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PicAlarms - Help & FAQs
How do I add a picture to an alarm?
Can I use pictures downloaded from the Internet or shot using the camera?
How do I view the selected picture in the alarm?
Some of the pictures are displayed sideways. What do I do?
Why are the pictures too small in portrait vs. landscape orientations? How can I make them bigger?
Do you support transparent background in pictures?
I don't see the picture I selected in my alarms anymore! What happened?
What other alarm settings are supported?
Can I copy and paste an alarm?
How do I delete one or more alarms?
How do I enable or disable one or more alarms?
I didn't hear the alarm ring. Why?
What happens if I don't respond to an alarm?
Why is the dismiss button disabled when alerting?
What is the black bar in the alert screen for?
I don't want the back button to snooze alarms. What do I do?
How do I know if an alarm is snoozed after I exit the alert?
How do I stop all the ringing and buzzing?
What is PicAlarms?
PicAlarms is an alarm clock that displays a chosen picture when it goes off. In addition to the typical alarm settings it allows you to select a picture from the Android device's gallery and add it to the alarm. This app is designed to help people with reading disabilities. It is a free app with no ads and fully supported by Appestry. It's our way of saying thank you for everything.
You could use this app for beautiful reminders showing pictures of your loved ones in your daily alarms. If you find this app useful please consider a donation towards our fight against Autism, Dyslexia or other reading disabilities.
At Appestry, we'd like to thank Mr. Deaks for this beautiful idea and we hope his son and others with reading disabilities will find this app useful.
Thank you!
How do I add a picture to an alarm?
In the 'Set Alarm' screen select 'Picture' to launch the device's gallery and navigate through albums to select a picture. Currently this feature only works with pictures stored in the device and it is not possible to display pictures stored in Picasa and other online albums.
Can I use pictures downloaded from the Internet or shot using the camera?
Yes, you can download pictures from your web browser and save them to your device. Once they are available in the gallery you can select them for alarms. We want PicAlarms to be personal so we didn't include any stock pictures except for the default alarm clock. This way you can shoot pictures with your device's camera and use them as well.
How do I view the selected picture in the alarm?
After saving the alarm, in the main screen, press and hold the alarm you want to view and select 'Preview' in the popup menu. This will show you the picture with the rest of the alarm settings. You will be able to snooze or disable it just like you would when it goes off.
Some of the pictures are displayed sideways. What do I do?
Use the 'Picture Rotate' option to rotate the picture left, right or upside down. Some devices don't physically rotate the pictures while saving them, instead they are rotated when displaying them in the gallery. To display these pictures correctly inside PicAlarms you will have to rotate using the 'Picture Rotate' option.
Why are the pictures too small in portrait vs. landscape orientations? How can I make them bigger?
The aspect ratio of a picture (ratio between its width and its height) decides how to best fit the entire picture inside the device's display. PicAlarms doesn't crop the picture, instead it resizes to fit the entire picture inside the display. If the picture is too wide it will look smaller in portrait orientation or if it's too tall it will look smaller in landscape orientation.
To handle this issue choose the orientation you'd use more likely when a particular alarm goes off. Inside the gallery open that picture and crop it using the available edit options to fit the desired screen orientation and save the edited picture as a separate copy from the original picture. Then select the edited copy of the picture from PicAlarms settings screen.
Do you support transparent background in pictures?
Yes, if the picture you downloaded has a transparent background it will be displayed with a transparent background. The stock picture - alarm clock - has a transparent background.
I don't see the picture I selected in my alarms anymore! What happened?
The pictures used in the alarms are not copied from their original location. Instead they are used in the alarms directly from their original location in the device. If the picture you selected was in a SD card and if you unmount or remove the SD card the alert will revert back to the stock picture. Once you mount the SD card back the alert will display your picture again.
Also, if you rename the folder from which a picture was selected for an alarm then you will have to reselect the picture from the new folder to be able to view it in the alarms.
What other alarm settings are supported?
In the settings screen you will find the following options:
Alarm Settings
- Turn alarm on/off
- Alarm Time
- Repeat: days of week
- Picture: select from gallery
- Rotate picture: 90°, 180°, 270°
- Alarm Name
Alert Settings
- Ringtone
- Vibrate
- Stop alerting after X minutes (default: 5 min)
Snooze Settings
- Snooze duration (default: 5 min)
- Minimum number of snoozes before dismiss
- Allow back button to snooze
Can I preview an alarm?
Yes, press and hold the alarm you want to preview in the main screen and select 'Preview' from the popup menu.
Can I copy and paste an alarm?
Yes, press and hold the alarm you want to copy in the main screen and select 'Duplicate' from the popup menu.
How do I delete one or more alarms?
You can either delete an alarm from its settings screen or press and hold the alarm in the main screen and select 'Delete' from the popup menu. You can delete all alarms by pressing and holding any alarm and selecting 'Delete All' from the popup menu.
How do I enable or disable one or more alarms?
You can either enable/disable an alarm from its settings screen or press the checkbox next to the alarm in the main screen. You can enable/disable all alarms by pressing and holding any alarm and selecting 'Enable All' or 'Disable All' from the popup menu.
I didn't hear the alarm ring. Why?
PicAlarms doesn't ring the alert if either the device's ringer volume or the alarm volume is turned all the way down. It also doesn't ring or vibrate when there is an active phone call (in a phone), instead it just displays the alert screen with no audible alert. During an active alert if the device (phone) receives a phone call then the active alarm is expired immediately. All expired alarms are displayed in the notification bar.
What happens if I don't respond to an alarm?
Alarms that alert past the 'Stop alerting after' limit will expire. All expired alarms can be viewed by selecting the notification in the notification bar.
Why is the dismiss button disabled when alerting?
If the minimum number of snoozes is set to 1 or more and the if alarm hasn't been snoozed then you won't be able to dismiss the alarm without snoozing the minimum number of snoozes. Reduce the minimum snooze count to zero if you want to dismiss the alarm on first alert.
What is the black bar in the alert screen for?
The black bar between the snooze and dismiss buttons is a visual indicator of how much time is left in the snooze timer. It fills up from left to right depending on how much time is left in the snooze timer.
I don't want the back button to snooze alarms. What do I do?
If you don't want to use the back button to snooze you can disable it in the settings screen.
How do I know if an alarm is snoozed after I exit the alert?
Look for the alarm clock & the blue exclamation icon in the notification bar and select the alarm that was snoozed or expired to view more details.
Will the snooze timer continue to count down and alert again if I restart the device between snoozes?
No, currently the snooze count down stops when the device is restarted. This feature will be available in a future release.
How do I stop all the ringing and buzzing?
You can stop all active alarms that are ringing or snoozed from the Settings menu.
How do I contact support?
Please send an email to appestry@gmail.com with your questions and feedback. All emails will be responded within 24 hours.