Honest comparison
Pzizz alternative on iPhone, minus the voiceover
Both apps generate their audio rather than looping a file, which is a genuinely uncommon thing to have in common. That is roughly where the overlap ends.
In short
Keep Pzizz if you nap, or if your mind needs words to hold onto while you fall asleep. Tock generates its sound too, but it has no voiceover and nothing for naps. What Tock adds is the alarm, the tracking and the morning report Pzizz does not attempt.
- fall-asleep sounds
- 63fall-asleep soundsmost generated live, never looping
- sounds layered at once
- 4sounds layered at oncesaved as a reusable mix
- wake tones
- 18wake tonesor your own audio
What Pzizz does better
Generated sleep and nap audio: music, voiceover and effects assembled into a session that is different every time.
- Its nap module is the best-designed thing of its kind, and Tock has nothing equivalent
- The voiceover option suits people whose minds need words to hold onto
- Available on Android
Runs on iPhone, Android. Tock is iPhone only, on iOS 26 and later.
The nap module is the thing Tock cannot answer
Pzizz's nap sessions are the best-designed thing of their kind, and Tock has no equivalent at all. If a twenty minute afternoon nap is a fixed part of your week, that alone should decide this.
Tock is built around a whole night: a wind-down, sleep tracking, a wake window and a morning report. It has nothing shaped like a nap.
Words to hold onto, or sound designed to vanish
Pzizz assembles music, voiceover and effects into a session that is different every time, and the voiceover option suits people whose thoughts need somewhere to go.
Tock's 63 sounds have no voice in them. Most are generated on device sample by sample so nothing loops and nothing downloads, you can layer four at once and save the result as a mix, and 42 of them carry a Far, Near or Close distance control. The intent is for the sound to stop being noticeable.
Pzizz stops when the audio does
It is audio only. It does not wake you reliably, track the night, or report anything back. Tock is built on AlarmKit, so the alarm rings on silent, through a Focus and with the app closed, and it moves up to 30 minutes earlier when it finds a lighter moment.
In the morning there is a score, estimated stages, and playable clips of snoring, coughing or sleep talking classified on device.
Tock costs from $39.99 a year after a 3-day trial, with no free tier. Pzizz also runs on Android, and Tock does not.
| What we compared | Tock | Pzizz |
|---|---|---|
| Naps | Nothing for naps | A module built for them (stronger here) |
| Voiceover | No voice anywhere | Voiceover if you want it (stronger here) |
| Where it runs | iPhone only | iPhone and Android (stronger here) |
| How the audio is made | Generated sample by sample (about the same) | Assembled fresh each session (about the same) |
| Waking you | AlarmKit alarm and 9 missions (stronger here) | Audio only |
| The morning after | Score, clips, estimated stages (stronger here) | Nothing recorded |
Which one you should actually pick
Pick Tock if
Pick Tock if you want the sound to be part of a night that also gets tracked and ended properly, and you would rather not be spoken to.
Pick Pzizz if
Keep Pzizz if you nap regularly, if the voiceover is what actually stops your head spinning, or if you are on Android. Tock has no nap mode and no narration, so on those points there is no contest.
Run both if
Pzizz for naps and Tock for nights is a sensible split if you can justify two subscriptions.
Questions people ask
Does Tock have a nap mode like Pzizz?
No. Tock is built around a full night and has nothing equivalent to Pzizz's nap module. If naps matter to you, that is a reason to keep it.
Are Tock's sounds generated like Pzizz's sessions?
Most of them, yes. 22 are bundled recordings and the rest are generated on device sample by sample, so they never loop and there is nothing to download. The difference is that Tock never adds a voice.
Will Pzizz wake me up in the morning?
It is audio first and not a dependable alarm, which is why people run it next to one. Tock uses AlarmKit, so it rings on silent, through a Focus and with the app closed.
If Tock is not in the running
Plenty of people land here already choosing between two other apps. These go through those pairings without us in them.
Other comparisons
The same treatment, applied to the rest of the category.
- Tock vs CalmTock is not a Calm replacement and does not try to be. Calm has a narrated library with named voices and licensed music that a small team cannot match. Tock wakes you, tracks the night and tells you what happened. If falling asleep is your problem, Calm is the better buy.
- Tock vs Headspace SleepHeadspace Sleep is the better choice if you want a voice walking you through a wind-down inside a proper course structure. Tock is the choice if you want the night measured from the phone and an alarm that moves into a lighter moment. Neither one covers the other.
- Tock vs SnoreLabSnoreLab is better if snoring is the only thing you care about and you want a remedy-tracking loop and a score you can show someone. Tock is better if you want the snoring inside a full night, with the alarm, the estimated stages and the score in one app instead of two running overnight.
- Tock vs Sleep CycleSwitch to Tock if you want the alarm itself to be different: a system alarm that rings on silent and through a Focus, moved up to 30 minutes earlier into a lighter moment, with a task before it stops. Stay with Sleep Cycle if you have years of history in it, or if someone in the house is on Android.
Elsewhere on the site
A different corner of the same problem.
- Wake tonesMarimbaMarimba is the rounded wooden-bar tone everybody recognises from stock phone alarms, and Tock ships its own version of it. Familiarity cuts both ways: your brain identifies it instantly, and it has also had years of practice sleeping through it. The alarm itself still rings on Apple's AlarmKit, so silent mode and a Focus change nothing.
- Head to headAlarmy vs Sleep CyclePick Alarmy if you sleep through alarms and need one you can't beat. Pick Sleep Cycle if you wake up on time but feel wrecked when you do, and you want a gentler window plus a record of the night.
- FeaturesSleep trackingSleep tracking in Tock runs on the phone alone. The microphone and the accelerometer stay awake all night, Apple SoundAnalysis labels sounds like snoring, coughing and sleep talking on device, and the clips are saved so you can play them back in the morning.
- Sleep soundsPink noisePink noise drops about 3 dB with every octave, which works out to equal energy in every octave and is close to how a lot of natural sound is distributed, from rain to wind in trees to tyres on a wet road. It reads as a balanced hush rather than a hiss or a rumble, which is why it is usually the right thing to try before you commit to either extreme.
- Tock for youNight owlsYou are wide awake at 1am and useless at 7am, and every piece of advice you have ever read starts with going to bed earlier, which you have done, repeatedly, while staring at the ceiling.
- RoundupsThe best alarm apps for heavy sleepersTock is the best alarm app for heavy sleepers: it rings on AlarmKit, so it gets through silent mode and a Focus, and it keeps ringing until you finish a small task. Alarmy is the real rival and the better pick if you want the widest set of dismissal tasks or a free tier to test the idea on.
The alarm is the part we actually rebuilt
Tock rings on silent and through a Focus because it is a system alarm, moves earlier when it finds a lighter moment, and asks for one small task before it stops.