Next Up - A Podcast Alarm

Name: Next Up - A Podcast Alarm
Rating: 3.8 (277 reviews)
Author: Landon Mitchell

Wake up engaged with a podcast

Only for iPhone

Free · In‑App Purchases · Designed for iPhone

277 Ratings
Ages

4+
Years
Category

Utilities
Developer

Landon Mitchell
Language

EN
+ 1 More
Size

164.6
MB

iPhone

Start with 5 free alarms! No commitments, no catch. One app, 750,000+ new ways to wake up. Ditch the alarm sounds and music. Ease into morning with a podcast instead. Next Up is a full-featured podcast alarm clock designed to make mornings better. Wake up to the news, a meditation, trivia, a comedy show, or the gentle voice of LeVar Burton reading you a new short story – use any of the more than 750,000 podcasts available on the Apple Podcasts platform. Next Up syncs with the podcasts you subscribe to and download in the native Podcasts app, so there's no need to manage them in more than one place. Set the time you want to get up and enjoy a more engaging start to the day. Skip episodes you’ve already heard, change the snooze duration, set the volume, skip the intro ads and more – Next Up lets you customize every alarm. Even repeat alarms on specific days of the week for podcasts that are released on a regular schedule. Wake up to the newest episodes for timely content like news, sports, or current events. Or choose to start from the beginning with newly discovered stand-alone or serial podcasts. When the alarm starts playing, you can snooze it for a few, stop the playback altogether, or seamlessly continue listening from the Music app with the standard options available in the lock screen and control center to pause, play, or skip back or forward.* For a more complete sleep experience, Next Up also includes a built-in white noise generator with a variety of sound choices. Check out the Featured tab for ideas on good podcasts to start your morning with. Even recommend a favorite of your own. Just looking for a standard alarm clock? Feel free to use Next Up's basic alarm sounds and white noise generator for free. * Apple Music app is required to be installed for podcasts to play. An Apple Music subscription is not required.

Ratings & Reviews

3.8

out of 5

277 Ratings

It works fine 80% of the time
03/18/2020

crisnoh
This app doesn’t download podcasts. Instead it depends on the Apple podcast app. This is fine if you use Apple Podcasts and listen to the podcast set in the alarm at other times. If not you will need to open the Podcasts app periodically to tell it to resume downloading episodes. I listened to the same episode 4 mornings in a row before I realized this was happening. Additionally, even when there are new episodes downloaded and the alarm is activated it will inexplicably not play the episode. If you want to get through the day without multiple charging sessions you’ll have to manually activate the alarm every day. This app chews through battery like crazy otherwise.

Developer Response
I genuinely appreciate this clear and honest feedback. I just wanted to let you know that newest versions locally mark podcasts as 'heard' so that they won't play again if 'Play Unheard Episodes Only' is selected. I have also fixed a bizarre bug that caused the podcast to sometimes not play for certain users. I am still reaching out and working on the issue with the Podcasts app not syncing with Next Up. I hope to have all the kinks worked out for you and others as soon as possible.
It works fine 80% of the time
03/18/2020

crisnoh

This app doesn’t download podcasts. Instead it depends on the Apple podcast app. This is fine if you use Apple Podcasts and listen to the podcast set in the alarm at other times. If not you will need to open the Podcasts app periodically to tell it to resume downloading episodes. I listened to the same episode 4 mornings in a row before I realized this was happening. Additionally, even when there are new episodes downloaded and the alarm is activated it will inexplicably not play the episode. If you want to get through the day without multiple charging sessions you’ll have to manually activate the alarm every day. This app chews through battery like crazy otherwise.
Developer Response 05/06/2020
I genuinely appreciate this clear and honest feedback. I just wanted to let you know that newest versions locally mark podcasts as 'heard' so that they won't play again if 'Play Unheard Episodes Only' is selected. I have also fixed a bizarre bug that caused the podcast to sometimes not play for certain users. I am still reaching out and working on the issue with the Podcasts app not syncing with Next Up. I hope to have all the kinks worked out for you and others as soon as possible.
Doesn’t Work, Very Glitchy
09/15/2020

Sadey7
This app doesn’t do the one thing I want it to do. It won’t play my news app in the morning, despite having automatic downloads on. I have my backup alarm set as “The Muezzin”, and it won’t even play that. Instead, it plays random music from my Apple Music app. It’s very confusing walking up to Katy Perry’s “Firework” when you’re expecting a slow, gradual, and peaceful wake up to NPR. Also, I can’t even stop the music once it’s started. I have to go into a separate app to play something else in order to cancel out what is already playing, and then pause what I’ve started in order to get anything to stop. And now, it’s telling me I have to start paying a month fee in order to even continue waking up to my podcasts.... even though I haven’t even been able to, so I don’t know why it’s telling me I only have so many podcast alarms left, despite paying money to even get the app in the first place. Please work out the glitches in this app before you start charging money. I wouldn’t even use this app if it was free.

