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Many products discuss the benefits of the “customer.” Many companies adopt core values like being customer-driven or user-centric, often proclaimed, “We value our customers.” But who exactly is the “customer” in this context?
I, too, am a customer—I use the very products I help create. Does that mean I can simply make products based on my own needs? Or, if we build a product by considering customer feedback and considering their feedback, does that make it “customer-centric”?
When talking about customer-centricity, there's one critical thing to remember: Customers are not a monolith.
The users of our products exist on a broad spectrum. Some are worried fans, while others are on the verge of leaving due to disappointment. Some users visit interested but engage with only a significant of features, while others use the product in ways we never intended.
Given such diversity, the real question is: Which customers should we be interested in for?
Let's reframe the question:
If you had to choose, which path would you take?
Many companies choose to focus on the Average When did the user answer this question. They added features that appeal to the majority, expand their market reach, and expand broad appeal. If 10,000 users request a feature while only 100 ask for something different, considering the option that favors the majority may prefer like the safer bet. At first glance, building a product that caters to everyone and argues a general-purpose audience argues to be a logical choice.
But is that really the best approach?
When I joined Alarmy, one of the most significant aspects of the three-month onboarding process was considered how much Alarmy was designed for its Top 1% of key users. Alamy's mission is clear: “Wake people up, fully and easily.”
Every major decision — whether it's shaping the product roadmap or developing key features—is aligned with this mission. And at the core of that intensive process? The 1% of key users Who truly embody the problem the product aims to solve.
When a morning alarm rings, most users simply turn it off and wake up. But for those who struggle with waking up, it's not unusual to turn off the alarm Without even reducing it and fall back asleep.
With Alarmy, users can complete a wake-up mission to disable the alarm, prevent them from uncontrollably silencing it and dozing off again. But what happens when someone Really doesn't want to wake up? Some users go as far as turning off their phones are on a mission to avoid the wake-up. (And later, they don't even remember doing it—oops!)
They rely on Alarmy to wake them up, but if they unknowingly shut down their phone and continue sleeping, is that responsibility?
For most companies, this would be where the product's role ends. After all, they provided an alarm with wake-up missions — if a user surprisingly shuts down their phone, isn't that their responsibility? What more could be done for such extreme cases?
They are, in fact, the 1% of core users—The Ones Who Struggle the Most with Waking Up in the Morning. And Alarmy exists specifically to solve their problems.
That's why Alarmy says the “Prevent Power Off” feature. Remaining it was necessary, as it required overriding system dialogusomething most apps don't do. It wasn't a negative feature for the majority of “normal” users, but for that 1% of core users, it was a matter of course.
(In fact, common user requests include: “Please don't let my phone turn off when the alarm rings!” and “Don't let me delete the app when the alarm goes off!”)
By arguing these extreme needs, Alarmy doesn't just create an alarm—it resists that Most dedicated users Wake up Refused and Done, no matter what.
To implement phone shutdown prevention, an app must be able to control system dialogs. However, on iOS, this is technically impossible.
Despite continuous user requests for a feature that prevents phone shutdown, operating system restrictions have made it impossible for any company to develop a function that overrides these policies.
For most companies, this is where the product’s role would end.
If the operating system blocks it, what more can be done?
After all, shutting down the phone while the alarm is ringing is a deliberate user action—it’s not the app’s fault, right?
Instead of focusing on technical limitations ("We can't control system dialogs"), Alarmy focused on solving the real problem:
"Users turn off their phones and go back to sleep when the alarm rings."
So, was there another way to address this issue for the 1% of core users who struggle the most to wake up?
If Alarmy couldn't technically prevent users from turning off their phones, why not give them the tools to hold themselves accountable?
This led to the creation of the iOS version of the Power-Off Prevention feature.
With this function, users can set their own penalty for forcefully stopping the alarm.
Each time an abnormal cancellation pattern is detected, a fine is deducted from the linked payment card.
(Of course, there is a one-day grace period before the fine is applied, and users can request an exemption by calling during that period—just in case! 😆)
By shifting the focus from technical constraints to user-driven solutions, Alarmy continues to solve wake-up challenges—even when the OS says:
"No, you can't do that." 🚀
Surprisingly, over 5,000 users voluntarily signed up, registered their payment cards, set their own fines, and actively use the Power-Off Prevention feature.
While 5,000 may seem like a significant number, it actually represents less than 1% of Alarmy's 2 million+ daily active users (DAU).
Some might wonder:
"Is it really necessary to go this far for such a small group of users?"
