Ditch your alarm and wake up to podcasts and relaxing sounds instead

Say goodbye to the harsh alarm ringtone and welcome the morning in a more soothing way! This article explains how to replace your phone alarm with softer sounds such as music, natural sound effects, or podcasts to help you start a better day easily. We will explain the settings in Android and iOS systems separately, and introduce some third-party applications.

Tired of the harsh alarm rings every morning? In fact, there are many options for wakeup. In addition to the default alarm, you can also choose relaxing music, natural sound effects, podcasts and even news programs.

The following methods are mainly based on the clock application that comes with your phone. If you need more choices, you can also download a third-party alarm application.

Android system alarm settings

In the clock application that comes with Android system, open the Alarm Clock tab. Click the " " sign to create a new alarm clock, or click the existing alarm clock to modify it. At the bottom, you can see the default alarm sound, usually "Bright morning light".

Click on the existing sound and select other sounds, such as the relatively soft "Gentle Breeze" or "Boiling Misty". Each option in the list can be heard.

Click "Add New Sound" at the top of the list, and you can select a custom sound file from the phone file system. You can use any audio file as an alarm: waves, motivational speeches, baby babbling, and more.

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If you have YouTube Music or Spotify installed, you can see these two music tabs at the top of the app. You can select any song, album, or playlist as the alarm. Similarly, click on any option to listen.

If you have the Calm app installed, you can see it in the last tab. The app offers a variety of relaxing and meditative sounds as well as natural sound playlists. Free accounts have access to over 100 options, and paid users ($15 per month) can get more content, including voice meditation.

In the main alarm list, click "Google Assistant Routine" under a certain alarm to get more options. The selected routine starts after the initial alarm, rather than replacing it. You can listen to morning news, weather forecasts, schedules, and access built-in natural and sleep sound effects from Google Assistant, including white noise and thunderstorm sounds.

Audiobooks and podcasts are also good choices, but you need to use apps that are compatible with Google Assistant, such as Google Play Books (audiobooks) and Google Podcasts or Spotify (podcasts).

Lastly, don't forget to set the appropriate alarm volume. In the clock application, click on the three dots in the upper right corner and select Set . Under the title Alarm Clock, you can adjust the alarm volume and select whether the volume is gradually increasing.

iOS system alarm settings

In iOS, you can configure alarm sounds through the default clock app. Click the " ” in the upper right corner of the screen to create a new alarm, or click "Edit" to modify the existing alarm.

When creating or editing an alarm, click Sound to view available audio options. "Radar" is the default sound for the new alarm clock, but there are many other options, from the cheerful "Sencha" to the ethereal "cosmic". Click any option to listen.

Apple allows you to purchase new tones (for alarms, calls, text messages and other notifications) via the Tone Store link at the top of the ringtone list. Here you can find music clips, audio clips for TV and movies, as well as natural sound effects.

Another option is to use songs from the Apple Music app as an alarm – whether it's a track you import or digitally purchased, or tracks from the streaming catalog if you're paying for a subscription. You can view the recently selected tracks under the title Songs in the Alarm Sound List. Click to select song to select a new song from your music library.

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You can also perform certain operations after the alarm rings through the iOS shortcut app. Click Automation, then click " " and to create a personal automation, and then select Alarm Clock. Select Stopped and then select Existing to select the alarm you set in the clock app, and then click Next and Add action . The action you set here will start after you turn off the selected alarm clock.

Select Apply See which tools installed on your phone can be used with shortcuts. The Apple Podcast app is an example: If you choose podcast and to play podcasts , you can choose to start playing immediately after you turn off the alarm, even if it doesn't actually wake you up.

iOS also offers a sleep planning feature, which you can find in the built-in health app. Select Browse and Sleep to set it up and create a separate alarm for you (it will still show up in the main clock app). When using this feature, you can choose less alarm sounds and you can't use music, but the audio options are more relaxed.

The volume level of the standard alarm is set through the main iOS settings app: turn it on, select Sound and Touch, and adjust the Ringtones and Reminders slider as needed. If you use the sleep schedule feature, you get a separate volume slider when setting the alarm, which works independently from the other sounds on your phone.

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