The iPhone Mom

I finally got around to installing an Ambiance update (I’ve mentioned before how bad I am about updating my apps) and when I opened it up I thought something had gotten mixed up. Ambiance has undergone a MAJOR overhaul. The app looks and feels totally different.

The first major difference is that now you have to download your sounds. In order to do this you’ll need to register an account with Ambiance and create a login. I checked it out and it’s free. You can do it online or better yet, directly from the app. Downloading your sounds lets you put as many, or as few, on your iPhone as you like and you get to choose what you want. On the bottom of your screen you’ll see several buttons. The "Featured" button pulls up a featured list of sounds. At the top you’ll see "New" and "What’s Hot". Touch one of those and the sounds will be sorted accordingly. The "Search"  button at the bottom lets you type in the sound you are looking for. From this screen you can also touch "Browse" (at the top) and browse through the sounds by category. Within each category the sounds are sorted by top rated, most popular or new sounds.

After searching through all the sounds you’ll probably find one (or several) that you’re interested in. Just give the sound a tap and you’ll get a details screen. Here you can read a description of the app, as well as see what other users have rated it. Towards the bottom are some actions. You can listen to a preview of the sound, download it, re-download the thumbnail picture or report a problem with the sound. Listening to the preview and downloading the sound are as simple as tapping a few buttons.

Once you’ve downloaded a few sounds they’ll show up on your Sounds screen. To get here touch the "Sounds" button on the bottom of the app screen. You’ll see a list of everything that you’ve got. If you touch the big green button that says "Play this list" Ambiance will do just that. While you are playing a sound a fancy screen, full of icons shows up on your iPhone. From here you can do all sorts of fancy things. To find out what they are you’ll want to touch the "More" button on the bottom of your screen. Then touch "Help" and you’ll see a great explanation of what all the icons mean. It explains it better than I ever could.

There’s much more you can do from the "More" screen. Clever. You can set categories for your sounds. You can set your alarm clock along with many other alarm options. You can create mixes of your different sounds and tweak your app settings. The "Help" section I mentioned above will also take you to a FAQ screen. This will explain what happened to the old Ambiance, why you need an account, where the sounds come from and a bunch of other information.

I wasn’t too sure about the new Ambiance at first but I’m starting to like it. Now I’ve just got to dedicate some time to going through all the sounds and getting a playlist set up. I think that’s the biggest drawback for me. The old Ambiance had everything right there ready to go. This one is making me work. I think it’ll be worth it in the end, but I’ve got to find the time in the busy mom schedule to get things just right. If you absolutely can’t stand the new version of Ambiance you can get the old version back by downloading "Ambiance Classic" from the iTunes store. The developer says that it’s free for a limited time so original Ambiance purchasers can "downgrade".

Seller: Matt Coneybeare

Price when Reviewed: $2.99 (According to iTunes this is a sale price, regular price will be $4.99. I got the new version for free as an original purchaser of Ambiance)

Click here to see the app at the iTunes store