Wakie for Android: Daily App Pick

BreakingModern — Nobody likes the process of waking up. Well, there are those strange morning people, but who needs them? For many of us, waking up is a daily struggle. Regular old alarm clocks often don’t do the trick, and they can be pretty easy to snooze right through. Fortunately, the new free app Wakie, available for Android on Google Play, Apple iOS and Windows Phone, can help change that. Wakie Wakie is the world’s first social alarm clock. Instead of being woken by an incessant ring that you may instinctively shut off, or a soon-to-be-hated pop song, you simply get connected with another random Wakie user. You’ll talk to this person for 60 seconds, at which point the app automatically disconnects.

Does It Work?

For me, being woken by Wakie has largely been a success, with only a few hiccups. The first morning is definitely a shock. It’s fairly disorienting to have someone you don’t know telling you to get out of bed. I was first woken up by a gruffly voiced man from Los Angeles who wished me a great and productive day. Most mornings are similar to that — a fun and encouraging start to the day. But it can be more awkward. One morning I was connected to absolute silence. There was supposedly a person on the other end of the line, but I heard nothing. On a different occasion an England-based user curtly said, “Wake up,” and then disconnected. I was certainly jarred awake each time, but a few boring experiences do pale in comparison to the vast majority. Wakie

Waking Up Others

Wakie also gives you the opportunity to wake up other users, serving as their alarm clock. You can select that you’re available to wake someone up, and Wakie will notify you when anybody is ready. I was really expecting this to be more seamless and functional than it actually is. When it works, it often takes several minutes to get connected with someone, and when you do get connected, the other person is usually confused and not in the mood to chat (probably because they were just sleeping). It’s also not out of the ordinary for Wakie to fail connecting you to anyone – of course, this issue would be seriously improved if there were more Wakie users, and if the app connected you more quickly. Wakie

Worth It?

Ultimately, Wakie is an innovative app. I never thought I’d hear the words “social alarm clock,” but here I am, telling you about it. While Wakie does have some issues – mostly waking someone else up – it’s a mostly successful and creative piece of software that stands out in a sea of predictability. And, perhaps most importantly, Wakie does its primary job successfully every single time. It wakes me up. I’ll probably never be a morning person, but Wakie makes that prospect seem a little less laughable.

For BMod, I’m .

All screenshots: Jordan Wold courtesy of Wakie

Featured/Header image credit: Alarm Clock by Bob Bob via Flickr Creative Commons

Jordan Wold

Author: Jordan Wold

Jordan Wold is a pop culture obsessive writer from the Midwest. He plans on attending Boston's Emerson College in the fall of 2015 as a Visual & Media Arts major. He is also far too proud of his own tweets. Follow him @JordanWold1.

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