Preorders for my clock app are live!

By Quinton Williams, 24 April, 2026

Forum

iOS and iPadOS

Hello, everyone!

I'm very pleased to share what I've been working on for the past six weeks.

I know clock apps are pretty niche products,, but in the 13 years I've been an iPhone user, none of them have worked the way I wanted. That’s why I decided it was time to create something of my own.

VAL (Voice and Alarm) is an app for iOS and macOS that lets you use virtually any clock you could want—including those from Steve’s Talking Clock. It comes with six chiming clock sets and two talking ones to get you started.

Key Features

Import custom clock packs
Set announcement intervals per clock type
Proper alarm support via AlarmKit (iOS 26+)
Simple to use, but highly customizable interface
Full VoiceOver support
Import single or multiple clocks via the Files app or Computer Upload
Quiet Hours
Advanced scheduling:
- Assign different clocks to different times
- Set unique clocks and announcement frequencies per day
- Optional alarms for schedule start/end times
Includes a custom file format which allows you to seamlessly transfer your clock library and settings between devices

This is only the beginning, but I’m genuinely excited to finally be able to bring this to you all.

The macOS version is still in review, but I’ll share that link as soon as it’s available.

Note: This is a bundled purchase—buying one version will cover both iOS and macOS.

I really hope you enjoy the app, and happy Friday!

Preorder VAL on the App Store

Options

Comments

Sounds

What sounds does it have for alarm? Classic sounds like big ben, rooster, and so on? LLC.

re: Holger Fiallo

Hey Holger.
To answer your question, the alarm sounds are based on which clock you choose.
By default, the two talking clocks use a sound called "classic beep", but you can also import your own if you have clocks from Steve's talking clock or or if someone shares either a zip or config file containing additional ones.
I may post a link to a .val file which has plenty of clocks to choose from, but want to be mindful of copyright and permission in doing so.

Sounds nice.

Are there instructions to make your app the default one instead of the Clock App? Very interested. You say pre-orders but is it in the app Store?

re: SheilaG

No, there's no way to override the default clock app, but alarms do behave at the system level, just as apple's do.
.
Preorder just means you can reserve it on the appstore now, and it will automatically download on the fourth.
The price is also reduced now and will be at $6.99 on release day.

Did not know

Thanks, did not know that Big Ben was copy writer. If is on the app store, I would get it. Apple alarm does not work well with me. Can the alarm work also in the watch? LLC.

re: Holger Fiallo

Big ben itself is not copyrighted, but since it's a westminster based clock, it's more of an announcement clock vs an alarm one.
However, you could of course use big ben sounds as an alarm if you wish.
Regarding the apple watch, yes.
Alarms will work on the watch, and you can both snooze and dismiss them directly from it.

Could it show seconds?

I mean, does your, clock app, show the time somewhere in the UI and / or a widget :) , and if so, does it show time with seconds? I have an apple watch and it's obviously possible there but apple has never added the seconds on ios / ipados.
Thanks!

re: seconds

I don't currently have that implemented, but I may look into it as a toggle.
It does show the time on the main interphase, along with the clock you have set, when upcoming announcements will occur and if you have any schedules active.

entire Steve clocks in zip

For those who need it, here is all the Steve's clock as one zip file for easy import.
It's a Master zip file with all the clocks converted into zips https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dtjlUw63UH8HVr9yitBAGkN0WjdxRreB/view?usp=drivesdk

Alerting every quarter hour?

Hi,

this app is cool. question: I have a chime app that alerts every quarter hour. Can this app do exactly the same thing?

replying to JC

Yes, it can announce every half hour, quarter hour, or hour.

Other language clocks

Holy moly, this is amazing. Is there any chance we will have implementation of other language clocks? So that the Clock can speak in a language other than English?

re: languages

This is definitely something I would like to add in the future for sure, yes.
Unfortunately I'm boringly monnolingual so would need assistance from others to help implement it.
Maybe this will be part of a future testflight cycle? ☺️

Thinking about that

With the Steve’s talking Clock format it could be done. Do you happen to have a guide on how to implement clocks with your program? Or would I literally just follow the Steve’s talking Clock manual?

just Preorder

I amlooking for this kind of apps for long time...
thanks for doing it.

12/24 hour toggle in app?

Hello,

I use 24 hour time on my system, however some clocks don't lend themselves to this, as they weren't designed for it. The sharp talking time for instance. Is this something that can be toggled in your app?

24 hour time

Yes, this is absolutely possible, and you can also opt to have the app follow your system time format.

Pre-ordered last night!

I'm excited for this. I've always been more of a "different devices for different tasks" kinda person but this sounds like the perfect way to bridge the gap between smartphones and the art form that is classic talking clocks. I've always wanted to use Steve's Clock but Windows and I have a love-hate relationship. Glad I found out about this when I did!

