Best Alarm Clock Apps for iPhone (2026): 11 Compared
There is no single best alarm app, because people want different things from one. Some need to be dragged out of bed, some need an alarm three months from now, some just want a clock on the nightstand. Here are 11 iPhone alarm apps, what each does best, and where each falls short. One question runs through all of them: does the alarm ring like a real alarm, the same way Apple does it with their Clock app, or does it lean on notifications and an app left open?*
| Feature |  1. Alarm Clock Planner |  2. Clock (built into iPhone) |  3. Galarm |  4. Alarmy |  5. Sleep Cycle |  6. DateAlarm |  7. Alarm Clock for Me |  8. Alarm Clock HD |  9. Loud Alarm Clock |  10. Wayk |  11. One Touch Alarm Clock |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | Alarms on specific dates, and anyone with a long list of alarms | Simple weekday alarms, at no cost | Sharing alarms with family, friends or a team | Heavy sleepers who need a task to switch the alarm off | Sleep tracking with a wake-up window | Countdowns to birthdays and anniversaries | A bedside clock with music and weather | A nightstand clock display | The loudest possible sounds | Getting out of bed with a physical task | Setting an alarm in two taps |
| US rating (average) | Yes 4.8★ | No 2.5★ | Yes 4.7★ | Yes 4.8★ | Yes 4.7★ | Yes 4.9★ | Yes 4.6★ | Yes 4.5★ | Yes 4.8★ | Yes 4.7★ | Yes 4.5★ |
| Set alarms without paying† | Yes Up to 3 alarms, 0 ads | Yes Nothing to buy, no ads | Limited With ads, per recent reviews | Limited With ads | No A free trial and an account first | Limited Notifications only; the native alarm needs membership | Limited With ads | Limited With full-screen ads | Limited With ads | No Alarms need a subscription | Limited With ads |
| Pay once, no subscription** | Yes $9.99 | Yes Free: nothing to buy | Yes $24.99 2.5× ours | Yes About $144 for a lifetime plan 14× ours | No Its paywall offers a yearly plan only | Yes $69.99 7× ours | No Subscription only | No Its paywall offers weekly and yearly plans | Not stated on the listing | No Subscription only | Yes Free: nothing to buy |
| Cost for one year if subscribed** | $2.99 | Free | $9.99 3.3× ours | $59.99 20× ours | About $30 to $35 10× ours | $29.99 10× ours | $19.99 6.7× ours | $9.99 to $29.99 3.3× ours | Not stated on the listing | $19.99 to $59.99 6.7× ours | Free |
| Alarm on a specific date | Yes | No | Yes | No Weekdays only | Not listed | Yes | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed |
| Rings as a full alarm with the app closed*** | Yes Apple's native alarms | Yes Apple's own alarm | No Notifications instead of Apple's native alarms | Yes Then a second ring on its own page with ads | Yes Apple's native alarms | Only with membership; the free version uses notifications | No Notifications only | Asks for native alarms; listing says keep the app open | No Sound with nothing on screen | Yes Apple's native alarms | No Notifications instead of Apple's native alarms |
| No ads† | Yes No ads | Yes No ads | Not tested; recent reviews describe ads | No Banner ads, ads around its ringing page and a full-screen ad after it | Not tested | Yes None seen | No Banner and full-screen ads | No Full-screen ads on launch | No An ad card in the alarm list | Yes None seen | No It asks for ad consent |
| No tracking (App Store privacy label) | Yes No data linked to you | Yes No data linked to you | No Declares data used to track you | No Declares data used to track you | No Declares data used to track you | Yes No data collected | No Declares data used to track you | No Declares data used to track you | No Declares data used to track you | No Declares data used to track you | No Declares data used to track you |
| Languages | Yes 10 or more | Yes Every iOS language | Yes 10 or more | Yes 10 or more | Yes 10 or more | Yes 10 or more | Yes 10 or more | Yes 10 or more | Yes 10 or more | Yes 10 or more | No Fewer than 10 |
| Last update | Q4 2026 | Q4 2026 | Q4 2026 | Q4 2026 | Q4 2026 | Q4 2026 | Q3 2026 | Q4 2026 | Q1 2025 | Q4 2026 | Q4 2025 |
| Get it | Download | App Store | App Store | App Store | App Store | App Store | App Store | App Store | App Store | App Store | App Store |
Scroll sideways for all 11 apps.
