Rude awakening: iPhone users say alarm clock app isn't working

It’s what nightmares are made of: Setting an alarm on your phone to wake up in the morning and it doesn’t go off. Some social media users say this is happening to them, and Apple has shared steps to make sure your iPhone's attention-aware settings are right for your needs. NBC’s Emilie Ikeda reports for TODAY.
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#iphone #alarm #technology

[@albertosayas]

Who else ends up waking up before their alarm goes off? 😂

[@MrBrewman95]

After a couple weeks, your biological clock locks in that time. I always wake up 7-9 minutes before the alarm, every day.

[@yaritzamiranda921]

Cries in Apnea, If I could get paid for sleep I would

[@BigJDawg4523]

I do!!!

[@user-bf5qh3ih4u]

@@yaritzamiranda921at least your body has reason to not to. I’m convinced mine just keeps me up just to troll me.

[@NGummereiPad]

For the 2 or 3am bathroom visit!

[@aleksandrmiller997]

I have my inner alarm clock, it’s called anxiety

[@UpUpDnDnLtRtLtRtBAStart]

yes 😂

[@Hoovie9596]

Omg. That’s me too !

[@proallnighter]

Wakes me up every two hours. Can’t stop the grind. 🥴🥱💀

[@thisuniquechica]

😂😂

[@Jeremiah29.11plumbob]

Our sad reality 😂😭

[@alisonfields4688]

A lot of people are pretending this is user error and acting like this isn’t actually an issue. This has happened to my phone multiple times over the years. The alarm is correctly set, the ringer and alarm volume are on and up, but I wake up hours later than the time set with my phone screen showing the snooze and stop buttons as if it’s going off, but it’s completely silent. No settings were changed prior to this happening each time.

[@stevo-dx5rr]

I’ve had this happen over the years too. I hadn’t had any problems for 1-2 years until this past two weeks though. This time, the alarm disables itself. Maybe it goes off once or twice, but it shuts itself off and doesn’t ring again. I reproduced it like 5 times in a row earlier this week.

[@tatersalad8648]

Luckily for me i always wake up before my alarm sounds.

[@spderman123]

💀

[@onair141]

I’ve literally noticed this because I was waiting for it to ring

[@proallnighter]

@@spderman123 me every morning when I remember I have work in a few hours

[@MinhLe-xc5ld]

I get you, it's a curse and a gift

[@jamesn7156]

This is what people who have healthy sleep habits do.

[@stevo-dx5rr]

Yeah, I slept past a meeting on Tuesday because of this. After I awoke, I edited my alarm to test it, and change the time to make it go off one minute later. It did go off, but only two rings, and then it stopped going off altogether. I reproduced that three or four more times, each time the alarm ringing 1-5 times before disabling itself. Then I tried the same experiment again after I got out of the shower, but instead it didn’t reproduce. Very weird.

[@chad9971]

This been happening to me for years. Had me feeling crazy. Bought a simple alarm clock off Amazon cuz the iPhone isn’t reliable.

[@PeterTrimboli]

Oh so it's reliable than?

[@chad9971]

@@PeterTrimbolimy english wasn't englishing correctly lemme fix that lol

[@mikeybroski3686]

This is why I had a 2nd physical alarm as a failsafe in college.

[@MasonJarGaming]

I usually set six. Two on an actual alarm clock and four on my phone.

[@JackMustang]

This is why I have an “actual alarm clock” next to my bed.

[@AbbyS...]

Exactly! Alarm on my phone is my backup in case power goes out in the middle of the night.

[@bethclark9319]

Works best for me.

[@bradleyhifi8155]

Me too I have a 40 year old ge alarm clock radio

[@JackReacher-hd9tz]

True but why pay for that when I have it on my $1200 phone that will take me 3 years to pay off with a 36 month contract?😂😅

[@jenjenjenhi]

@@JackReacher-hd9tzthat’s insane lol

[@BlindMango]

The bug has nothing to do with the Attention Awareness setting, which has been a setting for years now (do turn it off though as it does lower the volume of the alarm clock considerably if you look at the screen while the alarm goes off!). I do happen to know what the issue is though: This bug even occurs if you have Attention Awareness turned off and occurs **whenever you set multiple alarms**, basically if you let the initial alarm ring and then don't press the Snooze button before the second alarm starts, that second alarm and any one past that will not make a sound whenever you finally hit the snooze button for the first one. It has happened for many months now and it has taken me months to figure it out because I'm always half asleep when it happens, I put in a ticket with Apple about a month or two about it though, good to hear they're working on it

[@breal7277]

You're right. It has happened for many months now. I thought it was just my phone. I'm glad Apple is looking into this...finally.

