Stand-alone alarm clock that sounds like an iPhone alarm? Does it exist?

March 22, 2019 6:30 AM

I want to get a bedside alarm clock so that I don't have my phone next to my bed. The problem is that I can't seem to find one that has nice soothing quiet alarm sounds like my iPhone had.

I wake up much earlier than my wife and I don't want something that's going to just *BEEP BEEP* at 6am. Does such an alarm clock exist? Googling this hasn't helped. I just want something understated (doesn't need to have a radio or bluetooth or a docking station or anything other than an ability to tell the time and wake me up) with nice sounds whose display isn't so bright that I'll notice it when I'm trying to fall asleep.

posted by fso to Technology (4 answers total)

I have an old Android phone, a 9 year old Galaxy Nexus with an OLED screen, sitting on a dock beside my bed to act as a very versatile alarm clock. It's permanently in airplane mode and only runs the clock app, so it never needs a subscription or updates, nor do notifications ever pop up. You could certainly do the same thing with an inexpensive older iPhone, like the 4S.

If you don't already have an old phone in a drawer you can use for this, a friend or relative might even have one they would be willing to give up for free.
posted by eschatfische at 7:14 AM on March 22, 2019

Best answer: This is perhaps orthogonal to your request, but you might like what I have seen referred to as a "zen alarm clock" which has chimes that increase in volume and/or intensity over a period as a way of drawing you out of sleep more pleasantly. Here's the company that makes them.
posted by gauche at 7:16 AM on March 22, 2019

There are a lot of alarm clocks that will play an mp3 off a data card or USB stick. You can put a pleasant tone instead of an actual song as the mp3 of your choice. They typically have pretty flexible volume controls. Don't know about brightness of display and can't recommend a particular one, but 'mp3 alarm clock' is a helpful search term for getting into the neighbourhood you want to be in.
posted by jacquilynne at 7:18 AM on March 22, 2019

I had a Zen Alarm, as linked above, clock for a number of years. It's a nice chime sound, but FYI it doesn't scale up in volume, it does in repetition. So you'll get one "dinnngggg........" and then a couple minutes later another, increasing in frequency until it's going ding ding ding ding ding.

I endorse it, for what it is. And it was pretty nice, but we replaced it with a clock that wakes us up with gradual light instead of sound, and that was much better for us. (YMMV)
posted by seanmpuckett at 9:40 AM on March 22, 2019