The three reaches
| Reach | Who can open the link | Shown in Discover | Comments and hearts |
|---|---|---|---|
| Private | Nobody but you | No | No |
| Friends | People you add, plus anyone with the link if you let them in (see below) | No | Yes |
| Public | Anyone with the link | Yes | Yes |
Make it social is off when you make an alarm, so every new alarm starts private. Switch it on and Friends is picked first ("Anyone with the link can ride along"), or pick Public ("Anyone can ride. It shows up in Discover.").
To change it later, open the alarm and tap its reach row (it says Private, Friends or Public). The sheet asks Who can open this?
Sharing with friends
A friends alarm has two ways in, under How people get in:
- Anyone with the link rides. Send the link around; whoever opens it can ride along. This is how a friends alarm starts.
- I approve each one. People who open the link ask to ride, and you say yes or no. Their asks wait on the alarm under Waiting on you, and the alarm shows how many are asking in your list.
Under I approve each one you can also add people yourself: tap Pick from your friends to add friends or a whole group at once (see Friends and groups), or type into Add by username or email. People you add skip the asking: they open the link, tap Wake me too, and they are in. Nobody learns who else is on the list from the link.
Someone who opens a friends link without being let in is told to ask you to add them; the page gives nothing away about who is on it.
Keep it a surprise
A friends alarm can be a mystery alarm: switch on Keep it a surprise and riders see a curtain instead of the wallpaper and sound until it rings. Hide the trigger too? also keeps back when and why it rings. It is for friends alarms only, and it locks with the reach once people ride it.
Making an alarm public
A public alarm can be ridden by anyone and can appear in Discover, where people find popular public alarms. The first time you make an alarm public you agree to the content rules, once.
Two kinds of alarm can never be public:
- Anything alarms (webhooks), because only you know what sets them off.
- Trade alarms on a wallet you pasted, because a public "watch this wallet" would expose someone's holdings. Watching a FOMO trader or a GMGN KOL is different: they publish their trades themselves.
A private time alarm with Custom shuffle (a new cooked song every morning) also stays private, because riders should know what wakes them.
Reach locks once you share
A private alarm can be opened up to friends or public at any time. Once it is friends or public, its reach is locked: it cannot go back to private or switch between friends and public. The sheet then says This alarm is sealed. To make it private again, make a new alarm.
Time zones
A shared time alarm rings everyone at the same moment by default (Same time zone for everyone), and each person sees the time in their own zone. It can instead ring each person at their own local time (Everyone's local time zone), for a club where everyone wakes at their own 6:00; its wake board then stays open for up to 24 hours. See Time alarms.
Three examples
- A house party. A friends alarm on Anyone with the link rides, made from the Partiful invite, posted in the group chat. Whoever opens it is rung an hour before.
- A small study group. A friends alarm on I approve each one, with the group "Finals" added from Pick from your friends. A classmate who finds the link asks, and you say yes.
- A creator's launch. A public post alarm on the creator's own X account, linked from their bio, so fans ride it from Discover or the link.
