Best Alarm Clock App for IPhone
There are almost as many alarms in the iTunes Store as there are to-do apps, so it’s hard to pick the right one. In our tests, we found the wake-up alarm to be the best due to its good feature set and high reliability.
Alarm
Platform : iPhone Price : $ 2.99 Download Page
Functions
- Three alarm styles: slap and flip, shake and swipe
- Simple interface for quick alarm setting
- ITunes support to wake up to music
- 12 built-in alarm sounds with additional sounds available through in-app purchase
- Recurring alarms
- Gradually loud alarms
- Siri support for setting alarms by voice
- Free version with ads if you don’t want to pay
Where is it best
Wake Alarm Clock allows you to grab many key functions from alarm clock apps and combine them into one. Three separate alarm styles and a wide selection of alarm sounds mean it should work as an alarm clock for just about everyone. Likewise, integration with your iTunes library means you can choose songs to wake up to if you don’t like bird sounds and chirping. The interface takes some getting used to, but once you do, setting the alarm is quick. But most importantly, the alarm goes off every time, which is the only thing you can ask the alarm for.
Where it fails
IPhone alarm clock apps used to suffer from having to keep them open and running to work, but luckily, the latest versions of iOS have fixed this issue. However, some features, such as the “click and flip” alarm, still require the wake-up alarm to remain on and run overnight. Fortunately, this style of alarm is completely optional, and if you use one of the other two alarms, you don’t need to worry about it.
Wake Alarm Clock uses a lot of gestures and the interface is pretty minimal. It’s great when you get used to it, but it takes a little effort to figure out how to do it. Once you’ve done that, Wake Alarm Clock is faster to set your alarm than most other alarms, but the barrier to entry is worth noting.
Competition
Clock , Apple’s built-in app, is undoubtedly the biggest competitor to Wake Alarm Clock. It’s nothing more than wakes you up, but it’s good for people who want a simple alarm clock.
CARROT Alarm ($ 2.99) is probably the dumbest alarm clock in the App Store, but it has a solid feature set. Like other CARROT-branded apps, CARROT Alarm adds a little quirkiness to the mundane. This will wake you up nicely, but it will also scold, ridicule and shame you for hitting the snooze button. It also has game built into it, so the more often you wake up on time, the better your rewards will be. If you really hate waking up in the morning and are looking for a way to make it a little more enjoyable, CARROT Alarm is for you.
The Sleep Cycle Alarm Clock ($ 1.99) and Sleepbot (free) use your sleep and movement to wake you up in the morning. Instead of laying your phone by your bed, you put your phone on the bed, and apps track your sleep behavior to wake you up at the optimal time. They also track your sleep behavior and suggest different sounds to wake you up. The downside to both of these apps is the fact that they don’t work particularly well if you’re sharing a bed with someone, or if you don’t like having your phone in bed with you.
Rise ($ 1.99) is similar to Wake Alarm Clock, but with a few smaller features. The interface is incredibly easy to use, so setting the alarm is simple and also wakes you up gradually to different tones. If the Wake Alarm Clock is too fancy for you, Rise is worth a look, but it’s only a dollar less.
Wake N Shake Alarm Clock ($ 1.99) is the perfect alarm clock for people who just can’t get out of bed. The premise is simple: to turn off the alarm, you need to shake your phone hard. The Wake Alarm Clock also has an option for this, but Wake N Shake has a lot of shake settings that make you really need to toss the thing when needed.