Gong · alarm for iPhone · coming autumn 2026
Gong is the alarm you can't sleep through. It stops only when you're out of bed and moving — then it keeps your first 90 minutes free of the apps that eat your morning.
I
Built on AlarmKit, the same machinery as Apple's own Clock, with an independent backup alarm ten minutes behind it. App closed, phone on silent, Focus on: it fires. And there's no snooze button to fumble for — half-asleep you doesn't get a vote.
II
Silencing the alarm takes a mission you can only finish up and moving: squats, your bed actually made, a walk to the coffee machine. Half-asleep taps don't count — being up does. Verification runs on your iPhone; nothing is stored or sent anywhere.
III
You're up — now a morning block keeps your chosen apps on hold for 90 minutes, the window your brain needs to fully wake and do one deep thing. Want out early? Twenty minutes of reading buys it. An emergency unlock always exists. Friction, not a prison.
One night, six failure modes
Wanting to get up was never your problem — 6 AM you is. Every feature in Gong exists because one specific failure kept winning.
"I went to bed way too late. Again."
Up at 6:30 on 8 hours means bed by 10:30. Gong counts down to it on the home screen and runs a bedtime check at 10:15: a nudge, plus a warning if your volume is muted or tomorrow's alarm can't ring.
"I turned it off in my sleep."
There is no snooze button, and dismissing the alarm without the mission re-arms it 90 seconds later. Half-asleep you doesn't get a vote.
"I got up. Then got back in."
The alarm stops at verified squats, a made bed, a walk to the coffee machine — checked by the front camera, on your iPhone. Vertical for two seconds doesn't count.
"It just… didn't go off."
An independent backup alarm sits ten minutes behind the main one, and every ring is logged in your alarm history. You test it in minute three of onboarding.
"Awake at 6:30. Lost until 8."
The apps that eat your morning stay on hold for the 90 minutes your brain needs to fully wake up. Twenty minutes of reading buys an early unlock.
"Travel. Injury. Real life."
Can't do the mission? Pick the reason, show one camera frame standing, and the alarm stops. Logged as an escape; your streak breaks. Honesty, not punishment.
And the mornings you win add up: medals for streaks, early gongs and clean records — earned, never bought.
No microphone permission — the app never even asks for one. Camera frames are checked on your iPhone and thrown away. While you sleep, Gong does exactly nothing.
Checked on-device, then thrown away. Never stored, never sent anywhere.
It doesn't exist anywhere in the app, so it can't even ask.
Nothing runs, tracks or drains your battery while you sleep.
Simple pricing
Everything included from day one: unlimited alarms, every mission, the morning block, stats and medals. No ads, nowhere, never.
7 days free, then
$49.99/year
$4.17 a month — 14 cents a won morning.
7 days free, then
$9/month
Flexible — cancel anytime in iOS Settings.
Billed through the App Store · cancel anytime in iOS Settings.
Yes. Gong is built on AlarmKit, Apple's native alarm framework — the same machinery as the built-in Clock app. App force-quit, Silent mode, Focus on: it rings. There's an independent backup alarm ten minutes later, and your alarm history logs every ring so you don't have to take our word for it. You'll test it in minute three of onboarding.
Nothing — and that's deliberate. Gong is built to beat half-asleep you, not determined you. In practice the mission takes less effort than deleting and reinstalling an app at 6 AM, and that asymmetry is the whole trick. The streak on the line does the rest.
The alarm is a real alarm until you start the mission — that part is as loud as any wake-up. From the moment you're up, everything is silent: the mission, the tracking, the block. Most partners hear less of Gong than of a snoozed alarm firing four times.
No. It charges wherever it always charges. For the mission you prop it against anything — a water bottle, the wall — so the front camera can see you. Standing up and walking to it is the mission; the phone's position isn't.
No, and we'd rather tell you straight: Spotify's developer policy forbids alarm functionality, and streaming at 6 AM can't be guaranteed. The alarm itself uses reliable local sounds or your own DRM-free music as the actual alarm tone. Once you're up, one tap opens your Apple Music or Spotify playlist.
There's always a way out. Pick a reason — travelling, injury, whatever it is — show one camera frame standing, and the alarm stops. It's logged as an escape and your streak breaks. Honesty toward yourself, not punishment from an app.
Almost nothing, by design. No microphone permission, no ad SDKs, and camera frames are processed on your iPhone and never stored or sent anywhere. The only things that ever leave your device are anonymous purchase validation and — if you turn the forecast on — a weather request to Apple. Read the full privacy policy.
Any iPhone running iOS 26.1 or newer. No Apple Watch required, no extra hardware — the front camera and Apple's own frameworks do all the work.
No. Gong sits deep on Apple's own alarm and screen-time machinery (AlarmKit, Screen Time controls), and that depth doesn't exist cross-platform. iPhone-only is the price of an alarm that actually rings.
The 7-day trial converts to the plan you picked — $49.99 a year or $9 a month — unless you cancel in iOS Settings, which takes about ten seconds. Waitlist members get the first year for $29.99 instead.
Launching on iPhone, autumn 2026. Waitlist members get the beta first — and the first year for $29.99.