Tolan is the AI alien companion. Here is what it does better, and where an AI alarm that speaks to you fits instead.
iOS + Android · 4.78★ · 168,412 App Store ratings · checked 2026-07-21The companion category, essentially. Tolan's charming alien built one of the largest and best-loved AI-companion audiences on mobile, with heavy funding behind it and a product people talk to all day. If what you want is an AI friend, this is the strongest one.
you want an all-day companion and the morning is just one of its moments.
you want a real alarm — one that fires over the lock screen at a set time — and a companion built specifically around the moment you wake up. Tolan does not wake you; AVA's whole job is to.
| Tolan | AVA | |
|---|---|---|
| Core object | A companion you visit | An alarm that comes to you |
| Alarm | None | Real alarm, fires over the lock screen |
| Scope | Open-ended conversation | Mornings, goals, habits |
You set a time, pick a character voice, and say what you are working toward. Each morning AVA writes a fresh short script from your goals — and your calendar and the weather if you connect them — then speaks it in that voice over a music bed while the words appear on screen. It fires over the lock screen like a normal alarm.
The free tier is 7 AI wake-ups a month. After that the alarm still rings on a basic tone, and the AI briefing is the part you subscribe for.
Not as an alarm. It is a companion app you open. If it ever ships a true alarm, it becomes a very serious competitor to AVA — that is an honest assessment of the category.