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Best Sunrise Alarm Clock
Philips SmartSleep Sleep and Wake-Up Light (HF3650/60)
Best as a Bedside Lamp
Lumie Bodyclock Luxe 700FM
Best for App Control
WiiM Wake-Up Light
Best for the Price
Philips SmartSleep Wake-Up Light (HF3520)
If you aren’t feeling rested when your alarm goes off, the problem could be the alarm clock itself. Waking up to a sudden loud alarm isn’t exactly a fun way to start your day, and the disruptive jolt might not work to tell your body it’s time to rise. I’m a chronic snooze button kind of gal, and I find a sunrise alarm clock is helpful, since the growing light helps tell my body it’s time to wake up—and that bright light is much, much harder to ignore.
After weeks of sleeping with a sunrise alarm clock at my bedside, I’ve seen a nice improvement in how alert I feel in the mornings. I’m still not a hop-out-of-bed morning person, but I find myself actually staying awake after my alarm in the gentle glow of these sunrise lamps rather than just going back to bed for another hour. Plus, as someone who has trouble falling asleep at night, alarms with a sunset routine option have become a boon to help me both go to sleep and wake up.
While you’re here, don’t miss our other sleep guides, including the Best Sheets, Best Pillows, Best Weighted Blankets, Best Sound Machines, and Best Mattresses.
Updated November 2024: We’ve added the Lumie Shine 300 as an alternative pick to the Lumie Luxe 700FM, the Loftie Lamp as an honorable mention, and notes on the Lumie BodyClock Glow 150.
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Your body is built to wake naturally with the sunrise and feel sleepy as it sets. The light at both the beginning and end of the day is a warm, golden tone, unlike the midday bright, slightly blue sunlight that keeps you wide awake. A sunrise alarm clock mimics this transition from morning to bright daytime light, helping to signal your body to wake up (or fall asleep, if the clock also has a sunset option).
Each alarm below offers a sunrise routine, meaning you choose a time to wake up and then the alarm clock will start displaying a deep, orange glow and transition to a bright light by the time your alarm is set for. Some offer customization, allowing you to choose how long you want that artificial sunrise to be, while others have set timers. Some also allow the reverse option with a sunset routine and can double as sound machines. Most of these plug into the wall like a classic alarm clock and stay put, though sometimes there’s a companion app or recharging capabilities (if it’s not mentioned, though, assume it doesn’t).
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Photograph: Nena Farrell
Philips SmartSleep Sleep and Wake-Up Light (HF3650/60)
WIRED TIRED Sunrise and sunset routines. Nice brightness levels and warm tones. Easy to set up. Has a night-light and FM radio. A few more sound options would be nice. Not quite as easy to use as a bedside lamp (but still possible). This futuristic-looking, circular sunrise alarm clock from Philips has everything. It has both sunrise and sunset routines, nine relaxing sounds to use for either bedtime or the morning, an easy setup that you won’t need a manual for, a built-in FM radio (though it’s best for selecting a single station to wake up to rather than surfing the channels), and a soft night-light you can easily tap on and off for a quick dash to the bathroom.
Everything on the Philips SmartSleep Sleep and Wake-Up Light is done on the touchscreen, which has deep-yellow lettering that navigates you through setting up the time and your sunrise alarm. My only complaint about this touchscreen panel is that the lettering is a little hard to read when the light is at its full brightness. But that might be the point, since you can only turn off the sunrise alarm by touching the alarm button on the screen, requiring you to face the sunlight in order to try and stop it. You can tap the top of the device to turn off whatever music you’ve chosen, but the light itself will stay on—perfect for actually staying awake.
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Photograph: Nena Farrell
Best as a Bedside Lamp
Lumie Bodyclock Luxe 700FM
WIRED TIRED Easy to use as a bedside lamp. Plenty bright. Has both sunrise and sunset routines. Lots of sound options. Solid FM radio and can save five stations. Screen looks dated; reminds me of a 2000s car clock. Needs instruction manual to navigate. Shows time as a 24-hour clock only. If you only have room for a bedside lamp or a sunrise alarm clock, get the Lumie Bodyclock Luxe 700FM. The sunrise alarm clock’s light gets bright enough to fill my bedroom with plenty of light to get ready for bed and read a book, and it’s easy to quickly switch on the light using one of the two dials on the Luxe 700FM’s face. It also has 27 sound options, though some are a little weird—I’m not sure if anyone would want to wake up to the sound of goats or a movie projector, but the options are there if you want them.
