Alarm Buddy

Support and FAQ

Help with your alarm and your first step.

Alarm Buddy requires an iPhone running iOS 26 or later.

Quick start

  1. Open Alarm Buddy and choose Create alarm.
  2. Choose a wake time and at least one weekday.
  3. Choose one first morning action: Water, Bathroom, Get dressed, Get out of bed, or a short custom action.
  4. Allow Alarm access when iOS asks.
  5. Save the alarm and confirm that the Home screen shows it as on.

Alarm Buddy manages one recurring wake alarm. Creating or editing the alarm replaces its system schedule only after the new schedule has been verified.

Alarm help

How do I edit the alarm?
Open Alarm Buddy and choose Edit alarm. Change the time, weekdays, or first action, then choose Update alarm. The app verifies the replacement before treating it as saved.
How do I temporarily turn it off?
Use the Alarm switch on the Home screen. Off removes the current AlarmKit schedule but keeps your saved configuration so you can turn it on again.
How do I delete it?
Choose Edit alarm, then Delete alarm. This removes the alarm from Alarm Buddy and iOS and cannot be undone.
Can I create more than one alarm?
No. Version 1.4 is intentionally built around one recurring wake alarm and one chosen first morning action.
Does the alarm work in silent mode?
Alarm Buddy uses Apple’s AlarmKit framework. Apple describes AlarmKit alarms as prominent scheduled alerts that break through silent mode. You must still allow Alarm access, keep the phone charged and functioning, and confirm your alarm is on.
Can I snooze?
Alarm Buddy does not offer a snooze control. When the alarm appears, choose the ordinary Stop action or the optional Start with Biscuit action.

Starting with Biscuit

When the system alarm rings, Start with Biscuit opens Alarm Buddy and begins a short, gentle transition toward the first action you selected. Stop dismisses the alarm normally without starting that flow.

During the Buddy flow, you can choose Skip movement. Biscuit is optional; skipping does not turn off future recurrences of your alarm.

Safety guidance

For your first three mornings: keep your usual backup alarm set five minutes later until Alarm Buddy has rung correctly for you three times.
  • Turn on a light if useful and avoid stairs while you are still waking up.
  • Stop or skip movement if you feel dizzy, unwell, or unsafe.
  • Do not rely on Alarm Buddy for medical, emergency, life-safety, or other critical timing.
  • Alarm Buddy is designed for people who hear and interact with the alarm but struggle with the next transition. It is not a guaranteed wake-up system for people who regularly do not hear alarms.

Troubleshooting

The app says Alarm access is denied

Open iOS Settings, find Alarm Buddy, and allow its alarm permission. Return to Alarm Buddy and save the alarm again. If permission remains denied, iOS will not let the app schedule an AlarmKit alarm.

The saved alarm is missing or does not match

Open Alarm Buddy while online or offline; it checks its saved alarm against AlarmKit on launch. If it reports that the alarm is missing or mismatched, follow the in-app instruction to recreate it before relying on it.

Start with Biscuit did not open

Use the in-app Help & support sheet and choose Report an alarm problem. Include the expected time, what you saw, and whether Stop worked. The app prepares version, iOS, and alarm-state details in the draft so you can review them before sending.

The alarm rang late, at the wrong time, or not at all

Keep a separate backup alarm and contact us before deleting the app. Tell us the expected time, the time you first noticed sound or haptics, whether the phone was offline, and what appeared on screen. Alarm Buddy cannot automatically observe the exact moment the iOS alarm first sounded.

Email is not available on this iPhone

Alarm Buddy stays open and offers Copy email and Copy message. Paste either into your preferred email app, or email hello.alarm.buddy@gmail.com from another device.

Privacy and data

Your alarm configuration and custom first-action text stay on the device. Alarm Buddy sends product-use and diagnostic events linked to a random app identifier to Mixpanel; custom text is reported only as the category “custom.” Support and interview details reach us only if you send an email.

Read the full Privacy Policy.

Contact

Alarm Buddy is independently built and supported. Email hello.alarm.buddy@gmail.com and include:

  • your iPhone model and iOS version;
  • your Alarm Buddy version and build, if visible;
  • the expected alarm time and weekdays;
  • what happened, what you expected, and any useful screenshots.

You can also volunteer for a short interview from the app’s Help & support sheet. Interview contact is optional and handled separately from your analytics identifier.