s so hard reconnect. Right now I’m
On day 2 with it not working and I’ve tried every single troubleshooting tip including what the AI chatbot from the Hatch site said to do.
On day 2 with it not working and I’ve tried every single troubleshooting tip including what the AI chatbot from the Hatch site said to do.
Alarm in App is Unreliable
The app is slow and unreliable. Every night, I set alarms for both myself and my son. Sometimes, I’ll set an alarm and it doesn’t go off. I’ll check the app and it’s definitely set, but it just doesn’t go off. Other times, I’ll disable the alarm and then it goes off the next morning anyway. And finally, sometimes I’ll change the alarm time and the app doesn’t save the change. So, it goes off at the wrong time. We’ve had to start setting backup alarms on our cell phones which is a big problem for a company who specializes in overpriced alarm clocks. If the basic functions aren’t reliable, then it’s worthless. I do not recommend Hatch
Horrible set up support
Horrible
Sub
Forced you to start a subscription when opening the app… stupid
Waste of money
Constantly disconnects from Wifi, and will not reconnect. Have to go through 8-10 of emailing with customer service to get it “fixed”, which just means they factory reset it and I lose all my data/settings. This has happened 4+ times in the 2 years I’ve had it. Horrible experience and not worth the money
Garbage App, Won’t Stay Connected
I’ve had my hatch light for several years now and only need to use the app once in a blue moon but every time I do the clock has somehow lost its WiFi connection and needs to be reset, which is usually an hour+ ordeal and then god knows if I’ll actually be able to make the change I need to make without errors. Thinking about looking for an alternative sunrise type alarm just to avoid this app.
Most recent update is deleting my alarms!!
With this most recent update, I can’t just turn off my alarms like I have been for the past FOUR YEARS; instead, by switching the alarm “off,” it now completely deletes my alarm. Why did you have to break something that was working just fine?!
Terrible app and poor product decisions
I cannot overstate how much I hate this product and app. I’m replacing it with a standard white noise machine. The actual physical devices (the restore and rest 2nd gen) are ok. They’re not great but they aren’t terrible. The app is terrible. I’d love to give it 0 stars. It takes an incredibly long time to boot, constantly loses connection, and is a terrible interface to manage a physical device I’m sitting next to, but is often required. Imagine you’re trying to put your over tired 8 month baby down for a nap, and the device won’t do white noise because the WiFi temporarily went down 3 hours before, and somehow the rest just didn’t connect. Why on earth are these devices so dependent internet. Just a terrible clunky slow app. Would not recommend hatch products to anyone.
Most painfully slow app I have ever used
I love the hatch product. It’s great. The app is beautiful.
It is also the slowest app I’ve ever used. And despite the fact that the device is fully connected to you phone via Bluetooth THEY ABSOLUTELY CRIPPLE APP FUNCTIONALITY UNLESS YOURE CONNECTED TO WIFI. Why? I don’t know. Sadism perhaps?
It is so incredibly slow to simply open the app. I kept thinking they’d fix this, yet in the two years we’ve had it, it’s only gotten worse. They’ve added so many features to the app yet done nothing to improve its basic user experience, which is ROTTEN. I am sitting in a hotel trying desperately to connect it to WiFi at 11pm because, for reasons I can’t fathom, they locked the ability to change a routine behind being connected to WiFi…so if I can’t some how get this device to connect to WiFi tonight, I will assuredly be testing this hatch into the sun when it wakes us all at 6:30am despite the fact we’re on vacation.
I have tried connecting it to WiFi 6 times. It keeps failing. It won’t connect to the hotel WiFi because it requires a password, and it won’t connect to my phone WiFi, it simply keeps timing out on a screen that says connecting to WiFi can take up to five minutes.
WHY IN THE YEAR 2026 is it taking five minutes to connect to WiFi?! NOT A SINGLE FEATURE SHOULD BE ADDED TO THE APP UNTIL YOU FIX THE CRITICAL UX ISSUES. It is honestly appalling how crippled this app is despite how wonderful the product is.
It is also the slowest app I’ve ever used. And despite the fact that the device is fully connected to you phone via Bluetooth THEY ABSOLUTELY CRIPPLE APP FUNCTIONALITY UNLESS YOURE CONNECTED TO WIFI. Why? I don’t know. Sadism perhaps?
