Alexander Novichenko

Wonderwake - Gentle alarm app that turns your mornings from blah to ahh

Wake up to calming melodies and natural soundscapes that gently increase in volume at your chosen pace, allowing your mind to awaken peacefully and naturally. Leave morning grogginess behind and start your day filled with energy, excitement, and focus.

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Alexander Novichenko
👋 Hey Product Hunt, Thanks for hunting our product! I'm Alexander, one of Wonderwake co-creators. Our goal is to design the most pleasant, beautiful, and functional alarm clock ever that promotes calm and clarity, while still waking up reliably and on time. How we wake up sets the tone for the whole day. If we can make someone's morning better and help improve their mood and productivity, it may, in turn, positively affect their family, friends, colleagues, or even a stranger they didn't honk at in traffic. It may seem like a small thing, but we believe Wonderwake can create incredible ripple effects, and that's why we love working on this project. How it works: 1. Sound Design Process: at the heart of our sound is brainwave entrainment through binaural beats in the theta-alpha range (4-8 Hz) and isochronic tones, which help transition the brain from sleep to a relaxed yet alert state. We applied Schumann Theory and available EEGs insights, incorporating sound frequencies that align with natural resonances and brainwave patterns associated with relaxation. We added a touch of pink noise to emphasize lower frequencies, creating a deeper, more relaxing, and softer sound. 2. Structure: Wonderwake melodies feature soothing timbres and textures, such as soft strings, piano, handpan, marimba and harp, combined with ambient layers and subtle natural sounds like chirping birds, gentle rain, and soft wind. These elements are seamlessly woven into structured melodic patterns and harmonious progressions to avoid the jarring effects of traditional alarm sounds. 3. Tempo Variations: With slow and slight tempo variations, Wonderwake maintains a calming rhythm that gently eases users into wakefulness, fostering a peaceful transition from sleep and promoting calm focus and energy for the day ahead. 4. Functionality: Unlike similar apps, Wonderwake does not use notifications to play alarm sounds. Instead, it triggers a live media player, allowing us to play long compositions that do not repeat every 30 seconds. The story behind: The concept for Wonderwake came about quite unexpectedly. When my partner and I moved to a new country, we realized we had left behind our Phillips smart alarm. It wasn’t exactly perfect, but it made waking up so much nicer. We couldn't justify spending $200 on a new one because we were trying to save after our move. I thought, surely there’s an app out there, but after digging through the app store, I realized nothing quite fit. That's when the lightbulb moment happened — I thought it would be great to create an app that combines sound science with the art for a peaceful wake-up. It was all about filling that little void in our mornings and hopefully helping others do the same. I worked with a talented UI/UX friend of mine to create early concepts and later, by a pure chance, I met Nick, an incredible iOS engineer with a passion for building health products. That's when we decided to join forces and work on Wonderwake together. Fayf Abad, an ambient sound artist and researcher has also joined our team and helped us build a sonic vision for our product. What we're working on now: Quite a few things! Sleepmode with sleep-enhancing sounds, smart light integration for a sunrise simulation, alarm shuffle to reduce alarm fatigue, and many other cool features that we'll be releasing in the coming weeks and months. Get in touch with us at hello@wonderwake.app and feel free to ask any questions!