Galarm alternative: Galarm vs Alarm Clock Planner
Galarm is the closest app to Alarm Clock Planner: both set alarms for any date and handle repeats well beyond weekdays. They part ways on sharing, accounts and how the alarm actually rings.*
Pick Galarm if you want alarms that involve other people, like one group alarm for the whole family, and you are happy for them to arrive as notifications, or if your iPhone cannot update to iOS 26.
Pick Alarm Clock Planner if you want alarms that ring like the Clock app, on any date you pick, with no account, no ads and a lower price.
 Galarm |  Alarm Clock Planner | |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Sharing alarms with family, friends or a team | Alarms on specific dates, and anyone with a long list of alarms |
| US rating (average) | Yes 4.7★ | Yes 4.8★ |
| Set alarms without paying† | Limited With ads, per recent reviews | Yes Up to 3 alarms, 0 ads |
| Pay once, no subscription** | Yes $24.99 2.5× ours | Yes $9.99 |
| Cost for one year if subscribed** | $9.99 3.3× ours | $2.99 |
| Share alarms with other people | Yes Group and buddy alarms with chat | No |
| Alarm on a specific date | Yes | Yes |
| Rings as a full alarm with the app closed*** | No It does not use Apple's native alarms. It rings through notifications, and asks for Critical Alerts to sound when the iPhone is muted | Yes It uses Apple's native alarms, so it rings through Silent and Focus |
| No ads† | Not tested; recent reviews describe ads | Yes No ads |
| No tracking (App Store privacy label) | No Declares data used to track you | Yes No data linked to you |
| Languages | Yes 10 or more | Yes 10 or more |
| Last update | Q4 2026 | Q4 2026 |
| Get it | App Store | Download |
Where Galarm is stronger
Waking more than one person
Galarm is built for alarms that involve other people. A group alarm goes off on everyone's phone before the early flight, a buddy alarm lets you set one on your partner's phone, and every alarm has its own chat and confirmations. Everyone needs Galarm installed, and since shared alarms arrive as notifications rather than native alarms, each phone also needs Galarm's notifications, ideally Critical Alerts too, switched on. If someone skipped that during setup, their alarm may not sound.
Every hour, in any time zone
It can repeat down to every hour, handy for medication or a glass of water, and its alarms follow you when you fly to another time zone.
Older iPhones
Galarm runs on iOS 15.6 and later, so it still works on iPhones that cannot update to iOS 26: the iPhone XS, XS Max and XR from 2018, and anything older. Every iPhone from the iPhone 11 (2019) onward runs it, and in June 2026 Apple counted 79% of all iPhones in use already on iOS 26, before iOS 27 came out. Native alarms for apps only arrived with iOS 26, which is why Galarm still rings through notifications.
Where Alarm Clock Planner is stronger
It rings like the Clock app
An alarm only has one job. Alarm Clock Planner uses Apple's native alarms, which iOS 26 opened to apps, so it rings full screen through Silent, Focus and a locked phone, the same way Apple does it with their Clock app. Galarm alerts through notifications, asks for Critical Alerts (Apple's channel for urgent health and safety warnings) to get past the Silent switch, and some reviews say its alarms stayed quiet, or gave a few short beeps, on Silent.
Made for a long list
Work, school runs and the odd trip each get a tag. A tag can have its own sound and snooze length, switches off in one tap for a holiday, and the month calendar shows every alarm at a glance.
Less to pay
Unlimited alarms are $9.99 once, or $2.99 a year. Galarm Premium is $9.99 a year or $24.99 once.
About Alarm Clock Planner
An iPhone alarm clock built around the calendar, for alarms you plan ahead.
