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If you’re absolutely done with beeping alarms, you’re not alone. More and more people are adopting gentler morning routines that definitely don’t involve being roused from their slumber with the sound of Apex or Constellation (if you have an iPhone, you know what I’m talking about). Unfortunately, unless your body clock is next-level, you probably can’t forego an alarm entirely. That’s where a sunrise alarm clock comes in handy.
A sunrise alarm clock will simulate the natural progression of dawn, gradually brightening your room, and nudging you awake instead of screaming in your face. Many models pair the brightening feature with nature sounds that slowly increase in volume as your room becomes fully lit. They’re a refreshing alternative to traditional alarm clocks and phone alarms, making your transition from deep sleep to wakefulness less jarring.
If you’re ready to take a deep dive into the world of sunrise alarm clocks, let us be your shepherd. We’ve dug deep into recent releases and fan favourites, and even tested out a few ourselves to bring you the best options on the market. You’ll want to consider price, size, style, and features to find the one that suits you best, and we’re here to run down the facts and figures to help you find your perfect match.
The Hatch 2 Restore alarm clock has all the bells, whistles, and smart technology you could ever need in an alarm clock, packed into one aesthetically pleasing package. It’ll help you sleep deeply, wake gently, and develop a better self-care routine along the way. It’s definitely on the pricier side, but with this model, you really do get what you pay for.
Setup is as easy as turning it on and pairing it with the free Hatch Sleep app on your phone. From there, you’ll be able to control almost all of its functions in-app (though it does have buttons for setting/muting alarms, and a touch-sensitive linen-covered screen for adjusting the volume/brightness if you don’t want to go the old-fashioned route). It’ll run you through a short tutorial upon setup, so you won’t have to do any guessing.
Its Rise function will support your circadian rhythm, brightening your room slowly to mimic the sunrise. You can choose from 10 sunrises, 12 wake-up alarms, and an entire library of sounds. You can easily adjust the sunrise duration, brightness, and volume, giving you complete control over your routine. These features are free, but if you take things to the next level with a premium membership ($5/month), you can add other steps to your routine, like affirmations and guided breathwork.
The Rest feature will help you fall asleep. Same as the sunrise, you can set as many steps as you want. You can choose from 24 sleep sounds, 10 customizable light colours, and three different types of sunsets to help you create the perfect atmosphere for your wind-down routine. If you opt for the premium membership, you can add dreamscapes, sleep stories, meditations, and music to your routine, too.
As expected, you can also use it as a bedside lamp, customizing the colour and brightness to your liking. Its softest settings are great for nighttime reading, and at its highest, it’ll be bright enough to fill your room — you won’t have to use your overheads ever again.
The only real drawback with this option is the investment. At nearly $270, it’s not the most budget-friendly. And, if you want to access any extras, you’ll have to pay a subscription fee on top of that. However, the look and the vast library of free sunrises/sunsets and sounds make it worth the price for most reviewers.
The Philips SmartSleep Wake-Up Light is a tried and true option, amassing over 13,000 reviews on Amazon Canada. It may not have all the extra features of the Hatch Restore 2 (meditations, unique sunrise and sound combinations, etc.), but it’ll give you everything you need to nail down solid night and morning routines.
In the morning, you’ll be roused by gradually increasing light over 20-40 minutes. Starting with soft red and working through orange until reaching bright yellow light, it gives the effect of an actual sunrise. By the time it hits yellow, your chosen nature sound will start at a low volume, intensifying until your room is filled with the sounds of birds chirping or waves crashing (there are five sounds to choose from, or you can wake up with the radio). If you’re not quite ready to rise when it goes off, you can tap the snooze button for nine extra minutes in Dreamland.
At night, you can use the sunrise simulation in reverse wind down. Decreasing light and sound over your chosen duration of time will prepare your body to fall asleep — you won’t even have to count sheep. So long as you don’t grab your phone or tablet while it’s doing its thing, you’ll have an easier time drifting off.
When it’s not functioning as an alarm clock, you can use it as a bedside lamp. It has 20 brightness settings to choose from, so you can easily dial things back as you drift off.
The cons with this option lie with customization. You don’t get complete control over your sunrise, as its programming is quite rigid. You can still adjust duration and volume, but you can’t change the colours, or have as much control over time (as previously mentioned, your sunrise can only run between 20-40 minutes). You also don’t have that many sounds to choose from. However, if you’re looking for a more basic model that does what it sets out to do, you’ll be happy with this choice.