Ticking sounds and quick toggle?

I have long wanted a quality chiming clock for my phone, as I find the sounds very soothing. It sounds like this is going to be an experience that is very customizable, and I'm quite curious to see what this looks like in action. Just a couple questions/suggestions, (I've already preordered, regardless, just a few musings in case they're helpful!)

First, one clock I have on my phone does not chime in the background, but what it does do is have a very soothing ticking sound when the app is running, like a traditional grandfather or mantel clock that has been key wound. Is there any chance you could have an option for people to hear ticking sounds while your app is open? I find these incredibly relaxing, but I'm also not sure how many people would truly find this useful and fully realize this may be more trouble than it's worth.

Second, being able to schedule the announcements/chimes will definitely be lovely, but there are some situations in which I might just want to quickly be able to toggle them off and back on again. Would it be possible to make a toggle either in the ap or, perhaps, in the control center via widget to be able to start and stop the clock on the fly?

Regardless, thanks so much for putting this together and I can't wait to play with it.

Thank you for your feedback.

Hi Faerie.
Regarding the ticking, it's definitely possible, although I'm not sure of the best way to implement it as a setting since all of the other sounds are based on the clock being used.
As for the quick toggle?
That is an excellent idea, and I will most definitely be adding that in a not so distant update!

Announcement toggle

I've written this down in my notes of things to add in 1.1☺️.

App store

When will be in the app store? Long live cats.

appstore

It is already in the appstore and available for preorder now.

Thank you!

I really appreciate that! And no pressure with the ticking, like I said I totally know it might not make sense. Looking forward to release and beyond!

Just a quick question on the two default talking clocks

Just had this come to my head. I watched a YouTube video on Steve's clock, and when the automatic announcements went off there was a chime/tone that happened before the time was announced, but when you used the keyboard shortcut it would just speak the time. I'm a hopeless nostalgic who grew up in the early 2010s with talking watches and clocks that used to chime before they talked every time you pressed them, so I wonder if this could also be a toggle depending on which clock you have selected.
Also, aanother random question: how do the alarms work? Does the app auto-announce the time after every repeat of the alarm tone? Or something else? Just curious. Can't wait to hear the actual audio!

In response to Kyler G

The app behaves exactly the same as Steve's clock in this regard, but if you wanted to take the tone from the announcement file, place it at the beginning of the "its" file, then remove the announcement file altogether, that would mimic what you're suggesting.
That's how I got the bong clock to always play the tone at the beginning.
Although I suppose there could be a toggle for this in settings as well.

alarms

Regarding alarms, The app will use the alarm files inside the clock folder, and they will be listed as options under alarm sounds.
As for speaking the time, I did try to do that, but it wasn't working reliably since the files have to be created ahead of time.
It actually worked pretty well at first, but fell apart once the alarm was snoozed.
It would be stuck on the previous time since the file had already been pre rendered.
I really did want this to work though, especially for the classic talking clocks.

Name

What name I type on the search on the app store? Thanks. Long live cats.

Here's the direct link to the preorder in the App Store

Hello everyone.

Someone was asking what they type when searching in the App Store. I have gone one step further and provided the direct link to preorder the app, VAL, in the App Store.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/val-voice-alarm-chimes/id6760596283

Hope this helps you and others interested.

PS sounds like a fabulous app! I currently use VoiceOver Clock. Curious to enquire as to what voice(s) will be used in the announcements? Thanks!

appstore link

Here is the appstore link

default announcements

Regarding your question about the default announcement clocks, there are a male and female, each from the elevenlabs voice library.
I started working on my own, but editing wasn't going to be done in time and I'm my worst critic so...

For @Quinton Williams: I can help!

I'm not much of a pro voice actor, but I have a pair of recording headphones and a knowledge of English and Spanish. I can also help find sound ideas for announcements, alarms, and future features. If you need anything, let me know!

re: Kyler G

Thank you so much, I will certainly keep this in mind.
This is only the beginning, and I'm both very nervous but super excited for this to finally be out in the wild.

Just pre-ordered

I just pre-ordered. It will be very useful app for me.

importing our own clock sounds and alarm sounds?

Hi,
I've heard of Steve's talking Clock, but as I only use a mac, I've never used it. Can we import our own clock and alarm sounds (IE vintage digital watch hourly tones, etc) to the app? If so, how does one go about making their own clock pack?

in response to Moopie Curran

Absolutely yes to both!
Inside the app, there is a reference guide to understanding each method and how to structure the files, but of course I don't mind helping either.
There are 13 methods in VAL vs 10 in Steve's clock, but don't let that scare you.
I'll be monitoring this thread if anyone has questions ☺️.
I'm happy to help.

Could you post the methods here?

Could you please post the 13 methods here, so that we can start working on clocks before the Clock app comes out?

a clock pack some of you may like.

