Here’s your one-stop primer to changing the alarm sound on your Android phone and getting the wake-up you deserve.
While the official ClockHug stance is, naturally, that you should consider getting your own alarm clock, it isn’t advice that is always followed. And that goes for ClockHug writers, not just readers.
If you are using an Android phone (think Samsung or the like, not Apple) as your alarm clock then you might already have a strong disdain for the default melody that awakens you each morning. Don’t worry, it isn’t hard to change, including to music from apps like Spotify.
Here, we’ll look into how to change the alarm sound on Android phones and what alarm sounds are the best:
How to Change the Alarm Sound on Android Phones
Let’s start with the basics, getting your alarm sound changed. This technique should work to change your alarm sound on Samsung and Android phones a majority of the time:
1) Open your Clock app, then tap the alarm you want to change the alarm sound of.
2) Tap ‘Alarm sound’ to change the alarm sound. Tapping the switch on the right will turn the alarm sound on/off.
3) In the next section, choose the type of alarm sound you like by tapping your choice. To change the ringtone (you’ll see the current selection below ‘Ringtone’) tap it and a new menu will appear.
While Bixby, Spotify, and Ringtone are the most common choices to see here — and the three we’ll cover in this article — you’re likely to see other news, music, and audiobook apps you enjoy as well.
The mini-guides below should help you get an idea as to how to operate them in a general sense, but if there is one that you think deserves its own guide or special section be sure to let us know about it in the comments below.
Using the Bixby Alarm
If you aren’t familiar with it yet, Bixby is Samsung’s personal assistant companion.
Tap Bixby when following the instruction above to use the Bixby alarm. If you do, you’ll hear an elevator shuffle tune and then Bixby will read out to you:
- The current time.
- A brief synopsis of the weather. (Possibly)
- Recent news headlines.
- A wish for a great day.
Note that despite saying Bixby will give you the weather, this is not always true. Additionally, Bixby speaks quickly and without proper intonation, so it is quite possible you will miss part of the headlines. This is especially true if you wake up a bit groggy.
When done, the Bixby alarm will return to the elevator shuffle music and not repeat the readouts.
Overall, Bixby is a disappointing alarm. If you want spoken words, you are better off using the Spotify alarm.
Using Spotify as an Alarm
By tapping Spotify, you can choose a Spotify playlist (either one you have created or one that was created by Spotify for you) as your morning alarm.
If you like to wake up to the spoken word, try choosing a podcast. Choosing a foreign language or personal growth podcast is a great way to start making progress on your goals first thing in the morning. The alarm will automatically save your spot in the podcast so you can resume where you left off the next time your alarm goes off.
Another great choice of spoken word alarm sound is an audiobook. Your saved audiobooks won’t appear in the scroll-down menu. Instead, hit the search button and type in the title of the book you want to listen to. The book will appear under playlists with the book title and the word “audiobook” next to it.
Using Ringtone as an Alarm
The Ringtone section is the default way how to change the alarm sound on Android phones and has a variety of tones to choose from:
- Asteroid — Electronic boops and beeps. Starts quiet and fades into full strength. Features annoying high-pitched tones with a deep accompanying melody.
- Atomic Bell — Sounds like a classic phone ring, but using an electronic bell.
- Beep Once — A single beep, followed by silence, then another beep. Sounds vaguely reminiscent of a heart monitor or hospital alert beep.
- Beep-Beep — Like “Beep Once” but with a double beep. Great if you want to wonder if you truly made it home safe last night as your first thoughts in the morning.
- Chime Time — Similar to the default “Homecoming” but with chimes. Has an awkward ending when the sound loops around.
- Comet — The best alarm sound on Android from ‘Ringtone’ by far. It awakes you peacefully, but forcibly, and sounds somewhat like French 79’s “Between the Buttons.“
- Cosmos — A drippy sort of electronic beat. Peaceful, starts slow.
- Finding Galaxy — A very peaceful electronic melody. Good for a soft, gentle waking period.
- hangout_ringtone — Just six notes on a keyboard, over and over and over again…
- Homecoming — The default alarm sound. You probably hate this one by now.
- Moon Discovery — Smooth jazz? Elevator music? You decide!
- Neptune — An electronic beat with grating high-pitched notes. One of the louder ‘Ringtone’ tunes.
- Orbit — An echoey array of electronic beats that build in volume and pitch.
- Outer Bell — An annoying alarm sound that is reminiscent of those “out of oxygen” warnings in video games.
- Over the Horizon — The default phone call ringtone. Wake up to the fear that you overslept your alarm, it is noon, and your boss is calling!
- Over the Horizon by SUGA of BTS — There’s a touch of singing in this one if you wait through it for a while. But, no, your BTS crush isn’t calling you.
- Planet — A electronic boop and jingle mix that starts strong and fades out. Quickly loops.
- Pluto — No longer worthy of the planet status, there are no boops or jingles here. A sort of “whistling” version of “Planet.”
- Polaris — Straight out of an 8-bit video game set in space. Whimsical, with notes, chimes, and just a bit of space whirrrrr…
- Puddles — Some rising, melodic beats. If you listen closely you’ll hear some people chant “Hey!” once every loop. It might be just enough to force your curious ear to take notice in the morning.
- Quantum Bell — All boop, no bell. This alarm has a stream of similar-tone boops, with alternating higher and lower beeps for contrast.
- Satellite — A peaceful melody. Is this 80’s music?
- Shooting Star — Thinly played chimes. Mostly soft, with a few punctuating notes.
- Sky High — The background sounds like the opener to a pop-rock sound with the song’s piercing beats adding annoying high-pitched notes to get your attention.
- Space Bell — All boop, no bell. A quick burst of alerting boop sounds.
- Sunlight — Sounds like the opener to a thriller set in 3023. Surprisingly catchy.
- Synth Bell — Chimes. They don’t sound any more synthetic than all of the other (already synthetic-sounding) alarms, though.
- Universe Bell — Muted and high-pitched. Would likely be a bit scary and jarring to wake up to.
- The Voyage (Many forms.) — Legitimately nice music with piano and violin. Below “The Voyage” there are also acoustic, EDM, epic, jazz piano, pop remix, R&B, and smooth remix versions of this song to choose from.
What’s your favorite thing to listen to as you wake up in the morning? What do you change the alarm sound to on your Android phone? We want to know, so tell us in the comments below!
