The best winter tech of 2025 to get you through the cold months

I set my alarm for 6 a.m. three days a week in hopes that I can attend a yoga class at 6:30 a.m. In winter, it gets dark around midnight at that hour, and the only reason I sometimes find myself doing vinyasa early in the morning is because of the sunrise alarm feature on Restore slot 2. I scheduled it to start filling the room with a gradually bright glow about 20 minutes before the sounds of the singing bowls started playing. The light helps my brain wake up before I do, and the subtle beats of the bowl seep into my subconscious – I often find myself awake almost without knowing why.

It’s true that there are a lot of sunrise alarms out there. Many are cheaper and don’t have an optional subscription. But I love the Hatch app, which lets you adjust the duration, colors, brightness, volume, ringtones, etc. of your morning alarm.

You can also set morning meditations, movements, or inspiring pep talks to play after your alarm. They are a few minutes long and are intended to help you transition from horizontal to mobile. Of course, if you’re sharing a bed and the other person is still asleep, playing trigger messages is inappropriate. So I get more mileage out of my sleep aids. Sound baths, ambient sound clips, stories, and guided meditations help transition between the overload that is waking life and sleep.

The entire library of alarm and sleep sounds costs $5 per month and access to all stories and music. Without it, you only get to choose. I’ve been subscribing for over a year now because anything that gets me up and out for a hellish early workout in the dark is worth the money. —Amy Scorheim, Reporter