Puzzle Alarm Clock makes sure you are really awake before it stops the alarm in the morning

Martin Brinkmann
Apr 20, 2013
Apps, Google Android
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Waking up in the morning has never been a real problem for me. While I'm usually tired when I know I have to get up at a specific time, and not tired at all anymore when I know I can sleep in, I never had issues getting up and not turning around to sleep just a couple of additional minutes. Some of my friends on the other hand have a hard time waking up, which results either in a very loud alarm clock that is waking up everyone around them in a two block radius, multiple alarm clocks, or them turning off the one alarm that they use whenever they feel like it to just sleep a little bit longer.

Puzzle Alarm Clock is an application for Google Android devices that acts as a proxy between the alarm sound and the turn off button. How? By displaying puzzles that you need to solve before you can turn off the alarm. Puzzles range from basic math equations to memory cards, captchas or patterns. One puzzle, think (7-3)*6 may not be enough to keep someone awake for long though, which is why you can configure up to five puzzles that need to be solved before you can turn off the alarm.

This works best if you are sleeping alone, or need to wake up later than your significant other or family members. Here is how you configure the app.

puzzle alarm clock

You click on the plus icon in the interface on first run to add a new alarm to the application. Here you can name the alarm and set it to repeat on any given day of the week if you want to.  A click on puzzle on the configuration page opens the settings where you can select the type and number of puzzles to solve during an alarm period to stop the alarm. The developers have added some nerve-wrecking features to the app, like a ticking sound that is played while you are solving the puzzles or an awake check that sends you a notification after five minutes to make sure you really woke up. If you do not tap the notification, the alarm will go off again. There is also an option to have the app post a status update on Facebook that you failed (yet another time) to wake up.

The free version of the app supports several turn off modes of which puzzle is only one. I could not really get the other modes to set up during tests though, but they do sound interesting. The shake wake up method for instance will stop the alarm sound if you shake the phone for a certain number of times (think 20 times and the shakes need to have a certain strength to count).

Other options include printing out a QR code that you need to scan using the phone, or using NFC tags to stop the alarm.

The pro version has a couple of extra features that sound really nice. It features two additional alarm modes (calm and bomb), higher difficulty levels for the puzzles, no ads and the option to increase the alarm volume over time.

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Comments

  1. bruh said on August 18, 2023 at 1:25 pm
    Reply

    Uhh, this has already been possible – I am not sure how but remember my brother telling me about it. I’m not a whatsapp user so not sure of the specifics, but something about sending the image as a file and somehow bypassing the default compression settings that are applied to inbound photos.

    He has also used this to share movies to whatsapp groups, and files 1Gb+.

    Like I said, I never used whatsapp, but I know 100% this isn’t a “brand new feature”, my brother literally showed me him doing it, like… 5 months ago?

  2. 💥 said on August 18, 2023 at 3:55 pm
    Reply

    Martin, what happened to those: 12 Comments (https://www.ghacks.net/chatgpt-gets-schooled-by-princeton-university/#comments). Is there a specific justifiable reason why they were deleted?

    Hmm, it looks like the gHacks website database is faulty, and not populating threads with their relevant cosponsoring posts.

  3. 45 RPM said on August 19, 2023 at 6:29 pm
    Reply

    The page on ghacks this is on represents the best of why it has become so worthless, fill of click-bait junk that it’s about to be deleted from my ‘daily reads’.

    It’s really like “Press Release as re-written by some d*ck for clicks…poorly.” And the subjects are laughable. Can’t wait for “How to search for files on Windows”.

    1. owl said on August 20, 2023 at 12:51 am
      Reply

      > The page on ghacks this is on represents the best of why it has become so worthless, fill of click-bait junk…

      Sadly, I have to agree.

      Only Martin and Ashwin are worth subscribing to.
      Especially Emre Çitak and Shaun are the worst ones.

      If ghacks.net intended “Clickbait”, it would mark the end of Ghacks Technology News.
      Ghacks doesn’t need crappy clickbaits. Clearly separate articles from newer authors (perhaps AIs and external sales person or external advertising man) as just “Advertisements”!

      We, the subscribers of Ghacks, urge Martin to make a decision.

  4. chessandonions said on August 20, 2023 at 12:40 am
    Reply

    because nevermore wants to “monetize” on every aspect of human life…

  5. Frank Rizzo said on August 20, 2023 at 11:52 pm
    Reply

    “Threads” is like the Walmart of Social Media.

  6. Ashray said on August 21, 2023 at 4:06 pm
    Reply

    How hard can it be to clone a twitter version of that as well? They’re slow.

  7. Paul(us) said on August 21, 2023 at 5:16 pm
    Reply

    Yes, why not mention how large the HD files can be?
    Why, not mention what version of WhatsApp is needed?
    These omissions make the article feel so bare. If not complete.

    1. Paul(us) said on August 21, 2023 at 5:18 pm
      Reply

      Sorry posted on the wrong page.

  8. Marc said on August 21, 2023 at 6:00 pm
    Reply

    such a long article for such a simple matter. Worthless article ! waste of time

  9. plusminus_ said on August 21, 2023 at 7:54 pm
    Reply

    I already do this by attaching them via the ‘Document’ option.

  10. John G. said on August 21, 2023 at 11:43 pm
    Reply

    I don’t know what’s going on here at Ghacks but it’s obvious that something is broken, comments are being mixed whatever the article, I am unable to find some of my later posts neither. :S

  11. Tom Hawack said on August 23, 2023 at 2:28 pm
    Reply

    Quoting the article,
    “As users gain popularity, the value of their tokens may increase, allowing investors to reap rewards.”

    Besides, beyond the thrill and privacy risks or not, the point is to know how you gain popularity, be it on social sites as everywhere in life. Is it by being authentic, by remaining faithful to ourselves or is it to have this particular skill which is to understand what a majority likes, just like politicians, those who’d deny to the maximum extent compatible with their ideological partnership, in order to grab as many of the voters they can?

    I see the very concept of this Friend.tech as unhealthy, propagating what is already an increasing flaw : the quest for fame. I won’t be the only one to count himself out, definitely.

    1. Tom Hawack said on August 23, 2023 at 2:34 pm
      Reply

      @John G. is right : my comment was posted on [https://www.ghacks.net/2023/08/23/what-is-friend-tech/] and it appears there but as well here at [https://www.ghacks.net/2023/07/08/how-to-follow-everyone-on-threads/]

      This has been lasting for several days. Fix it or at least provide some explanations if you don’t mind.

  12. Tom said on August 24, 2023 at 11:53 am
    Reply

    > Google Chrome is following in Safari’s footsteps by introducing a new feature that allows users to move the Chrome address bar to the bottom of the screen, enhancing user accessibility and interaction.

    Firefox did this long before Safari.

  13. Mavoy said on September 16, 2023 at 2:17 pm
    Reply

    Basically they’ll do anything except fair royalties.

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