How to upgrade your morning wake up experience on your phone

Many of you are likely to wake up every day with an alarm on your smartphone. But are you using your phone's alarm to the fullest of your abilities, or are you setting the standard default ringtone at a given time? These are tips, apps and gadgets that can enhance your wake up experience.

The Clock app on Android

The Clock app provided with Android has recently added support for Google Assistant routines, allowing you to turn on your smart lights or benefit from a morning briefing at the same time as you can. 39, alarm goes off.

When you have set an alarm under the Alarm tab, press Google Assistant Routine in the panel below. You can get a report on the weather, news or your schedule. You can also turn off your phone's silent mode or use smart lights, plugs, or thermostats that you've connected to Google Assistant.

In addition to this, you can read the news, podcast or audiobook by selecting an option from the drop-down menu. And then play heading (touch the cog icons on the right to configure these functions further).

If you want to wake up to music, tap the sound of the alarm on the main panel. Alarm screen. The options to wake up with YouTube Music (if you're a premium subscriber) or Spotify (whether you're a premium subscriber or not) have recently been added to the Clock app. So you should see them with the usual selection of ringtones. If you want to wake up with a specific song or sound clip without the help of Spotify or YouTube Music, you need to create your own alarm sound.

To better control your alarms on Android, press the menu button (three dots, top left) on the Alarm screen and then choose settings. The following list of options allows you to set the duration of the alarm tone and their volume, the duration of the default repeat period and the function of the volume buttons on your phone. (They can be used to reject or repeat alarms or to change the alarm volume).

Tap Gradually increase the volume To do just that: if you do not want to wake up the rest of your household with an alarm but want to make sure you get out of bed, set the initial alarm volume to a low level and then adjust the volume to the top speed. over a period of 5 to 60 seconds.

The Clock app on iOS

Add alarms on the Alarm The Clock app tab for iOS is fairly simple, but there are some tips and features that you might have missed. First, you can switch the snooze option when you really need to get up immediately.

It is also possible to name each of your alarms via the Label field. This only serves to help you distinguish between alarms – for example, weekend wake-up calls and reminders for taking medication – but the option is available if you need it.

Press the Sound button and you'll get many options, including the ringtones that came with iOS, the ringtones you bought on iTunes, and the songs you synced with your phone from iTunes or from Apple Music (press Choose a song make your choice). Follow this guide if you want to create custom ringtones.

If you want a more subtle wake up in the morning, you can activate vibration as well as or instead of an audible alarm. If this is your preferred wake-up mode, you can choose from the list of options offered by iOS or even create a custom vibration by tapping the screen (select Create a new vibration to do this).

To control the alarm volume on iOS, press Sounds and haptics from the Settings app in iOS. Drag the Ringtone and alerts slider to change the default alarm volume, then turn the Change with buttons If you wish to adjust it, the volume keys will sound.

Get familiar with the Bedtime feature, now available on iOS. (There is a separate tab in the iOS Clock app.) It guides you through the morning alarm setup process, but also reminds you of the alarm. bedtime, depending on how long you want to sleep. consider your goals over time.

Third party alarm applications

You have a choice of options for third-party alarm applications, and it appears that more and more applications are being added continuously. If you're struggling to get out of bed, these applications may force you, for example, to take on a mathematical challenge or perform another task to silence the ring.

Many of these apps will try to wake you up at a time that matches the natural circadian rhythms of your body. In theory, this makes it easier to get up from bed. Sleep cycle for Android and iOS, is one of the best in the industry and is free. With this one, you can customize your wake-up window, badyze your sleep patterns over time (depending on the sounds you sound during your sleep) and let you awake during a light sleep period.

Sleep like Android for Android is another great app that combines sleep tracking with smart alarms, but as the name suggests, it's not available for iOS. It is resting on your mattress to determine if you are sleeping well and can wake you up at a time that matches your periods of light sleep. It also comes with a selection of natural sounds to use as an alarm. The application is free to use, but additional features can be unlocked with a one-time payment of $ 4.

For iPhone users, freemium Pillow for iOS is similar to Sleep As Android. Place your phone near your pillow (see link?) Or connect it to an Apple Watch. The app measures the quality of your sleep and determines the optimal time to wake you up (in a specific time window that you have already configured). ). It also offers a choice of ambient and natural sounds to wake you more gradually.

Freemium Worried for Android and iOS helps people get up off the bed for years and remains one of our favorites. This raises a series of challenges to silence your alarm, whether to take a picture of your bathroom faucet or to solve a mathematical problem. The idea is that by the time you have managed to turn off the alarm, you are well and truly awake. You can also get weather updates and news via Alarmy.

It should also be mentioned here AlarmMon for Android and iOS. The Freemium app stands out by the way it makes the alarm clock fun (or at least, tries to do it): choice of mini-games to help you get out more effectively from your sleep, selection of strange but cute sounds to wake up Every day with different types of audio and even ways to record your wake up habits over time.

Carrot alarm for iOS will cost you $ 3, but for your money, you get a clock that speaks is a little different from the norm. In addition to having a lot of attitude, the app comes with a choice of options to mute the alarm, including tremors, scans and pinches. The alarms themselves can be a mix of custom dialogs and music. In reality, the application gets angry with you if you press the Repeat button too often.

Finally and especially, Wake up for the big sleepers for Android is a Freemium Alarm Clock app that comes down to its name. To try to get you out of bed, the app can combine multiple alarms and challenge you with math puzzles. It also offers other tips, such as the ability to turn off holiday alarms or set them according to your location (so you do not wake up too early on vacation).

Adding another device

Another way to upgrade your morning wake up experience is to use something else next to your phone to get you out of bed. A dock like the $ 70 iHome Bluetooth Alarm Clock will charge your iPhone wirelessly at night, tell you the time and add extra volume to those alarm sounds.

There are not a lot of smart alarm station options for smartphones these days, but we also like the $ 60 Dpnao charging station: it works with all the recent iPhone models and will charge your phone for your sleep to make sure the alarms are loud enough to get you out of bed.

And the advantage of having a dock that is not at your bedside is that you have to get up to turn off the alarm. Whether or not you want to invest in a separate dock device, if you have trouble waking up in the morning, try placing your phone on the other side of the room (or even in another room).

With so many shapes and sizes to satisfy, there are not as many home stations for Android devices as for iPhones. One of the devices we have seen is the $ 28 Philips AJT3300 with many useful features. These include time display, music playback (or alarm sounds) via Bluetooth and charging your phone.

Indeed, you do not necessarily need to buy a dock to give the audible alarm an extra breath. You can simply connect your phone to a Bluetooth speaker before you go to bed and adjust the volume accordingly. (But maybe give some tests so far to make sure he will not wake up the whole neighborhood.)

Remember that you can also have many smart lights to work in tandem with your phone (you can control them with Google Assistant when an alarm goes off, as we mentioned at the beginning). The $ 99 Casper Glow, for example, can sift gently at bedtime and light up in the morning to make the day easier for you.