alfred-mobile/ALARMS.md

Alarm System

Critical alarms with repeating sound until dismissed

Overview

The Alfred mobile app now supports alarms - notifications that play a sound on repeat and require explicit dismissal. Unlike regular notifications that auto-dismiss, alarms are designed for time-critical events you cannot miss.

Features

🔔 Repeating Sound

• Uses system alarm ringtone (same sound as your device's alarm clock)
• Loops continuously until dismissed
• Full volume (respects system alarm volume)

📳 Repeating Vibration

• Vibration pattern: 500ms on, 500ms off, repeating
• Loops continuously until dismissed
• Can be disabled with --no-vibrate flag

🔒 Persistent Notification

• System notification stays visible until dismissed
• Cannot auto-dismiss (requires user action)
• Marked with ⏰ icon and "ALARM" prefix

✅ Manual Dismissal

• Say "dismiss alarm" or "dismiss alert" in chat
• Alarm stops immediately
• Notification clears

Usage

Scheduled Alarms

# Morning medication at 8am
mobile-notify alarm "08:00" "Take morning medication" --title "Health"

# Doctor appointment tomorrow
mobile-notify alarm "tomorrow 14:30" "Doctor appointment in 10 minutes"

# Critical meeting
mobile-notify alarm "2026-02-10 09:00" "Team standup starts now!"

Instant Alarms

For immediate alarms (rare), use the --alarm flag with alert:

mobile-notify alert "Emergency alert!" --alarm --title "URGENT"

From Alfred

When you ask Alfred to set a reminder, I'll ask if you want a notification or alarm if it's not clear:

User: "Remind me to take my medication at 8am tomorrow"

Alfred: "Would you like a regular notification, or an alarm (repeating sound until dismissed)?"

User: "Alarm please, I can't miss this"

Alfred: ✅ Sets alarm

exec(['mobile-notify', 'alarm', 'tomorrow 08:00', 'Take morning medication', '--title', 'Health'])

When to Use Alarms vs Notifications

Use Alarms For:

• ✅ Medication reminders
• ✅ Critical appointments (doctor, dentist, etc.)
• ✅ Important meetings you can't miss
• ✅ Wake-up alarms
• ✅ Time-sensitive tasks
• ✅ Emergency alerts

Use Notifications For:

• ✅ General reminders
• ✅ Informational alerts
• ✅ Task completion notices
• ✅ Non-urgent events
• ✅ Daily routines

Dismissing Alarms

In-App Dismissal

Type or say any of these:

• "dismiss alarm"
• "dismiss alert"
• "dismiss the alarm"
• "stop alarm"
• "stop the alarm"

The app automatically detects these phrases and dismisses all active alarms.

Notification Dismissal

Currently, you can only dismiss alarms via the app (by saying "dismiss alarm"). Future updates will add a dismiss button in the notification itself.

Technical Details

AlarmManager Component

Located at app/src/main/java/com/openclaw/alfred/alarm/AlarmManager.kt

Key methods:

• startAlarm() - Begin alarm with repeating sound/vibration
• dismissAlarm() - Stop specific alarm
• dismissAll() - Stop all active alarms
• destroy() - Cleanup on app close

Sound playback:

• Uses MediaPlayer with alarm audio attributes
• Loops via isLooping = true
• Uses RingtoneManager.TYPE_ALARM sound

Vibration:

• Uses VibrationEffect.createWaveform() with repeating pattern
• Pattern: [0ms delay, 500ms vibrate, 500ms pause, repeat]
• Requires android.permission.VIBRATE

CLI Tool Updates

New command:

mobile-notify alarm "TIME" "MESSAGE" [options]

New flag:

mobile-notify alert "MESSAGE" --alarm [options]

Event Format

WebSocket events for alarms:

{
  "type": "event",
  "event": "mobile.notification",
  "payload": {
    "notificationType": "alarm",
    "title": "Health",
    "message": "Take morning medication",
    "priority": "default",
    "sound": true,
    "vibrate": true,
    "timestamp": 1706918400000
  }
}

UI Behavior

When alarm is received:

1. Foreground:

   • Alarm sound starts looping
   • Vibration starts looping
   • Message added to chat: "🔔 ALARM: [message] (Say 'dismiss alarm' to stop)"
   • Persistent notification shown

