Questions & answers

Glow Alarm turns your iPhone into a sunrise-style wake-up light. Before your alarm, your screen and flashlight brighten gradually to a warm glow, so you wake to light before sound. With Pro, Sunrise Colours also shifts the light from deep red to warm white, like a real sunrise.

No. The iPhone's built-in alarms in the Clock app and the Sleep schedule use sound and vibration only; nothing brightens the screen or flashlight before the alarm. Glow Alarm adds that: your screen and flashlight brighten before the alarm sounds. More in Does the iPhone have a sunrise alarm?

Yes. The wake-up light (screen and flashlight, in a warm colour you choose) and the alarm are free. Glow Alarm Pro adds Sunrise Colours, a choice of light sources, custom alarm sounds, Sleep screen customisation, sleep sounds, Sleep Recording and custom app icons. Pro is available monthly, yearly or as a one-time Lifetime purchase.

iPhone and iPad running iOS 26 or later. An Android version is in development. Email us if you'd like to try the beta.

For most people sleeping near their phone, yes. An iPhone won't light a whole room like a large lamp, but a bright screen facing you from the bedside table, plus the flashlight, is enough to make waking feel gradual instead of sudden. It works best in a dark room with the phone close to your bed.

For many people it can, especially if you want to try waking with light before buying a lamp, or you travel often. A dedicated lamp is brighter and fills more of the room. Glow Alarm costs far less and goes wherever your iPhone goes. There's a fuller comparison in Can an iPhone replace a sunrise alarm clock?

That's what it was built for. When it's still dark at your wake-up time, gradual light gives your body a cue that morning has started. Glow Alarm isn't a medical device or a light therapy lamp, so if low mood in winter is affecting you, talk to a doctor. More ideas in How to wake up on dark winter mornings.

Yes, and it's one of the best uses for it: hotels, work trips and early flights, with no extra device to pack. See the travel sunrise alarm setup.

15 minutes before your alarm unless you change it in Settings > Wake-up Light (anywhere from 2 to 60 minutes). It brightens over the first two minutes, then stays bright until the alarm. If your alarm is sooner than that when you press Sleep, the light starts straight away.

Only for the light. Leave Glow Alarm open on the Sleep screen after pressing Sleep so the screen light and flashlight can run. The alarm itself still sounds if you lock your iPhone or switch apps.

The light only works while Glow Alarm stays open on the Sleep screen. Before bed, check that you pressed Sleep, left the app on that screen, and that Glow Alarm is allowed to use the flashlight.

It makes the screen go black after a short period of inactivity to save battery. Glow Alarm stays on the Sleep screen, and the light comes back when your sunrise begins.

The Sleep screen stays on all night, so keep your iPhone charging. Blackout while sleeping keeps the screen black until the light starts, which uses far less power on iPhones with OLED displays.

Yes. After you press Sleep, the alarm is scheduled to behave like a native iPhone alarm, so it rings even if you lock your iPhone or switch apps overnight.

No. Your alarm breaks through Focus modes and Do Not Disturb, the same way the built-in Clock app does.

Alarm volume follows your iPhone's ringtone volume. Open iOS Settings, go to Sounds & Haptics, then adjust Ringtone and Alerts.

Turn on Snooze in Settings > Alarm Sound and choose how long it lasts. When the alarm rings, tap Snooze on the alarm or on the Sleep screen.

Your alarm still sounds. The wake-up light needs Glow Alarm open on the Sleep screen, and Sleep Recording pauses while another app uses the microphone, then resumes.

After you press Sleep, and once any sleep sound has finished, Glow Alarm listens for sounds louder than your room's background noise and saves clips of them. Each night keeps up to 20 of the most notable clips, labelled on your iPhone as snoring, coughing, speech and more.

Only on the iPhone that recorded them. They aren't uploaded anywhere. Turn on Auto Delete in Recording Settings to remove old clips automatically. Read the full privacy policy.

Clips are only saved when a sound is loud enough for long enough, so a quiet night can have none. Also check that Sleep Recording is on for that alarm and that Glow Alarm can use the microphone.