For some people, the only tingly feeling they get with Apple is when they hand over a large sum of money for one of its products. But passing out after dropping a load of cash on something is never a good look, and so Apple is hoping to give you a tingly feeling of calm and tranquility instead. How? By releasing a bunch of ASMR videos, that’s how.
ASMR, for those not in the know, stands for “autonomous sensory meridian response” and has been defined as “a feeling of well-being combined with a tingling sensation in the scalp and down the back of the neck, as experienced by some people in response to a specific gentle stimulus, often a particular sound.”
Some people love this kind of audio, while others can’t bear to listen to even a single second of it. But the former exist in their millions, evidenced by the vast number of regularly viewed ASMR videos on YouTube that feature everything from gentle whispering and soap carving to watermelon eating (by a rabbit) and keyboard typing.
And now, somewhat late to the party, Apple wants to have a go.
Shot on iPhone
On Wednesday, the tech behemoth released four ASMR videos, all of them “shot on iPhone.” However, the most important part — i.e., the audio — was achieved using “additional software and professional hardware,” though Apple declines to offer any information on the particular products that it used. Because it’s all about being “shot on iPhone.”
The four videos run for between six and ten minutes and are most effective when you listen through headphones. The subject matter does not include the sound of Tim Cook counting Apple profits in the form of crisp $100 bills but instead “a calm rain at camp,” “crunching sounds on the trail,” “satisfying woodshop sounds,” and “whispers from Ghost Forest,” embedded at the top of this page.
If you love Apple’s debut effort at ASMR, they could be a great match for anyone needing to calm down in the face of frustrations with their iPhone, difficulties with their iPad, or annoyances with their MacBook Pro keyboard.
