alba

the experience

Light, before sound.

The body already knows how to wake up. It has been doing it for hundreds of thousands of years, following the gradual signal of a rising sun. alba's only job is to give it that signal — even on the darkest winter mornings.

A quieter morning

Deep amber builds slowly before your alarm sounds. Your body wakes before the noise begins. Sleep inertia — the fog of a sudden alarm — simply doesn't happen.

Composed presence

Quietly sculptural. Intentionally minimal. An object designed to sit on a bedside table without demanding attention — until the moment it's needed.

Evenings, softened

As sleep time approaches, warm amber light descends slowly to nothing. No blue light. No intrusion. The conditions for rest, created without effort.

how it works

A different rhythm.

From deep amber to full daylight — and back again each evening. One seamless daily rhythm.

Phase one

Deep amber

Pre-dawn light begins. Barely perceptible at first.

Phase two

Warm gold

Light builds. Cortisol begins to rise naturally.

Phase three

Soft white

Full morning light. The alarm is almost redundant.

Phase four

Clear day

The alarm sounds — if it's needed at all.

Evening

Warm descent

Light dims to nothing. Melatonin is undisturbed.

Set once.

Open the app, set your wake and sleep times. Different times for every day of the week if you need them. Once set, the device handles everything independently — no phone, no internet required.

Before you wake.

30 minutes before your alarm, deep amber light begins to build. Your body starts preparing — cortisol rises, temperature shifts, consciousness gathers — all before a sound is made.

Arrive at the day.

By the time the alarm sounds, the body has already completed its transition. Waking is something you arrive at, not something imposed. The rest of the day begins differently.

LED channels — warm white, cool white, deep red, and an invisible infrared — for a genuine sunrise, not a simulation

15/30 min

Sunrise duration — gradual enough for the body to respond.

Accounts required. No cloud. No subscription. No internet dependency. Ever.

flicker‑free

Light designed for comfort — engineered to avoid the subsensory flicker that causes eye strain and headaches

considered privacy

No accounts.
No data.
No intrusion.

Your schedule lives on the device. The app connects over Bluetooth. We don't have your data because we never built the infrastructure to collect it. This is not a feature — it is a founding decision.

No cloud

Your alarm schedule is stored entirely on the device. It functions without Wi-Fi, without a server, and without anyone's involvement but yours.

No account

Download the app. Connect. That's it. We never ask for an email address, a name, or any form of registration. There is nothing to create.

No tracking

No behavioural data, no usage analytics, no sleep data, no location. Your mornings remain entirely private — observed by no one.

Works offline

Once configured, alba requires no connection of any kind. Power it on. It knows what to do. Today, tomorrow, and for as long as you own it.

questions

Everything you might want to know.

No. alba connects to your phone via Bluetooth only. Once your schedule is set, the device operates entirely independently — no Wi-Fi, no internet, no server. It will continue to work flawlessly whether your phone is in the room or not.
No. We don't collect sleep data, usage data, behavioural data, or any personal information. We never built the infrastructure to do so, because we never intended to. Your sleep routine is yours.
Yes. The app is used to set your schedule and adjust preferences. Once configured, the device runs entirely on its own — no phone required. The touch strip on the device handles basic control: on, off, brightness, and alarm dismiss.
Never. Alba is a one-time purchase. Every feature — the app, the full sunrise sequence, per-day scheduling, the sunset wind-down — is included. There is no premium tier, no locked content, no ongoing fee of any kind.
Yes. Alba uses light as the primary wake signal — the alarm sound plays after the sunrise completes, as a backup. In practice, many people find they wake before the alarm sounds at all.
No. The sunrise begins with warm amber (2700K) — the lowest practical blue content of any LED — and shifts gradually toward cool daylight white only as the sequence progresses. The evening wind-down uses warm amber exclusively, which does not suppress melatonin or interfere with sleep onset.
Bright enough to wake you, not to hurt. Research shows that gradual dawn simulation works at much lower light levels than traditional bright light therapy — the timing of the light matters more than its intensity. Alba is designed to be effective, not blinding.
It can supplement one. The manual light mode lets you use alba as a warm ambient light at any time. It's not intended to replace a reading lamp for bright task lighting, but as a bedside presence it works well — and looks considerably better than most bedside lamps.
Yes. The alba companion app is available for iOS 15+ and Android 10+, available free from the App Store and Google Play at launch.
Yes. Multiple phones can connect to the same alba device. Each person can adjust schedules from their own phone. The device simply stores the most recently saved schedule.
Alba includes a battery-backed real-time clock (DS3231) and a CR2032 coin cell, which maintains the correct time even during a power outage. When power is restored, the device continues on schedule with no intervention required.
Alba launches in the United Kingdom in late 2026, direct to consumer. The launch price is £119. Everyone on the waitlist receives founding member access — £89 for the first 48 hours of launch only. That's £30 off, reserved exclusively for people who joined before launch day.

the making of alba

Built from first principles.

Alba was not designed around a business model. It was designed around a question: what would a sunrise clock look like if someone spent the time to get it exactly right?

Every decision has a reason. The four-channel LED array replicates a real sunrise, not a simulated one. The opalescent PC diffuser was chosen for its ability to scatter light without hotspots and transmit the near-infrared channel that cheaper materials block. The firmware runs on dedicated hardware with a precision real-time clock so your alarm is always accurate.

We are an independent product company, based in the United Kingdom, currently in pre-production. We are working with engineering and manufacturing partners toward a late 2026 launch.

Development stage

Pre-production engineering

Market

UK direct-to-consumer

Certifications

UKCA · IEC 62471 · RoHS

Designed

United Kingdom, 2026

early access

Wake naturally
with light.

Join the alba waitlist. Founding members receive early access and a preferred price — £89 instead of £119. No obligation. Unsubscribe any time.

founding members

£89

launch price

£119

you save

£30

✓ You're on the list. We'll be in touch before launch.

No account created. Your email is used only to notify you about alba's launch and founding member access.