Quick picks
- Lowest paid upgrade: Alarm Clock Planner: $2.99 a year or $9.99 once, with 0 ads
- Free with no upgrade: the Clock app, already on every iPhone
- For sharing alarms: Galarm, as long as everyone installs it and turns its notifications on
- For heavy sleepers: Alarmy (with ads) or Wayk (subscription only)
1. Alarm Clock Planner
An alarm clock built around the calendar. You pick the day, months ahead if you need to, and the alarm waits for it. Repeats go beyond weekdays (monthly, yearly, every other week, with an end date), alarms can be grouped by tag and switched on or off by group, and it uses Apple's native alarms, so it rings the same way Apple does it with their Clock app, even when the app has been closed for weeks.
Pros
- Alarms on any date, months or years ahead
- Monthly, yearly and every-N-weeks repeats
- Groups you can switch on or off at once
- Rings like the Clock app, even with the app closed
Cons
- No wake-up missions: stopping is a slide, and backup alarms a few minutes apart give you a second chance
- No sleep tracking: an Apple Watch already logs sleep in the Health app
- No shared alarms: everyone sets their own, free
2. Clock (built into iPhone)
The alarm everyone already has. It is reliable, free and tied into the Sleep schedule in Health and the Apple Watch. Its limit is the calendar: an alarm is a time plus, optionally, days of the week, so there is no way to set one for the 23rd, for the first of every month, or for every other Friday.
Pros
- Free and already installed
- Rings through Silent and Focus
- Sleep schedule and Apple Watch integration
- Siri can set alarms
Cons
- No dates: an alarm is a time plus days of the week
- No monthly, yearly or every-other-week repeats
- No groups or tags for a long list
3. Galarm
A social alarm and reminder app. Its standout is sharing: group alarms that ring for everyone at once, buddy alarms you set for someone else, and a chat on each alarm. Each one arrives as a notification rather than a native alarm, so everyone needs Galarm installed and its notifications switched on for it to sound. It also handles any date and repeats from hourly to yearly. You sign in with your phone number, and your alarms live on Galarm's servers.
Pros
- Share alarms with contacts, with confirmations and chat, delivered as notifications rather than native alarms
- Any date, and repeats from hourly to yearly
- Alarms follow time zone changes
Cons
- Does not use Apple's native alarms: it rings through notifications, or Critical Alerts if you allow them, and some reviewers report it making no sound, or a few short beeps, on Silent
- As a notification app it is held to iOS's limit of 64 scheduled notifications, which a reviewer ran into
- Signs you in with your phone number and keeps your alarms on its servers; to find your contacts it uploads your address book
- Recent reviews describe ads in the free version, shown when adding or editing alarms
Premium $0.99 a month, $9.99 a year or $24.99 once**
4. Alarmy
The most-reviewed app on this list, built for people who sleep through ordinary alarms. To stop it you complete a mission: math, a memory game, shaking the phone, squats, or a photo of a chosen spot. It rings as Apple's native alarm first, but when we dismissed it, its own page rang again, a dancing cat between two ads, followed by a full-screen ad. The free version carries ads, and the yearly plan is $59.99.
