Songbird Alarm Clock
Wake gently to real birdsong
Free · Designed for iPad. Not verified for macOS.
The birdsong starts so quietly you may not hear it, then grows over about 15 minutes. Real field recordings from the mountains of Gifu, Japan. Free, and no ads.
What if the morning didn't have to start with a loud noise?
Songbird Alarm starts forest birdsong at a volume you can barely hear, then raises it over about 15 minutes. While you sleep deeply, a quiet sound will not wake you. As your sleep grows lighter, you notice it. At the end, the clear voice of the Japanese bush warbler sings.
Every sound was recorded by hand in the mountains of Gifu, Japan, with equipment that reaches frequencies a phone cannot and wooden boxes the recordist left in the hills: more than a hundred recording sessions.
■ The forest, from the moment you lie down
To fall asleep to: Midnight forest, Rainy night or Bell crickets. Each plays very quietly all night; you can turn the screen off and leave the phone locked.
■ For the mornings you don't wake up
There is a backup for when the quiet sound isn't enough: about 15 minutes in, the bush warbler calls clearly. If the app could not make a sound at all - force-quit, media volume at 0% - the iPhone's own alarm rings instead, with vibration. If the warbler did sound, that Backup alarm cancels itself. On the days you choose, it also wakes you on a morning you forgot to press "Good night".
■ Your mornings, written down
When it began ringing, and how many minutes until you got up. Which sound you woke to most easily. Your waking time by day of the week, how it sits against sunrise, roughly how long you slept - all of it stays inside your iPhone only, never sent anywhere.
Tap the Night Ring in the Wake log and the night opens large: The shape of last night. Sunset to sunrise, the time in bed and when your iPhone moved are laid over one 24-hour ring. "Previous night" goes back through earlier nights.
■ Last night's sounds - speak a night-time idea into a note
A thought that comes in the night is gone by morning, and turning on a light wakes you. Say it out loud instead, clearly, eyes closed. In the morning you can read it as text - the feature the maker wanted most.
Between "Good night" and the morning, the iPhone records a short piece only when a sound clearly louder than the room's usual quiet is heard - at most 60 seconds each, at most 90 minutes a night. You can listen back in the morning.
A recording with a human voice in it can become text, in the language your iPhone is set to.
Recordings stay inside this iPhone only and never reach the developer. You can turn the feature off in Settings.
■ Season Bookmarks - the season changes its name every five days
On a night you tap "Good night", that day's season - one of the 72 seasons of the old Japanese calendar - becomes your bookmark. Over a year, 72 of them.
Seeing that day's season each night, you begin to feel the small turns of the Japanese year, and notice the sky, the trees and the grass you never looked at before. Days like that are a little richer.
A bookmark shows the season's name and reading, its meaning, its solar term and that night's moon. The moon is not a drawing: its shape is calculated from the moon of that night.
■ Morning birds, while you get ready
After the alarm, or at any time, the morning birds can go on playing.
■ For naps
5, 15, 30 or 45 minutes. The forest begins then and wakes you over about 15 minutes.
■ Sunrise, sunset, and your day
The ring around your wake-up time changes colour with that day's sunrise and sunset, and shows how long is left until each. The times are calculated to the second by astronomy (NOAA/Meeus), and how that works is written inside the app.
■ Also
- Japanese, English, Spanish, German, French, Portuguese, Korean, Chinese (Traditional)
- Free to use. No ads.
■ When you use it
- At night, keep the phone charging beside your pillow
- 70-80% device volume is a good start
- For iPhone, iOS 26.5 or later
This app is not a medical device and does not guarantee better sleep or health. For what is known about waking, see the notes and references inside the app.
From the mountains of Gifu - may your morning begin with these voices.
Ratings & Reviews
- This app hasn’t received enough ratings or reviews to display an overview.
[New in this version]
- Last night's sounds ... Between "Good night" and the morning, the iPhone records the sounds of your room in short pieces. In the morning, you can listen back.
A recording in which a human voice was found can be turned into text. The words are recognised in the language your iPhone is set to.
Recordings are kept inside this iPhone only, and they never reach the developer.
- Season Bookmarks ... On a night you tap "Good night", the bookmark for that day's season, one of the 72 seasons of the old Japanese calendar, becomes yours. Over a year, 72 of them.
The moon on a bookmark is not a drawing. Its shape is calculated from the moon of that night.
- The shape of last night ... Tap the Night Ring in the Wake log, and that night opens large.
Sunset to sunrise, the time you spent in bed, the times your iPhone moved and the times a voice was heard are laid over one 24-hour ring.
With "Previous night" and "Next night", you can go back through the nights that have passed.
- About the 72 seasons ... Inside Season Bookmarks there is now a reading piece on the 72 seasons, the 24 solar terms and the names of the moon. It can be read in 8 languages.
[Fixed in this version]
- Went through the wording on every screen and filled in the translations that were missing (8 languages).
- The name of the moon is now worked out by astronomical calculation. This fixes a problem where it could be a day out on some days.
Your records and your recordings are kept inside your iPhone only, and they never reach the developer.
This app is not a medical device and does not guarantee better sleep or health.
The developer, akito haga, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .
Data Not Collected
The developer does not collect any data from this app.
Accessibility
The developer has not yet indicated which accessibility features this app supports. Learn More
Information
- Seller
- akito haga
- Size
- 147.8 MB
- Category
- Utilities
- Compatibility
Requires iOS 26.5 or later.
- iPhone
Requires iOS 26.5 or later. - iPad
Requires iPadOS 26.5 or later. - Mac
Requires macOS 26.5 or later and a Mac with Apple M1 chip or later. - Apple Vision
Requires visionOS 26.5 or later.
- iPhone
- Languages
English and 7 more
- English, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Traditional Chinese
- Age Rating
4+
- 4+
- Copyright
- © 2026 web-appli.com (Akito Haga)