Everything in the app, and how to use it.

Rings through anything

Silent switch, a Focus, the app closed or force-quit. The ring is iOS's own on a locked device and the Night Stand's when the clock is on the screen.

Where: allow alarms when the app asks. The clock and the Barn warn when iOS has not allowed them.

Must finish

The alarm returns after every Stop until the challenge is done, for as long as it takes. A snooze never needs the challenge; finishing always does.

Where: the alarm's To finish section. Turn it off to cap the follow-ups.

Snooze on their terms

Allow a number of snoozes of a chosen length before the honest chain begins. The alert says how many are left. The Snooze button is on the ring and on the challenge screen, so a kid who tapped Wake up on the lock screen still has a way to snooze; the lock screen itself has only Stop and Wake up, and the alert's title says what Stop does.

Where: the alarm's Snooze section.

Up by

Name a time of the morning. Until then every Stop or Snooze buys the snooze minutes, as often as they like and never past that time; then the follow-ups take over.

Where: Snooze › Up by, 10 to 60 minutes after the ring.

Check back

For the kid who finishes and climbs back in. 5 to 30 minutes after the challenge a quiet "Still up?" asks for one tap, on the clock or as a notification. No tap within two minutes and the alarm rings again, with the challenge, and keeps coming back. The report says which happened.

Where: the alarm's After the challenge section.

Wake-up styles

Gentle starts soft and stays soft. Standard ramps over a minute. Heavy sleeper ramps, buzzes every second as hard as you set, and switches to an energetic sound after a while. Quiet start begins with the buzz and the screen alone, lets the sound in after a wait you set, and never passes a ceiling you set, for a shared room.

Where: the alarm's wake-up style. Styles shape the ring on the Night Stand; a locked device rings at the system alarm volume.

Alarm volume

The Lock Screen alarm rings at iOS's own alarm volume, which has its own slider under Settings › Sounds on iOS 27; it is not the media volume, and no app can change it. The Night Stand's ring plays at the family's Sound level, under the device's volume, and the app turns the media volume up for the ring and back down after.

Where: Settings › Sound for the family's levels; iOS Settings › Sounds for the alarm volume.

Sunrise

Over 5 to 30 minutes before the ring the clock lifts from its night brightness, a warm light grows from the bottom of the screen, and birdsong joins softly over the second half. Moo gets up with a stretch.

Where: the alarm's Before the ring section.

Lights with the alarm

Pick lights from your Home app and the Night Stand brings them up with the sunrise, from a glimmer to the brightness you choose at the ring, the way a sunrise lamp does; without a sunrise they come on at the ring. Only the lights you pick are touched, and nothing about your home leaves the device.

Where: the alarm's editor › Before the ring › Lights. HomeKit; the Night Stand has to be on screen.

Your voice as the alarm

Pick one of your recordings and the Night Stand rings with it, played again with a breath between until the kid starts the challenge. A 2018 study at Nationwide Children's Hospital found a mother's recorded voice woke 86 to 91 percent of sleeping children aged 5 to 12, against 53 percent for a tone, and got them out of the room in under half a minute. The locked device keeps the alarm sound, since iOS can only ring with a sound that ships inside the app.

Where: Wake-up sound › Your voice. Needs The Whole Herd for the recording.

A song from Apple Music

A song from your library wakes the kid on the Night Stand or plays at bedtime. The app prepares it ten seconds ahead so it starts the moment the alarm does; the alarm's recording is the backup whenever a song cannot play. Play it here for a moment, in the alarm's song section, plays the song on this device for a few seconds and says why if it cannot; open the alarm on the kid's device to check it there.

Where: Wake-up sound › A song of your own. The Whole Herd; the device that rings needs Apple Music access and the family's subscription.

The safety alarm

While the Night Stand rings a morning, a system alarm sits half a minute behind it the whole time, and a second one already holds tomorrow. A crash, a quit or a kid who closes the app still gets a ring within half a minute, and its Wake up button brings the morning back.

Where: nowhere to set; it is how the engine works.

One ring at a time

Two alarms due the same minute on a shared device ring one after the other, each with its own challenge.

Where: automatic.

Rehearse it

The whole morning on this device right now: the sound, the challenge, the message and the morning screen, with a Rehearsal tag at the top. Nothing is written into the report, no snooze is offered, and the real alarm stays set. When it's over, the alarm's editor opens again.

Where: the bottom of an alarm's editor.

Duplicate, move or delete

Swipe an alarm in the kid's list or press and hold it, or open it: Duplicate copies the alarm, For moves it to anyone else in the herd, and Delete removes it. Past mornings stay in the report.