Pros
- Wake-up missions that are hard to sleep through
- Anti-snooze and power-off prevention options
- Sleep tracker, snore detection and sleep sounds in the same app
- Available in 32 languages
Cons
- Two rings in our test: the native alarm, then its own page with ads, then a full-screen ad
- Ads in the free version, around the ringing alarm too
- Recent reviews report alarms that sometimes do not go off, and heavy battery drain
- Reviewers describe a heavy push to buy the subscription
- No alarms on a date: its editor repeats on days of the week only
With ads. In the app: yearly, monthly and lifetime plans with a 7-day free trial; the US list shows $59.99 for the yearly plan, and the lifetime plan is about $144**
5. Sleep Cycle
A sleep tracker first and an alarm second. It listens to your nights through the microphone and shows sleep stages and trends. Its Smart Alarm wakes you in a lighter sleep phase within a window you choose, which also means up to 30 minutes before the time you set. Setup ends on a free trial and then an account, while an Apple Watch already logs sleep in the Health app without another subscription.
Pros
- Detailed sleep tracking and trends
- Smart Alarm that aims for light sleep, up to 30 minutes early
- Sleep sounds and an AI sleep coach
Cons
- A free trial and an account before you can set an alarm
- Will not set up without the microphone
- Built for one nightly wake-up, started in the app each night, not a calendar of alarms
Setup ends at a free trial, then a yearly plan of about $30 to $35. The US list shows plans from $2.99 to $57.99 without naming their lengths**
6. DateAlarm
A small app for future dates: birthdays, anniversaries and deadlines, with countdowns, categories and notes. The catch is how it rings: the native iPhone alarm is a membership feature, from $3.99 a week, and the free version sends notifications. Data stays on the device.
Pros
- Alarms for future dates, as native alarms only with membership
- Countdowns to special days
- Notes and categories on reminders
Cons
- Paid plans start at $3.99 a week
- The free version alerts through notifications; the native alarm needs a membership
Membership $3.99 a week, $4.99 a month or $29.99 a year, or $69.99 once for lifetime**
7. Alarm Clock for Me
A good-looking nightstand clock with designer faces, playlists, a sleep timer and weather, much of which the iPhone's own StandBy mode now does by itself. As an alarm it is a notification: in our test it asked us to turn Silent mode off so it could ring, and it opened on its upgrade screen every time we launched it.
Pros
- Designer clock faces for the nightstand
- Shake or math problem to stop the alarm, though the alarm itself is a notification
Cons
- Its alarm is a notification: it asked us to turn Silent mode off for it to ring
- Weekly subscription pricing
- Opens on its upgrade screen, and showed a full-screen ad after we saved an alarm
Premium $0.99 to $2.99 a week, or $19.99 a year**
8. Alarm Clock HD
A full-screen bedside clock with colours, weather, Apple Music alarms and an Apple Watch app. Its listing is open about the limit: for your chosen sound to play, the app has to stay open all night. In our test it opened on full-screen ads most times, and in the EU it starts with a consent screen for 1,229 advertising partners.
Pros
- Large, customisable nightstand display
- Apple Music as the alarm sound, while the app stays open
- Available in 33 languages, the most on this list
Cons
- The app has to stay open for your chosen sound; closed, it falls back to a notification sound
- Full-screen ads most times we opened it, some with no close button we could find
- In the EU, its consent screen offers no free way to refuse ad tracking: accept, or buy the ad-free version
- The listing says the alarm will not play properly when muted, on Do Not Disturb, or below 30% battery
Free with ads. In the app: weekly or yearly plans after a 3-day trial; the US list shows $1.99 a week and $9.99 to $29.99 a year**
9. Loud Alarm Clock
Built around sounds louder than the built-in tones, with a random one each morning and character voices that nag you if you keep snoozing. Louder mostly makes the jolt harsher, and a new sound every morning is one you never learn to wake to. In our test it rang with nothing on screen, only the volume rising, and its last update was in February 2025.
