My phones alarm (or lack thereof) is going to be the end of me!

Submitted by Koshibb t3_10lqc5t in iphone

This has nothing to do with the eight or nine alarm clocks that I've purchased over the last two months, but rather the insanely inconsistent alarm on my iPhone. For the life of me and it seems for many, the fact that on any given morning my alarm may or may not go off is mind-boggling. I've tried all of the fixes that I've seen, from using the sleep settings or not using them, to setting volumes manually, turning off Bluetooth , not wearing a watch or only wearing the watch, etc. the list goes on.

Third-party apps are a bit better but still inconsistent and I'm not sure what I can do at this point. My gut tells me that it has something to do with focuses and even there I have tried automating the turning off of the focus right before the alarm were to go off in case that may be whats limiting it.

Anyway any help would be greatly appreciated because at this point my trust issues just simply have grown due to this freaking alarm issue!

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mofo_pig t1_j5ygzcy wrote

I’ve also had issues with this. I have my own theories as to what might cause it in addition to yours. One is if a calendar reminder notification comes up at the same time as your alarm starts it will stop the alarm from making noise. Another is that I use a wireless charger that has my phone sit vertically and if I have it face at me my phone thinks I’m looking at it when I’m sleeping and will stop the alarm noise. Turning my phone away from me when I sleep seems to have helped. Another fix I found is to make sure that your alarm includes vibration, that way if the audio of the alarm doesn’t get you in time the vibration of the phone might.

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Koshibb OP t1_j5yibwq wrote

Good idea on the vibration. Ive tried that but even then it doesnt even vibrate, if i look at the phone, it says the alarm is going off, but no noise or vibrations.

To add my response i gave to another commenter, when i test the alarm (say for 2 minutes from now) it does indeed go off without issue!)

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dskatter t1_j5yb0q1 wrote

So let me understand.

You set an alarm for 7 am. The alarm doesn’t go off every day at 7 am?

I use (manual) sleep focus with an Apple Watch. Alarm goes off on my 13 and my AW every morning without fail.

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Koshibb OP t1_j5yb9u6 wrote

Correct. It could be all 4 alarms even that ive set. I set it the evening before, confirm it is on and a tone is selected, all that. I wake up, the "alarm" is going off but no noise, and the only reason i say it is going off is that on screen it is saying so "gives that alarm going off do you want to snooze it " screen. No noise, and not even vibrating i dont believe even.

So when you say sleep focus, what do you mean you use a manual one? You have a DND type of sleep focus on during the evening and is that tied to the alarm?

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dskatter t1_j5ybmpk wrote

Just the default sleep focus it comes with. Same as dnd but specifically sleep. But that has nothing to do with an alarm not working.

Do other alarms work? Like set an alarm on your phone for two minutes from now and set your phone aside.

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Koshibb OP t1_j5ym0u7 wrote

When tested now, it does indeed go off without issue. Thats always been the case though.

And this is even with a focus on (sleep and dnd both had alarm go off without issue).

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paulstelian97 t1_j5z0umb wrote

For me the alarm on the iPhone is still inconsistent but thankfully it rings on my Apple Watch which IS consistent. I haven't had issues with the alarm on my AW, but if I left iPhone and only iPhone I feel like I've had issues myself with that.

Both sleep focus and regular alarms (I use both as I wake up way too slow) work fine with the watch. But I feel like if I didn't have it I 100% WOULD miss alarms.

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dskatter t1_j5z1c5j wrote

Just weird! I’ve never had this happen on any previous iPhone, Apple Watch or combo of the two. An alarm goes off on my phone, it rings on both phone and watch every time.

It really sucks this doesn’t happen for everyone, seems like an easily diagnosable issue for Apple to fix!

Of course, I’m old-school and always have a clock radio as a backup anyway. :) But the phone hasn’t failed me yet!

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snppmike t1_j5ybqg5 wrote

I can understand your frustration, an alarm is a basic function that you are depending on. However my experience does not match yours. I’ve been using the alarm on my phone and Apple Watch for years without issue. It’s failed to wake me up sometimes, but that’s on me.

I suggest setting an alarm during the daytime when you are normally awake so that you can observe what is (or isn’t) happening. Keep track if the alarm is going off or not and note what conditions you think might be at play to see if you can develop any sort of pattern.

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Koshibb OP t1_j5yigls wrote

I wish i had your phone / luck / sleeping skills :) When tested now, it does indeed go off without issue. Thats always been the case though.

