Receive notifications whilst asleep when unable to hear

Relentless81 · 21 Jul 2022 at 16:05

Hello and yes bit of a strange one but hear me out, I have googled extensively and came up with nothing and now hoping there is a chance someone has found a resolution to this first world problem.

Firstly I sleep with ear plugs, with that said I cannot hear my phone, I need to hear my phones notifications, my phone is on do not disturb at night however my security camera motion notifications are set to bypass do not disturb, I cannot hear them still because I'm wearing ear plugs and I want to be able to be alerted to these notifications.

First idea was sleep buds like the Bose Sleep Buds 2 instead of ear plugs but after some reading it appears these things do not alert you to notifications from your phone so that's that idea out the window.

Second idea is a smart watch that had a powerful enough vibration based on a notification to wake me up, I haven't been able to verify what watches are comfortable enough to wear to sleep and give off a good enough vibration to wake me up, reviews simply don't mention such an odd requirement.

So I was wondering if anyone here uses sleep buds or watches to wake you up based on phone notifications and if so can you please let me know what the device is and how you find it!?

Cheers

Kanpai · 21 Jul 2022 at 16:43

iPhone 13 Pro + Apple Watch Series 6 user here.

I sleep with Bose Sleep Buds 2 and leave my phone on DND overnight except for key contacts and also for Ring notifications.

The watch haptic motor is strong enough for me to be woken up in case of this and I can barely tell it's on overnight

Hawk Tuah · 21 Jul 2022 at 16:46

Would this work?

Relentless81 · 21 Jul 2022 at 16:55

Kanpai said:
iPhone 13 Pro + Apple Watch Series 6 user here.

I sleep with Bose Sleep Buds 2 and leave my phone on DND overnight except for key contacts and also for Ring notifications.

The watch haptic motor is strong enough for me to be woken up in case of this and I can barely tell it's on overnight

Ah I'm an Android user I should have mentioned, can you confirm that the sleep buds don't receive notifications from the phone though?

Kanpai · 21 Jul 2022 at 17:08

Relentless81 said:
Ah I'm an Android user I should have mentioned, can you confirm that the sleep buds don't receive notifications from the phone though?

Yeah unfortunately they don't, purely just the sound effects and Bose own alarm clock within the app.

throwaway4372 · 21 Jul 2022 at 17:22

Similar requirements to people who dont like waking up to an alarm or radio noise and have an alarm clock that uses light to simulate sunrise.

Maybe there's a sunrise product that can be hooked up to a phone and set to super fast sunrise mode.

Relentless81 · 21 Jul 2022 at 17:34

Kanpai said:
Yeah unfortunately they don't, purely just the sound effects and Bose own alarm clock within the app.

Ok thanks at least I know now for sure that those sleep buds won't do what I want.

Relentless81 · 21 Jul 2022 at 17:35

throwaway4372 said:
Similar requirements to people who dont like waking up to an alarm or radio noise and have an alarm clock that uses light to simulate sunrise.

Maybe there's a sunrise product that can be hooked up to a phone and set to super fast sunrise mode.

Interesting idea and I'll look into it but I'm fairly sure there is a watch out there which would do what I want it's just a matter of finding one and I'm interested in a new watch for other reasons too

Semple · 21 Jul 2022 at 17:41

Is it just the security notifications you want to be alerted to? And if so, are these rare events? Not like your front door bell who might spot someone walking down the street, or one of the neighbours cats.

My home alarm is automated so that if it's triggered at night then it'll switch on all lights in the house. That'll be enough to wake us up if I'm wearing earplugs.

Relentless81 · 21 Jul 2022 at 17:44

Semple said:
Is it just the security notifications you want to be alerted to? And if so, are these rare events? Not like your front door bell who might spot someone walking down the street, or one of the neighbours cats.

My home alarm is automated so that if it's triggered at night then it'll switch on all lights in the house. That'll be enough to wake us up if I'm wearing earplugs.

Yes its just the security notifications and yes they are rare but next door had their house broken into this week and both cars taken so I don't want to be missing any notifications, cameras have been setup to not give false notifications I really never get false alerts.

Can't do the lights coming on, Mrs doesn't care about such things and would not in any way want to risk the kids waking up so whatever I get it has to alert to me and me only. It's a good idea though good to know it works for you

Semple · 21 Jul 2022 at 17:55

Relentless81 said:
Yes its just the security notifications and yes they are rare but next door had their house broken into this week and both cars taken so I don't want to be missing any notifications, cameras have been setup to not give false notifications I really never get false alerts.

