Photo alarm

A photo alarm turns "get up" into "go somewhere". Beyond Alarm's Photo mission keeps the alarm going until you've photographed a place you chose the night before, such as the kettle, the bathroom mirror or your shoes by the door. The only way to take that photo is to be there, on your feet, several metres from the bed.

What it does

You register one or more places ahead of time. When the alarm rings, the mission shows you each reference photo in turn ("Place 1 of 2") and asks you to go and take the same shot. A green frame means it matched. A red frame means it didn't, with a hint and a "how close was that" score so you know what to change.

• 1 to 5 places per mission, matched in the order you registered them.
• A saved library: places are kept on your phone and reused across alarms. Delete one when it stops being a place you want to stand in.
• Matching on the phone: no upload, no account.
• Stack it: up to five missions on one alarm, for example a photo of the kitchen and then a set of squats.

How it works

1. The night before, you photograph your places. Beyond Alarm reduces each photo to two small fingerprints: the brightness shape of the scene and a grid of its colours.
2. The alarm rings and you start the mission. You see the place you need, tap I'm ready, and go there.
3. You take the photo. Beyond Alarm compares it with the reference. To count, it has to match both the shape and the colours. Two photos of the same corner at 7am and 11pm look alike on both. A bathroom and a kitchen don't.
4. It's forgiving when you're clearly up. If a few attempts miss, the match loosens a little, since you're plainly standing in a room taking photos. It never loosens enough for a different room to pass.
5. The alarm stops once every place has matched.

If you really can't reach a place (the door's locked, you're away from home), Emergency — solve a sum to skip appears after one photo that doesn't match. It skips that place only.

Beyond Alarm

Beyond Alarm does this part for you: the alarm will not switch off until you have actually moved, and the apps you pick stay locked afterwards.

When to use it

• You want your morning to start somewhere specific: the kettle for coffee, the shower, the desk.
• You've learned to beat maths problems half-asleep. You can't photograph the kitchen from bed.
• You want a two-room routine. Register the bathroom and the kitchen, and you're up and moving before the alarm stops.
• Follow it with Morning Lockout, so the first thing you do after the photo isn't opening a feed.

Set it up

1. Open the Alarm tab and tap + for a new alarm, or tap an alarm to edit it.
2. Under Wake-up mission, tap an empty + box and choose Photo mission.
3. Set how many places it takes, then tap Take the photos.
4. Photograph each place with New place, or pick ones you've saved before from the Library. Shoot something distinctive with some of the room around it, not a blank wall.
5. Check the review of what you picked, then tap Done and Save.
6. To practise, tap the mission on the alarm and then Preview.

Related

• All wake-up missions
• QR and barcode alarm
• Push-up alarm
• Photo alarm: take a picture to turn it off
• Alarm missions ranked, hardest to fake