Pros
- Volume-boosted sounds, though in our test it rang with nothing on screen
- Character voices that nag you if you keep snoozing
Cons
- Does not use Apple's native alarms: in our test it rang with nothing on screen, only the volume rising
- A random sound each morning, so there is no sound you learn to wake to
- Last updated in February 2025
- An ad card sits in the alarm list
Super Sleeper $7.99**
10. Wayk
An alarm you switch off by doing something: push-ups, a photo of the sky, making your bed. It uses Apple's native alarms, but alarms need a subscription, after about 20 setup questions and a signed commitment. If what you need is a second chance rather than a task, a backup alarm does that without the push-ups.
Pros
- Physical missions that get you up
- Morning routine focus
Cons
- A subscription before your first alarm, after about 20 setup questions and a signed commitment
- Higher subscription prices than most apps here
- Asks for the camera and the microphone
Its listing says setting alarms needs a subscription. Plans listed from $6.99 to $59.99**
11. One Touch Alarm Clock
A deliberately simple alarm: set the time in a couple of taps and wake up to your own music, faded in. It is paid for with ads, opens by asking for ad consent, and does not use Apple's native alarms, and some reviews describe the screen lighting up with no sound.
Pros
- Very quick to set
- Your own music with a fade-in, though not as a native alarm
- No in-app purchases listed; ads pay for it
Cons
- Does not use Apple's native alarms; some reviews describe the screen lighting up with no sound
- Ads, and an ad-consent screen on first launch
- No dates or advanced repeats described
Questions
What is the best alarm clock app for iPhone?
It depends on the job. For alarms on specific dates and long alarm lists, Alarm Clock Planner (our app). For heavy sleepers, Alarmy or Wayk. For sharing alarms with family, Galarm, as long as everyone installs it and turns its notifications on. For a simple daily wake-up at no cost, the built-in Clock app.
Do third-party alarm apps ring on Silent?
Apps that use Apple's native alarms (iOS 26 and later) ring like the Clock app, through Silent and Focus, without the app staying open. Apps that rely on notifications or on staying open can be silenced by the Silent switch or Do Not Disturb, and several listings say so.
Which iPhone alarm apps can set an alarm for a specific date?
From this list: Alarm Clock Planner, Galarm and DateAlarm. The built-in Clock app cannot; its alarms repeat by weekday only.
How were these apps chosen?
From the top results for alarm searches on the US App Store, keeping apps with an active listing. Facts come from each app's listing, privacy policy and recent public reviews, checked on 23 October 2026, and from using every app ourselves on an iPhone.
Plan your alarms by date
Free for up to 3 alarms. Rings on Silent. No account needed.
* We make Alarm Clock Planner, so weigh our view accordingly. Facts about the other apps come from their US App Store listings, privacy policies and public US reviews, checked on 23 October 2026, and from using each app ourselves. Alarm Clock Planner is listed first because it is ours; the rest are ordered by how well they handle planned, everyday alarms.
** US App Store prices. The US list does not name plan lengths, so a plan's length comes from the app's own upgrade screen, and a US price is used only where it clearly matches that plan. “Cost for one year if subscribed” is the cheapest plan that covers 12 months. A mark on “Pay once” only says whether a one-time unlock exists; “2.5× ours” compares a price with Alarm Clock Planner's $9.99 once or $2.99 a year. Two prices are estimates, marked “about”, because the US list does not show them: Alarmy's lifetime plan (Alarmy charges the same number in dollars and euros, as its yearly plan shows, so we took the figure from its upgrade screen) and Sleep Cycle's yearly plan.
*** From each listing, checked on our own iPhone: iOS Settings shows an Alarms switch for apps that use Apple's native alarms (AlarmKit, iOS 26 and later), and we let an alarm ring with each app closed where the app let us set one. A cross means it does not use them: the app has to stay open, or it alerts through notifications, which are short and, unless they are Critical Alerts, follow the Silent switch.
† What we saw using each app ourselves, 20 to 23 October 2026, on an iPhone 11 Pro Max with iOS 27.0.1, on an EU App Store account. Ads and offers can differ by country and change over time. On “Set alarms without paying”, a tick means free with no ads, amber means free with ads or without the native alarm, and a cross means a payment or a trial comes first.