And this is even with a focus on (sleep and dnd both had alarm go off without issue).

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jarrough t1_j5yeonz wrote

I’ve never heard of this before, and I wouldn’t even believe someone if they said their iPhone alarm didn’t go off. You must be turning it off in your sleep! But I’d say a hard reset would be a good start

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Koshibb OP t1_j5yi6s8 wrote

Ill give that another shot, but unfortunately the issue is indeed quite widespread :(

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O-M-E-R-T-A t1_j5ynv9v wrote

Maybe you just sleep through the alarm without waking up?

You wrote further down that when you set an alarm during daytime, it does work. It might also be that you turn off the alarm in your sleep - put the phone further away that you actually have to get out of bed.

But honestly, just get an alarm clock from the dollar store 😉

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ev6jester t1_j62lar9 wrote

Use sleep focus and adjust my alarm time everyday as I’m a shift worker. Have never missed an alarm.

When I wear my watch it vibrates and eventually alarm sounds on my watch.

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iguessineedanaltnow t1_j5yd9bb wrote

I’ve had the same thing with silent alarms happen multiple times. Seems to just randomly happen with no rhyme or reason.

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SamShares t1_j5yzn2g wrote

I don’t sleep with my watch on, one day I did, and the watch caused me to miss my alarm because it does the vibration on the wrist but it wasn’t enough for me to wake up.

I’ve been using my iPhone alarm for 10 years and it’s never failed me…..until that one time I kept my watch on…..i didnt like it that it tried to wake me up gently.

My alarm on iPhone uses: Bright-Eyed sound

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paulstelian97 t1_j5z141k wrote

I'm surprised, for me the vibration on my wrist never fails at waking me up (to be fair in my sleep I push the snooze button -- and I have a backup alarm in case I push the stop button too)

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SamShares t1_j5z33mw wrote

It’s too low, I’ve never missed waking up with my iPhone alarm all my years, it goes from low to loud and I love that part, I’ll hear it somewhere along the way once it starts.

I’ll have to test the watch on my days off lol, I work on call hours where I get to know the day before and it’s too risky to not wake up on my sudden 3am cover shift lol….

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paulstelian97 t1_j5z3e38 wrote

For me the watch vibration is intense enough that it's basically impossible for me to ignore unless I'm literally knocked out/passed out/not getting enough oxygen to my brain. The alarm one can be distracting outright (so I don't use it during the day unless absolutely necessary).

Maybe I'm just explicitly sensitive to the vibration or something. Idk.

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Koshibb OP t1_j61i3np wrote

That’s a good question however it doesn’t matter if im wearing it or not. Is there a way to turn off the Apple Watch alarm altogether?

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[deleted] t1_j5z91e9 wrote

[deleted]

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Koshibb OP t1_j61i7bp wrote

I do have one actually But it unfortunately is the same result whether I’m wearing it or not. Any ideas?

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emu222 t1_j5zj7yk wrote

So I also have been having this issue recently.

I do a mix of charging my phone across the room, or beside me in bed. I notice that the notification comes up, however no sound comes out. I’ve gone into settings and turned off the “adjust ringer volume with buttons” to avoid that causing the issue. The issue happens quite frequently, thankfully my husband wakes me, but at first he didn’t believe me either!

At this point I cannot troubleshoot further, as I do not have a back up, and have been putting off a full restore and set up as new anyway. Personally my next step would be a reset all settings, it’s less invasive than a full restore, but I’ve definitely seen it resolve this issue in the past.

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penjaminfedington t1_j62j5b9 wrote

get the Sony ICF-C1 . Never failed me whereas every other alarm clock/phone I've used has.

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SgtEddieWinslow t1_j65livw wrote

Are your alarms set for the same time every day. Or are they always different?

I use both the default clock/alarm app, as well as alarm clock for me.

The 3rd party option has a feature that requires you to solve a math equation before Turning the alarm off. I am such a heavy sleeper that I am prone to just turning the alarm off without waking up fully.

I use the 3rd party app as my initial alarm. Then always have the default apple one set 5 mins or so after as a backup.

I have sleep focus set every day from 9:30 to 7am. My alarm is for 6:20 everyday I need it.

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Koshibb OP t1_j689wh9 wrote

I’ve tried all different times. It’s crazy that in need to rely on a third party alarm.

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SgtEddieWinslow t1_j68hl3r wrote

Yes it is. I seen in a few other threads that 16.3 is causing issues with alarms. So it is a known issue

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