You can set up both sunrise and sunset routines, but you’ll need the manual to figure it out. The manual is plenty easy to follow, and the steps aren’t complicated, but the device itself and its buttons aren’t intuitive. You’ll also need to switch on the alarm each night for the following day, or painstakingly set up weekly routines. But once you get the controls down and routines set, it’s easy and enjoyable to use as a bedside lamp and an alarm clock, and I also enjoyed the sunset routine to help me wind down as I read my Kindle. The fabric finish also gives it a nice look on my bedside table. It’s out of stock right now, but you can preorder it on Lumie’s website, or shop my alternative pick below in the meantime.
★ Slightly Smaller + Cheaper: The Lumie Shine 300 ($159) is pretty similar to the Luxe 700FM but doesn’t have as many radio-forward features like the telescoping antenna and multiple channel-saving buttons, and the light controls aren’t as easy as the dial. But if you don’t mind those changes and want to spend less money (or want one that’s currently in stock!), this sunrise lamp is a great alternative choice.
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Photograph: Nena Farrell
Best for App Control
WiiM Wake-Up Light
WIRED TIRED Easy to set up with the companion app. Lots of sounds and colors for both routines and general use. Small size but still gets bright. Too easy to snooze. Needs Wi-Fi connection for the alarm to work. Alexa setup doesn’t consistently work. The WiiM Wake-Up Light is a small device, but it turns out to be surprisingly powerful. It has a companion app where you set up the sunrise alarm and bedtime routines and can access a huge range of sounds—from the classics like white noise, thunderstorms, or a forest stream to more specific options like Healing Music for Insomnia (a gentle piano piece) or Santa Giulia Beach, which I can only assume was recorded on the French shore it’s named after. There’s also a big range of colors the WiiM can show, and it reminds me of a smart light bulb since it has color combinations and light shows to choose from. Even with the clock’s small size, I found the reading light mode is a nice brightness to read a book by, though it didn’t fill the room like the Lumie above. It also has one of the bigger sound libraries, with nearly 70 sound options you can choose in the app to wake up or fall asleep to.
I really liked the app controls for the WiiM, which made it easy to set up my routines and even turn on relaxing sounds on a timer to enjoy before bed. The WiiM requires an active Wi-Fi connection to work, though, so if your Wi-Fi isn’t stable, you could miss your alarm. It also offers Alexa integration and has a built-in microphone so that it can double as a smart home assistant (which, again, needs that stable Wi-Fi). I also don’t love that when I go to quiet the alarm, both the sound and the light turn off. You can easily hit the light button to switch it back on, which I do to stay awake, but if you’re a chronic snoozer you might want to set up backup alarms.
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Photograph: Nena Farrell
Best for the Price
Philips SmartSleep Wake-Up Light (HF3520)
WIRED TIRED Easy to set up. Nice sunrise and modern shape. Bright enough and has controls to use as a bedside lamp. Has FM radio. Very limited sound offerings. No sunset option. Shows time as a 24-hour clock only. The Philips SmartSleep Wake-Up Light might sound similar to the lamp we recommend above, but it has a different shape and is missing the word “Sleep” from the name because it doesn’t offer a nighttime routine like our top pick. But it still works great as a morning sunrise lamp, and similar to the other Philips model, it’s easy to set up without any instructions on hand.
There’s an LED clock and four buttons below it—one for the menu, one for select, and two for volume. This menu is where you set up the time and your alarm choices. There’s also a series of discreet buttons on the top rim of the device where you can turn on the alarm for the next day (there’s a button for Alarm 1 and Alarm 2) and a button to get to the FM radio; you can snooze an alarm with a tap to the top, too. It’s nice and bright if you want to use it as a bedside lamp—plenty bright for reading a book but didn’t fill the rest of my room with as much light as the Lumie Bodyclock Luxe did. This one’s great for the price, though, especially if you aren’t looking for any nighttime routine or special sounds.
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Photograph: Nena Farrell
If You Mostly Want a Sound Machine
Hatch Restore 2
WIRED TIRED Tons of sound options. Easy to control and customize sunrise and sunset (Rise and Rest) routines in the Hatch app. Can do a large range of colors. Light is a little too dim to use as a bedside lamp and isn’t as sunlight-feeling as other options. Expensive for such a dimmer light. The Hatch Restore 2 looks beautiful and is certainly the prettiest sunrise alarm in this guide. The half-moon device has a fabric cover that comes in three neutral shades, a nice-looking LED clock on the front, and two large buttons—one with an open eye, one with a closed eye—on the top. The device is fully set up and controlled in the Hatch app, so you only use those two buttons to activate or deactivate the wake-up and sleep routines you set up for yourself.