2. Background:

   • Alarm sound starts looping
   • Vibration starts looping
   • Persistent notification shown
   • User must open app to dismiss

Examples

Medication Reminder

# Set alarm for 8am daily medication
mobile-notify alarm "08:00" "Take your morning medication" --title "Health"

Result:

• At 8:00 AM, alarm sound plays on repeat
• Persistent notification: "⏰ ALARM: Health - Take your morning medication"
• User must say "dismiss alarm" to stop

Important Meeting

# Alarm 5 minutes before critical meeting
mobile-notify alarm "14:55" "Sprint planning starts in 5 minutes" --title "Calendar"

Wake-Up Alarm

# Wake up alarm for tomorrow
mobile-notify alarm "tomorrow 07:00" "Good morning! Time to wake up" --title "Wake Up"

Emergency Alert

# Immediate emergency alarm
mobile-notify alert "Server is down! Check immediately!" --alarm --title "EMERGENCY" --priority high

Configuration

Custom Alarm Sound

Currently uses the system's default alarm sound. To customize in the future, modify AlarmManager.kt:

val alarmUri = RingtoneManager.getDefaultUri(RingtoneManager.TYPE_ALARM)
// Replace with: Uri.parse("android.resource://" + context.packageName + "/" + R.raw.custom_alarm)

Volume

Alarms respect the system's alarm volume setting (not media volume). Users control volume via:

• Volume buttons (when on alarm screen)
• Settings → Sound → Alarm volume

Vibration Pattern

Default pattern: 500ms on, 500ms off

To customize, edit AlarmManager.kt:

val pattern = longArrayOf(0, 500, 500) // [delay, vibrate, pause]

Permissions

Required permissions (already declared in AndroidManifest.xml):

• android.permission.VIBRATE - For alarm vibration
• android.permission.POST_NOTIFICATIONS - For showing notifications (Android 13+)

Troubleshooting

Alarm sound not playing

Possible causes:

• Alarm volume is muted (check Settings → Sound)
• Do Not Disturb mode is enabled
• Device is in silent mode

Solution:

• Check system alarm volume
• Disable Do Not Disturb
• Ensure alarm volume is not muted

Alarm not stopping

Symptom: Alarm keeps playing after saying "dismiss alarm"

Solution:

• Make sure text is sent (not just voice input canceled)
• Try typing "dismiss alarm" manually
• Force-close and reopen app if stuck

Vibration not working

Possible causes:

• Device doesn't support vibration (emulators)
• Vibration disabled in settings

Solution:

• Test on physical device
• Check Settings → Accessibility → Vibration

Notification not showing

Possible causes:

• Notification permissions denied (Android 13+)
• App notifications disabled in system settings

Solution:

• Settings → Apps → Alfred → Notifications → Allow
• Grant notification permission when prompted

Future Enhancements

Planned improvements:

• Dismiss button in notification - Tap to dismiss without opening app
• Snooze functionality - Delay alarm by X minutes
• Custom alarm sounds - Choose from device sounds or upload custom
• Escalating volume - Start quiet, gradually increase
• Smart silence - Auto-stop after X minutes (safety)
• Multiple alarms - Track and dismiss individually
• Alarm history - See past alarms and when dismissed
• Quick alarm presets - Common alarms with one tap

Best Practices

For Users

1. Use alarms sparingly - Reserve for truly important events
2. Dismiss promptly - Don't let alarms loop unnecessarily
3. Test first - Try a test alarm to ensure sound/vibration work
4. Check volume - Verify alarm volume is audible before critical alarms
5. Battery considerations - Alarms drain battery if left running

For Alfred

1. Ask when uncertain - If user doesn't specify, ask "notification or alarm?"
2. Default to notifications - Only use alarms when appropriate
3. Be explicit - Tell user it's an alarm ("I've set an alarm...")
4. Mention dismissal - Remind user how to dismiss ("Say 'dismiss alarm' to stop")
5. Confirm critical alarms - "I've set an alarm for your medication at 8am tomorrow. It will repeat until you dismiss it."

Version

1.0.0 - Initial alarm system (February 2026)