Here's a pack recorded by Cullen Gallagher which works with both VAL and his own mac menu bar utility chimekeeper. It may sound familiar to some, and it just so happens to be my favorite quartz westminster chime. You can download it here You can also download chimekeeper at this link.

clock methods

Below are the clock methods.

Clock Methods Reference

This app supports a wide range of clock types, from spoken time announcements to chiming clocks and other specialized formats.

Each clock uses a method — a set of rules that tells the app how to build announcements from the audio files in that clock’s folder.

This reference explains every supported method, the audio files it uses, and how those files should be named.

File handling notes: - File names are matched case-insensitively - Common formats supported: WAV, MP3, M4A, AAC, AIFF, FLAC, CAF, etc.

Methods are grouped by clock type for readability (not numerical order).

🗣️ Talking Clocks

These clocks speak the time aloud using this general structure:

its + [hour] + [minute] + am/pm

Missing files are skipped automatically
Supports 12-hour and 24-hour time
Supports alarm sounds

Method 1 – Simple

Each number is a complete recording.

Files needed: - its, am, pm - 1–12 (hours) - 00 (o'clock), o ("oh") - Numbers: 1–20, 30, 40, 50

Minute rules: - :00 → 00 ("o'clock") - :01–:09 → o + digit - :10–:20 → direct number - :21–:59 → tens + units

24-hour support: - Add 13–20 - 21–23 → 20 + unit - Midnight: - Uses 0 if present
- Otherwise "twenty four"

Method 2 – Traditional

Uses syllables instead of full numbers for more natural speech.

Syllable files:

thir, for, fif, six, seven, eight, nine
teen, twen, ty, ty1–ty9

Examples: - 13 → thir + teen - 20 → twen + ty - 23 → twen + ty3 - 30 → thir + ty

Method 3 – Digits Only

Reads each digit individually.

Files needed: - 0–9, 00, o, its, am, pm

Examples: - 10:35 → "one zero three five" - 2:07 → "two oh seven" - 5:00 → "five o'clock"

Method 4 – Really Huge

Every minute is pre-recorded.

Files needed: - its, am, pm - 1–12 - 00 - 1–59 (every minute)

24-hour: - Add 0 for midnight

Method 5 – More Natural

Extends Method 2 with alternate minute pronunciations.

Additional files: - 1a–9a, 10a–12a (minute-only variants)

Minutes 13+ still use syllables.

Method 9 – Not So Traditional

Full control over minute pronunciation.

Additional files: - teena, tya, ty1a–ty9a

Examples: - 13 → thir + teena - 21 → twen + ty1a

Method 10 – Danish

Numbers above 20 are reversed.

Files needed: - 1–20, and, 30, 40, 50 - 00, o, its, am, pm

Examples: - 25 → 5 + and + 20 - 37 → 7 + and + 30

🔔 Chiming Clocks

These behave like real clocks: - Play at :00, :15, :30, :45 - Always use 12-hour time - No alarm support

Method 6 – Big Ben

Classic quarter chimes + repeated strikes.

Files needed: - 00 (hour melody) - chime (single strike) - 15, 30, 45

Behavior: - 3:00 → melody + 3 strikes
- Quarters → play matching melody

Automatically trims silence between strikes.

Method 11 – Traditional Chime (Analyzed)

Single recording per hour (melody + strikes together).

Files needed: - 1–12 (full recordings) - 15, 30, 45

How it works: - App detects where melody ends and splits automatically
- Manual adjustment available
- Supports per-hour overrides
- Splits carry across devices

Method 12 – Traditional Chime (Pre-edited)

Melody and strikes are already separated.

Files needed: - half - 1chime–12chime (or 0chime for 12)

Optional: - quarter, 3quarter - hourly (intro)

Behavior: - Hour → optional intro + strikes
- Missing quarters → fallback to half
- Supports strike-only clocks

🧩 Other Clocks

These don’t fit into talking or chiming.

Method 7 – Cuckoo

Repeats a single sound per hour.

Files needed: - cuckoo

Example: - 5:00 → plays 5 times

Supports alarms.

Method 8 – Hourly

Each hour has a unique file.

Files needed: - hour01–hour12

Optional (24-hour): - hour00–hour23

Supports alarms.

Method 13 – Signature Quarter

Every quarter is unique.

Files needed:

[hour]_[minute]

Examples: - 3_15, 7_00, 10_30, 12_45

12-hour → 48 files total
Optional 24-hour support

⚙️ Optional Files

Talking clocks (Methods 1–5, 9, 10)

announcement – intro sound
hour1 / hour2 – before/after top of hour
h, m – labels
midnight, noon

Alarm files

Basic: - alarm

Named: - alarm-gentle → “Gentle”
- alarm-morning_bells → “Morning Bells”

Numbered: - alarm2, alarm-3 → “Alarm 2”, “Alarm 3”

🎧 Audio Processing

The app handles audio automatically:

Seamless joins
Syllables (Methods 2, 5, 9) are merged with no gaps
Standard spacing
Other clips use ~0.15

Sorry, could you add one more feature?

