On January 27th, my 7:30am Sleep Cycle alarm went off on my phone, welcoming me to a rainy winter Friday. I had since moved on from Sleep Cycle, so it was slightly surprising to hear its alarm; in my hazy state Thursday night, I must have accidentally triggered it.
That incident got me wondering…did my AutoWake alarm fail to sound (it would’ve been earlier than 7:30am) or did I fail to set it at all? The next few days, I ran some tests:
- Set on 1/28 = went off
- “Do Not Disturb Until Tomorrow Morning” + Set on 1/30 w/Smart = no go
- Set on 1/31 = went off
- “Sleep Mode” + Set on 2/1 = went off
- “Do Not Disturb Until This Evening” + Set on 2/3 = went off
- “Do Not Disturb Until Tomorrow Morning” + Set on 2/4 = went off
- Set on 2/7 w/Smart = went off
- Set on 2/8 w/Smart = went off
- Set on 2/9 w/Smart = went off
My initial suspicion was that “Apple iOS Sleep Mode” or “Do Not Disturb” was interfering with AutoWake. At this point, I’m fairly certain that’s not the case. As for January 30th, I blamed AutoWake’s “Smart Mode” (aka a feature that wakes you up in light sleep). However, the last few trials proves that is not the case.
Anyway, the tests show that AutoWake works reliably. With that in mind, AutoWake has become my primary alarm. It definitely has improved to the point that its bad App Store rating is unwarranted. The massive battery usage is annoying, but I don’t mind leaving my phone plugged in all night; thanks to my new interest in mobile gaming (aka Royal Match, Wordscapes) my iPhone battery is usually <40% by the time I go to bed.