For us, the answer was clear: Absolutely.
This feature was designed specifically for the 1% of core users who truly needed it, making it a valuable investment of time and effort.
(And in reality, a lot of resources went into developing it! When I spoke with the PO in charge, they even admitted... "We really went all-in on this one, huh?" 😂)
The wake-up mission I personally use is the "Take a Photo" mission.
I set my alarm so that it only turns off when I take a picture of my water purifier.
So when the alarm rings, I rush to the kitchen, take the photo, complete the mission, and start my morning with a glass of water.
What if I forget to change my mission before traveling and now need to take a picture of my home water purifier to turn off the alarm?
For situations like these, Alarmy has an Emergency Cancellation Mode—a workaround that allows users to disable the alarm when completing the assigned mission is impossible.
There are always users who avoid their assigned mission (which usually requires getting out of bed and moving) and instead use Emergency Cancellation Mode to turn off the alarm—only to fall right back asleep.
So if a user misuses this feature and oversleeps… who is responsible?
Technically, the primary responsibility lies with the user.
But Alarmy refuses to give up on its 1% of core users—the ones who struggle the most to wake up, even if they try to cheat the system. 😆
To prevent misuse, Alarmy designed the Emergency Cancellation process to be extremely challenging.
For example, in Flight Mode, users must tap 500 randomly indicated tiles to unlock the alarm.
The idea behind this?
If someone tries to abuse Emergency Cancellation Mode, they’ll likely wake up in the process.
(Fun fact: When this feature was first released, users had to tap 1,000 times. Yes, 1,000! 😆)
While abuse was significantly reduced, inconvenience for regular users increased.
For those who genuinely needed emergency cancellation (for example, users who were away from home and couldn’t take the required photo), having to tap the screen 500 times felt excessive.
Complaints started coming in:
"I’m already awake, but now I have to go through this tedious task just to turn off the alarm?"
Taking this feedback into account, we released a new version with a slightly adjusted difficulty level.
Instead of simply reducing the tap requirement to 100, we also increased the number of tiles to 9, ensuring that it still required effort but didn’t feel too easy.
Of course, some users appreciated the easier emergency cancellation process.
However, Alarmy’s 1% of core users were dissatisfied, feeling that the difficulty level was now too low.
For them, the reduced challenge made it too tempting to abuse emergency cancellation mode, using it as a shortcut to bypass their wake-up missions—completely defeating the purpose of the feature.
Since the majority of users preferred the easier version, and abuse is ultimately the user’s responsibility, we could have left it as it was.
Was there a better alternative?
For this second version, we kept the 100-tap requirement but increased the number of tiles to 25.
Additionally, we strengthened the penalty: the more a user relied on emergency cancellation, the harder it became.
For example, after using emergency mode once, the tap requirement would double to 200 taps the next time—and increase even further with repeated use.
This update struck a balance between making the feature accessible to casual users while preventing core users from exploiting it too easily.
Since implementing this version, complaints about emergency cancellation difficulty have significantly decreased. 🚀
If you don’t want to move your body immediately in the morning but still need to stay mentally alert, I recommend the challenging writing missions.
While the alarm keeps ringing nonstop, try typing this with perfect accuracy:
"Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers..."
You’ll have no choice… you WILL wake up! 😆
You can take on Hell Mode math problems or solve extremely difficult memory puzzles.
(If you can still fall asleep after completing these… you might just be the King of Oversleeping! 👑)
Prefer something more physical?
Set your mission so that the alarm won’t turn off until you complete a certain number of squats. 💪
Before joining Alarmy, I remember thinking:
"Why does Alarmy have so many extreme missions? Isn’t this overkill?"
But after joining the company, I gained a much deeper understanding of its vision and mission.
As I looked into the history behind each feature, it became clear why these "Hell Difficulty" missions were created.
Alarmy isn’t just about waking people up—it’s about helping the 1% of core users who struggle the most to get out of bed.
In the process of solving their wake-up challenges, we’ve also improved the experience for the other 99%, turning what could have been a niche solution into something that benefits a much wider audience.
In fact, this philosophy is even reflected in a permanent reminder…
The name of our meeting room! 😆
We need to deeply understand who our customers are and what real challenges they face.
A product that directly addresses the most urgent problems of a clear target audience has a much higher chance of success than one that simply provides a moderate solution to common user issues.
After all, if you can deeply impress 1% of your customers, you can satisfy 50%—but the reverse is never true. 🚀
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