Features
Silent mode does not switch this alarm off
The silent switch is where most third-party alarms quietly die, usually on the morning that mattered. This one is not an app playing a sound, so there is nothing for the switch to mute.
In short
Tock's alarms are registered with iOS through Apple's AlarmKit framework rather than played by the app in the background. That is why they ring with the ringer off, through a Focus, with Tock closed, on the native full-screen alert.
- Things it rings through
- 3Things it rings throughSilent switch, a Focus, and the app closed
- Wake tones, or bring your own audio
- 18Wake tones, or bring your own audio
- Minimum iPhone software
- iOS 26Minimum iPhone softwareAlarmKit needs it
How it actually works
A system alarm, not an app playing a sound
Almost every third-party alarm is an app trying to keep audio alive in the background, and that is why they fail. The silent switch mutes them. A Focus buries the notification. iOS eventually decides a backgrounded app does not need to be running, and at 06:30 nothing happens.
Tock is built on AlarmKit, which is Apple's own alarm framework. The alarm is registered with the system, the way the built-in Clock app registers one, and the system is what rings it. So it rings with the ringer off. It rings while a Focus is on, including Sleep Focus. It rings with Tock closed. And it arrives as the native full-screen alert that takes over the screen, rather than a notification stacking up in a pile you can swipe away half asleep.
- The silent switch does not mute it
- A Focus does not hold it back
- Closing Tock does not lose the alarm
- The alert is the system one, not a banner
AlarmKit is why Tock needs iOS 26 or later. It is the supported way to ship an alarm, not a workaround.
Why this is the thing to test first
Everything else in Tock is optional. The alarm is not. Set one for two minutes from now, flip the ringer switch off, turn on Sleep Focus, close the app entirely, and put the phone down. You will hear it, and after that you can stop wondering.
Do that on night one rather than trusting a paragraph on a website about it.
What still controls the volume
Ringing through silent is not the same as ringing at full blast regardless. It is a system alarm, so it follows the same rules the Clock app does, which means the ringer volume rather than your media volume.
- Ringer volume is what matters, not whatever level a video was playing at
- Choose from 18 wake tones, or point Tock at your own audio
- A gentle tone plus a demanding wake-up mission beats a harsh tone on its own
What happens the moment it fires
The full-screen alert takes over. If the alarm carries a wake-up mission, the sound continues while the task sits on screen and stops when you finish it. If smart wake is on, this may already be a few minutes earlier than the time you set, at a lighter moment in your sleep.
Where it stops
Every feature has an edge. Better you read it here than find it at six in the morning.
- It needs iOS 26 or later, because AlarmKit does. Older iPhones cannot run Tock at all.
- Ringer volume still applies. Turned all the way down is still turned all the way down.
- A phone that is off, or one that has run flat overnight, cannot ring. Charge it.
- iPhone only. There is no Android version and no Apple Watch app.
Questions people ask
Will it really ring on silent?
Yes. It is a system alarm through AlarmKit, the same mechanism the built-in Clock app uses, so the silent switch does not apply to it.
Does a Focus stop the alarm?
No, including Sleep Focus. The alarm is not a notification, so there is nothing for a Focus to filter.
What if I force quit the app?
The alarm still rings. It is registered with the system rather than kept alive by Tock running in the background.
Why does Tock need iOS 26?
AlarmKit is the framework that makes all of this possible, and it needs iOS 26 or later. That is the trade for an alarm that behaves like a system alarm.
The rest of the app
The parts that sit closest to this one.
- Wake-up missionsA wake-up mission is a small task that has to be completed before the alarm will stop. Tock ships 9 of them in 3 families: mind, body and place. The alarm keeps ringing the whole time the task is on screen.
- Smart wakeSmart wake is a 30 minute window before your alarm in which Tock watches for a lighter moment in your sleep and rings as soon as it finds one. If it never finds one, your alarm goes off at the exact time you set.
- WidgetsTock puts tonight outside the app: 3 Home Screen widgets, Lock Screen and StandBy accessories, 3 Control Center tiles, 8 Live Activities, Siri App Shortcuts, 4 quick actions on the icon and a Focus filter.
- Sleep soundsTock has 63 fall-asleep sounds. You can play four at a time, save the blend as a mix, and 42 of them carry a Far, Near or Close distance control. 22 are bundled recordings and the rest are generated on the phone as you listen, so they never loop.
Elsewhere on the site
A different corner of the same problem.
- Tock for youRotating shift nursesYour rota moves you from days to nights and back again, sometimes inside the same week, and there is no schedule to settle into because the schedule keeps changing. Every adjustment gets interrupted by the next one.
- AlternativesTock vs PzizzKeep 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.
- RoundupsThe best snoring apps, ranked by what they're forSnoreLab is the best dedicated snoring app: recording and scoring your snoring is its only job, and its remedy tracking is more deliberate than anything else here. Tock is the better pick if you want snoring in context, inside a night that also carries your sleep, your alarm and playable audio of what the room actually sounded like.
- Wake timesWaking up at 8:00amBedtimes by sleep cycle for a 8:00am alarm.
- BedtimesGoing to bed at 12:30amWhere to put the alarm after a 12:30am lights-out.
- Sleep by ageHow much sleep preschoolers needThe American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends that children aged 3 to 5 years sleep 10 to 13 hours per 24 hours, including naps, on a regular basis. This is the final band where daytime sleep counts toward the total; from age 6 the figures are given per night.
Silent mode does not switch this alarm off
Tock's alarms are registered with iOS through Apple's AlarmKit framework rather than played by the app in the background. That is why they ring with the ringer off, through a Focus, with Tock closed, on the native full-screen alert.