The iPad alarm clock app would make much more sense as part of the calendar app
Apple has been, and still is, hesitant to include the same apps on the iPad that are on the iPhone. The iPad didn’t get an included clock/alarm app until iOS 6, and it’s still missing other apps that the iPhone has.
The iPad alarm clock in itself is a weird contraption. It’s essentially a mix between a traditional alarm app and a calendar, where each alarm is indicated by a event-like label on a time schedule. It took some getting used to, but I actually quite like this design, as it makes it easy to see what alarms are on, and when. I especially like that you can grab and drag the alarm labels around to quickly change what time that alarm is set for, a feature you also find in many calendar apps. In fact, so much of this alarm is is like a calendar, that I can’t help but think it should have been part of the calendar.
The way it works now is that the calendar and alarm are separate, neither overlaying the other. That seems silly to me since they both work on the same principle, and it’s not unlikely that the alarms you set have something to do with the calendar. Calendars do have events with alarm reminders, but that’s still different from actual wake up-type alarms. Why not then just overlay the existing alarm system on the calendar, making it easier to see how your wake-up times would correspond to your events? Perhaps this would even help some people realize that they need to get up early one day because of a meeting, something you wouldn’t see from the existing alarm clock app without also checking your calendar.
The resulting app would look something like this:
This is obviously just a rough overlay of the two, but you get my point. The iPad’s alarm clock is designed to work like a calendar, but doesn’t work with the calendar, which to me is just backwards.
I realize that many people might not even use the alarm clock on their iPad, and those who do might use third party apps, but I like the basic concept behind it, and prefer to have a backup in case my Android phone decides to fail one day. This would be quite useful for that, ad would make it much easier to see when I need to set the alarm for based on the events for that day.
