Your plants can express themselves.
You already have what you need to listen to them.

The free 5 minutes are an excellent idea because I was frankly sceptical. I put a plant in front of the camera and immediately tested it by blowing on a leaf. Seeing the measurement respond and then hearing the music evolve was far more convincing to me than all the explanations on the website. I bought it straight after the trial.

I am quite rational, and the term plant music made me a little wary. What reassured me is that PlantSound does not try to tell me my plant is sad or happy. It measures observable variations and turns them into music. Once you understand that, you stop wondering whether to believe in it: you observe, interact and listen. And that is much more interesting.

I tried it with my daughter and it turned into a little science experiment in the kitchen. We tested several plants, blew on the leaves, changed the light and watched what happened. She wanted to understand why it changed. It is quite rare for a screen to make you want to observe the living things around you more closely.

I am a musician and thought this would mainly be a poetic gadget. In fact, MIDI export is what convinced me. I can take what a session generates and use it as musical material. I have already built the beginning of a track from a sequence from my ficus. For me, it has become both a creative tool and an experience involving plants.

I had looked at plant music systems with electrodes, but I did not want to buy yet another device. Here, I used the phone I already had. No sensor on the leaves, no box to connect. Within a few minutes, I had my first session. That simplicity is why I actually use it instead of leaving a device in a drawer.

I admit I expected to hear pleasant music generated more or less at random. I changed my mind when I gently blew on my monstera and saw the data change as the music evolved. I did it several more times just to check. Since then, I sometimes leave it playing while I read. It really feels like discovering something about the plant that I had never noticed before.

What convinced me was precisely the absence of electrodes. You put the phone down, the camera observes the plant and you are off. But the most surprising thing is creating a small interaction, bringing your hand near a leaf or talking to it, and then hearing the music change. That is when you realise it is not simply a playlist with a plant as decoration.

At first I thought that holding my phone would inevitably distort the analysis through movement. But no, you can do either: hold it or put it down. I particularly enjoy observing the small variations and trying to understand what causes them. Four stars because a short tutorial on first use would help, but the concept is really fascinating.

I thought I would use it two or three times out of curiosity. Instead, it has become an atmosphere I put on during some of my breaks. The difference from a relaxing playlist is that I never know exactly what will happen. The music depends on what happens in front of the phone, and that unpredictability completely changes the listening experience.

I really like being able to record a session because it never repeats in exactly the same way. I have kept several with the same plant at different times of day, and the results are really different. Some sequences have become soundscapes I listen to again on headphones.

There are far more possibilities than I expected: scales, frequencies, instruments, visualisation… That is actually why I gave it four stars: I would have liked more guidance at the beginning. But once you start changing the parameters and observing the plant's response live, you realise it is not just an app that plays zen sounds.

My ficus has been beside my desk for years and, honestly, I had almost stopped looking at it. Since PlantSound, I sometimes turn it into music while I draw. It sounds simple, but it has changed my attention: I notice its new leaves, its position relative to the light and its movements much more. That is probably what I like most about this experience.

What surprised me is that it is not just one kind of plant music. With the different scales and frequencies, the same activity can create completely different musical worlds. I can have something very meditative, then switch to a much more musical atmosphere. You keep the living, unpredictable aspect without being confined to a single sound.

I gave it to my partner because he loves plants as much as music. I thought it would be a fun gift. An hour later, he was still testing different plants and settings. The next day, he started again with the plants on the balcony. It has become much more than a novelty gift.

What I appreciate is how little friction there is. No app to install, no electrodes, no extra device. I put my phone down, frame the foliage and wait for the analysis to settle. For technology doing so much behind the scenes, the user experience remains surprisingly simple.

I use it with the plants on my balcony and love comparing the results between two species. Some controls are a little cramped on my small phone, so I sometimes prefer the computer. But being able to move from one plant to another and hear different sessions really makes you want to experiment.