LIST
Alarm apps that actually ring on silent
Until iOS 26, only Apple’s Clock could ring through a silenced, Focused, locked phone. Everything else scheduled notifications, which iOS is free to delay or mute.
What changed
Apple shipped AlarmKit in iOS and iPadOS 26. In Apple’s own words, an alarm is “a prominent alert for things that occur at a fixed, pre-determined time,” and when it fires, “the alert breaks through the silent mode and the current focus”. Alarms can take over the Lock Screen and Dynamic Island, and people opt in per app, with the choice changeable in Settings at any time.
Most alarm apps on the store predate this.
Apple Clock
Free, local, reliable, no account. If your only problem is waking at a set time, the case for anything else is thin.
Alarmesque
Schedules through the system alarm path, then plays a written scene as the ring. Requires iOS 26.
AlarmK
States it uses AlarmKit with the same permission model as Apple’s Clock and rings through Silent and Focus, with missions to dismiss.
WakeUpBroo
Uses AlarmKit, with no snooze and no dismiss button. iPhone only.
Wake AI
Speaks a message you wrote, scheduled through Apple’s AlarmKit.
The test that settles it
Set an alarm two minutes out, lock the phone, flip the ringer switch to silent, put it face down. If it rings, it is on the alarm path. If it buzzes quietly or arrives late, it is a notification, and one Focus setting away from silence.
On Android
Different rules, same theme. Exact alarms are denied by default for apps targeting Android 13 and up, so the app has to ask and you have to grant it. Full-screen alerts are auto-granted only to apps whose core job is alarms or calls, which is why a reminder in a to-do app arrives as a quiet banner.