Can't do the lights coming on, Mrs doesn't care about such things and would not in any way want to risk the kids waking up so whatever I get it has to alert to me and me only. It's a good idea though good to know it works for you

If light and sound are out then yeah I guess you're only left with vibration. Watches are probably your next best bet then, but you'd need to figure out how to trigger it it to vibrate.

Depending how good you are at tinkering/electronics, I reckon you could get a vibration pad under your pillow that you could trigger based on an event.

throwaway4372 · 21 Jul 2022 at 17:58

this looks good - but not out yet

Worlds only vibrational wristband for deaf and hard of hearing.

The Safewave band is designed to enhance safety in homes for those who are Deaf (+) HoH. Our technology connects to and monitors smart security systems notifications and communicates the notification to the smart wristband, ensuring you never miss an important notification in time of emergency...

www.safewavetech.com

there was a similar product "BluAlert" a decade ago that seems dead now, but the purpose of that was so you didn't miss a call while at a music concert because you couldn't hear the phone ring, so maybe there are other products for that purpose also.

Relentless81 · 21 Jul 2022 at 17:58

Semple said:
If light and sound are out then yeah I guess you're only left with vibration. Watches are probably your next best bet then, but you'd need to figure out how to trigger it it to vibrate.

Depending how good you are at tinkering/electronics, I reckon you could get a vibration pad under your pillow that you could trigger based on an event.

I just need a smart watch that vibrates strong enough based on app notifications, these exist as Kanpai mentioned above but I need android compatible

Semple · 21 Jul 2022 at 18:00

Relentless81 said:
I just need a smart watch that vibrates strong enough based on app notifications, these exist as Kanpai mentioned above but I need android compatible

My Fitbit one wakes me up, but that's only for the alarm.

You might be able to go into somewhere like currys/John Lewis where they've got them on display and see if you can set a silent alarm up, and then feel how much it vibrates on your wrist.

Richie · 21 Jul 2022 at 19:19

The Pixel Buds will notify you for alerts like your doorbell... Not sure if you need a Pixel phone though but mine alerts me with an audible alert

Relentless81 · 21 Jul 2022 at 19:26

Richie said:
The Pixel Buds will notify you for alerts like your doorbell... Not sure if you need a Pixel phone though but mine alerts me with an audible alert

Thanks but there is no way I could sleep in full size ear buds

drakulton · 21 Jul 2022 at 19:44

What about a bluetooth speaker pillow. Depending on what your alarm music is, the sound and or vibration may get you up.

throwaway4372 · 31 Jul 2022 at 12:48

Occurred to me that it should be possible to add this functionality via a phone app.

A quick search turned up this, which looks promising:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.j4velin.vibrationNotifier

android phone + that app + one of these watches:

Wear OS by Google | The smartwatch operating system that connects you to what matters most

Connect to your Google apps, health and wellness, and more right from your wrist with a Wear OS smartwatch. Maps and directions, music and media controls available to you with a glance.

wearos.google.com

seems like a combo that would work.

Relentless81 · 31 Jul 2022 at 12:55

throwaway4372 said:
Occurred to me that it should be possible to add this functionality via a phone app.

A quick search turned up this, which looks promising:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.j4velin.vibrationNotifier

android phone + that app + one of these watches:

Wear OS by Google | The smartwatch operating system that connects you to what matters most

Connect to your Google apps, health and wellness, and more right from your wrist with a Wear OS smartwatch. Maps and directions, music and media controls available to you with a glance.

wearos.google.com

seems like a combo that would work.

Nice thanks for that, very interesting, also interesting is the Citizen CZ smart watch, never noticed it before so will look into that

Rendog · 31 Jul 2022 at 13:57

I have this problem due to being deaf in my right ear and so when I sleep on my left ear I don't hear a thing when sleeping. As my work requires my team to be on-call (we rotate shifts) I had a lot of trouble acknowledging and hearing alerts over night, even when the alert called my phone I would often miss it.

My solution was to use my Fitbit which allowed me to send certain app alerts to my Fitbit which would then vibrate enough to wake me up. Now I capture alerts quick enough so they don't get escalated to my boss and wake them up!