- Alarms for any future date, picked on a calendar
- Monthly, yearly, every-other-week and custom repeats, with an end date
- Tags like Work or Travel, and a whole group switched on or off at once
- A month calendar of every alarm
- 19 built-in sounds or your own audio file
- One-tap naps, Home and Lock Screen widgets, 23 themes
- Backed up to your own iCloud
Galarm and Alarm Clock Planner, side by side
Screens we captured ourselves, Galarm on the left, ours on the right.†
The two look like they come from different phones. Galarm's screens look like an Android app: a solid blue top bar, text fields with a line under them and a round floating + button. Alarm Clock Planner is built in the iPhone's current design, Liquid Glass, like Apple's own apps on iOS 26: glass buttons float over your alarms and morph into one another as you use them.
The main screen
Galarm's main screen: alarms by day and by category, empty here. The notice at the top (blurred by us) appeared after we declined its Critical Alerts request.
Setting an alarm
Galarm's alarm editor: a date and a time, with the sound set to 'Critical, 80% volume'.
What we saw using Galarm
From 20 to 23 October 2026, on an iPhone 11 Pro Max with iOS 27.0.1, on an EU App Store account.†
- It asked to send Critical Alerts, which sound even when the iPhone is muted. We said no, and its main screen showed 'Galarm doesn't have the required permissions to ring alarms. Tap to fix.'
- Tapping the notice opened Galarm's notification settings in iOS Settings, a page of banners, badges and sounds with nothing pointing to the switch it needed. We backed out, and tapping the notice again did not bring us back, so our alarms stayed unable to ring.
- Its alarm sound defaults to 'Critical, 80% volume'.
- It does not use Apple's native alarms, so every alarm is a notification rather than a real iPhone alarm.
What Alarm Clock Planner does not do
- Share alarms or chat. To wake a group at the same time, everyone can simply set the alarm on their own phone, in Alarm Clock Planner (free for up to 3 alarms) or in the Clock app. With Galarm, everyone has to install it, join the group and get its notification settings right, and each of those steps is a chance for someone to sleep through.
- Ask for your phone number, your contacts or an account. Galarm sends your phone number to a verification service, uploads your address book to find your friends and keeps your alarms on its servers (its privacy policy, version 2025.05.12). Alarm Clock Planner doesn't share or upload your alarms or personal details: they stay on your device and in your own iCloud backup.
- 0 ads, even in the free version.
- Ring through notification workarounds. Every alarm is a native iPhone alarm, so there is no Critical Alerts permission or notification setting to get right before it can wake you.
What recent reviews of Galarm mention
From US App Store reviews of Galarm read on 23 October 2026 (most recent and most helpful). These are individual experiences, not tests we ran, but these themes came up more than once:
- ads in the free version, sometimes shown when adding or editing an alarm
- alarms that make no sound, or only a few short beeps, with the phone on Silent
- snooze that cannot be switched off for an alarm
Pricing
Galarm's free version comes with ads, according to recent reviews, some of them shown while you add or edit an alarm. Premium costs $0.99 a month, $9.99 a year or $24.99 once (US). Alarm Clock Planner's free version has no ads at all and holds up to 3 alarms at a time; unlimited alarms are $2.99 a year or $9.99 once.
Questions
Can both apps set alarms for a specific date?
Yes, both let you pick any future date and repeat monthly or yearly. The difference shows on the day. Alarm Clock Planner hands the alarm to the iPhone as a native alarm, so it rings reliably. Galarm sends a notification, which only sounds if its notification settings, and on mute its Critical Alerts, are still switched on, so an alarm planned weeks ahead has more that can quietly go wrong.
Do I need an account?
Galarm signs you in with your phone number and keeps your alarms on its servers. Alarm Clock Planner needs no account; alarms stay on your phone and in your own iCloud backup.
Which one can share alarms?
Galarm. Everyone involved needs Galarm installed with its notifications set up, since a shared alarm arrives as a notification, not a native alarm. Alarm Clock Planner does not share alarms.
Try Alarm Clock Planner
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. Versions compared: Galarm 11.6.3, Alarm Clock Planner 1.3.4.
** 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.