Frequently Asked Questions

Captain Wake is an iPhone alarm clock app that makes you complete a real-world mission before the alarm turns off. Instead of a swipe-to-dismiss button, you solve math, take a photo of a specific object, scan a barcode, shake the phone, or spin — so heavy sleepers and chronic snoozers actually get out of bed.

A normal alarm turns off with one swipe, which a half-asleep brain can do without ever waking up. Captain Wake requires you to finish a task that forces your brain online. The alarm also keeps ringing through app kills, phone restarts, and volume changes, so the only way to silence it is to complete the mission.

Captain Wake includes Photo missions (photograph a real object, verified on-device with Apple Vision), Math missions (with adjustable difficulty), Barcode missions (scan a code you place in another room), Shake missions, and Spin missions. You can combine them and set the difficulty to match how deeply you sleep.

Yes — it is built specifically for heavy and deep sleepers. Because you must physically complete a task to stop the alarm, you cannot dismiss it in your sleep. Many heavy sleepers who slept through every other alarm find this is the first one that consistently gets them up.

Yes. The alarm is designed to survive force-closing the app, restarting the iPhone, and turning the volume to zero. It re-arms itself so there is no easy way to bypass it.

Captain Wake is free to download and includes core alarm features. A Premium subscription unlocks all missions and advanced features, with a 3-day free trial and pricing around $29.99/year (regional pricing may vary). You can use it without a subscription too.

Captain Wake is available for iPhone and requires iOS 17 or later. It supports 48 languages.

Yes. Captain Wake offers the same core idea as Alarmy — dismiss missions that force you awake — with a clean iOS-native design, on-device photo verification for privacy, a sleep forecast, and streak tracking. Many users switch to it looking for a simpler, more reliable mission alarm.

No. Photo missions are verified entirely on your device using Apple Vision. Your images are never uploaded to a server.

That is exactly what it is designed for. By replacing the snooze/dismiss button with a task you have to complete, it removes the option to snooze your way back to sleep, which over time helps you build a consistent wake-up habit.