# The fastest way to get a group chat to commit to a time Parties and events · https://lfg.gm/group-chat-plans · Updated 2026-10-16 The fastest way to get a group chat to commit to a plan is to stop asking and make the plan an alarm. In LFG Alarm, a social alarm clock for iPhone and Android, one person sets the time, posts one link, and everyone who joins is rung at that moment. Joining takes one tap, and the list of who joined tells you who is really in. ## Why group plans fall apart "Are we still on for Saturday?" turns into forty messages, three polls and a sticker. Someone says "down", someone reacts with a thumbs up, and two people never reply at all. By Saturday afternoon the plan exists only in a message 300 lines up, nobody is sure whether it was 7 or 7:30, and the one person who made the booking is now texting everyone one by one. The plan rarely fails because people do not want to come. It fails because nobody owns the reminder, and "down" in a chat costs nothing to say. ## Make the plan an alarm 1. **Pick the time** and make the alarm, named with the plan: "Mario's, Sat 7pm". 2. **Post the link** in the group chat: `lfg.gm/a/`. 3. **Watch who joins.** Every person who taps it is riding the alarm, which is a clearer yes than a thumbs up. See [Riding an alarm](https://lfg.gm/wiki/riding-an-alarm). 4. **It rings everyone** as a heads-up: two hours before a night out, so people get ready and head over, or at the start for something online, so everyone hops on at once. If the plan is on Partiful or Luma, paste the invite link into LFG Alarm and the alarm is made from it, with the event's name, picture and start time. See [How LFG Alarm adds to Partiful](https://lfg.gm/lfg-alarm-with-partiful) and [to Luma](https://lfg.gm/lfg-alarm-with-luma). ## Three plans, start to finish **The birthday dinner.** Ten people, a table for 7:30 that the restaurant gives away at 7:45. Kofi makes a friends alarm for 6:00 called "Ama's bday, Mario's 7:30" and posts it. Eight people join; he now knows to call the restaurant about two seats. The address goes in the call-to-action link, which opens a map when people answer, and the creator's note says "we're splitting the cake, bring cash". **The watch party online.** The final kicks off at 3:00. Lena makes an alarm for 2:55 and posts the link in the group's Discord. At 2:55 every phone that joined rings; the voice channel goes from two people to eleven in a minute. **The Sunday five-a-side.** The pitch is booked weekly and someone always forgets. One repeating alarm at 9:00 on Sundays, "Pitch at 10, bring bibs", and the group stops having the Saturday-night "are we on?" conversation altogether. To save the same people once and reuse them, make a group in Settings > Friends > Groups. See [the fastest way to make a group alarm](https://lfg.gm/group-alarms). ## What the alarm can carry - **A name and wallpaper** that show on the ring screen: the plan in a few words. - **A creator's note:** the address, what to bring, the dress code. People see it when they open the alarm. You can change it even after people join, so "we moved to the back room" can go up on the night. - **A call-to-action link** that opens when people answer: a map, a booking, a stream. - **A sound or voice** picked for the occasion. - **A mystery alarm:** its video or message stays sealed until the second it rings, which is good for a surprise venue reveal. ## Across time zones A shared alarm rings everyone at the same moment by default, and each person sees it in their own time, so a call between London and Los Angeles needs no maths. See [Time alarms](https://lfg.gm/wiki/time-alarms). ## How loud it is A time alarm or an event alarm is a real alarm on both phones: through silent mode and Focus on iPhone, and full screen on Android even when locked. That is the difference from a chat message, which waits until someone opens 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 6:00pm this Saturday called "Ama's bday, Mario's 7:30", with "DINNER 7:30" drawn on the wallpaper, and give me the link to post in our group chat. Why it works: It sets the time, the plan and what the ring screen says, and the joins tell you who is actually coming. ## Common mistakes - **Posting the link and then a poll.** Pick the time first. The alarm is the decision. - **Ringing at the start time for something in person.** Nobody can get across town in zero minutes. Two hours before is the default that works. - **Changing the plan by editing the alarm.** Once people have joined, the time is fixed. Make a new alarm and post the new link. ## Questions ### Is it a poll? No. It does not pick a time for you. It makes the time you picked hard to forget. ### What if the plan changes? Update the creator's note for small changes, like the room or the meeting point. For a new time, make a new alarm and post the new link: once people have joined, an alarm's time is fixed, so nobody is woken for something they did not sign up for. ### Can people outside the chat join? Only if they get the link and the alarm lets them in. A friends alarm can let anyone with the link ride, or ask you to approve each one. See [Sharing and reach](https://lfg.gm/wiki/sharing-and-reach). ### Is it free? The app is free to download, and riding someone's alarm is free. See also [how to get people to show up to events](https://lfg.gm/how-to-get-people-to-show-up-to-events) and [What is a social alarm clock?](https://lfg.gm/social-alarm-clock). ## Keep exploring - [How to get party guests to actually show up](https://lfg.gm/get-party-guests-to-show-up.md): Turn your Partiful or Luma invite into an alarm that rings every guest who joined. - [How to turn a Partiful invite into an alarm](https://lfg.gm/partiful-event-alarm.md): Paste a Partiful link and LFG Alarm makes the alarm for your guests. - [How to make sure Luma guests actually show up](https://lfg.gm/luma-event-alarm.md): Paste a Luma link so attendees get a real alarm before doors. - [Reduce event no-shows: a reminder playbook for meetups, classes and clubs](https://lfg.gm/reduce-event-no-shows.md): A practical playbook for organisers: when to ring attendees, a headcount from who joined the alarm, notes, comments and a reward for the first to answer. - [How to get people to actually show up to events](https://lfg.gm/how-to-get-people-to-show-up-to-events.md): Stop relying on the RSVP: ring the people who joined at the right moment, with something they want to hear. - [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