Entrain

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Very confusing to use. I was hoping to use this app to counter long jet lag adjustments on my trips between Eastern and Western countries. Unfortunately I’m so confused about the time notation, and it makes me feel quite stupid. If I’m following correctly, the the app is simply suggesting that I avoid light for 12 hours and avoid dark for 12 hours each day for about 4 days, and then (hurrah!) my schedule is complete. BUT the daily suggested schedule is only maybe 30 minutes off my final target sleep/wake times. Really? Maybe the schedule is this way because of the complete reversal of day/night in Eastern and Western countries, but I didn’t need an app to tell me to just force myself to be awake during the day and asleep at night to adjust. OR maybe I’m a complete dunce and I’m reading the time notation wrong. If that’s the case, how does being awake at night for days on end somehow magically help me adjust in 4 days. Its just a little muddled and unclear in the delivery. The jet lag on these trips can be so brutal and stubborn, I was hoping for something more gradual and merciful- like maybe how I can intelligently work in naps or shorten/lengthen my night time sleeping.... it definitely was not so. But then again... nothing about a West to East transition is that way, so maybe my expectations were simply unrealistic.

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As a frequent traveler (2-4 trips per month, US-Europe, Asia, & deep South America), I was excited to learn about an app like Entrain. I’m just using it on my first trip and noticing some basic omissions and, what appear to be, some bugs: 1. Upon installation, there was no tour or tutorial explaining how to optimally use the app; only a few questions. 2. There aren't any recommendations on when to start “adjusting” prior to starting a trip. 12 hours prior? 24 hours? 3. There aren’t any notifications (badges, alerts, etc) for when a “seek light/dark” period is starting. Also, no Apple Watch integration for the notifications. 4. (Bug?) The “seek light/dark” times keep changing. Sometimes by minutes, sometimes by hours. Sometimes in the middle of a period. 5. (Bug?) When setting a trip end time, it changes the time to other than what is selected. For instance, our arrival time was 10:50a (GMT-3). The app kept changing this to 12:50p (GMT-3). 6. The UI for changing the “Normal Lighting Schedule” is maddeningly frustrating. Could be much more user-friendly. Like the review title says...HUGE potential for this app, but needs some tweaks or better explanations for use.

The light suggestions are interesting and sometimes counterintuitive. When I often thought it would be best to get up early and force myself into local schedules, the app would say otherwise. When I followed the app, I generally felt better. Problems: - it has a place for Apple Watch data but there is no way I can discern to actually allow the app to use that data. - in the space of 5 minutes the suggested time that I was supposed to seek light until changed by hours. Not sure what happened there.

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I tried to use this to avoid jet lag on a trip with a 17 hour time difference. On the way out, the light suggestions were very challenging. The app wanted me to avoid light during all of my waking hours and had the “seek light” time for only a handful of hours while I was asleep. On the return they app became glitchy and kept changing the times to seek and avoid light by a few minutes or a few hours over the course of the day. It was so annoying. Then it added 5 days to the cycle on the last day and I gave up.

I followed the directions to the letter, though difficult on a flight from Australia through New Zealand, ending up in San Francisco. Aside from a few uncomfortable moments, my jet lag was minimal. A good tip is to use a light box to help with the “seeking light” part of the program as I returned in winter, and it still gets dark early in SF. The program is greatly improved in simplicity since I tried to use it last.