From rain sounds to birdsong: set a gentle alarm

In Relaaax, choose a rain track, set an alarm time and select birdsong or bells as the wake-up sound. Enable Gentle start for a three-minute volume rise. Keep the sleep audio playing until morning and test the whole sequence with your phone locked before relying on it overnight.

A quiet beginning may suit your preferred sound, but it must still become audible enough to wake you. This is a sound-setting workflow, not a treatment for insomnia or a promise of better sleep.

Set the rain-to-alarm sequence

1. Open Relaaax, choose a rain track and start playback. Use a built-in or downloaded track if you want the session to work without an internet connection.
2. Open When to stop and choose Alarm. Turn on Wake me up and set the intended time. Check morning versus evening and the displayed alarm time.
3. Choose a Wake-up sound, such as birdsong or bells. Enable Gentle start if you want the volume to rise over three minutes.
4. Keep sleep playback running until the alarm instead of ending it with an earlier sleep timer. The app’s alarm guidance asks you to leave the sleep sound playing until morning.

The alarm replaces the sleep sound with the selected wake-up sound. The gradual rise applies when Gentle start is enabled; it is not a guarantee that an extremely quiet output or disconnected speaker will wake you.

Test a few minutes ahead

Do this while you are awake, in the room and sound setup you intend to use. A preview of birdsong inside the app is not the same test as a scheduled alarm with a locked screen.

Use your normal overnight sound mode, battery settings and audio output during the test. If you normally disconnect headphones before sleep, disconnect them before testing too. Check the output again after changing Bluetooth devices.

Understand Android and iPhone differences

On Android, allow Relaaax’s requested alarm and notification permissions. Exact-alarm permission affects its ability to schedule the fallback precisely. Phone-specific battery and background restrictions can also affect a running sound session; the locked-screen playback guide gives a way to check them one at a time.

On iPhone, the birdsong transition depends on the app’s continuing playback session. If the session is no longer running, the fallback is a local notification with the system’s default notification sound, not the same three-minute birdsong sequence. Notification permission and the phone’s sound and Focus settings therefore matter. Do not assume the behaviour of the built-in Clock alarm applies to this notification.

Test again after changing permissions, overnight modes or the output device. If the test fails, use an alarm you have verified rather than treating an enabled toggle as proof that the scheduled sound will reach you.

Keep a separate backup for an important morning

For a flight, appointment or other fixed commitment, set and test a separate alarm in the phone’s system Clock app or another reliable device. Check its sound, time and volume independently. On Android, Google’s Clock troubleshooting guide covers notification permission, Do Not Disturb, quiet volume and Battery Saver; its advice concerns Clock, not every third-party alarm app.

Use a comfortable listening level for the rain. If you need downloaded audio, follow the offline preparation guide and test the track without internet before bedtime. Before bedtime, confirm that the rain keeps playing, the alarm reaches the right output and you know how to stop it.

Frequently asked questions