Where: the kid's list, and the bottom of the alarm's editor.

Skip next, holidays, and pausing

Sick day or sleepover: skip the next ring and the alarm carries on after. Thanksgiving week or the winter break: Holidays is a list you plan ahead, each with its first day off and the day the alarms come back; on those days no alarm rings for anyone, wake lights included, every alarm's next ring steps over them, and the one under way can be ended early. Switch an alarm off to pause it.

Where: swipe the alarm in the kid's list; Holidays is in the Barn's Everyone section.

Their own alarm, within bounds

For the teen who wants to set their own alarm and the parent who wants a backstop: choose a window, say 6:00 to 7:30, and on their own device they move their alarms anywhere inside it and pick the wake-up sound if you allow it. The days, the challenge, the all-herd alarm and a wake light stay yours, and the alarm's row says when they last set it.

Where: the kid's page in the Barn › Their own alarm.

Just once

An alarm for one morning, a field trip or an early flight: choose Just once and the day in the alarm's editor. It rings that morning, then switches itself off and stays in the list; turn it on again for the next day at that time.

Where: the alarm's editor › Repeats.

The all-herd alarm

One alarm for everyone on the days you choose, with a sunrise and a check back for everyone. On those days it stands in for each kid's own alarms, and each kid still finishes it with their own challenge, with the lights in their own room; both are set per kid in the same editor. One song from your Apple Music library can be the ring for everyone, the same on every Night Stand, with the alarm sound as the Lock Screen's backup (The Whole Herd; each ringing device needs Apple Music access). Their rows show those days hollow.

Where: Today › Everyone › Set an all-herd alarm.

Wake light

For little ones who cannot read the clock yet: a plan with no ring. Through the night the clock shows a moon, as the time nears it says Almost morning, and at the time it turns the kid's color with a big sun, plays the sound once if one is set, and waits for a tap on I'm up!, which plays the morning message. No challenge, no snooze, nothing on the Lock Screen; the clock has to be on the screen. The report says when the light came on and when the kid tapped.

Where: Add a wake light on a little kid's page, or the Wake light style on any alarm. Free.

End today's alarm

The parent's way out of a morning: tap the lock in the corner of the ringing alarm and enter the PIN. The report records it.

Where: the ringing screen.

The ring stays on, quieter, while the challenge runs; a song pauses instead and comes back after a snooze. If a parent needs to end it early, the lock in the corner takes the PIN.

Written by you

Type it, and the app reads it aloud in a voice you pick. Longer than a sticky note, shorter than a speech.

Where: Messages › Add. Pick who it is for and when it plays.

In your own voice

Make a Personal Voice under iOS Settings › Accessibility (about fifteen minutes of reading aloud) and allow Moo Dreams to use it. Written messages are then read in your voice, on the device that has it.

Where: the voice picker on a written message. Setting up a parent's phone or a shared device asks too.

A recording from somewhere else

A voice memo, a recording from another app, or a file: share it to Moo Dreams from Voice Memos, or tap Import a recording in Messages and pick the file. Say who it is from and whom it is for, like a recording made here; the first ten minutes are kept.

Where: Voice Memos › Share › Moo Dreams, or Messages › Import a recording. The Whole Herd, like any recording.

Recorded by family

A parent, a grandparent, an older sibling: anyone in the herd can record, up to ten minutes: a word for the morning, or a story for bedtime. Listen back, choose the kids, and say whether it plays at wake-up or at bedtime.

Where: Messages › Record. The Whole Herd.

The positive pack

About sixty lines, written for the age band, on rotation so nothing repeats soon. One a morning, after the family's own.

Where: Messages › Positive pack. Switch off the lines you don't want and add your own.

The faith pack

Forty-eight verses from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Off until a parent turns it on.

Where: Messages › Faith pack.

The fun pack

About a hundred jokes, riddles and facts, one closing the morning's messages after your own and the kind line. Jokes for the younger bands, riddles and facts for everyone; a joke or a riddle shows its question first, and the answer waits for Tell me! Add your own jokes, switch off any line, or switch the pack off.

Where: Messages › Fun pack. On from the start.

Rules

Any day, chosen weekdays, one date, just once, or after a night with a certain mood. For the morning alarm, after a nap, either, or at bedtime, where the message plays at the end of the check-in before the sounds start. Dated messages go first on their day.

Where: on each message.

A message is waiting

If the kid only tapped Stop on the lock screen, a time-sensitive notification says a message is waiting, and it plays the first time the app opens that morning.

Where: automatic. Notifications need to be allowed on that device.

