Dance
DanceThe alarm that makes you dance before it stops
A dance alarm keeps ringing until you have actually danced: up, on your feet, arms and legs moving. In WakeOps the Dance mission watches through the front camera, counts every second you are really moving (10 seconds by default), and stops the alarm when the count is reached.
How it works
- 1
Prop the phone up against a lamp, a shelf or a stack of books, facing you, and step back until your whole body is in the frame. It needs to stand up: it judges “upright” against gravity, and a phone lying flat cannot tell which way is down.
- 2
Start moving. A live stick figure is drawn over the camera so you can see what it sees, and it glows coral while what you are doing counts as dancing.
- 3
The counter climbs one second at a time: “6 of 10 seconds”. Stop and it pauses rather than resets, and a stumble of under a second is forgiven.
- 4
When the count is reached, the alarm stops. With Ring during missions on (the default), the alarm keeps sounding while you dance, so you are never dancing in silence.
What you can set
- How long: 10, 20 or 30 seconds (10 by default), or a custom 5 to 120 seconds.
- Your own soundtrack: add a sound from a video in Photos or a file in Files, trimmed to a 10, 15, 20 or 25 second loop, and make it the alarm's sound. With Ring during missions on, it plays while you dance.
- Mission Clips (optional, off unless you turn it on): the dance is filmed with the front camera and becomes a short vertical clip.
- A chain: Dance, then another mission such as Steps, up to five on one alarm.
- Try it now: a free practice run with the real screen.
What counts as dancing
The rule is generous about how you move and strict about whether you move. Doing it well is optional. This is what the camera checks, and what the screen says when it isn't happening:
- Arms and legs, both. One waving hand isn't dancing: “Legs too. Bounce, step, anything.” Bouncing with your arms at your sides gets “Arms too. Throw them around.”
- Upright. Lying in bed and kicking doesn't count. You need to be on your feet, more or less: “Stand up tall.”
- Moving, not posing. Freeze and the clock waits: “Move! The clock waits while you stand still.”
- Your whole body in view. If it can't see you, it says so: step back, and turn a light on.
Movement is measured over a short window rather than frame by frame, so the small jitter in any camera's view cannot count as dancing while you stand still.
Film it, if you want proof
Dancing half asleep is the kind of morning some people want to keep. If you turn on Mission Clips (it is optional, and off unless you say yes during setup or in Settings), WakeOps films the dance from the moment the camera opens to the win and cuts it into a short vertical clip with the time and what you did.
It lives in the app's Clips tab for as long as you choose (until you close it, 7 days or 30 days), and nothing leaves your iPhone unless you share it.
Dance safely
Free to download for iPhone (iOS 17.6 or later). Setting alarms needs WakeOps Premium, an in-app subscription. Every mission can be tried for free.
Common questions
Do I have to dance well?
No. It checks that your arms and legs are moving while you are upright, and nothing about style or rhythm.
Will it work in a small bedroom?
If you can get far enough from the phone for your head and feet to be in frame, yes. Propping the phone on a shelf across the room often solves it.
Does it work in the dark?
No. The camera needs to see your outline, so switch a light on. The screen tells you when it cannot see you.
Is the camera recording me?
Only if you have turned on Mission Clips. Otherwise frames are analyzed on your iPhone and discarded.
