iOS 26 calendar alarm apps, compared on public facts
Since iOS 26 added AlarmKit, several apps turn calendar events into real alarms that ring through Silent mode and Focus. We make one of them (KeyAlarm), so this page sticks to what anyone can verify on the App Store, plus a checklist for testing any of them yourself.
01Store facts (US App Store, fetched September 6, 2026)
| App | Developer | List price | Minimum iOS | Languages listed | First release |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| KeyAlarm | Lightning LLC | Free | iOS 26.0+ | 8 | 2026-08-26 |
| Cal Alarms: Calendar Alarm | Soon Up GmbH | $1.99 | iOS 26.0+ | 1 | 2026-02-27 |
| AlarmCal:Daily Routine Planner | Ki Hong Ryoo | Free | iOS 26.0+ | 1 | 2025-12-03 |
| Timely Alarms | Marc Aupont | Free | iOS 26.0+ | 9 | 2025-09-15 |
| Unmissable: Calendar Alarm | Remi Herbiet | Free | iOS 26.0+ | 44 | 2025-09-15 |
| Beacon: Calendar Alarms | Jerremy Stroman | Free | iOS 26.1+ | 2 | 2025-09-21 |
| Cannot Ignore - Super Alarms | Cephalopod Studio LLC | Free | iOS 26.0+ | 1 | 2025-12-01 |
| Alertcal | Scott Foster | $1.99 | iOS 26.0+ | 1 | 2026-02-24 |
| OnTimer - Never be late | Ethan Garr | Free | iOS 18.0+ | 1 | 2026-03-03 |
"List price" is the download price shown on the store; in-app purchases and trials differ per app and are not compared here. Most of these apps have fewer than 30 ratings, so we do not compare star ratings. OnTimer lists iOS 18 as its minimum, which means its alarms on iOS 18 cannot be AlarmKit alarms; the others require iOS 26. Data comes from Apple's public lookup service and may change; check each store page for the current values.
02What KeyAlarm does (our own product, so read with that in mind)
- Register a keyword once; every calendar event whose title contains it gets an alarm automatically. Or pick a whole calendar.
- Several lead times per keyword (for example 30 minutes and 5 minutes before).
- No account, no server, App Store privacy label "Data Not Collected".
- Free for 30 days, then a one-time purchase. No subscription.
- 8 languages: English, Japanese, Simplified and Traditional Chinese, Korean, Spanish, German, French.
We have not tested the other apps' feature sets in depth and won't characterize them here. Their store pages and screenshots are the right place to look.
03How to test any calendar alarm app in ten minutes
- Silent switch on, Focus on. Create a test event five minutes out. Does it ring, full screen, until you stop it? That is the AlarmKit behaviour you are paying for.
- Change the event. Move it by ten minutes. Does the alarm move with it, without duplicates?
- Force-quit the app before the alarm time. It should still ring; AlarmKit alarms belong to the system once registered.
- Check the privacy label on the store page. A calendar alarm app has no reason to collect anything.
- Check what happens at the end of a trial. Already-registered alarms should keep ringing.
04Further reading
How to make iPhone calendar events ring on Silent mode (including the free workarounds without any app) · Engineering notes on shipping an AlarmKit app · KeyAlarm product page
KeyAlarm launches on Product Hunt on September 8. Follow the page to get notified: producthunt.com/products/keyalarm