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Do you use your iPhone as an Alarm Clock?
- Thread starter iApples
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I have tried a bunch of them. I love how you are able to choose your iPod music. The only thing I don't like is that you have to keep the app running when you go to sleep and it drains your battery. That's why I always find myself going back to the stock iPhone alarm clock.
I personally use the Sleep Cycle alarm clock app every day. It uses the accelerometer to measure how you move at night and gives you a rough graph of your sleep pattern. I've found it's really pretty accurate, even with another person in the bed (your body blocks their movements pretty well as it turns out).
The other advantage is that I set it for the time I absolutely have to be up by and the it wakes me up sometime in the 10 mins (adjustable up to an hour) before that time. Since it is measuring my sleep cycle it is able to estimate when I am most ready to be woken up. It uses vibration (it lives under the fitted sheet on the mattress at night) and gradually increasing sound to wake me up.
I was really skeptical at first but it helps me wake up faster and be less tired in the morning because (most of the time) I'm not being jolted out of deep REM sleep by my normal alarm. I used to set it for the 30 mins before the alarm time but I found it waking me up too much earlier than I really needed to be. At 10 mins I sacrifice some of the accuracy but I get overall more sleep.
The other thing it does that I like is it tracks how long I slept for and keeps a running average. Overall it's a pretty cheap and simple app that has actually made a difference in my sleep patterns.
I know this sounds like an advertisement but I really love this app. It's not for everyone as it requires me to plug it in to the cable and put it under the fitted sheet at the corner of the bed every night. Because of this it's really hard to check texts or phone calls that come in while I'm sleeping. I've used this as an opportunity to put the phone into airplane mode while I sleep so I have as few distractions as possible.
Like I said, I was incredibly skeptical at first but it really works and I love it. Sorry for the super long post
The other advantage is that I set it for the time I absolutely have to be up by and the it wakes me up sometime in the 10 mins (adjustable up to an hour) before that time. Since it is measuring my sleep cycle it is able to estimate when I am most ready to be woken up. It uses vibration (it lives under the fitted sheet on the mattress at night) and gradually increasing sound to wake me up.
I was really skeptical at first but it helps me wake up faster and be less tired in the morning because (most of the time) I'm not being jolted out of deep REM sleep by my normal alarm. I used to set it for the 30 mins before the alarm time but I found it waking me up too much earlier than I really needed to be. At 10 mins I sacrifice some of the accuracy but I get overall more sleep.
The other thing it does that I like is it tracks how long I slept for and keeps a running average. Overall it's a pretty cheap and simple app that has actually made a difference in my sleep patterns.
I know this sounds like an advertisement but I really love this app. It's not for everyone as it requires me to plug it in to the cable and put it under the fitted sheet at the corner of the bed every night. Because of this it's really hard to check texts or phone calls that come in while I'm sleeping. I've used this as an opportunity to put the phone into airplane mode while I sleep so I have as few distractions as possible.
Like I said, I was incredibly skeptical at first but it really works and I love it. Sorry for the super long post
I've actually used this app for about two weeks. I do agree it's great but over time it becomes such a hassle. You always have to put your phone on the corner of your bed and it needs to be plugged in (Or it drains your battery over night) I wasn't a big fan of having a cell phone laying beside my head for 8 hours so I always had to have mine in airplane mode and if I woke up in the middle of the night I couldn't close the app to check messages or emails. If you did, then you would have to re-setup the app.
The one feature I loved was how you could set it to wake you up while you're in your lightest of sleeps. I always set mine up to start waking me up half an hour before the actual time I needed to wake up.
Overall, it was just too much of a hassle to always remember to plug it in and place it on the corner of your bed so I just stopped using it.
If you just hit the home button and check messages, the next time you launch the app it should recognize that you had an alarm set and asks if you want to "continue sleeping" or cancel the alarm.
It is kind of a hassle to set up at night, but I usually put my phone in airplane mode at night anyway so the messages/calls thing doesn't bother me too much. I also don't use it on the weekends because I don't have a regular sleep schedule then.
For me, the benefits of being able to map my sleep outweighs the inconvenience. I suffer from migraine headaches and this helps me see how I'm sleeping and keep graphs/charts to help me manage that information for myself and doctors.
I must admit.. I do miss looking at the charts of my sleep patterns. It's always nice to see how much you sleep at night, and the different peaks of your sleeping pattern.
I'm not sure about yourself but I'm a pretty wild sleeper. I'm always moving around and I can never stay still. Sometimes I've found that during my sleep I've launched my iPhone off the bed (I guess with my hand or arm) and I've seen it laying on the floor a few feet away from my bed. Have you ever experienced this?
Default app. Every single day! Really wish Apple had included the default clock app in the iPad! 
Default app. Every single day! Really wish Apple had included the default clock app in the iPad!
I'm actually surprised they don't have that. I thought they did.
I was really surprised. But the truth remains... no clock app, no calculator, weather, voice memo, compass, or stocks!
I was really surprised. But the truth remains... no clock app, no calculator, weather, voice memo, compass, or stocks!
I'll never understand why there is no calculator, weather, or stocks app. I don't see a reason why NOT to put the standard iPhone/iPod Touch apps on the iPad.
Yes, I use the default one, I love it - so loud, if that doesn't wake you up then nothing will
I've actually slept through it before. (On full blast) I'm a deep sleeper, and sometimes nothing can wake me up. I guess unless you jump on my stomach and start punching me in the face. That's one way. But sound wise, sometimes I'm so out of it I'll sleep through anything.
Always use it as my alarm clock, but I always get worried if I have my phone on silent, the alarm won't go off
I usually want to break my alarm clock when it goes off so not a good idea!
Haha don't we all. I remember when my old alarm clock went off, the first thing I'd always do was slam my hand on top of it and search for that off button.
Awesome. Glad it helped! That's how I create all of my custom ringtones. Free, easy, and no need for any apps, other than iTunes itself.
I actually did this a long time ago, but I completely forgot how to do it. And I also didn't know this worked for alarm clock sounds. It's awesome. Now I no longer have to wake up to a bomb threat noise.
Always use it as my alarm clock, but I always get worried if I have my phone on silent, the alarm won't go off
LOL...you know what, I'm glad to hear I'm not the only person who's OCD about that. Many times, I've gotten outta bed to go check it and make sure it's not on silent cuz I'm scared my alarm will just vibrate and I'll never hear it.
...this is despite having my phone on vibrate, on many occasions, and the alarm still going off at inopportune times.
I actually did this a long time ago, but I completely forgot how to do it. And I also didn't know this worked for alarm clock sounds. It's awesome. Now I no longer have to wake up to a bomb threat noise.
Haha. I'm the opposite. I have to have loud, scary, terrifying noises on my alarm because I'll easily sleep through regular music. I always use the "alarm" default sound. I used to use the "digital" sound, but, I had to change that because it sounded too much like the slot machines in Vegas and, on several occasions, somehow those sounds sneaked into my dreams and caused me to dream of being inside a casino, failing to wake me up. LoL. No joke.
Haha yeah I know what you mean. Sometimes you need those scary/loud/annoying sounds to wake you up. I remember one night I had my alarm set for 5:30 am and the "Alarm" noise was the sound that it was set too.. Well when I woke up I nearly had a heart attack. It was so loud and it scared the crap out of me. But then again, at least it did the job.
