APP SPECIAL .....................5 Social alarm apps to help you get up

5 Social alarm apps to help you get up





Traditionally, alarms have been a private matter.

Other than your family or roommates, no one had to know which alarms you ignored or how many times you pressed snooze.

However, if you keep sleeping through your alarm because it's so easy to turn off or you're just sick of the same old digital beeping, these social alarm clock apps can shake up your routine for the better.

More than just an alarm clock, these five apps harness both the fun and the potential humiliation of social media to help you wake up and manage your time better throughout the day.

1 Cuckuu

What do you need to be reminded to do? Go to yoga class, finish a project, study for a class, get groceries ­ these are just some of the “cuckuus“ you can create and share with the world. Cuckuu is a free app that merges alarm clocks and post-it notes to help you manage your time and follow through with your goals.

What differentiates Cuckuu from your phone's existing alarm and reminder functions is its social nature. Once you set up a cuckuu you can keep it private, share it with a select group of friends or make it public to any Cuckuu user.

When users see your alarms they can send you inspiring messages to help you complete the activity. You can also set up an accountability group with people around the world who share your goals.

Whether it's an hour of writing or 30 minutes of running, you can draw encouragement from knowing others are doing the exact same thing as you at the exact same time.

2 Wakie

Did you have trouble waking up for school when you were a teenager? Perhaps your parents had to get you out of bed with threats, admonishments and even a splash of water. Long after high school, many of us still struggle to rise with a smile. If you've ever wished for a gentle voice to coax you awake, Wakie is the answer.

Wakie substitutes the traditional blaring alarm clock with a live phone call from a stranger.While it may seem strange at first, Wakie's CEO claims that unlike a traditional alarm with a snooze button, the brief Wakie conversation is 99 per cent guaranteed to rouse your brain in the morning. It makes sense that the effort to understand and respond to what someone else is saying would be a more effective stimulant than a generic alarm tone.

Unlike a family member, who might be easier to shoo away or grumble at in a half-awake state, Wakie uses our natural inclination to impress and charm strangers. Are you going to yell at the stranger who makes your wake-up call and go back to sleep, or will you jump out of bed and say thank you?
Phone numbers and other identifying information are not displayed, and calls are automatically disconnected after 60 seconds.With little to lose, Wakie offers a fun way to say “it's time to get up.“

3 God Morgon

Swedish for good morning, God Morgon is a social alarm clock app linked to your Spotify account. If you like the idea of waking up to radio but want more control over the programming, God Morgon is the app for you. You can select songs from your Premium Spotify account to play when your alarm goes off and when you hit snooze.

For example, you may want to wake up to a soothing classical recording but give yourself a kick with a loud hip-hop song when you press snooze. You can also record your own alarm tones.

As far as socializing goes, God Morgon allows you to create alarms for friends through your Facebook account, and friends can send you alarm playlists in return.

4 Alarmate

Alarmate also uses your Facebook account to connect you with friends, but unlike other social alarm clock apps, it offers maxi mum versatility for the content you can create.

With the ability to see the alarms your friends set, you can record a sweet or stern message with audio or video. Or you can send your friend any YouTube video or choose from the app's prerecorded library of sound clips.

Your message will only be available after the user dismisses the alarm. So congratulate your friends for waking up, or tease them for not starting their workout on time.

Just remember that Alarmate's karma works both ways, so do unto your friends as you would have them do to you.

5 BetterMe

If you've tried gentle reminders and they haven't worked, try BetterMe's humiliation tactics for motivation.

BetterMe is the only app to use GPS, along with alarms and Facebook, to let you check in when you've arrived at an appointment. If you're late or miss it altogether, BetterMe will broadcast your failure on your Facebook Timeline.

The same goes for a wake-up alarm that you ignore or hit snooze on. BetterMe banks on your fear of failure and public shaming as your Facebook friends are able to see and comment on your ability to complete (or not complete) your to-do list. After all, who wants the world to know you pressed snooze 20 times before finally getting out of bed this morning?

Kayla Matthews

MM28MAY15