Most iPhone users stick to the native Clock app pre-installed on every Apple device. While it does the job, I found it wasn’t enough for me. That’s why I switched to Alarmy, and I haven’t looked back since.
Alarmy Is More Reliable Than the Clock App
In early 2024, iPhone users worldwide took to social media and online forums to report that alarms they set on the default Clock app were simply not going off. I was among the thousands of users who faced this issue.
At times, I’d wake up a minute or two before my alarm was supposed to go off, only to see it displayed as ringing on my iPhone’s Lock screen—yet no sound would play! Alarms that were toggled on would fail to sound. When I checked the Clock app after they were supposed to go off, they were still toggled 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 third-party alternative iPhone alarm apps, like Alarmy. I’ve since tested the default app and the bug seems to be resolved. However, the fear of my alarm backstabbing me again has stuck with me.
Alarmy’s Alarm Missions Ensure I Don’t Sleep In
If there’s one thing the entire world can agree on, we all hate the sound of an alarm ringing. However, as much as we despise it, there’s 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 or Stop. Tapping Snooze silences the alarm for 9 minutes, after which it rings again. This cycle continues until you tap Stop. For a heavy sleeper like me, who’s mastered the habit of hitting Stop the second I hear the alarm, this doesn’t help.
Since you can’t exactly change the snooze time on an iPhone, the next best option is to set multiple alarms at 1-minute intervals. While that worked for a while, I’d often ask Siri to turn off all my alarms, and the assistant would do so without hesitation—ending up with me sleeping in 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 have ensured I no longer get stuck in that loop. The app divides its missions into two categories: Wake Your Brain and Wake Your Body. The first category includes Memory, Typing, Math, and Missing Symbol, while the second includes Step, QR/Barcode, Shake, Photo, and Squat.
Since I usually don’t have trouble waking up once my brain is engaged, and I do a lot of math daily, I chose the Math mission under Wake Your Brain.
For most of these missions, you can adjust the difficulty level and decide how many times you’d like to complete a mission. Unfortunately, the Missing Symbol, Step, and Squat missions are limited to Alarmy Premium. With Alarmy Premium, you can also set multiple missions under a single alarm, which is perfect if you’re not a fan of a monotonous routine.
Shows How Much Time Is Left Until My Next Alarm
Strangely enough, one feature that the default Clock app has always lacked is a countdown displaying 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’d like to sleep, you likely know how frustrating it can be to calculate the exact time manually.
Small features like this can truly 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 Get Gradually Louder Until You Can’t Ignore Them
While some people prefer waking up to calm and soft alarm sounds, I’m the complete opposite. I can sleep through anything, so an alarm needs to be obnoxiously loud and annoying to wake me up. The default Clock app’s alarm sounds are far too gentle for me, which is why I love Alarmy.
The app organizes its alarms into four categories: Cheerful, Calm, Alarm bell, and Loud. I usually pick a random tone from the Alarm bell or Loud categories, and I’ve never not 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. Thankfully, Alarmy lets you set your alarm tone to Random within a chosen category, giving you a fresh tone every day.
What makes Alarmy’s already annoying alarms even better is the option to have them gradually increase in volume. When setting an alarm, you can toggle on Gentle wake up and customize the Volume increase time.
This means your alarm starts at a minimum volume and slowly builds 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 longer than I should, and I owe that entirely to Alarmy!