Developer Response
Hi there. I'm so sorry for your frustrating experiences with the app. I just want to start by saying that it should not be asking you to subscribe if you were already a user. It seems to be a bug from when the pricing model was switched over, and I'm happy to help get it fixed if you want to reach out. I'd also love a chance to troubleshoot some of the other issues you've been having if you'd like to send a note to support@nextupalarm.com
Doesn’t Work, Very Glitchy
09/15/2020

Sadey7

This app doesn’t do the one thing I want it to do. It won’t play my news app in the morning, despite having automatic downloads on. I have my backup alarm set as “The Muezzin”, and it won’t even play that. Instead, it plays random music from my Apple Music app. It’s very confusing walking up to Katy Perry’s “Firework” when you’re expecting a slow, gradual, and peaceful wake up to NPR. Also, I can’t even stop the music once it’s started. I have to go into a separate app to play something else in order to cancel out what is already playing, and then pause what I’ve started in order to get anything to stop. And now, it’s telling me I have to start paying a month fee in order to even continue waking up to my podcasts.... even though I haven’t even been able to, so I don’t know why it’s telling me I only have so many podcast alarms left, despite paying money to even get the app in the first place. Please work out the glitches in this app before you start charging money. I wouldn’t even use this app if it was free.
Developer Response 09/22/2020
Hi there. I'm so sorry for your frustrating experiences with the app. I just want to start by saying that it should not be asking you to subscribe if you were already a user. It seems to be a bug from when the pricing model was switched over, and I'm happy to help get it fixed if you want to reach out. I'd also love a chance to troubleshoot some of the other issues you've been having if you'd like to send a note to support@nextupalarm.com
Beautiful.
09/02/2019

Mc chicken12343
I’ve been looking for an app like this for awhile now and you’ve happened to nail it right on the head. Thank you so much for creating this! The UI and design is extremely sexy. One suggestion would be to somehow add a feature where it allows you to start the podcast where you left off the morning before. Possibly you could do this by having the app manually download a copy of the podcast and then have the app itself serve as the start stop function. Not sure if this is possible since I know absolutely nothing about app development, however I figured I’d just toss it out there. Thanks again for producing this masterpiece :)

Developer Response
Great feature idea! So great I added it. Off by default, but easily enabled in the Settings tab. Turn it on and your podcasts will start where you last left off, even if you were listening in the Podcasts app. Thanks for the kind words and suggestion!
Beautiful.
09/02/2019

Mc chicken12343

I’ve been looking for an app like this for awhile now and you’ve happened to nail it right on the head. Thank you so much for creating this! The UI and design is extremely sexy. One suggestion would be to somehow add a feature where it allows you to start the podcast where you left off the morning before. Possibly you could do this by having the app manually download a copy of the podcast and then have the app itself serve as the start stop function. Not sure if this is possible since I know absolutely nothing about app development, however I figured I’d just toss it out there. Thanks again for producing this masterpiece :)
Developer Response 09/11/2019
Great feature idea! So great I added it. Off by default, but easily enabled in the Settings tab. Turn it on and your podcasts will start where you last left off, even if you were listening in the Podcasts app. Thanks for the kind words and suggestion!
Half-baked backend
04/18/2021

carrottMan
UI is pretty and the idea is so obvious that Apple should integrate it into their app, but it fails half the time for one reason or another.I only got two successful days out of my “5 free alarms,” and that’s after doing a bunch of extra downloads. It’s basically still in beta testing, and the publisher shouldn’t start charging until they’ve properly fixed the bugs or given users ample time to get used to the work-arounds. I can’t rely on an alarm that requires a rain dance and still only works half the time.
Half-baked backend
04/18/2021

carrottMan

UI is pretty and the idea is so obvious that Apple should integrate it into their app, but it fails half the time for one reason or another.I only got two successful days out of my “5 free alarms,” and that’s after doing a bunch of extra downloads. It’s basically still in beta testing, and the publisher shouldn’t start charging until they’ve properly fixed the bugs or given users ample time to get used to the work-arounds. I can’t rely on an alarm that requires a rain dance and still only works half the time.

Critical bug fix for iOS version 14.3+ users. Other bug fixes, performance improvements.

Version 2.5.2

01/30/2021

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