Cudly vs Hear My Baby: the same phone trick, but everything else
Hear My Baby was one of the first apps to do the phone-as-stethoscope trick. We respect them. But six years on, a single-purpose iOS-only heartbeat recorder isn't enough. Here's an honest side-by-side of what Cudly adds — and what we don't.
- ✓Works on both iOS and Android
- ✓Heartbeat recorder *plus* full pregnancy journal — not just one feature
- ✓Week-by-week pregnancy tracker built in
- ✓Daily journal prompts and photo timeline
- ✓Established brand with 500,000+ downloads
- ✓Active community on r/HearMyBabyHeartbeat (team-moderated)
- ✓Long track record on the App Store
The honest matrix.
| Feature | Cudly | Hear My Baby Heartbeat App |
|---|---|---|
| iOS app | Yes | Yes |
| Android app | Yes | No |
| Heartbeat recorder (phone-only) | Yes | Yes |
| Guided pregnancy journal | Yes | No |
| Pregnancy week-by-week tracker | Yes | No |
| Photo timeline | Yes | No |
| Kick counter | Yes | No |
| Contraction timer | Yes | No |
| Partner private sharing | Yes | Generic share sheet |
| Pregnancy-after-loss mode | Yes | No |
| Daily journal prompts | Yes | No |
| Export keepsake book | Yes | No |
| Ad-free | Yes | Freemium with prompts |
| No data sales | Yes | Unclear |
The full picture.
Cudly
- ✓Works on both iOS and Android
- ✓Heartbeat recorder *plus* full pregnancy journal — not just one feature
- ✓Week-by-week pregnancy tracker built in
- ✓Daily journal prompts and photo timeline
- ✓Quiet Mode for pregnancy after loss
- ✓Private partner sharing — not just a generic share sheet
- ✓Modern, calm design (no stock-photo feel)
- ·Newer brand — fewer total downloads (yet)
- ·Smaller community footprint
Hear My Baby Heartbeat App
- ✓Established brand with 500,000+ downloads
- ✓Active community on r/HearMyBabyHeartbeat (team-moderated)
- ✓Long track record on the App Store
- ·iOS only — no Android support
- ·Single feature (heartbeat) — no journal, no tracker, no photo timeline
- ·Vague timing claims ("after 16 weeks") set users up to fail in the highest-anxiety window
- ·Aesthetic feels stock-photo dated
- ·No pregnancy-after-loss aware features
- ·No partner/dad/grandma private sharing
Which one should you actually pick?
If all you want is a phone-microphone heartbeat recorder, Hear My Baby is the OG and it works fine — *if* you're on iOS. Cudly is for the 65% of pregnant women on Android, plus everyone who wants a real journal and weekly tracker alongside the heartbeat feature. We do everything they do, on both platforms — plus a lot more.
Is Cudly safe to use, like Hear My Baby?
Same approach: passive phone microphone amplification. No ultrasound, no radiation. Both apps use the same principle — your phone is acting like a stethoscope.
Why doesn't Hear My Baby have Android?
Their team has cited technical reasons. The result is that a huge portion of pregnant women in the US — including most Medicaid recipients — can't use the app at all.
Will I hear a heartbeat earlier on Cudly than on Hear My Baby?
Both apps use the same underlying microphone hardware on your phone. Sound capture is bound by physics — most users start catching audible sounds between 16-22 weeks. We're honest about that timeline; Hear My Baby is vaguer.
Compare Cudly to:
Start your pregnancy story today.
Record your baby's heartbeat, write down the day, watch your weeks unfold. Free to download — no doppler, no ads, no data selling.