It is so incredibly slow to simply open the app. I kept thinking they’d fix this, yet in the two years we’ve had it, it’s only gotten worse. They’ve added so many features to the app yet done nothing to improve its basic user experience, which is ROTTEN. I am sitting in a hotel trying desperately to connect it to WiFi at 11pm because, for reasons I can’t fathom, they locked the ability to change a routine behind being connected to WiFi…so if I can’t some how get this device to connect to WiFi tonight, I will assuredly be testing this hatch into the sun when it wakes us all at 6:30am despite the fact we’re on vacation.
I have tried connecting it to WiFi 6 times. It keeps failing. It won’t connect to the hotel WiFi because it requires a password, and it won’t connect to my phone WiFi, it simply keeps timing out on a screen that says connecting to WiFi can take up to five minutes.
WHY IN THE YEAR 2026 is it taking five minutes to connect to WiFi?! NOT A SINGLE FEATURE SHOULD BE ADDED TO THE APP UNTIL YOU FIX THE CRITICAL UX ISSUES. It is honestly appalling how crippled this app is despite how wonderful the product is.
Recent update completely changed the rain sound
Read the title
Buggy and makes hardware unusable
When all you want to do
Is set your alarm and go to bed, it is so frustrating to have to constantly reset your hardware. The software is so bad it makes the hardware basically unusable. You can’t even do a simple password reset without hitting problem after problem. It’s like the software and hardware team are completely unaware of each other. No customer support. It’s just AI slop.
Is set your alarm and go to bed, it is so frustrating to have to constantly reset your hardware. The software is so bad it makes the hardware basically unusable. You can’t even do a simple password reset without hitting problem after problem. It’s like the software and hardware team are completely unaware of each other. No customer support. It’s just AI slop.
Several malfunctions
App breaks down and is slow, not a seamless user experience, my alarms sometimes just don’t go off
Alarms Function Doesn’t Work
huge issue where your alarms don’t save. i’ll turn on my alarm for the next day, but then it won’t go off in the morning. really tough when you wake up an hour late for work.
Pfft
Seriously have a free section for those who don’t want to pay. Also kinda ridiculous not very many free options. I should just bought a sound machine that had sounds already
Very buggy app
I just started using this and I have to say, the app needs immediate work. There is always a major delay in my adjustments to sound and brightness. The longest delay being 5 minutes, which really defeats the purpose of having an app. Sometimes I would increase the volume or brightness by a few and it would go back to the starting number, and this would happen repeatedly until it finally adjusted (in app) and then there would be a delay in the hatch itself before updating to the new adjustment.
I wanted this for the ease it offered when trying to get my infant to sleep. I had been using the mini travel hatch, but wanted something hands off I could easily set/adjust while rocking my baby. There’s so much potential to be great with some tweaks!!
To the developers:
Most importantly, please please please fix the delay!
I also noticed when you are trying to delete a schedule, the three dots don’t always register when you tap on them and instead activate whatever the action is. For example, I wanted to delete the morning wake up schedule but every time I hit the three dots, it would play the wake up sound and turn on the light. It took over 10 taps for it to register correctly.
Another bug I’ve seen is when you try to sample a sound and select it to play through the hatch, no sound actually comes through.
I wanted this for the ease it offered when trying to get my infant to sleep. I had been using the mini travel hatch, but wanted something hands off I could easily set/adjust while rocking my baby. There’s so much potential to be great with some tweaks!!
To the developers:
Most importantly, please please please fix the delay!
I also noticed when you are trying to delete a schedule, the three dots don’t always register when you tap on them and instead activate whatever the action is. For example, I wanted to delete the morning wake up schedule but every time I hit the three dots, it would play the wake up sound and turn on the light. It took over 10 taps for it to register correctly.
Another bug I’ve seen is when you try to sample a sound and select it to play through the hatch, no sound actually comes through.
I can’t stand this app
I hate how you can’t make permanent changes to your touch rings unless you click “edit” first. Otherwise it won’t save your changes. It’s an additional step to remember in the middle of the night, wrestling a baby. Also the app has always been slow to open (even on the newest iPhone) and I would appreciate if the schedules appeared on the lock screen. I love our Hatch devices but cannot stand the app.
