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Blackout Alarm is a helpful little iPhone and iPad app that alerts you when the power goes out. As simple as it is, I sometimes get questions about how to use it. Here are a few tips:

• To get started, plug in your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to an external power source. Then launch Blackout Alarm.
• In order to hear the alarm, Blackout Alarm must remain running. This means that it has to be on screen. It will stop monitoring for power outages if you switch to a different app or to the home screen. I can’t do anything about this limitation; this is just the way that iOS works.
• Always test your setup first. Plug in your iPhone, wait a few seconds, then interrupt the power
• Obviously, do not rely on Blackout Alarm for life critical or life threatening situations. The app may fail to work for any reason at all — your iPhone crashes, you set it up wrong, iOS could suddenly decide to kill the app, who knows what. Blackout Alarm has always worked for me — knock on wood — and saved me a lot of money in spoiled food, but it is not failsafe.

Update: video demonstration below