# The fastest way to get your whole family's attention

Friends and groups · https://lfg.gm/family-alert · Updated 2026-10-16

The fastest way to get your whole family's attention at once is one shared alarm instead of another message in the family chat. LFG Alarm is a social alarm clock for iPhone and Android: make one alarm, share the link with your family, and when it goes off every phone that joined rings out loud in the same second, with what is happening written on the screen.

LFG Alarm is not an emergency service. In an emergency, call your local emergency number.

## Why the family chat does not work for this

The family chat is muted by the teenager, archived by the uncle and read in full only by the grandparent who replies to everything. Your message sits between birthday photos and a forwarded video. It is no one's fault: in a 2023 Common Sense Media study of about 200 Android-using 11 to 17 year olds, more than half got 237 or more notifications a day. One more "car leaves in 10" is easy to swipe away.

An alarm is a different kind of thing. It rings, it shows its name and picture on the screen, and the people on it chose to be on it.

## Moments it is for

- **Leaving the house:** "Car leaves in 10" for the school run, a flight or a wedding with three generations.
- **Dinner is ready:** one ring instead of shouting up the stairs at three closed doors.
- **The family call:** grandma's Sunday video call, with everyone in the room on time.
- **Medicine, chores and pickups:** a daily alarm a parent and a teenager both ride, so the parent can see it was answered.
- **Something you set off yourself:** with an [anything alarm](https://lfg.gm/webhook-alarm), a shortcut on your phone can ring the family when you press it: "we're outside".

## Three real scenes

**The Sunday call across an ocean.** Grandma is in Manila and the family is split between Toronto and Leeds. Every Sunday call starts 20 minutes late while someone hunts for a charger. Ray makes one repeating alarm for 5:55 PM Toronto time on Sundays called "Lola call at 6", shared with his sister and his two kids. Because it uses **Same time zone for everyone**, his sister in Leeds is rung at 10:55 PM her time, in the same second. The call link goes in the call-to-action link, which opens when they answer.

**The airport morning.** Five people, one car, a 9:40 flight. Mei makes a one-off alarm for 6:15 called "Car leaves 6:30, bags by the door" and adds everyone. On iPhone it rings through silent mode; the teenager on Android gets the full screen even with the phone locked. At 6:20 the [wake board](https://lfg.gm/wiki/wake-board) shows who tapped I'm up, and who still needs a knock.

**The medicine nobody remembers.** Tom's son takes an inhaler at 8:00 every evening. A repeating alarm at 8:00 that both of them ride means Tom sees on the board that his son answered, without asking.

## How loud it is

Time alarms are real alarms on both phones: on iPhone they use Apple's own alarm system and ring through silent mode and Focus; on Android they take over the screen even when the phone is locked. An anything alarm (the "we're outside" button) is different: on Android it rings full screen, even on Do Not Disturb, but on iPhone it arrives as a time-sensitive alert with the alarm's own sound, which respects the silent switch, so the iPhones in the family need the ringer on.

## How to set it up

1. Make the alarm for the time, or as an anything alarm you can set off yourself.
2. Share it as a friends alarm. Add family by username, or by email if they are not your friends in the app yet. To do this often, save them once as a group (Settings > Friends > Groups) and tap **Create alarm with this group**. See [Friends and groups](https://lfg.gm/wiki/friends-and-groups).
3. Name it with what to do ("Car leaves 6:30"), and put the details (which door, what to bring) in the creator's note. The note shows when someone opens the alarm, not on the ring screen.

Everyone taps I'm up when it rings, so you can see who has seen it.

**Try this.** Paste it into ChatGPT, Claude, Grok or another AI agent that has the LFG Alarm connector (https://mcp.lfg.gm), not into the LFG Alarm app. The person needs the LFG Alarm app on their phone.

> Use LFG Alarm to make a friends alarm for 5:55pm every Sunday called "Lola call at 6", with "CALL LOLA" drawn on the wallpaper, and add [your family's LFG Alarm usernames or emails].

Why it works: A weekly alarm whose screen says what to do means nobody has to remember, and the AI agent can add family by username or email.

## Common mistakes

- **Using it for everything.** If every chore is an alarm, nobody hears the important one. Keep it for the moments that cost something to miss.
- **Ringing at the deadline.** Ring at 6:15 for a 6:30 departure.
- **Expecting it to ring someone who never joined.** Each person joins once; after that it rings them.

## Questions

### Is this for emergencies?
No. LFG Alarm is an alarm clock. For emergencies, call your local emergency number.

### Can I ring my family without them joining?
No. Each person joins the alarm once; after that it rings them every time.

### Does everyone need a smartphone?
Yes: an iPhone, iPad or Android phone with the free LFG Alarm app.

### Can grandparents in another country be on it?
Yes. A shared time alarm rings everyone at the same moment and shows each person the time in their own zone.

See also [a heads-up your partner can't miss](https://lfg.gm/partner-heads-up), [your AI agent for family coordination](https://lfg.gm/ai-agent-family-coordination) and [the fastest way to make a group alarm](https://lfg.gm/group-alarms).

## Sources and further reading

- [Common Sense Media, Teens are bombarded with hundreds of notifications a day, 2023](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/press-releases/teens-are-bombarded-with-hundreds-of-notifications-a-day)

## Keep exploring

- [How to make one alarm ring the whole group chat](https://lfg.gm/group-alarm-for-roommates.md): Roommates and group chats ride one alarm link, and Rocco shows who slept in.
- [A shared alarm clock for couples: one alarm, two phones](https://lfg.gm/couples-alarm-clock.md): One alarm that rings both phones, with your voice or a song about them.
- [Alarm app for co-parents: one alarm a day you both can't miss](https://lfg.gm/alarm-app-for-co-parents.md): One alarm a day from your co-parent or partner, for the swap, the early pickup or costume day, ringing both phones with the note and link attached.
- [5am club app: one shared alarm for a club, in one city or across time zones](https://lfg.gm/5am-club-app.md): Run a 5am club, a run club or a gym group on one repeating alarm, each person woken at their own 5:00, the plan in the creator’s note and a wake board of who made it.
- [The fastest way to make a group alarm with your friends](https://lfg.gm/group-alarms.md): Save your people once as a group, then one tap makes an alarm that rings every phone together.
- [What is a social alarm clock?](https://lfg.gm/social-alarm-clock.md): An alarm you share by link, so every phone that joined rings together, with a wake board of who got up.

## About LFG Alarm

LFG Alarm is a social alarm clock for iPhone, iPad and Android. It rings for times and for moments (a post on X, a stream going live, a token price, a wallet buying, an event starting), and one shared link makes every phone that joined ring together. Rocco, the cat inside the app, does the watching and the waking.

- Get it on Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=gm.lfg.app
- Download on the App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/id6821089085
- Use it from an AI agent: add the MCP server https://mcp.lfg.gm as a connector, then ask in plain words.
- Every page for agents: https://lfg.gm/llms.txt