The Casper Glow Light is proof that good things come in small packages. The base is only 4” in diameter, so it won’t take over your entire bedside table — that means you won’t have to relegate your water bottle, lip balm, and other essentials to the floor. Despite its smaller size, it does everything it sets out to do, and it does its job well.
The unique thing about this lamp is that it’s controlled by gestures, making it easy to use even when you’re at your most tired. Simply flip it to turn it on, and it will begin a 45-minute drift pattern by default. Want to increase or decrease the light? Rotate it. Pressing the buttons on either side will pause it — there’s no up or down, so it’s impossible to get wrong. If you only need a little bit of light, give it a shake. You can even carry it with you like a portable night light when you need to grab a drink or go to the bathroom.
Designed to help you sleep better and ease into your day on the right foot, it offers both sunset and sunrise features. While the majority of its settings are controlled via gestures for ease of use, you can do more fine-tuning and scheduling with the Casper app. It’ll allow you to choose the dimming/brightening times, adjust the overall brightness, and manage your Glow Light groups.
Your Glow Light groups will allow you to keep everything in sync. If you flip one, all of the Glow Lights in your group follow suit and turn on/off. This feature comes in especially handy if you have a partner who tends to doze off before you without turning out their light.
Unlike the other models on this list, the Glow Light doesn’t have any sound functions, it’s all about creating the right atmosphere for sleeping and rising through light. If you don’t need any sounds to rouse you and want to keep your morning and night routine extra peaceful, this might be your match.
The Philips SmartSleep Connected Sleep & Wake-Up Light is a well-rounded option that’ll have you falling asleep easily and waking up refreshed. With a bevy of smart features and in-app customization, you’ll be able to tailor your routine to meet your needs.
You can set it up via the touchscreen interface or via the companion app. If you’re working with the touchscreen, you have the option to set two different alarms. These are completely customizable with the time, light intensity, simulation duration, type of sound, and volume. If you want to do more fine-tuning and create even more alarm options, use the app. You can even use it to set preferences, like which days you need to wake up, so you won’t have to remember to turn it on or off.
The sunrise simulation is defaulted to 30 minutes, but can be adjusted from 5-40 minutes in-app (in increments of five minutes). If you want to use sounds, you have the option of eight nature sounds or radio.
As with most models, the sunset function is the reverse of the sunrise, and you can pair it with slowly fading sounds (it comes preloaded with three relaxing options). For those who want to take their self-care routine to the next level, the RelaxBreathe function will come in handy. It has seven presets and rhythms that you can pair with the light settings, and will give you prompts to inhale and exhale. If you’re looking to swap out your nightly scrolling ritual with something a touch healthier, you’ll love this (plus there’s no paywall!).
As with other models, you can also use the light independently of the alarm for reading. You can also use it as a speaker if you plug your phone in via an aux cord, but unfortunately, you can’t use your music as an alarm sound.
All in all, if you’re looking for customizable settings and a light that’s easy to use with and without an app, this may be the right model for the job.
This Hatch model is will help create healthy sleeping habits for your baby, and grow with them, too. Far from a one-trick pony, it’s a sleep machine, night light, and, of course, sunrise alarm. It’s also chock-full of features that’ll come in handy when raising your little one.
With Time-to-Rise and Time-for-Bed settings, you can create the perfect sleep and nap schedules for your child. The colours and sounds are completely customizable, allowing you to create a bespoke routine based on their needs. If your little one is afraid of the dark, you can set the machine to nightlight mode with the brightness and colour of your choosing. It also works as a sleep machine, meaning you can block out any less-than-peaceful noises and fill their room with the sounds of a heartbeat, white noise, or the ocean (there are 18+ options to choose from).
If you want to take their experience to the next level, you may want to subscribe to Hatch+ ($5/month). It’s definitely not 100% necessary, but it’ll give you even more custom features to dig into, most notably the Sleep Library, which is filled with bedtime stories, curated playlists, dreamscapes, guided rest exercises, and additional curated sleep content.
As for design, it has quick access buttons that you can use to control the night light and volume, but everything else can be managed remotely through the app.
In short, this is a great option for any parent seeking to help their child create a solid sleep routine. And, since all the features can be adjusted to meet their changing needs, they can use it throughout their childhood.
Disclaimer: The prices displayed are accurate at the time of publication. We’ll do our best to keep them as up-to-date as possible, but you may see slight changes.