Early Bird gets the worm.
Early Bird is an alarm app that resets your sleep schedule by getting you up 5 minutes earlier each day until you hit your desired wakeup time.
How the alarm works
Make your bed to silence the alarm.
The alarm goes off at the day's wake up time and can be silenced for 2 minutes. During the 2 minutes you must make your bed and snap two pictures of it to keep the alarm from going off again.
How the schedule shifts
Each verified morning moves tomorrow's alarm five minutes earlier.
You set your current and goal wake times when you sign up. If you miss a morning the alarm holds at the same time the next day. The program stops shifting once you hit your goal.
Weekend mode, vacation mode, and one-night overrides cover the days that shouldn't run.
FAQ
Questions about how the app works.
Why is it iPhone only?
Early Bird is built on Apple's AlarmKit framework, which is iOS only. The bed-photo verification depends on the kind of control over the alarm experience that AlarmKit provides. The app requires iOS 26.1 or later.
What if the alarm doesn't fire?
At 9pm every night, Early Bird runs a background check on alarm scheduling, permissions, and battery level. If something looks wrong, it sends a notification while there is still time to fix it.
Are the bed photos stored?
No. The two photos are processed on the device to compare orientation between them, and are then discarded. They are not saved to the photo library, and the app does not upload them anywhere.
What happens if I miss a morning?
If a morning is missed, the streak resets and the alarm stays where it is. The next day's alarm fires at the same wake time as the missed day. When you verify again, the program continues shifting earlier from that point.
What about weekends and vacation?
Weekend mode lets Saturday, Sunday, and major US holidays fire at a fixed wake time you choose separately. Those days are neutral and have no effect on the streak or the program. Vacation mode pauses the alarm and the program for 1 to 10 days at a time. The streak survives a vacation, and there is a 7-day cooldown before another vacation can be started.