DreamsCloud, a website dedicated to tracking and understanding dreams, launched DreamSphere today, an app designed to give those who hold stock in the age-old art of dream interpretation. It’s essentially a toolkit to pick apart your dreams.
Included in the app is a dream journal and insights tool as well as a global dream map that shows you what dream topics are currently trending. It also features social integration, so users can share their dreams and their meanings. The app provides access to the DreamsCloud Dream Dictionary so users can interpret their dreams on the fly and it’s synced up with the 1.8 million dreams currently logged on the DreamsCloud database.
The Global Dreams Map is the first thing you see after the app launches, and it’s updated in real time so you can actively see what other people in the world have dreamed about right that second. You can see what’s trending, see what your friends are dreaming about, or search dreams based on a variety of factors including keyword, location, date, or popularity.
“Dreams are vital,” says Jean-Marc Emden, the cofounder of DreamsCloud. “They are a part of who we are and can clue us into the state of our emotional wellness, by providing a window into our day-to-day health and mental well-being.”
He views DreamSphere as an opportunity to give people the right tools to properly “reflect” on their dreams and learn “essential insights” into what their dreams mean and what those interpretations mean in relation to their daily lives.
The social component of the app is important. Emden and team “wants to give people a new way to connect and communicate, by showing how dreams are a universal language shared around the globe.” For instance, the Global Dreams Map lets users see how popular their dreams are and even comment on other people’s dreams.
If users would rather keep their dreams private, they can do so by posting anonymously or under a user ID they create. And it’s not an all-or-nothing deal — you can opt to make some dreams public while keeping others private. Beyond the DreamsCloud community, you can also get feedback on your dreams by sharing them across the major social networks including Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Tumblr.
The app also features 128-bit encryption and a smart alarm to improve dream recall. A Mind Metrics feature can also be used to provide greater insights into your unconscious mind, though it is an in-app purchase. The DreamSphere app itself is free.
“We're mobilizing dreamers,” says Emden, “connecting folks in a more seamless and social way, while allowing them to better understand their dreaming and waking lives.”
DreamSphere isn’t the first dream-related app to hit the iOS market. Some of you may remember the Shadow dream app that launched earlier this year. It was designed to help people better remember their dreams upon waking.
DreamsCloud was founded in 2010 and is currently based in Sterling, Va.