I really appreciate method 10, it allows for clocks in languages like German. So if I were doing a German Clock I would use method 10. Oddly enough if I were to do a Swedish Clock I would use one of the other methods because Swedish doesn’t reverse its numbers but that’s a different story.
There’s one more method that would be needed for some languages. And I’m sure I’m still missing something but it’s a method that would allow For up to the hour.
Example. If it’s 9:30, then it is half ten. If it’s 12:45, it’s 1 minus 15, or 1 minus a quarter.
If it’s 12:47, then it’s 13 minutes before one. This would allow for clocks in languages like Spanish.
Honestly, the easiest thing would be a structure like this. It would be a lot of recording but allow for a very flexible structure.1-24a (hours 1 to 24)
1-59: minutes 1 to 59
O: o’clock
Minus: minus
And: and
Hour: hour
Hours: hours
Minute: minute
Minutes: minutes
Morning: in the morning, maybe 6 am to 12 am
Afternoon: in the afternoon, maybe 12 pm to 6 pm
Evening: in the evening, 6 pm to 10 pm
Night: at night, 10 pm to 6 am
Quarterpast: a quarter past
Halfpast: half past
Quarterto: a quarter to

This is the most flexible multilingual structure I can think of. Obviously if the quarter and half files are not there then it would compensate by just defaulting two using 15 and 30. And then I need a way to tell it the order to play the Files… I just realise this got a lot more complicated as I thought about it.
Because in English, I would say a quarter to 3, in Spanish 3 minus a quarter…
In English, I would say 4:15 in the morning. In Chinese I would say in the morning 4:15.
Maybe this is something for a later release if this could be thought out properly. Take these as my ramblings on the possibility for multilingual Clock.
I’m gonna at least try to record a Spanish Clock with the really huge method. It won’t sound totally natural, but it’ll be as good as it gets right now, I don’t have time to do that until I get home next week but I think that’s a worthwhile endeavour

techluver

Hi techluver.
Thank you so much for this, I have noted it. It won't be part of the initial release, but I would like to have a small multilingual testflight cycle once everything is up and running, and will post about it on here so we can finalize and make sure it works properly.
ALso, Macos just made it through review :).

One more question, sorry

Question on the really huge variant. I see. 1-12 per hour, then 1-59 for minutes. Does that mean the same files are used for both hours and minutes? If so then even that really can’t be used for a foreign language Clock.

re: method 4

Yes, that is currently how it works but it is something I want to add flexibility for since it bothers me lol.
We will get proper multilingual support, don't worry ☺️.
I want everyone to be able to enjoy this, and will absolutely love to involve the community in making it better.

Happy to help

And I think Arabic might do something interesting with single dual plural but I would need to look that up unless someone knows. My goodness I never thought about how complicated announcing the time was in different languages. As a linguist I should’ve thought of this but…. I think it could be done. I’m happy to help where I can. Oddly enough Mandarin Chinese is actually pretty easy under this current system. So maybe I’ll experiment with that at first.

testflight

You know what? I've just made the group now, and it has a limit of ten testers but can always be adjusted later. Feel free to join the multilingual group and I will eventually add builds to it so we can get this right.

Not working

It’s saying it’s not allowing any testers

testflight

Okay, so it isn't just me.
It probably doesn't like the fact there aren't any builds yet.
I will update this thread once I've added one.

Chiming clock example

Hi all, to hype ya'll up, here is a sampling of the chiming clocks, all of which I recorded for this app: Link available to hear them here

Re: chiming clock examples

These sound amazing! I like the final example personally. Thanks for sharing!

Re: chiming clock examples

You're welcome! The first clock in the list is a Colonial 5-tube Grandfather clock with a Yauch movement. I got it over the summer last year and helped it run smoothly as it does today. The second clock is a Hamilton Mantle clock, about 7 by 9 by 5 inches, so backpackable if desired, which is why it sounds so tiny. The movement is a Hermle 340-020 movement, which is a balancewheel as its heart. The third and final clock is a Sligh mantle clock, about 12 by 14 by 6 inches, with a Hermle 1050-020 triplechime movement. I got this one off of Fb Marketplace last summer as the rods sound exactly like the Grand Clock app's mantle clock samples (if you remember that app) so it must be included in the app since Quinton and I both used that app for years. The order of thimes presented in the audio are the same as they appear on the chime selector switch on the movement, Whittington, St. Michael's and Westminster. The "3. hours" announcement was made with the Victor Reader voice clips, which have been made into a clock bundle. Bundle here