How to Turn Your iPod or iPhone
into an Alarm Clock
Alarm Clock Tutorial
Whether
you prefer to be woken by the scream of a rock star or the French
horn in a classical symphony, your iPod's Alarm Clock or your iPhone can help you
open your eyes every morning with style!
Requirements:
- Any iPod or iPhone, except the iPod Shuffle,
with firmware 2.1 or later
- iPod and iPod Touch users need an
external pair of speakers (preferably, powered speakers)
- Speakers are optional for iPhone users
iPod Users
The iPod's Alarm Clock is nestled among other features like Calendar
and Notes under the iPod's Extras menu. While you may already
be familiar with many of the iPod Extras (especially Games), the
Alarm Clock is largely an under appreciated feature.
- From the iPod's Main
Menu, select Extras > Clock >Alarm
Clock
- Set
Time to the desired wake up time
- Set Sound to one of the
playlists on the iPod
- Turn on Alarm. An
alarm icon resembling a bell with sound waves will appear on the
right side of the screen when the Alarm Clock is turned on.
- Connect a pair of speakers
to the headphone jack of the iPod
- Test the iPod's volume
by briefly playing a song
- Adjust
the volume to a level that you can wake up to
- Go
to sleep
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iPhone Users
The same procedure that works on the iPod works on the iPhone right? Wrong. For whatever reason Apple only allows you to wake up to their default alarm sounds like Marimba, Alarm, Ascending, Bark, Bell Tower, Boing, Crickets, etc... Why won't Apple let you wake up to your music on your iPhone? Who knows. But there's an easy workaround for this stupid problem.
 
   
Click on the images above to zoom in
- Download a free app called iHome + Sleep from the iTunes Store.
- Create a new Sleep Card.
- Click on the gear symbol in the top right for more options.
- Select iPod Library from the Choose Wakeup Sound.
- Select a playlist, artist, song or album. We choose the Violent Femmes in the screenshot.
- Save your card.
- Make sure that you leave the iHome + Sleep app running before you fall asleep. Otherwise it won't work. As a backup, also set the regular iPhone alarm in the Clock app. That way in case you forget to leave the iHome + Sleep app running or accidentally touch your phone in your sleep, you'll still wakeup on time.
Best Practices
POWER: If you expect your iPod
or iPhone to wake you up in the next morning, then it should have sufficient battery power before you go to bed. Remember, an iPod or iPhone with a dead
battery won't turn on. Use an iPod or iPhone
AC adapter and sleep
with confidence.
DATE & TIME: The
iPod should also be correctly set to the current time in order to wake
you at the right time. Double
check that the current time is set properly:
- iPod: Select Extras > Clock, Verify Date & Time is
set properly
- iPhone: Your time should automatically be set from the nearest cell phone tower.
MAKE A ‘WAKE UP PLAYLIST': Before setting your alarm, create
a playlist that contains the song(s) to be played during the wake up alarm. The iPod's
Alarm Clock can only play from a playlist, so you'll have to create a playlist with
as little as one song.
Here are some song suggestions to add to your wake up playlist:
CREATING AN iPOD ON-THE-GO PLAYLIST
If you are away from your computer and unable to make a playlist, you can
quickly make an On-the-Go Playlist on your iPod.
- Scroll to the desired song using the scroll wheel.
- Press and hold the center button until the song name flashes repeatedly.
It is now added to On-The-Go playlist.
- Repeat Step #2 to add other songs, artists, or albums to your On-The-Go
playlist
- Select Music > Playlists > On-The-Go to view the songs in your Playlist
| NERD
NOTE: To
remove a song from On-The-Go playlist, go to Step #4 and
hold the Select button on the undesired item until its name
repeatedly flashes. |
CONNECTING EXTERNAL SPEAKERS
WARNING! Although tempting, sleeping with headphones is not a good
idea. The possibility of ear damage or strangulation by the wires during
sleep makes them a bad alarm speaker choice. Earbud headphones also
have a pesky way of falling out of your ear canal during the night.
The
best solution is a small pair of powered speakers that connect to the iPod
or iPhone through the headphone jack. A pillow speaker is also a good alternative
to setting up an additional pair of speakers in your bedroom.
We've done some entertaining in-depth speaker reviews for products like the JBL Encounter (see monkey photo above) and the JBL Creature 2, but here are a few more external speaker
suggestions:
BEEP BEEP BEEP....
While the iPod is capable of producing
a faint beeping noise, its built-in speaker is barely audible for
the purposes of a wake up alarm. If you
prefer to wake up to a ‘buzzer' sound, you can add several buzzer-type
music files to the iPod.
The song or sound to be played during the wake up alarm can also be repeated
to simulate a beeping alarm.
Creating a playlist with multiple copies of the same audio track:
- From within iTunes, select New Playlist from the File menu.
- Select the desired song and drag it to your wake up playlist
- Repeat Step #2 until you
have enough play time of alarm songs or sound effects
If you would like your wake up
playlist to continuously repeat, you need to enable the Repeat option for
the iPod's playback settings (Settings > Repeat > On).
As a special bonus to readers
of this web site, we have made available a collection of FREE downloadable
alarm noises, as compiled by Senior Editor of Surround Sound Magazine,
Rich Tozzoli! Sounds of jackhammers, foghorns, nuclear
alerts, and even good old Bronx cheers are available upon request.
These alarm sounds can be downloaded
to an iTunes library and added to your wake up playlist.
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