Sender variety

When several people have recorded, the picker spreads them out across the week so it is not always Dad.

Where: automatic.

Their look

A palette (Moonlight, Lavender, Mint, Sky, Ember, or their own colour), digits or an analog dial, the type's size and weight, seconds and the date on or off.

Where: Settings › Night Stand › Look and places, or the kid's page in the Barn.

Places

Drag the clock and the details block anywhere on the screen, once for upright and once for sideways. Moo keeps out from under them.

Where: Look and places › Arrange.

A photo

Their own picture behind the clock, under a dark veil you set, so the digits stay readable. With Family sync on, it travels with the profile to a new device.

Where: Look and places › Background.

What will ring

A footnote under the details names the next alarm's wake-up sound: the song's title, the recording's name, or the alarm sound. While nothing plays it names last night's sleep mix.

Where: automatic, under the kid's name on the clock.

Two brightnesses

One for the evening, one after wind-down. The sunset eases the clock to the second over the minutes before wind-down, and it comes back up before the alarm.

Where: Settings › Night Stand.

The sky

On the charger, with a black background and A livelier Moo on, the clock gets a sky: stars that shimmer once a minute, a handful of them bright, a crescent moon on the side away from the clock, a shooting star every minute or two, and Moo over the moon every few minutes.

Where: Settings › This device › A livelier Moo, and the charger.

It follows the sun

Daylight while the sun is up, a warm dawn and dusk around sunrise and sunset, night in between. The times come from your time zone; allow an approximate location once and they are on the minute.

Where: Settings › Night Stand › Exact sunrise and sunset. The Today row shows the times.

Moo

Awake, she blinks, glances, flicks an ear, grazes and strolls to a new spot now and then. At wind-down she walks off to bed; she is back at dawn or when the morning begins. Tap her for a hop and a Moo. More on the Meet Moo page.

Where: Settings › This device › A livelier Moo.

Stars for on-time mornings

Every morning finished within ten minutes of the ring puts a gold star in the kid's sky, beside the moon on the charger or where the moon would be on a black Night Stand, with First star or 5 in a row under their name; the morning screen shows the row and the count. A late, stopped or missed morning starts the count again; a sick day, a morning you ended and a wake light's morning neither add nor take away. It is the same streak the morning report shows. Nothing is earned or spent: it is there to see. On a black clock they are drawn larger, so they read as stars without a moon beside them.

Where: automatic. The count is in the morning report under Streak.

Keeps the screen awake

The screen stays on all night by design, with a slow drift so nothing burns in. The TimelineView ticks once a minute; nothing animates continuously.

Where: automatic. Keep the device on its charger.

A nap

Tap the clock and choose A nap: the moon until the nap is over, then the sun with a sound, until the kid taps it. Tap the clock again for End the nap. For little ones and kids with a wake light.

Where: tap the clock › A nap, 30 minutes to 2 hours.

A kid's own device

On their own iPhone or iPad a tap opens their area: their alarms, their clock settings and A livelier Moo, with no PIN. The alarms are yours to set; with Their own alarm turned on for them, a teen can move theirs inside the window you choose. The Barn is still a press and hold away for a parent.

Where: Settings › This device › Role › A kid's bedside device.

Sunset

Over the minutes before wind-down the clock eases from its evening brightness to the night brightness, an ember light rises along the bottom of the screen and sinks again like a real dusk, and the crickets come in softly over the second half, so bedtime announces itself before the check-in opens.

Where: Settings › Night Stand › Sunset, 5 to 30 minutes or Off; a quarter hour unless you change it.

Wind-down time

One time for the house. The sunset ends, the clock sits at its night brightness, Moo goes to bed, and a reminder notification carries the mood question for when the app is closed.

Where: Settings › Bedtime.

The check-in

Five faces and an optional "what's on your mind": words a parent chose, plus "Nothing much". Teens and grown-ups can add a private note that no one else sees. The mood drives the recommendation; the words go to the report.

Where: tap the clock › Time to sleep, or wait for it.

On their mind

Up to six words you write for each kid (a test, a friend, practice) that the check-in offers before "Nothing much". The morning report tallies them.

Where: the kid's page in the Barn.

A goodnight message

A recording or a written message the family marked for bedtime plays at the end of the check-in, before the sounds start, with Good night to finish: a grandparent's story, a parent's prayer, a word for a worried night.

Where: Messages › Record, At bedtime; or Plays at › Bedtime on any message.

