alarmclocks
Latest
Yocto Alarm Clock for iOS is free, full featured and very nice
There must be hundreds of alarm clock apps available for iOS. I've reviewed several, both good and bad. The free ones are usually not so great, the paid ones are usually a step up. So along comes the Yocto Clock. It's free, has oodles of features, looks great and works well. The Yocto clock can wake you up to any of a set of pre-selected sounds, or anything in your iTunes library. It can put you to sleep with ambient loops like the sounds of a forest at night. You can even use external audio, like Internet radio, as a music source. The display offers the time, natch, and you can add a weather forecast or change the text color. There are several background pictures available, too, or your can add your own. You can even set images to refresh every time you launch the app, or on a timed rotation. Screen brightness is controlled with a gesture, and a built-in help file explains the details. The universal Yocto Clock supports the Retina display, and looks great on the iPhone and the iPad. Note that the app must be in the foreground for alarms to work, and requires iOS 5.0 or greater. My hat is off to developer David Mandell who has created a useful, attractive and full-featured app. If you are really happy with the app, you can donate $0.99 as a "tip" for the author. Darn well worth it. Check the gallery for some screen grabs. %Gallery-156554%
Dear Aunt TUAW: Help me find a better alarm
Dear Aunt TUAW, Why do all iPhone alarm clock apps have to simulate an old and unattractive 7-segment display? Or the old, cheap, unattractive flip-clock display? I understand the gee-wiz factor of emulating these classic displays, but aren't we way past that point? I would love to see a simple, attractive and reliable alarm clock app for the iPhone without 7-segment or flip displays. Does such an app exist? Thank you! Your loving nephew, Pete L. My Darling Pete, Auntie is right there with you on alarm clocks. Auntie is so over mornings. Just let her sleep in or bring the caffeine right to her, along with roses and a tasteful continental breakfast, as she rises to a well-designed iDevice app's summons. After receiving your letter, Auntie set out on a hunt for beautiful clocks. Thanks to many of her electronic nephews and nieces, she tracked down the following suggestions that offer alternatives to the humdrum. Emerald Observatory (US$0.99) offers a stunning clock that's full of astronomical information without sacrificing a clock or a daily alarm. Observatory was the single-most recommended application in Auntie's search. The presentation includes the phase of the moon, the current time, sunrise and sunset times and much more. Night Stand HD ($1.99) offers some handsome analog displays as well as those 7-segment and flip presentations you're looking to skip. Clockus ($0.99) puts a mechanical spin on 7-segment output with elements that flip and adjust to show the time. Art Clock Van Gogh (free) provides a beautiful take on waking up. It has a criminally small audience (only nine ratings to date), and offers over 50 impressionist backgrounds. Unfortunately, the highly recommended Pencil Clock from Paz Interactive seems to have disappeared from the store -- but the screen shots that Auntie has been able to track down show that it really had a fabulous and non-traditional take on time. Hopefully one of these apps will strike your fancy and help you transition away from the boring 7-segment/flip-clock run-of-the-mill alarm apps. Love & hugs, Auntie T. Thanks to gonzopancho, NienorGT, pTracker, josh_m, Consumer_NeXT, mssres, rosskimes, zyafa, LucasTizma, jeffmc, and everyone else who tweeted suggestions...
Alarm clock apps for iOS and Mac
Now that the iPhone's built-in Clock app has suffered two alarm-hindering hiccups, some users are ready for an alternative. Sure, Apple says the latest issue, affecting non-recurring alarms set for January 1 and 2 of 2011, will be "fixed" as of January 3. However, some of us here at TUAW experienced the problem again this morning, and others are just sick of the shenanigans. Fortunately, we've reviewed a number of alarm clock apps for the iPhone over the years, and we present the best here for your consideration (all prices are USD). Awaken We last looked at Awaken 1.2 for iPhone. Today it has matured to version 1.9 with support for iOS 4.2, the iPad and more. With iOS 4.2, Awaken supports local notifications for alarms, so the app needn't be running in order to wake you. Both the iPad and iPhone versions offer multiple clock faces to choose from, with an additional photo frame option that's unique to the iPad. An alarm can trigger either your favorite iTunes track or one of the app's built-in sounds. You'll also find a sleep timer and a flashlight feature, for those late-night sojourns beyond your bed.
