The app I use – Anchor Lite (free on Android) – gives several options when you set the alarm.

This is also a good option if you use hearing aids but don’t sleep with them in. But when we happen to be in a noisy place (say just off a bar with live music on Friday night), I connect the phone to our wireless Bluetooth speaker, which I set at an appropriate volume and place right beside the bed. That is generally good enough for us to hear it in bed. I downloaded a very obnoxious klaxon sound (free on the internet – search on download notification sounds) and set it to be the alarm sound. Being able to hear it also is – and is another reason why we don’t use the alarm on our chartplotter. So – making sure it will stay on is important. So I make sure that my phone is plugged in all the time (most phones/apps will sound the alarm just before turning the app off, which does warn you of the problem but can cause unnecessary panic as it is the same alarm as if you’re possibly dragging). HOWEVER, phones will often shut down an app after a certain amount of time if the phone is not plugged it. I use one on my phone because it takes the least amount of power. Many chartplotters or nav apps have one, some radars do, or you can just put one on a phone or tablet. That’s having (and using!) an anchor alarm. Step three is one that I haven’t really talked about before and so I wanted to raise here. Don’t be intimidated – anchoring well isn’t difficult, it just takes attention to detail and getting into a routine so that you do it properly every single time. The same article I linked to above details our anchoring technique. Having the right gear does nothing if it’s not deployed correctly. The big thing that I want to point out is not to focus on just one piece of the gear, but the entire system. There is no universal “best” system – it depends on the bottom, the depth, the expected conditions, and so on.

Everything has to work properly together. It’s the anchor, the chain, any rope rode, snubbers or bridle, the fairleads, chafe gear, connectors, attachment points on the boat and so on.

And ground tackle is a system, not simply your anchor. Or if you do, you’ll find out before there is any damage. But one of the biggest has to be trusting that you won’t drag. Getting a good night’s sleep at anchor involves a lot of things.

Anchor alarm app