4 Ways On How To Set Up An Alarm On Your MacBook

Updated on July 4, 2023
how to set an alarm on mac

If you’ve been wanting to know how to set an alarm on Mac, we compiled together a short but through guide on how to do so, as well as 3 tips to increase your productivity. 

Setting alarms for reminders or events, as well as tweaking a few things here and there on how you use and interact with your MacBook can help you be vastly more productive. 

Some of the things that were going to be talking about today include:

  1. Calendar
  2. Third party applications
  3. Reminders
  4. Using an Online Alarm Clock

If you follow some of these Mac-specific handy tips then you’ll be more productive on your Mac in no time. 

How To Set An Alarm On A MacBook

Calendar

Setting an alarm on your Macbook can easily be done from within the calendar application. You won’t even need to download a third-party software.

1. Click the launchpad application within the dock

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2. Click on the calendar application

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3. Click the day tab, and choose a date on when you want to set your alarm

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4. Right-click the page on the left side of the window, and click on New Event

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5. Type out a name for your event

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6. Choose a time and date for the event

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7. Click the alert box, a drop-down menu will appear.

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8. Select Custom from the drop-down menu

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9. Click on the “Message” drop down menu.

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10. Choose Message with sound

11. Choose your preferred alarm ringtone

If you feel like you want an application on your MacBook that has a greater degree of functionality when it comes to alarms and reminders. Then there are plenty of applications available on the Mac app store. 

You can best use these applications by setting up alarms reminding you to take a break and stand up for 5 mins once every hour. Not only is this good for your health, but it can leave you feeling less fatigued at the end of the day. 

Wake Up Time – Alarm Clock

The first application on the list comes with great reviews on the app store with an average 4.6 rating form over 2700 ratings. The application comes with a variety of different alarm clock sounds ranging from pleasant to an instant wake up the sound if you’re a heavy sleeper.

The app also has a simple yet retro design to it, that might remind you of some of Apple’s design language from the early 2000s. You can change the settings within the app that allows you to alter things such as snooze length, switching to 24-hour times, as well as adding custom alarm sounds. 

To download Wake Up Time, click on the link here

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Wakefy

The next application will work wonders for you if you have a Spotify account. So to use this application your also going to want to down Spotify beforehand and sign up for an account.

With this, you can set up alarm clocks using songs and playlists straight from Spotify library. So if it’s a favorite tune that you want to wake up to every morning. Then Wakefy is the application for you 

To download Wakefy click on the link here. 

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One caveat that we feel that we have to mention with all these solutions is that they will only work if your MacBook is turned on. Wakefy might be able to turn your MacBook on from sleep, but if it’s shut down then none of your alarms will go off.

Using Night Shift

If you’re also going to be using your MacBook as an alarm clock, then you might want to enable a blue light filter so your eyes aren’t dazled by bright harmful blue rays when you wake up. 

This feature on Macs is called Night Shift. It is essentially a blue light filter,  as it’ll remove all blue light emerging from your screen, and give it a very pale yellow look. 

To enable Night Shift

1. Click on the Apple Logo

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2. Click on System Preferences

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3. Click on Displays

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4. Click on Night Shift

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5. From here you can adjust when you want Night Shift to be active.

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Reminders 

The Reminders application can also be a great way to set alarms and keep track of your daily to do list. With it you can set reminders to go off at specific times and even at specific locations. 

Though the alarms on the reminders apps aren’t as loud as those in the calendars app. So stick to the calendar apps for alarms that you use for waking up. 

To set up alarms using the calendar app.

Step 1: Click on the reminders icon in the dock.

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Step 2:  This is the layout you are greeted with.

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Step 3: Click on the “+” symbol to create a new reminder

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Step 4: Type out the name you want to assign to the reminder

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Step 5: Click on the info icon placed next to your new reminder

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Step 6: A new popup will appear, from here you can change the specifics of the reminder

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Step 7: Click the “On a Day” checkbox to have the reminder remind you at a specific time and day

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Step 8: Click the “At a location” checkbox to have it remind you when you are at a specific location. 

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Step 9: You can change the priority of the reminder from low, medium and high. 

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Step 10: To view your already scheduled alarms click on “Scheduled” in the left hand side menu

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Step 11: From here you can view a list of your upcoming reminders

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Using An Online Alarm Clock

You can also use an online alarm clock on your MacBook if your having issues setting up the built in one for whatever reason. With online alarm clocks you have to make sure you don’t close the alarm clock webpage otherwise the alarm won’t go off. 

Kuku Klok

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Besides the fun name Kuku Klok is pretty simple and easy to use website with a minimalist layout. To set an alarm on Kuko Klok. 

Step 1: You can set the time you want the alarm to go off by adjusting the timer on the clock via the “+” and “-” buttons. 

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Step 2: To change the alarm sound just click on the “>” or “<” symbols to cycle between the different alarm sounds available.

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Step 3: Click on the play button to get a preview of what the alarm clock is going to sound like. 

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Step 4: Once this is all done, just simply click on the set alarm button and your alarm will be set. 

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Conclusion

With all these handy tips and tricks you should now be able to set up alarms and reminders easily on your MacBook. Tell us which applications or method you used by leaving a comment down below. 

Also If you feel we missed out on any really useful tip be sure to leave that down in the comment box below as well!

Article by:
Hassaan Ahmed
Hassaan has been passionate about technology for as long as he remembers, and aims to provide you with all the information you need to find the right laptop for you.

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