Screen Soft Light / Timekeeping / SUNRISE ALARM

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No. 001 · SUNRISE ALARM

Sunrise alarm clock — wake up to light, not noise

  • 01 Simulated sunrise on any screen
  • 02 15 to 60 minute sunrise
  • 03 Sleep sounds that fade at dawn

A wake-up light you already own. Set your wake time and the screen stays dark overnight, then slowly brightens — deep red, orange, warm white, daylight — over the half hour before your alarm, the way a sunrise alarm clock does. A soft chime finishes the job.

Other wake screens —
Alarm clockOK-to-wake1 min2 min3 min
§ 01

How a sunrise alarm wakes you

Wake-up lights work by brightening gradually before your alarm, so you surface from sleep with light rather than being jolted awake by sound. This page does the same with your screen: it moves through the colors of a real sunrise, from a deep red glow to warm white and finally neutral daylight, timed to reach full brightness at your wake time.

§ 02

A screen is dimmer than a dedicated wake-up lamp, so placement matters.

Get the most light from your screen

A screen is dimmer than a dedicated wake-up lamp, so placement matters. Use the largest device you have, set its own brightness to maximum, turn off any automatic dimming or night-shift setting, and put it close to your face — on the bedside table, angled toward the pillow.

§ 03

Fall asleep to sound, wake to light

Choose white, pink or brown noise or ocean waves to fall asleep to. When the sunrise begins, the sound fades out over a minute and the light takes over. At wake time a soft three-note chime plays, getting a little louder each time, until you tap I'm up.

Procedure

Three moves to peak output

  1. 01

    Set wake time and sunrise length

    30 minutes is a common sunrise length. Press Preview sunrise to see it run in 20 seconds.

  2. 02

    Place the screen facing you

    A tablet or laptop on the bedside table, facing your pillow, works best. Turn the device brightness all the way up.

  3. 03

    Set the alarm and sleep

    The screen stays dark until the sunrise starts, then brightens until your wake time.

Inquiries

Questions worth asking

Q.01 Is a screen as good as a wake-up light?
It is dimmer than a dedicated lamp, so it works best on a large screen at full brightness close to your bed. It is a free way to try sunrise waking before buying a wake-up light.
Q.02 Can it wake me at the real sunrise?
Yes. Press Use my local sunrise and allow location access; the page calculates tomorrow's sunrise for where you are and sets it as your wake time. Your location is used only for that calculation and is not stored or sent anywhere. In autumn and winter, when you need to be up before the sun, keep your usual wake time instead and the screen gives you the dawn early.
Q.03 How long should the sunrise be?
Thirty minutes is a common default. Choose 15 minutes if you wake easily, or 45 to 60 minutes for a slower, more gradual start.
Q.04 Will it work overnight?
Yes, as long as the page stays open. Plug the device in, keep this tab in front and turn off auto-lock (on iPhone: Settings → Display & Brightness → Auto-Lock → Never). Browsers that support the Screen Wake Lock API keep the screen on by themselves while the alarm is set.
Q.05 What sleep sounds are there?
White noise, pink noise, brown noise and ocean waves. They are generated by your browser rather than streamed, so they loop seamlessly and use no data. The sound starts when you set the alarm and stops at wake time — on the sunrise screen it fades out over a minute as the sunrise begins.
Cross-reference

Try adjacent plates