Alright so here’s the deal – last Tuesday night I had this wild dream about flying whales and talking cacti, woke up and thought damn I gotta remember this stuff better. So I decided to hunt down decent AR dream guides after seeing hype about dream journals that overlay virtual objects onto your real-world bedroom. Grabbed my phone and just typed “AR dreams journal apps” straight into search, simple as that.
My Testing Ground Rules
Didn’t wanna waste weeks on this so I set some basic rules: first, free trial mandatory; second, must have bedtime reminder feature; third, no creepy data collection stuff. Spent Wednesday evening clearing space on my phone and charging my earbuds.
The Contenders That Made The Cut
Started downloading everything but most were junk. Like that DreamGlow app – deleted after five minutes because it kept asking for my credit card before even showing the features. Ended up with three worth checking:
DreamScape AR
Tried this Thursday night. Interface looks like some kid drew it with crayons but whatever. The cool part? You point your camera at your ceiling before sleeping and it projects floating question marks. When I wake up, I tap one and record voice notes about dreams. Messed around with the “remix” feature that turns my sleepy mumbling into lo-fi beats – that’s actually dope. Downside? It crashed twice when I tried saving longer recordings.
LucidWand
Okay Friday morning experiment. This one’s fancier with bedtime reality checks – pushes AR popups like “are you dreaming?” throughout the day. Did the finger-counting exercise it recommended (you’re supposed to check how many fingers you have in dreams apparently). Worked unexpectedly well last night – spotted seven fingers during a work stress dream and realized I was sleeping! Woke up buzzing with that feeling. But man the app eats battery like candy.
MoonPhase DreamMapper
Saved this for Saturday. Got skeptical immediately when it asked me to scan my pillow? But turns out it links dream moods with moon cycles. Dropped virtual lunar calendar above my bed. Noticed patterns – moon waxing equals more adventure dreams apparently. Weird part is how accurate the “predicted dream themes” became after three nights. Had to turn off the chime sounds though – sounded like haunted carnival music at 3am.
My Final Takeaway
These all do different things honestly. Still using DreamScape for quick recordings, LucidWand for reality checks, and MoonPhase just for fun. No magic bullet here but together? Actually noticing improvements after two weeks. Had this hilarious moment yesterday when I got stuck in traffic and almost tried LucidWand’s finger-check thinking it was another dream. Maybe that’s progress? Or maybe I’m just tired.
