There’s something about waking up that’s nearly painful. Sure, there are some people who welcome the first rays of the morning sunshine with a smiling face – but those people are few and far between. Most other people have a hard time waking up when the sunshine comes calling. Add to that mix a rainy day and no alarm clock in the world can make most of the population from a cozy slumber.

Well, almost no alarm clock. A new iPhone app called “Wake ‘˜N Shake” maybe be your nemesis – that one alarm clock that you can’t ignore, won’t leave you alone, and won’t stop until your heart starts pumping. Why is Wake ‘˜N Shake unlike any other alarm clock on the planet? Well, this alarm clock won’t stop ringing until you shake your iPhone ferociously.

How Wake ‘˜N Shake Works

Once you set a Wake ‘˜N Shake alarm, the only way to turn off that annoying alarm noise is to shake your phone until the alarm stops. Here’s the catch: Wake ‘˜N Shake comes with a “shake bar” that must be filled to the top before the alarm stops ringing. Here’s another catch: if you stop shaking your phone, the fill bar goes back to square one. As you can imagine, you have to shake your phone continuously (and relatively roughly) in order to stop the alarm from ringing.

There’s no snooze option on this alarm, and no way to stop the alarm from going off unless you successfully fill that bar up. In short, if you set a Wake ‘˜N Shake alarm, you better be sure that you need to get up for something important – this isn’t a weekend alarm app. Yet, here’s bettering that the Wake ‘˜N Shake will get you up when no other alarm on the planet will.

The Specifics

Once downloaded (there’s a free version and a $0.99 version – one is harder than the other one), you can select an alarm noise (chimps screaming, aliens, Spanish…), the time you want your alarm to go off, and then settle down into a deep sleep. Once your alarm goes off, you will have to shake your iPhone until the alarm stops – believe me, this alarm will get your muscles moving!

If you think that you can escape the Wake ‘˜N Shake by pushing your iPhone’s home button, you’re mistaken. Small messages will pop up if you try to escape the alarm. Messages like “There’s No Escape.” All you can really do is shake your phone until the noise stops. If you download the Pro version, the amount of arm strength you’ll need to shut off your phone will vary. Wake ‘˜N Shake also comes with nap settings. You can arrange to take a nap for short periods of time, and your alarm will go off once it’s time to get up.

An Ideal Alarm App

If you’ve missed weddings, often walk in late to work, or simply can’t get up in the morning, the Wake ‘˜N Shake alarm is for you. The only thing I’ll caution you against is letting your phone slip out of your hands. I imagine that if you’re tired enough, and you shake it hard enough, your phone could go flying. You may also want to warn any roommates or other people you live with if you download this app – it can get annoying!