Ditch Your Alarm Clock
Ditch Your Alarm Clock
Rohan Singh

Use Tidbyt's night mode for a gentle wake-up.

I probably don't have to tell you that waking up to an alarm clock can be jarring. Fortunately, there's a better way.

For years, people have been waking up with sunrise alarms or wake-up lights. Instead of sound, these clocks gradually turn on a bright light. It's like having a scheduled sunrise that wakes you up naturally.

Tidbyt can do the same thing, waking you up in a more humane way. You can try it while using your normal alarm as a backup. Or you can ditch your normal alarm altogether. Here's how.

Turn on Night Mode

The first step is to turn on Tidbyt's night mode. When Tidbyt is in night mode, we make the display very, very dim so that it doesn't bother you while you sleep. We also turn off all your normal Tidbyt apps and just show a simple clock, in case you wake up and want to know what time it is.

To get started, turn on night mode in the Tidbyt app, and set it to end at around when you want to wake up. When transitioning into and out of night mode, Tidbyt will dim and brighten over the course of about 10 minutes. That gradual brightening is what should wake you up. 

Optional: Choose a wake-up photo

Night mode works great out of the box. But if you want to have a real "wake-up light" experience, you should choose a photo to wake up to. You want something bright, maybe even a white rectangle. Or maybe this Nyan Cat!

Download the photo to your phone and import it into Tidbyt's photo app. Or use a photo that's already on your phone. But here's the important part: turn on the Schedule option and schedule the photo to only be displayed right when night mode is ending.

This way, you aren't looking at a Nyan Cat all day... just when you wake up.

Enjoy your wake-up light

That's it! Now, when night mode ends, Tidbyt will show your photo. At first it will be dim, but it'll get brighter over the next five minutes or so. The effect is most pronounced in a dark room and if you just use a white rectangle as the photo.

Give it a try and let us know how it goes.