Sleep sounds

Up to three layers at once from two shelves: ten loops of the world outside that repeat without a step (rain on the window, on a tent and on a tin roof, heavy rain with thunder, a fireplace, the crackle of a record, winter wind, ocean waves, a forest night with crickets, a city at night), and twenty quiet pieces of sleep music, one at a time under them. Each layer has its own level. A song from Apple Music can play underneath.

Where: Settings › Night Stand › Sleep sounds; the parent sets a kid's mix from the kid's page.

The timer

15 to 90 minutes with a slow fade, or until two minutes before the alarm. Sounds keep playing with the screen locked and can be stopped from the Lock Screen.

Where: the check-in, or the mixer.

A minute of breathing

On a worried or sad night the check-in offers a breathing circle and a calming line before the sounds start.

Where: offered by the check-in.

The pre-flight

At bedtime the app checks what tomorrow needs: the media volume, the charger, the battery, and whether iOS still allows alarms. Anything wrong is said out loud and written into the morning.

Where: the end of the check-in.

Today

Every kid's morning at a glance: up at, snoozes, minutes to finish, last night's mood, the next alarm. Warnings for anything that could stop a ring.

Where: the Barn's first screen.

The morning report

Two weeks per kid: the on-time streak, snoozes, how long the challenge took, whether the check back needed to ring again, the bedtime mood and the "on their mind" tally. Built from the device's own history, so it works without sync. Time in bed, from the check-in to the wake, per morning and as an average, with a plain word on how it sits against what is advised at the kid's age; the hours and their source are in the Guide. When a kid moves their own alarm, the report lists it under Their own alarm for two weeks: the time they chose and when.

Where: Barn › Morning report.

Not up yet

On your phone, with sync on: when a kid's alarm rang on their device and a set number of minutes later nothing says the morning was finished, a notification tells you. It clears itself when word arrives.

Where: Settings › Mornings on this phone, 10 to 60 minutes, default 20.

Sound

Three family levels, under the device's volume: the sleep sounds, the ring on the Night Stand and the messages. The Lock Screen alarm rings at the device's own alarm volume, which no app can lower.

Where: Settings › Sound.

Adding an alarm

A new alarm starts blank: Pick a time, choose the days or Just once with its day, then Done; Cancel takes the draft away again. New alarms start on school days.

Where: the kid's page › Add an alarm.

Device roles

A shared device rings for everyone. A kid's bedside device rings for its kid. A parent's phone rings only for the grown-up it was given, never for the kids.

Where: Settings › This device › Role.

Grown-ups in the herd

Add yourself: your own alarms, challenges, messages and bedtime check-in, in plain words.

Where: Add someone › A grown-up.

Age bands

A birthday sets the tone: little ones get playful words and messages read aloud; teens get calm, plain copy, and their bedtime note stays theirs.

Where: the kid's profile.

The Guide

Every feature has a page inside the app, in the same words as this one.

Where: Barn › Guide.

The log export

Instead of analytics: the last day of the alarm engine's own notes, names left out, as a text file you can read or send. It leaves the device only when you share it.

Where: Settings › Diagnostics › Export the log.

Farm words

The Herd, the Barn, the Rancher, Sunrise and Moonrise, or Family, Parent area, Parent, Wake-up and Bedtime. One switch.

Where: Settings › This device.

Same Apple Account

Turn sync on and the devices find each other. Kids, alarms, messages, recordings, the Night Stand photo and every morning travel.

Where: Settings › Family sync.

Another account

A kid's own Apple Account or the other parent's joins by scanning the pairing code on your phone, or by opening an invitation link. A device that joins this way starts as a kid's bedside device.

Where: Settings › Family sync › Show the pairing code / Send an invitation.

Within moments

Save an alarm on your phone and the bedside device arms it within seconds, awake or not, through a silent push.

Where: automatic.

"Ava is up"

Your phone gets a banner when a kid finishes, only stops, or misses a morning, and the report fills in.

Where: automatic, with notifications allowed on your phone.

The devices list

Every device in the herd and when it last checked in. A bedside device that has gone quiet since yesterday may be off or flat.

Where: Settings › Family sync.

Starting over

Start over on this device clears only this device. Erase the herd from iCloud removes what your account keeps there; every device keeps its copy and asks what to do. A reinstall on the same account offers to bring the herd back.

Where: the bottom of Settings › Family sync.

The next-alarm widget

Home Screen, Lock Screen and iPhone StandBy: who rings next, when, and whether a challenge waits.

Where: add it like any widget.

The wake Live Activity

While an alarm rings on a locked iPhone, the Dynamic Island and Lock Screen show it in the kid's colours with Wake up and Stop.

Where: automatic.