Comparison

Light Alarm vs Hours Given

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Light Alarm

This app uses gradually increasing light and sound to gently wake you from deep sleep, promoting a more refreshed feeling. It utilizes your phone's flashlight and offers customizable bird singing sounds to enhance your morning routine.

Highlights
  • Gradual light and sound increase
  • Simulates sunrise
  • Customizable bird sounds
  • Uses phone flashlight
  • Promotes refreshed waking
Features
Read full description

Slowly increasing light and sound in the mornings will help you to get out of deep sleep. You know, scientist have found that this is good for health! Put your phone near your bed so you're not covering the flashlight. You can even use a tripod, since the light goes from both sides of your iPhone. We already put in the best possible bird singing sounds, but if you wish, they can be turned off. Important: App needs to be active in the foreground for light alarm to work!

About

Hours Given

Read full description

Hours Given is a private life audit and daily review app for understanding where your hours went and choosing what to protect next. REVIEW WHAT YOU KNOW Track an activity in the moment, add past time, or reconstruct a day by typing. Save known periods incrementally. Leave unresolved time Open, or explicitly mark it Unknown. Rest does not need to be justified, and the app does not pretend every minute is known. TRY A 7-DAY LIFE AUDIT The optional free audit opens a fixed seven-date window. Starting it creates no activity entries or reminders. Only Day Reviews you complete become evidence; untouched dates stay untouched. CHOOSE WHAT COMES NEXT See What Today Became and choose Tomorrow's Anchor: one realistic part of tomorrow you want to protect. Follow reviewed evidence through Moments, Days, Patterns, Trajectory and Legacy as enough history becomes available. Authored reflections and Life Chapters remain your words, not an identity assigned by the app. PRIVATE AND LOCAL-FIRST Your primary archive stays on your device. Hours Given has no in-app account, advertising, third-party tracking, remote analytics or external AI service. Optional Calendar and Motion context requires your permission and stays a suggestion until you review and save it. On-device speech reconstruction is optional when supported; typing remains available. HELP AND FEEDBACK Report a bug, describe something confusing, or suggest an improvement. Write a message, optionally choose up to three screenshots and include app/device details, then preview before sharing by email. Activity records and logs are never added automatically. Email services process what you choose to share. Unsent drafts remain on your device; cancellation or failure keeps your draft. If Mail is not configured, copy or share the prepared report with an email app you use. FREE AND PREMIUM Free includes the daily capture, review and correction loop, the 7-Day Life Audit, current Week, your first eligible evidence-grounded reflection, access to existing authored material, raw archive export, a readable archive summary, privacy and deletion controls, and purchase restoration. Premium adds repeated eligible reflections and cross-window synthesis, earlier Weeks, Month and Year views, Pattern Evidence, What Changed, Trajectory Explorer, new Life Chapters and extended archive search. Sparse or uncertain evidence is not turned into a confident conclusion. A lapse does not take away your existing authored material, correction, ownership exports or deletion controls. Subscriptions renew unless canceled in your Apple Account settings. Restore Purchases and Manage Subscription are available in the app. Hours Given reflects allocation and intention, not a productivity score. Open time can stay open. Unknown time can stay unknown. PRIVACY POLICY https://hoursgiven.com/privacy TERMS OF USE https://hoursgiven.com/terms SUPPORT https://hoursgiven.com/support

Screenshots

Light Alarm4 screens
Hours Given4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Hours Given at 5.0 against Light Alarm's 3.6. Hours Given also leads on update cadence (every 2 months vs every 7 months). Light Alarm's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 2) and ratings volume (74 vs 1). On price, ads and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Hours Given sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per month. Light Alarm asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Hours Given holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Light Alarm has 74 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Light Alarm ships an update every 7 months, Hours Given every 2 months. Both last shipped on October 24, 2026.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Light Alarm versus Hours Given: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLight AlarmHours Given
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.6 (74 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews54.7% of reviews—
Number of ratings74 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 7 monthsEvery 2 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS14.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size7 MB46 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPavel AlekseevMohamed Sow

Customer experience

Light Alarm

All ratings74 ratings
Positive62.2%
Neutral10.8%
Negative27.0%
Written reviews86 reviews
Positive54.7%
Neutral19.8%
Negative25.6%

Hours Given

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Light Alarm

Reported bugs

19 issues
  • Alarm doesn't go off when phone is locked
  • App closes/cancels alarm after updates
  • Alarm volume resets to low
  • App forgets time in the middle of the night
  • Sound aspect of alarm stops functioning after a few weeks
Show 14 more
  • App doesn't work when phone is locked
  • Alarm doesn't sound when screen is locked
  • Erratic performance, works sporadically
  • Bird sounds cannot be turned off
  • Wake up time cannot be set
  • Doesn't work in the background
  • Volume issues, alarm volume decreases
  • App doesn't work unless held open
  • No settings menu
  • Light is too bright initially
  • Transition is too quick
  • Consumes too much battery
  • Alarm doesn't ring if phone is locked
  • App doesn't work when phone is in sleep mode

Requested features

20 requests
  • Gradually increasing alarm volume
  • Option to pick maximum alarm volume
  • Adjustable fade-in duration for light
  • Option to disable bird sounds
  • Horizontal version for older iPhones
Show 15 more
  • Option to set light transition time
  • Menu of different sounds
  • Control over light brightness and fade
  • Screen turns off completely during sleep
  • Ability to run in background/from Lock Screen
  • Option for screen-only light (no flashlight)
  • Option to choose front or back light only
  • Ability to set recurring alarms
  • Fade out option for sunset light
  • Support for older iOS versions (iOS 9)
  • More gradual sunrise effect (10+ minutes)
  • Option to choose start and end light colors
  • Help button/instructions
  • Ability to adjust bird sound volume
  • Option to mute sound

Hours Given

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Light Alarm

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

Hours Given

Subscriptions2
  • Premium Monthly$5.991 Month
  • Premium Annual$39.991 Year

Questions

Is Light Alarm free?
Light Alarm is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Hours Given free?
Hours Given is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Light Alarm or Hours Given?
Hours Given is rated higher. Light Alarm averages 3.6 out of 5 from 74 ratings, while Hours Given averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Light Alarm or Hours Given have ads?
Neither Light Alarm nor Hours Given shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Light Alarm or Hours Given?
Light Alarm ships an update every 7 months, and Hours Given every 2 months. Most recently, Light Alarm was updated on October 24, 2026 and Hours Given on October 24, 2026.

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