Everyday September 2026

5 apps for the first ten minutes of the day

The first ten minutes decide whether the day starts or just resumes. These five each take one of them — getting properly awake, naming the three things that matter, one line to think about, the first glass of water, and the habits ticked before the phone takes over.

The apps for the first ten minutes of the day are Alarmy, 3Things Pal, grug, Water tracker Waterllama and Streaks. I built 3Things Pal; the other 4 are other developers’ apps.

MiaAppLog— an iOS developer who reviews other people’s apps
Published September 2026 · apps and prices last checked 13 October 2026

Four stars is my score for how well an app answers this moment. An app I built gets four and a half — that is a rule, not a comparison. The App Store’s own average is on each card beside it.

1. 

   Alarmy

   ★★★★★★★★★★4.0 · Free · Lifestyle · App Store 4.8 (248,893)

   Solve a math problem or do squats before the alarm will stop.

   Skip it if you need an alarm that cannot fail — long-time users report alarms not sounding after updates or once the app is closed, and a free version that now leans hard on ads and subscription prompts.

   Official site ↗More lists with Alarmy

   
2. 

   3Things Pal Editor’s pick

   ★★★★★★★★★★4.5 · Free · Productivity · App Store 4.9 (9)

   One question every morning: what three things matter today?

   App Store ↗More lists with 3Things Pal

   
3. 

   grug

   ★★★★★★★★★★4.0 · Free · Lifestyle · App Store 4.8 (3,259)

   One small piece of caveman wisdom, every sunrise.

   Skip it if you want more than one short line a day — reviewers find it repetitive quickly, and it does not work with VoiceOver.

   Official site ↗More lists with grug

   
4. 

   Water tracker Waterllama

   ★★★★★★★★★★4.0 · Free · Health & Fitness · App Store 4.9 (162,376)

   Log the first glass of the day and watch a llama fill up.

   Skip it if you want to log drinks other than water or fix a mistake for free — both need premium, and reviewers see more upgrade prompts than reminders to drink.

   Official site ↗More lists with Water tracker Waterllama

   
5. 

   Streaks

   ★★★★★★★★★★4.0 · $5.99 · Health & Fitness · App Store 4.8 (27,350)

   Tick off up to 24 daily habits and keep each streak going.

   Skip it if you track more than 24 habits or depend on the Apple Watch — the limit is fixed, and reviewers report streak history vanishing and the watch not syncing completions back to the phone.

   Official site ↗More lists with Streaks

   

3Things Pal is one of mine — everything else on this list is someone else’s app. How that works.