Struggling to get out of bed in the mornings? Have 3 different alarm clocks scattered at different locations in your bedroom to force you to get up? Are you pressing the snooze button 5 times or more before you actually get up? Too lazy to drag your leg out from under the covers? Well, the Walk Up! Alarm Clock app might just be what you’re looking for.
This awesome app was developed by Ricky Ho. He struggled for years to get out of bed before 10 AM every morning. He even bought a device that shook his bed (the Sonic Bed Super Shaker unit). This device lets off an alarm of 113 decibels (louder than your average clock radio) and their Super Shaker unit vibrates your bed in an attempt to wake you up.
While he was struggling to get up one morning Ricky had a brilliant idea to solve his own problem: “What is there was an alarm clock that keeps sounding off until you’ve walked various steps?” He decided to do something with this idea. He worked hard with his brother and a developer from the Ukraine and the Walk Up! Alarm Clock app for the Apple iPhone and iPad was born.
The app uses the iPad / iPhone’s built-in accelero-meter to monitor the user’s movements. It keeps on ringing until you’ve taken 10 steps. If it takes you more steps to wake up properly don’t worry, you can set the amount of steps that you need to take to 100 (if you need to). The app doesn’t allow you to cheat either: it can tell if you’re just shaking your phone or tablet instead of actually taking steps.
Walk Up! Alarm Clock is currently one of the top 10 utilities downloaded on the iTunes store. It costs only $0.99 (roughly R10) and comes with two default alarms: a woman or a man screaming. It also has options for several other sounds (including a witch and laughing police sirens). The app has a standard skin, but additional skins are available for another $0.99.
Ricky has no doubts that if you’re struggling to wake up in the mornings, chances are that this app will get you of bed. Sadly there is not a version available for Android or Blackberry yet, but there are clones available on the Google Play store and Blackberry’s App World.
What do you think of Walk Up! Alarm Clock? Leave a comment and let me know. Feedback is appreciated and welcome here.
If you think this app is useful, feel free to share this article with your friends on Facebook and Twitter. Remember: Sharing is caring. You could be helping out a friend who is really struggling to get up in the mornings, who knows?
Watch this space for regular updates in the Gadgets category on the Junk Mail Blog.
