Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Most iPhone users stick to the native Clock app preinstalled on every Apple device. While doing the work, I found that it was not enough for me. That’s why I switched to Alarmy, and haven’t looked back.
Alarmy is more reliable than the Clock app
In early 2024, iPhone users around the world took to social media and online forums to report that the alarms they set in the default Clock app were not going off. I was among the thousands of users who faced this problem.
Sometimes, I’ll wake up a minute or two before my alarm should go off, only to see it go off as a sound on my iPhone’s Lock screen, but it won’t go off! Alarms that have been activated will not sound. When I checked the Clock app after they were supposed to be off, they were still on, even though they weren’t set as recurring alarms!
This glitch left me with no choice but to rely on a physical alarm clock as a backup or explore Alternative third-party iPhone alarm appsas well as Alarms. I have since tried the default app and the bug seems to be fixed. However, the fear of my alarm backstabbing me again stayed with me.
Alarmy’s alarm missions make sure you don’t sleep
If there’s one thing the whole world can agree on, it’s that we all hate the sound of the alarm. However, as much as we hate it, there is no worse feeling than missing something important because you kept snoozing your alarm, only to wake up with the sun shining through your curtains and realize it’s noon.
With the default Clock app, when an alarm goes off, you have two options: Snooze o Stop. Tapping Snooze silence the alarm for 9 minutes, after which it sounds again. This cycle continues until it is touched Stop. For a heavy sleeper like me, who has mastered the habit of hitting Stop the second I heard the alarm, this does not help.
Because you can’t exactly change the snooze time on an iPhonethe next best option is to set multiple alarms at 1 minute intervals. While that worked for a while, I often asked Siri to turn off all my alarms, and the assistant would do so without hesitation – ending up with me falling asleep more often than I’d like to admit.
While the default Clock app doesn’t offer any features to break the snooze cycle, Alarmy’s Alarm Missions made sure I wasn’t stuck in that cycle again. The app divides its missions into two categories: Wake Your Brain and Wake up your body. The first category includes Memory, Writing, Mathematicsand Missing symbolwhile the second includes Pass, QR / Barcode, Shake it off, Photoand Squat.
Since I usually have no trouble waking up once my brain is engaged, and I do a lot of math every day, I chose the Mathematics mission below Wake Your Brain.
For most of these missions, you can adjust the level of difficulty and decide how many times you want to complete a mission. Unfortunately, the Missing symbol, I passand Squat missions are limited to Alarmy Premium. With Alarmy Premium, you can even set multiple tasks under a single alarm, which is perfect if you’re not a fan of a monotonous routine.
It shows how much time is left until my next alarm
Strangely, one feature that the default Clock app has always lacked is a countdown that shows how much time is left until your next alarm goes off. If you’ve ever needed to set an alarm based on the exact number of hours you want to sleep, you probably know how frustrating it can be to calculate the exact time manually.
Little features like this can really make or break an app, and thankfully Alarmy fills the gap. It shows exactly how many hours and minutes you have left to sleep before your alarm goes off.
This feature not only saves you from doing mental math at odd hours, but also gives you a reality check on those nights when you’ve spent hours scrolling on your phone instead of getting some much-needed rest.
The alarms gradually get louder until you can’t ignore them
While some people prefer to wake up to a calm and gentle alarm sound, I am quite the opposite. I can sleep through it, so an alarm has to be obnoxiously loud and annoying to wake me up. The default Clock app alarm sounds are too nice for me, which is why I like Alarmy.
The app organizes its alarms into four categories: happy, calm down, Alarm belland strong. I usually pick a random tone from the Alarm bell o strong categories, and I’ve never wanted to throw my phone across the room because of how annoying the alarms are – a good thing when you really need to wake up!
Sometimes, my brain ignores an alarm if I use the same tone for too many days in a row. Luckily, Alarmy lets you set your own alarm tone random in a chosen category, giving a fresh tone every day.
What makes Alarmy’s already annoying alarms even better is the option to gradually increase the volume. When you set an alarm, you can activate it Wake up gently and customize the Volume growth time.
This means that your alarm starts at a minimum volume and slowly builds up to the set maximum.
Some of my favorite Alarmy features may seem minor. However, they make a world of difference. I can’t even remember the last time I snoozed my alarm and slept in more than I should, and I owe it entirely to Alarmy!