Ehh…
The travel hatch is louder & if you rearrange your stuff it’s like the app and the system itself don’t communicate so the order won’t change on the machine itself but in the app it’s different.
I deleted a schedule and it STILL PLAYS EVERYDAY.
The app’s help said I could chat with someone, but there isn’t a chat bubble like it states.
Did I mention I paid for the subscription…?
WOULD NOT recommend.
I deleted a schedule and it STILL PLAYS EVERYDAY.
The app’s help said I could chat with someone, but there isn’t a chat bubble like it states.
Did I mention I paid for the subscription…?
WOULD NOT recommend.
Constant problems
App is terrible, constantly have problems with not being able to control volume, etc
Horrible App
This app is so useless. You can’t continuously play all the stories that you pay monthly for, you have to set up a routine and add multiple times. This is very annoying because as soon as the short stories are over, the light completely shuts off. I have to listen for when the story is ending to make sure and start another one before it shuts off. The volume is inconsistent. Some stories are very loud, then others need turned completely up to even be audible. Overall, I’m not very happy with the nightlight or app. It’s not very user friendly and its setup is horrible.
Money grab
Inaccurate descriptions. App required to set up device, even for the “use without phone/app” features. Paywall in app. WiFi required. Needs to be plugged in at all times. No back up batteries. Defeats the purpose.
Trash
Keeps crashing and doesn’t sync with Hatch propertly!
Poorly designed app with a subscription to use a light
Everything in this app is hidden: want to see the battery of your light? It’s behind 5 clicks in account settings. Want to change your password you need to disconnect the light, delete the app from your phone and reinstall it.
Poorly built app and frustrating to use
This app is easily the slowest app on my phone. When I adjust the time, the days change by accident and vise versa. It is so frustrating to set alarms, sometimes I just avoid it all together and use my phone alarm. There are limited options for sounds to wake up and I cannot set an alarm within 7 minutes of each other. The alarm sounds are cheesy and there should 100% be an option to upload media to hear as the alarm sounds as you can on apple alarms. There are also many times when the sleep sounds are too loud and when i adjust the volume in the app, it does not work to decrease the volume. Then I have to manually adjust the volume on the device. Again, frustrating. For a service with a costly subscription, the technology is terrible and needs many updates. Another idea is that there should be a speaker option to bluetooth connect to the device for music.
Unreliable App
Everytime my toddler wants a new color at bedtime the app freezes and makes bedtime a complete nightmare.
Getting the $30 knockoff on Amazon is way more reliable.
Getting the $30 knockoff on Amazon is way more reliable.
This app is terrible
It's always so glitchy, it's hard to use, the button are so small, it stalls and takes forever to delay from the app to the actual device. All the sudden I can't adjust volume brightness. It's seriously terrible. Do better.
Shameful
The device seems fine but it’s frankly ridiculous to even offer a subscription service. I am using this app to set up my device but only because they didn’t ship a functional standalone product.
HORRIBLE
The app does not let you set up basic functions of the alarm unless you put payment information in for the subscription.
Obnoxious
If I had known what the app was like I would not have purchased the device. Also device requires WiFi to work.
Inconsistent and Annoying Pay Wall
The paywall is the first red flag - a surprising amount of content is locked away before you spend a dime. But the bigger issue shows up once you actually pay: the stories aren’t recorded at a consistent volume. That alone kills the whole preset system. You set it, start a story, and immediately have to go adjust the volume anyway. For a paid subscription that’s a pretty inexcusable oversight.
Horrible
Please contact me because this thing is a piece of trash. It randomly starts playing different sounds. The volume changes for no reasons. I’d rather have the $20 version
Nice clock
So far I am enjoying the wind down activities and the waking light. But this app killed 75% of my battery in the first hour of the day. No idea why it is trying to refresh so much but this needs to be fixed before I give it more stars.
Poor functioning app. Zero alternative
It takes 1-5 minutes just to change the time on my alarm and make sure it’s saved, much less to load new alarm sounds or bedtime stories to my unwind or sleep routine. Have to have the app for the alarm clock to even function? Weird af. Good luck getting it to work!
Sucks
Device doesn’t connect. Don’t believe “10min” set up.
