Press Kit

One-liner

Awaken is a Christian morning ritual app that uses iOS Screen Time to put Scripture before the scroll. The alarm will not turn off until you have read the day's verse, and your feeds stay locked until you have paused for the Third Hour.

About Awaken

Most people check their phone within minutes of waking up. For a lot of Christians that means the feed gets the first twenty minutes of the day and God gets what is left. Awaken founder Emiliano Mercenari built the app after a stretch of mornings that went exactly that way: phone in hand before his feet hit the floor, forty minutes of scrolling, spiritually hollow by 9am. A year ago he replaced his iPhone alarm with twenty minutes of Scripture and silence. Awaken is that routine, built into the phone itself.

Awaken runs two daily rituals, both enforced with Apple's Screen Time controls. The Morning Ritual replaces the alarm: when it rings, it cannot be snoozed or dismissed until the user has read the day's verse and completed a short routine. The Third Hour locks the apps people reach for out of habit, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, until a ten-minute Scripture reflection is finished. A streak counter tracks consistency, with one grace day every 30 days so a single missed morning does not erase a month of showing up.

The Third Hour comes from Acts 2:15, the hour the Spirit descended at Pentecost, and from the church's old practice of stopping to pray mid-morning, the office of Terce. Awaken's argument is simple: you do not need more content, you need a reason the phone cannot win before the Bible does.

"Your faith does not require an app. Awaken is not for the Christian who already has their mornings figured out. It is for the one who keeps picking up the phone before the Bible. If it helps someone do that, it has done its job."

Fast facts

• Launch: Friday, October 9, 2026, on the App Store (iOS)
• Price: 7-day free trial, then $59.99/year or $9.99/month
• Company: Awaken Tech LLC
• Site: tryawaken.co
• Press contact: hi@tryawaken.co

Founders

Emiliano Mercenari

Founder and CEO

Emiliano Mercenari is the founder and CEO of Awaken. Mexican-American and from Miami, he built Awaken while playing Division I soccer at the University of Virginia. He started Awaken after a year of replacing his own alarm with Scripture and silence.

Liam Gimigliano

Co-founder and CMO

Liam Gimigliano is co-founder and CMO of Awaken. A creator with 900,000 followers across Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, he runs Awaken's creator program and growth. He joined to put his platform behind the mission: refusing to blend into a culture rotting from the inside, building for people who want to become better and still honor God.

"We refuse to blend into a culture that is rotting from the inside. Awaken is built for busy people who want to become better and still honor God. Because somebody has to."

Assets

All downloadable assets live in one Drive folder: screenshots at iPhone 16 Pro Max and iPhone SE sizes (the three App Store screens plus lock screen, Third Hour, and streak), both founder headshots, and the app icon.

Demo clips coming soon. For questions, interview requests, or review-copy access, email hi@tryawaken.co.

Boilerplate

Awaken Tech LLC makes Awaken, the Christian morning ritual app for iOS. The app uses Apple Screen Time to replace the morning alarm with Scripture and lock distracting apps until a mid-morning reflection is complete. Learn more at tryawaken.co or contact hi@tryawaken.co.