The Hatch calls its routines Rise and Rest instead of sunrise or sunset, but it’s the same method. What’s different is that you can choose to skip a classic white color and fall asleep to, say, a deep red or even purple instead of a warm white. There’s also a nice range of sounds to choose from: 13 wake-up sounds, and 24 sleep sounds you can fall asleep to and play all night long (or set a timer in your nighttime routine for when the sound should switch off). The sounds are mostly relaxing nature sounds, from forest symphonies and owl calls to relaxing rivers, but you can also fall asleep to the sound of a hair dryer or Green Noise for Dogs if your pup sleeps in your room. There are a few more sound options, like sleep stories and partnership content, that require Hatch’s membership, Hatch+ ($5 a month), but I didn’t find I needed any of these for a pleasant wake-up.
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Best Sunrise Alarm Clocks
Best Sunrise Alarm Clocks
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Photograph: Philips
Try Some Smart Bulbs
Philips Hue Starter Kits
WIRED TIRED Easy to use for any kind of routine, whether morning wake-ups or pretending to be home. Can be used in existing lamps and light fixtures. Requires existing lamp or light fixture. Some smart bulbs, like the Philips Hue, require a hub. No sound included. If you don’t want to get another device and wish your existing bedroom light would just gradually turn on (or suddenly blast you in the face with light, up to you), consider investing in a couple of smart bulbs. Smart bulbs can be controlled via apps to turn on and off on a schedule, and some brands like Philips Hue offer options at sunrise and sunset, too.
The downside is that these routines are very set at specific times. This is great for waking up in the morning but not as handy if your bedtime isn’t at a specific time. You also won’t have a connected sound machine or alarm option, though you could set up a different device to sound off at the same time the lights go on. It’s a better investment to use anywhere in your house, since smart lights are handy in any room, but doesn’t have all the same capabilities and convenience of one device that a true sunrise alarm clock can offer.
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Photograph: Nena Farrell
An Honorable Mention
Loftie Lamp
WIRED TIRED Well-designed and easy to control with both the physical buttons and app. Has sunrise and sunset options. Expensive. Sunrise and sunset are a little too fast. Unable to customize. Needs the separate alarm clock for an alarm sound. The Loftie Lamp is a beautiful lamp. The entire body of the lamp is the light itself, and there’s a mesh metal lampshade that’s mostly there for decoration while the rest of the lamp does the real work. Using the Loftie app, you can set an alarm that will signal the lamp to light up, and what the app calls a “wind-down” to signal the lamp to dim.
Both of these work well enough, but if you want an actual alarm tone to go off, you need to pair the lamp with the Loftie Clock (7/10, WIRED Recommends). The time for both the sunrise and sunset is only about nine minutes, and you can’t customize it to take longer like you can with our other picks. Having the clock and lamp go off at the same time didn’t make me feel as gently roused as other sunrise lamps, but I found that I had a similar experience if I set the Loftie to light up 15 minutes before my alarm went off. It’s a good option if you don’t want an alarm but just want your room to brighten, and it does make for a fantastic bedside lamp.
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Photograph: Nena Farrell
More Sunrise Alams We Tried
- Vivilumens Sunrise Alarm Clock ($50): This sunrise alarm works fine but seems better suited as a desk lamp than a true sunrise alarm. But it could be a fun pick if you live in a studio and need a device that can both work for your desk or your bedside alarm. It also has a USB-A charging port and can show time as 24 or 12 hour.
- Lumie BodyClock Glow 150 ($129): This cute little clock worked fine, but our other picks are bigger and brighter. You could get the WiiM for the same price, or the Philips HF3520 for even cheaper.
- Philips SmartSleep Sleep and Wake-Up Light ($180): We previously recommended this sunrise alarm, formerly known as Somneo. Its name is nearly identical to our top pick, and it has the same shape. The Connected version had an app and extra capabilities similar to the WiiM, but it’s no longer available.
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Photograph: Nena Farrell
How We Test Sunrise Alarms
I tested each recommended sunrise alarm clock on my bedside in a room with black-out curtains to see how much it could really brighten a room over the course of its sunrise routine. I slept with each sunrise alarm for anywhere between one and seven nights, depending on its performance. I also tried out the various sound options each machine had to offer to both test the speakers and see how pleasant the sounds were to wake up or fall asleep to. If there was a nighttime routine option, I tested that too.