Worst app possible
So regardless if you have great WiFi or not, this might be the most inconsistent app I’ve ever used. I’m forced to use this abomination everyday and I loathe it. The product isn’t half bad but the app makes me wanna rip my eyes out and beat the developer with them.
Subscription Trap
The product was working alright but when my wife was out of town and I had to switch the alarm clock to be connected to my phone, the app wouldn’t let me access anything without signing up for the subscription. The screen says no subscription is needed, but there is no way around it. Additionally, they have limited tech support hours so you can’t solve problems at the times of day that you would, say, use a damn alarm clock.
Update: just a few weeks later they put the feature to have a wind down behind a paywall. That’s the whole reason we got the clock in the first place. Fine product, GARBAGE company.
Update: just a few weeks later they put the feature to have a wind down behind a paywall. That’s the whole reason we got the clock in the first place. Fine product, GARBAGE company.
Broken
Can’t change the brightness of the light from the phone with the latest update
App no longer works
After the most recent update, I can’t control the volume or light setting from my phone. If this continues I’ll be canceling. The website for help is useless, to echo everyone else.
Nice clock, bad app
The clock is very aesthetic, seems well built and is very effective. However the app is awful. It crashes regularly and every time it connects to my clock the clock stops working properly. The current issue is the clock display. I love that you can set different brightness settings for day and night but mine stopped working so I unplugged it to reset it. Tested it again and it worked but as soon as I opened the app again it stopped working again. It’s especially frustrating because I think even the lowest light setting at night is too bright, maybe it wouldn’t be as bad if I could change the clock color, so for it to either stay way too bright at night or be unreadably dim during the day is frustrating for a product that’s primary purpose is to show the time.
Bad updates and customer service
Recent update to the app has made my hatch nonfunctional. Customer service is blaming my Wi-Fi, despite the fact that nothing with my Wi-Fi changed and the problem started with the app update on May 14. Subscription canceled and I recommend everybody consider different devices than this company’s.
fix the app omg
Respectfully, I did not pay $150 and then another $50 per year for the app to be this finicky. It rarely works well and I have to click buttons 2-3 times before something actually happens. Please. Hire a software engineer. I beg of you.
App is constantly glitching!
Super frustrating. The app is constantly glitching
Does not connect - no one to help either - for $200??? Really??
Horrible and no one is here to help in anyway!!
Hard UX
It’s a very confusing UX. It’s basically all ads, all paywall content, trying to navigate the app as a free user is more challenging that windows 98 Minesweeper. Good luck! Pathetic that they degrade the UX so much for free users. Sad.
Unusable
Probably one of the worst apps I’ve used unfortunately. Very unstable, doesn’t resemble anything as described on website or in video tutorials. Can’t swap routines at all now, nor edit the single one I can use. Customer service basically just directs you to their website, pretty frustrating.
Buggy!
Love the hatch alarm but the latest version is so buggy! Anything that requires typing makes the app freeze, leaving you to have to exit the app. Please fix the bugs! With how expensive this alarm is, the app should not be this faulty.
Worst App
This app is the glitchiest most frustrating app I’ve ever had the displeasure of using. Please stay far away from this app and this company. FIX YOUR APP! It freezes every 5 seconds and doesn’t let you change anything
Horrible Options
Waste of money. We bought two of these for our kids thinking they’d have calm, soothing, slow paced classic bedtime stories for them to listen to instead of having to sync up nightly to our phones + bluetooth. We were mistaken. The only stories you’ll find here are creepy, cheap & mass-produced character content (Cocomelon or YouTube content vibes) in a shrieking, overstimulating tone. Not for sleep, not for calm. Made for kids already addicted to screens and ipads and characters so Hatch can keep customers subscribing after their kids become hooked on one of their weird, loud bug or puppy characters and parents will require them for sleep. My kids hated them as they were all unsettling, AI, and insane. I unsubscribed immediately and am returning both devices. My kids like calm quiet, not annoying, energizing voices for sleep. Put the British voices reading Beatrix Potter back on Hatch. No one wants this weird stuff.
+ 24 more in the clipboard copy
Sentiment summary
88%
Positive (4-5★)
2%
Neutral (3★)
9%
Negative (1-2★)