Alarms Plus is a free app for Windows Phone by Naresh Bogavaram which provides a highly useful function.

As the name suggests, it is an alarm application. It allows you to set multiple alarms with a specified gap between alarms.

Where the app really stands out is with its inclusion of puzzles. You can enable puzzles so that you must solve them before the alarm or alarms turn off. This may sound unusual but it can really assist with the problem of forcing yourself to get up. It is so easy to snooze an alarm - sometimes over and over - when it goes off. By contrast, when you are forced to focus on a puzzle and think and key in an answer it really aids in getting up and facing the day.

The app allows you to specify a page to go - such as your task list, or web browser favourites, or a music playlist - after solving the puzzles and disabling the alarm.

It is evident a lot of thought has gone into Alarms Plus; it is not merely just another alarm app, sounding off at a designated time. Instead, it is a worthwhile and very useful productivity tool. The author, Naresh Bogavaram, has clearly thought about how to optimise people's time, and how to help people be immediately productive and focused, whatever the reason for setting an alarm.