Get Help Waking up With These Unusual Alarm Clock Apps
There’s nothing wrong with your smartphone’s alarm. If they wake you up in the morning, then they have completed their main task, and you should thank them for not forcing you to resort tomore extreme measures to get out of bed.
Whether you need a little extra help besides the soothing sound of your smartphone waking up to wake up to work, or you just want a little fun in the morning than the usual old brzz-brzz-brzzz , you have a variety of alarm clock apps to choose from in the Apple App Store or Google Play Store. Too many, actually. So you don’t waste your precious breakfast time testing new alarm clock apps, here are a few of our favorites to help you get started:
Great General Anxiety: Sleep Cycle
I often see people recommending Sleep Cycle (iOS / Android) as a great alarm clock app for everyday use. And then there’s The Guardian’s 2012 review:
This is an alarm clock, no disturbing part. Using the accelerometer in your iPhone, the app tracks your movements and determines which sleep phase you are in. It will then wake you up as you sleep so that you wake up refreshed and relaxed. The result is so delicate and beautiful that it seems like a mermaid drowning your hair or a unicorn drowning in your toes wakes you up.
High praise, of course. Sleep Cycle works in one of two ways. You either point the microphone towards you while you sleep, or place your phone next to you on the bed so the built-in accelerometer can analyze your tossing and turning. With any luck, the app can detect your sleep patterns and gently wake you up when you are in light sleep rather than deep sleep or REM sleep. This should make you less sleepy and / or grumpy throughout the day.
If you disagree with the Sleep Cycle assessment, you just need to grab your phone to activate one of two different repeat modes. While the basic features of Sleep Cycle are free, you can activate other features (such as snoring detection) by purchasing a subscription for $ 30 per year .
Android users can also try the beloved Sleep as Android app , which offers similar features at a lower price – a one-time charge of $ 5.50.
Annoying alarm clock app: Alarmy
I’ve talked about this before , but it’s worth pulling out of the archives because it can be effective at getting you out of bed. Alarmy (iOS / Android) has a simple premise: you can’t trust yourself to actually get out of bed when the alarm goes off, so instead of letting you press a button, snooze the alarm and go back to bed, this app forces you to do that. – something else, to drown out the irritation.
If you want an “easy mode”, you can sit in bed and force the app to solve a math problem before it goes silent. For more complexity, you can take something like a snapshot of some distant place in your home (for example, your kitchen) or a QR code that you posted somewhere (this is not your bed). The alarm will then stay on until you get up and take a photo again or scan the QR code. The free version of the app supports ads, but you can opt out for as little as $ 1.
I Can’t Wake Up is another Lifehacker favorite for Android and iOS . I would also like to add Shake-it Alarm ( Android ) to the mix because there is nothing more soothing than yelling at your alarm clock to go away. (We apologize in advance to our roommates, pets, and loved ones.)
Alarm clock: carrots
And then you thought HAL 9000 was annoying. If you haven’t heard of the Carrot Alarm Clock App (iOS), a treat awaits you. It costs $ 3, but it’s worth every penny because the app annoys you very, very well when you get out of bed. All you have to do is set an alarm. Carrot will take care of the rest, including listening to one of 30 different songs – from cute to annoying – combined with a random task that you have to complete to turn off the specified alarm. And yes, the more successful you wake up, the more content you will discover. Fun!
Travel Alarm Clock: WakeMeHere
It would be wrong to assume that you are always napping in bed. If you have a long commute to work, hate commuting, or sleep on something that moves, and want to wake up before you reach your destination, the WakeMeHere iOS app can help.
The premise of the app is simple. You choose a place. Your alarm will go off as soon as your device recognizes that you have entered this area. How simple it is.
When you set your wake site, you can even decide how large the radius of your wake bubble should be if you prefer precision or want you to wake up accurately when you enter a larger area.
For dreaming among the stars: Nebula Alarm Clock
This Android alarm clock app has not been updated since last March, so I fear the developer has abandoned it. While it is still running, Nebula Alarm Clock is a fun alarm clock app with a nicer interpretation of the “complete the challenge” wake-up style.
Unless you’re a fan of crazy mental stimulation in the morning – or punishment – Nebula’s premise is much milder. Download the app before bed and while you sleep, the star will grow. When you wake up, you need to collect a star to add it to your night sky (with a small action like shaking your phone). The more stars you collect, the more constellations you create, and your little digital sky will become more beautiful and more beautiful. This is surely a lot more calming than dealing with an angry alarm clock.