Hate Apple’s ‘By the Seaside’ alarm tune? You’re not alone

One morning at 6 o’clock, Gyaltsen Moktan woke in a panic.

One morning at 6 am, Gyaltsen Moktan woke in a panic. It was 2019. He worked at an all-you-can-eat sushi buffet and was responsible for opening the restaurant each morning. So he set a wakeup call on his iPhone. Then Apple’s “By the Seaside” alarm sound went off. Moktan chose the jaunty, cheerful tune available as a ringtone and alarm on many of Apple’s devices, thinking that the song’s easygoing melody would make waking up a peaceful experience. That bet soured. “The alarm is mocking you in a way. It’s kind of like a horror movie, where they do the nursery rhyme before doom,” said Moktan, now an English teacher in Tokyo, Japan. “By the Seaside” is perhaps Apple’s most polarizing alarm and ringtone, evoking comparisons to nails on a chalkboard, the word “moist” and screaming children on a plane. In the past, phones had only one sound: the shrill, continuous ring of a landline. With so many ringtones now available, though, the sounds say more about how people express themselves — and what can cause stress and anxiety.