Check out 8 ways to create an alarm on Mac and have it alert you at the specified time.
If you spend most of your day in front of your Mac, you might want to set the alarm on it to help you wake up from a quick desk nap or remember something.
You can set an alarm on your Mac using the built-in Clock app and Siri if it’s running macOS Ventura or later. In case your Mac is on macOS Monterey or earlier, you can use third-party apps to set the alarm.
1. Use the Apple Clock app
The stock Clock app on Mac lets you easily set alarms and timers or use the stopwatch.
- Open the Clock app from Launchpad or the Applications folder and go to the Alarms section from the top.
- Hit the plus button in the top right corner.
- Use your keyboard to set the alarm time. Make sure to select AM or PM appropriately. Next, you can have this alarm repeat on selected days of the week. The Label section lets you set a name for this alarm, while the Sound option allows you to pick an alarm tone. As of now, you can’t use songs from the Music app as your alarm tone on Mac. Next, choose if you want the Snooze function or not.
- Finally, with all set, click the Save button.
You have successfully added an alarm on your Mac. Make sure to keep your computer switched on. If you set an alarm on a MacBook, don’t close its lid. Additionally, don’t force quit the Clock app.
When the time comes, it will alert you. You’ll see a notification in the top right corner of your Mac’s screen from where you can Snooze or Stop the alarm. Note that, unlike the iPhone, you can’t stop or snooze an alarm from your Mac’s Lock Screen.
If your Mac is connected to a speaker or HomePod, the alarm sound will be routed to that connected audio device. So, take caution as it can get very loud. To lower the alarm volume, decrease your Mac’s volume using the buttons on the keyboard or adjust the Sound slider in the macOS Control Center.
To delete an alarm on Mac, take the pointer over the alarm tile and hit the tiny x from the top left corner of that tile.
2. Ask Siri to set an alarm
You can summon Siri on your Mac and ask it something like, “Set an alarm for 5 AM.” Siri will follow your request and set the alarm for you.
3. Set alarm using the Wake Up Time app
Wake Up Time is a free app that lets you set an alarm on Mac. The app hasn’t been updated in the last nine years, but it does the job.
1) Open Wake Up Time on your Mac, and under Alarm Time, set the desired time. You can click the tiny arrows or select the time and use your keyboard.
2) Under Sound, choose any alarm tone. Use the play button to preview. I like Cosmic.
3) Click the round alarm on/off button from the bottom left to enable the alarm. Once it’s on, you’ll see the “Alarm set” text in the light orange indicator box. The alarm will ring and play the sound to wake you up at the set time.
Important points
The Wake Up Time alarm app (and the other app methods mentioned in this tutorial) will work if your Mac is awake. To address this, you can follow these methods to prevent your Mac from sleeping. Or, Wake Up Time has an optional helper application that puts your Mac to sleep and wakes it up when it’s time for the alarm. To get the helper, click the info button ⓘ and hit Download inside the app. Go through the FAQs on the app’s web page before installing the helper app.
Note: When you unzip the file and double-click to open it, your Mac may prevent you from installing the helper application as it hasn’t been updated since 2013, and Apple can’t verify the developer. If you want to proceed, you can open apps from unidentified developers on a per-case basis by going to System Settings > Privacy & Security > Open Anyway.
Other alarm apps for Mac
Here are some free alarm/timer apps for your Mac from the macOS App Store:
1) Digital Clock: With this app, you can create multiple alarms for free on your Mac. It also lets you name your alarms, choose from multiple sounds, and more. The interface might seem familiar to alarm on your iPhone and iPad. However, in my testing, I found that if the app isn’t on your Mac’s desktop (say it’s on a different space or minimized), it won’t play the sound and just show the notification.
2) Sleep Alarm Clock: The app lets you set the alarm on Mac. However, it can be buggy when you’re entering the exact alarm time. Apart from that, the app works well. (The first image of this tutorial is from this app.)
3) Howler Timer: This is a simple app that lets you set a timer, and once that’s up, your Mac will howl like a wolf. To be honest, the sound effect is pretty incredible.
4) Horo: Horo is a time management app that lets you set a timer. The app sits in your Mac’s menu bar, and when the time is up, it plays a sound to alert you.
Please note that all the above apps will only work when your Mac isn’t in sleep mode. The lid must not be closed on Mac notebooks (MacBook Air, MacBook Pro).
Related: How to keep your MacBook awake while its lid is closed
4. Use iOS apps to set an alarm
If you love a third-party alarm app on your iPhone or iPad, you can probably get it on your Mac with Apple silicon (M1, M2, M3, M4, and newer chips). Simply search for the alarm app in the Mac App Store and click “iPhone & iPad apps” from the top of the search page. After that, download the iOS alarm app on your Mac to use it.
In the example below, I have installed Alarm Clock – Wake Up on my Mac, and it works great. Just do not quit the app or put your Mac to sleep.
5. Use Siri to set a reminder
This isn’t an alarm but can effectively achieve what an alarm does — that is, to notify you of something.
Invoke Siri on your Mac and ask it to remind you of something at the desired time. For instance, you can say, remind me to sleep at 11:30 PM.
6. Use the Reminders app
If you don’t want to use your voice to set an “alarm” on your Mac, you can type to Siri. You can also create a reminder in the Reminders app. When you do that, don’t forget to set the correct date and then the desired time.
7. Use the Calendar app to get an alert
You can create an event in your Mac’s Calendar app and get a notification. Technically, it works, but the alert sound is faint, and therefore, this method might not be the best alternative to an alarm. Still, if you’re curious, these guides should help:
- How to work with all-day and multi-day events in Calendar
- How to create, edit and delete repeating events in Calendar
8. Set an online alarm
Finally, you can use one of the various websites to set the alarm on your Mac or PC. Visit one of the following sites, set your alarm time, and start it. While you wait for the alarm, make sure you don’t close that browser tab or put your Mac to sleep.
Many of these sites should work even if your Mac is disconnected from the internet after setting the alarm.
Check out next: How to use Apple Music for your alarm sound on HomePod