Alarmy is a good app, and this page is not going to pretend otherwise. It is the most established option in the category for a reason. But it is also a large, feature-dense, ad-supported product, and the things that make it the default are exactly the things that make some people want out.
So rather than a ranked list, this is sorted by the reason you are actually looking.
“I don't want ads”
This is the most common reason and the most verifiable. Alarmy's App Store listing carries Apple's “Contains Advertising” note, and its privacy section lists Third-Party Advertising as a stated purpose for precise and coarse Location, Device ID and Advertising Data. That is Alarmy's own declaration to Apple.
Go to: an alarm app with no advertising indicator. Mornio has no ads and no ad SDK, and Apple's Clock obviously has none. Erly, Wayk and Nuj also carry no “Contains Advertising” note on their listings.
Avoid: SuperAlarm and Alarm Scan, which both sell a monthly “remove ads” purchase, so you would be trading one ad-supported app for another.
“I don't want to be tracked”
Related but not identical. Alarmy declares Location, Identifiers and Usage Data under Data Used to Track You. An alarm clock knowing your precise location surprises most people when they see it.
Go to: Mornio (nothing declared under tracking, no account at all), Nuj (nothing declared under tracking), or Apple's Clock (no third-party developer involved). Wayk declares only Usage Data, which is a lighter footprint than Alarmy's.
Avoid: SuperAlarm and Spin Alarm Clock, which both declare Location among tracked data.
“It's too much app”
Alarmy is 233 MB and bundles sleep tracking, sleep sounds, statistics and a large settings surface. If you only wanted an alarm that is hard to switch off, most of that is weight you carry for nothing.
Go to: Mornio (6.9 MB, one flow, no sleep tracking, no sound library) or Apple's Clock if you do not need a mission at all.
Avoid: Wayk (275.5 MB) and SuperAlarm (204.6 MB), which are comparable in size to what you are leaving.
“The subscription adds up”
Alarmy's in-app purchase list runs across many tiers, from around $4.99 up to $69.99, which makes it genuinely hard to work out what you are paying for. Its listing does say a 7-day free trial is provided.
Go to: Apple's Clock, which is free and got a custom snooze duration in iOS 26. If you need a mission, SuperAlarm's cheapest listed yearly tier was $14.99, which undercuts almost everything including Mornio's $29.99.
Watch out for: weekly subscriptions. SuperAlarm lists weekly tiers at $4.49 and $4.99, which cost far more over a year than any annual plan. And Wayk's listing states a subscription is required to set alarms at all, so it is not a cheaper escape.
“The missions stopped working on me”
This is the honest failure mode of every mission-based alarm, ours included. You get good at the maths. You learn to shake the phone in your sleep. The mission becomes a ritual you perform unconscious.
Go to: a different kind of pressure rather than a different mission. Nuj attaches a real financial penalty and a separate get-up deadline, which is a category change rather than a variation. Mornio adds a stay-awake check that fires minutes after you dismiss the alarm and restarts protection if you ignore it, which covers the relapse rather than the dismissal.
Think twice about: switching to another app with the same mission types. If Alarmy's maths mission stopped waking you, SuperAlarm's maths mission will too.
“I get up, turn it off, and go back to bed”
Worth separating this out, because it is not a mission problem at all. Alarmy does offer a wake up check, but its description presents it as a premium feature.
Go to: Mornio, where the stay-awake check and automatic restart are the core of the product, or Nuj, whose get-up deadline does the same job with money attached.
The alternatives, compared
| Mornio | SuperAlarm | Wayk | Nuj | Apple Clock | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| “Contains Advertising” on listing | No | Sells ad removal | No | No | No |
| Data used to track you | None declared | Location, Identifiers, Usage | Usage Data | None declared | None |
| App size | 6.9 MB | 204.6 MB | 275.5 MB | 58.9 MB | Built in |
| Minimum iOS | 26.1 | 17.0 | 17.0 | 15.0 | Any |
| Usable without paying | Free tier + 3 free mornings | Free with ads | Listing says subscription required | Free app | Free |
| Follow-up check | Yes, then restarts | Wake up check | Streaks | Get-up deadline | No |
| Mission variety | Scan only | Seven types | Six types | Barcode or steps | None |
When you should stay on Alarmy
Genuinely, quite often. Stay if you use the sleep tracking, if you rotate between mission types, if you are on an iPhone older than iOS 26.1 and want the most proven option, or if you want one app covering waking and sleeping. Roughly 240,000 US ratings at 4.8 stars is not nothing, and no alternative here has that track record.
Switch when a specific thing about it is costing you something specific: the ads, the tracking declaration, the size, the price, or a failure mode it does not address.