Light Alarm vs Hours Given
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- Gradual light and sound increase
- Simulates sunrise
- Customizable bird sounds
- Uses phone flashlight
- Promotes refreshed waking
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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!
Hours Given
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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
Verdict
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
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.
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.
Light Alarm ships an update every 7 months, Hours Given every 2 months. Both last shipped on October 24, 2026.
| Parameter | Light Alarm | Hours Given |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.6 (74 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 54.7% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 74 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 7 months | Every 2 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 14.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 7 MB | 46 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Pavel Alekseev | Mohamed Sow |
Customer experience
Light Alarm
Hours Given
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
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- 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
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- 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
Light Alarm
No in-app purchases
Hours Given
- Premium Monthly$5.991 Month
- Premium Annual$39.991 Year
Questions
Is Light Alarm free?
Is Hours Given free?
Which has better reviews, Light Alarm or Hours Given?
Do Light Alarm or Hours Given have ads?
Which is updated more often, Light Alarm or Hours Given?
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