Voice missions
Voice missionsThe alarm that makes you say something out loud to turn it off
A voice alarm keeps ringing until you speak: it listens, and it only stops when it hears the right words. WakeOps has three voice missions, Animal noise, Say it out loud and Tongue twisters, all judged by speech recognition on your iPhone, in English.
How it works
- 1
Pick one of the three for the alarm. The table below shows what each one asks.
- 2
When you start the mission, the alarm sound goes quiet so the microphone can hear you. iOS still holds the next alert, so if you leave the mission, the alarm comes back within seconds.
- 3
Say it. The card shows what to say, the screen shows what it heard (“Heard: …”), a quiet tick plays for each word it matches, and a count such as “1 of 3” tracks repetitions.
- 4
Each listening attempt runs for up to 20 seconds. Get it right and the alarm stops. If it misses, tap Try again; after three missed attempts the mission offers Math instead, and the alarm keeps ringing until that is solved.
What you can set
- Animal noise: which animals are in play (rooster, dog, cat, cow, duck, sheep, frog, monkey, horse and pig, plus wolf and snake, which are labeled Experimental and off by default) and how many imitations: 1, 3 or 5, or a custom number up to 10.
- Say it out loud: how many lines, 1 (the default), 2 or 3, or a custom number up to 10, drawn from 40 built-in lines. Or write your own line of up to 90 characters, which is used instead.
- Tongue twisters: Easy is one short twister, Medium one long one, Hard two long ones in a row, from a library of 20.
- The whole tier: Settings, Voice missions. Off hides all three, and an alarm already set to one uses Math instead.
The three voice missions
| Mission | What you do | How it is judged |
|---|---|---|
| Animal noise | Imitate an animal a few times: “Cock-a-doodle-doo!”, “Woof! Woof!”, “Moooo!” | Each imitation is counted in what the recognizer writes down. Wolf and snake are a held howl and a held hiss instead, which is why they are experimental. |
| Say it out loud | Read a ridiculous line aloud, such as “I am a majestic potato, and today I shall conquer the world.” or the deadpan “Rise and suffer.” | Most of the sentence, including its last word, has to be heard. “I'm” for “I am” is fine. |
| Tongue twisters | Read a twister aloud, from “A proper copper coffee pot.” to “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.” | A little more forgiving than a line, because a twister trips up the recognizer as well as the tongue. |
Before you rely on it
Voice missions need two permissions, Microphone and Speech recognition, and the offline English speech model on your iPhone. The mission's settings include a “Ready to listen?” card that checks all three.
If the offline English model is missing, add English under Settings, General, Keyboard, Dictation Languages, and iOS downloads it. Until then the mission offers Math, or online recognition if you choose it.
Then run Try it now once, in your bedroom, at the volume you will manage half asleep.
What voice missions can't do
- Listen in other languages. The lines are English and the recognizer listens for English, even when the rest of the app is in German, French, Japanese or Spanish.
- Stay private in a shared room. Everyone nearby will hear you. For a shared bedroom, choose a quiet mission such as Type it out, or switch the tier off.
- Get you out of bed. You can say a line lying down. If going back to sleep is the problem, add a still-awake check (a second alarm 5, 10 or 15 minutes later) or chain the voice mission with Steps.
- Hear perfectly. A hoarse morning voice or a noisy room can take a second try.
What happens to your voice
Recognition runs on your iPhone and the audio is not saved. Two settings change that, and both are your choice:
- Online recognition is off by default, and the mission only offers it when the offline English model is missing. With it on, your voice is sent to Apple to be turned into words, as with Siri. You can switch it off again in Settings.
- Mission Clips is off unless you turn it on. With it on, a voice mission is filmed with the front camera, with sound, to make a short clip that stays on your iPhone.
A line you write yourself is stored with the alarm on your iPhone and never leaves it.
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
Will I get the same line every morning?
No. A line is drawn for each morning and avoids the one you had last time when there is another to choose from. Leaving and reopening the mission shows the same one, so there is no rerolling.
What happens if I refuse the microphone?
The mission cannot run, so it offers Math straight away and the alarm keeps ringing until that is solved. You can allow the microphone later in iOS Settings.
Why are wolf and snake experimental?
They are judged by how long you hold a howl or a hiss rather than by words, and those limits have not yet been tested on enough phones. They stay out of the pool unless you add them.
