Futuri Mobile's Alarm Clock provides the opportunity for your station's app to win the first listening occasion of the day, and its functionality is highly customizable.
- General Alarm Clock functionality
- Customizing the way the alarm feature is displayed in the app
- Setting up alarm clock audio
- Alarm Clock example audio
NOTE: This article refers to the alarm feature in Futuri Mobile's radio apps. For information on Futuri Mobile's TV Alarm Clock App, click here.
General Alarm Clock functionality
When a user taps the Alarm Clock button in your app's main menu, he/she will be able to set the alarm's time and frequency and will be able to opt into additional audio options, such as the day's weather forecast and other custom audio that you've uploaded, such as artist wake-up greetings, daily trivia, or "song of the day" contesting.
When the alarm goes off, a push notification will appear in the user's notification bar and a default "ring" sound will play until the user acknowledges it. Once the user taps the push notification, the app will open and the user can either snooze or dismiss. The pre-roll alarm audio will start to play, and the app will display the day's weather and other custom audio, if the user has opted in to see/hear that info. After the pre-roll alarm audio has finished, the station's stream will start to play.
Customizing the way the alarm feature is displayed in the app
The title and optional subtitle of the Alarm Clock button in your app's main menu can be customized in the Futuri Control Room under Mobile App > Main Menu.
You can also display a header graphic at the top of the Alarm page when the alarm goes off. This can be uploaded as a .jpeg or .png file in the Futuri Control Room under Mobile App > Logos & Images. Your header image should be a horizontal rectangular image with a width of at least 500px, and it will stretch (or shrink) to the width of the user's device.
Setting up alarm clock audio
Alarm Clock audio workparts will play back in the following order:
- System Alarm Sound (before the app is loaded)
- Opening Audio
- Weather Open (if the user has opted into weather)
- Weather Text-to-Speech Forecast (if the user has opted into weather)
- Custom Alarm Audio (if provided and opted into)
- Closing Audio
- Station Stream
NOTE: If you do not upload ALL of the Alarm Clock workparts in bold above, a generic workpart will be played instead. We would strongly encourage you to replace each of these generic workparts with a piece of audio that accurately represents your station's brand.
The default System Alarm Sound is a typical ringing sound that plays when the Alarm Clock first goes off before the user acknowledges the alarm. Because it has to be able to play even when the app is closed, the System Alarm Sound is built directly into the app, so it cannot be changed on the fly in the Futuri Control Room. However, if you would prefer to use a different System Alarm Sound when the Alarm Clock first goes off, you can provide an mp3 to Futuri VIP Support and we can release an update to your app with this new sound.
The Opening Audio, Weather Open, Custom Alarm Audio, and Closing Audio can be configured in the Futuri Control Room under Mobile App > Alarm Clock Audio. These files should be mp3s with a bitrate of at least 128kbps.
When adding Custom Alarm Audio, you will be able to give it a name to display within the app and decide whether it is checked by default. Users can still un-check those boxes, so if you have specific audio that your users must hear, we would recommend placing that in the Opening Audio or Closing Audio.
If you would prefer to replace the text-to-speech forecast with an uploaded mp3 forecast from your own weather team, please contact Futuri VIP Support to configure this for you. Once we disable the text-to-speech forecast, you can then place the entire forecast (with or without an intro) in the Weather Open position in the Futuri Control Room.
Alarm Clock example audio
To hear some examples of Alarm Clock audio, use the Soundcloud player below, or click here.