Microsoft's new Mimicker Alarm app makes you play games to turn it off

If you’re like me, you have trouble getting out of bed sometimes. There are plenty of alarm applications in the Google Play Store that make you do math problems or solve puzzles to turn them off, but none that are quite like this new app from Microsoft. Fresh out of the Microsoft Garage comes Mimicker Alarm, an app that will make you play games and make funny faces in order for it to turn off.

On the surface Mimicker Alarm is just like every other alarm app. You can customize your alarms with different times, days and ringtones, and you can snooze alarms as well. The fun starts when you turn on the Mimic feature, which will put a puzzle or game in place that needs to be completed before it shuts off. There are a few different Mimics to choose from – match the expression, capture the color, complete the tongue twister, or you can shuffle between all three. If you’re feeling brave, you can even personalize the images taken from your face matching Mimic and share them with friends after each alarm. This is a odd feature, but fun nonetheless.

The app is built using Microsoft’s Project Oxford, which is a platform consisting of artificial intelligence APIs. The company says the app works best when connected to the internet, though it doesn’t necessarily need a connection in order to function. Like all other Garage Projects, Mimicker Alarm is free to download from the Google Play Store. This is somewhat of an experimental app, so Microsoft will use the data you upload, along with anonymous usage data for service improvement purposes. They won’t use any of the uploaded data to identify you though, just to improve the technology behind the app.

Interested? Follow the Play Store link below for the download.