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'Snap Me Up' alarm clock app forces you to take a selfie when you wake up

Nobody looks good first thing in the morning.
/ Source: TODAY

Nobody looks good first thing in the morning. Well, maybe Beyonce. Still, the last thing most people want to do at 6 a.m. is to take a selfie — which is exactly what "Snap Me Up" users have to do shut off their alarm.

Overall, the free Android app isn't that different from any other alarm clock program. When it rings in the morning, however, you need to look into your camera and take a picture. It uses facial recognition software to make sure you aren't blindly pressing the camera button.

Snap Me up
Michael Fabozzi (left) wakes up with a selfie, as do his friends.Michael Fabozzi/Snap Me up

Those photos are then saved into a gallery that you can share with your friends. Think of it like Instagram, except each picture contains a puffy-eyed person angrily glaring into their phone.

Who would concoct such a sadistic program?

His name is Michael Fabozzi. He is based in Milan, Italy, where apparently everyone looks like a fashion model when they wake up.

Snap Me Up
Sorry, can't take a selfie and turn off your alarm without removing your sleep mask.Snap Me Up

"I thought that I could create [an alarm clock app], and make it more social and funny, something that people could use to wake up in a totally different and cool way," he said in an email to NBC News. "The other thing that inspired me was thinking about time and how it passes. I found it interesting to) have a pic of me and what is around me every day."

Yes, you not only get a reminder of how you look at the crack of dawn, but also photographic evidence of the inexorable passage of time.

Fabozzi insists that Snap Me Up is practical as well as fun.

"I think that it's more effective than a normal alarm because probably you try to give your best face for the camera, and it also forces you to open your eyes and turn on the lights!"

That does sound like more fun than trying to catch a rolling alarm clock. Plus, just-waking-up selfies do sound less annoying than shirtless-mirror and duck-face selfies. Whether it can help you wake up earlier than Matt Lauer is up to you.