[@dysphoriclemonclips2132]

Thank you for explaining it! I was noticing this pattern to esp. with multiple alarms

[@Jlw79]

This has been going on for YEARS.

[@Kylelongwest]

This is what I afraid would happen. If it's an important day for me, I would set on both my tablet and my phone.

[@___beyondhorizon4664]

Me too 😅 and my tablet is loud and I picked an annoying sound

[@albaaviles7148]

Same, I do it every time I have a flight or any other trip

[@AcTua98]

my cats wake me up at 5AM so I don't need anything

[@olga7193]

Same!😂❤❤

[@jamesn7156]

To everyone bragging about their old school alarm clocks, I seem to remember waking up late often in the 80s and 90s to blinking clocks from late night thunderstorms. If anything, they are less reliable.

[@robertandkristinhall5006]

My plug in alarm has back up batteries as well to prevent this from happening.

[@TheRealTommyR]

@@robertandkristinhall5006good idea

[@alifleih]

Yeah, and when the electricity goes off then back on, they reset to 12:00 AM, which is definitely not the case with a smartphone.

[@PliskinYT]

They have battery backups now, so the alarm will still go off if this happens

[@LaoTzudonym]

I thought I was the only one experiencing this. Thankfully my echo dot's alarm wakes me up when this happens.

[@thenoahr]

My alarm never went off 😂 I woke up and it just never happened…

[@pearsonhsmith]

Always have a backup

[@riyahworld]

Yep this happened to me last year and it was strange because it NEVER happened before! I used to never turn mine off and it happened twice. I noticed it the first time but wasn’t sure. Then I was late for work the second 🤦🏽‍♀️

[@andyvaldez4334]

Android user here. I made it to work today on time 😀

[@ludicrousspeeds4938]

I thought I was going crazy. This happens about once per month for me.

[@alisonfields4688]

Same it’s been like this for the past few years. It’ll randomly start working again on its own but it just goes off silently all of the sudden

[@Rawdilz]

Attention has always been turned off on my phone and iPad. I’ve had more problems with my iPad alarm than my phone.

[@LordBubbly]

This was an issue back iOS 16. I disabled attention awareness feature/setting when it first happened with me in iOS 16 and have never had an issue since

[@jujub4553]

There have been MANY times where iPhone alarm doesn’t sound out loud. Also, iPhone is literally 15 years behind not having a gentle awake/slow volume increase to not shock people out of their sleep. My Samsung S3 had it

[@lance_374]

The iPhone does have it if you use the sleep schedule in the health app I’m pretty sure.

[@lakerskid2013]

@@lance_374Yes, there are different sounds you can choose from as well

[@thecurator2626]

Mine has it. I suppose it depends on which version of software you’re using and on which iPhone. Still, my alarms also haven’t been reliable recently. I noticed some changes with other tools also shortly after an update. This is the fault of Apple.

[@claudinefrizzell1125]

Got a Loftie clock a year ago. So much better than a phone.

[@JohnSullivan2003]

Been having this problem for months! Glad it's not user error!

[@alisonfields4688]

People are pretending it’s user error in some of these comments 🙄 but this has been happening to me over the years. It looks like it’s going off in the screen but it’s 100% silent. No settings are changed at all prior to it happening each time and usually after a few days it’ll start working again randomly.

[@dylangaddy10]

I had to do this a couple of months ago. Haven’t had a problem since

[@johnny5k]

I’ve had both Apple AND Alarmy fail the same morning, so now I also set my old-timey alarm clock 5 minutes after the other 2… and loud enough to make me literally jump out of bed since now I’m late already. Ahhh progress…

[@lakerskid2013]

I haven’t had any issues at all. Is this an issue on certain types of iPhones? Mine is an 8 Plus

[@MrJBest78]

Just get an old school analog alarm clock ⏰. It works for me, it worked for our parents, their parents and their parents before. You can find them in thrift stores.

[@jamesn7156]

Works fine until there’s a middle of the night power outage. Then you wake up god knows when to a blinking clock. 😂

[@user-lv2ky4ts2l]

​@@jamesn7156the new ones have memory to prevent that

[@delphvine89]

I do the mental alarm too. It works! I always wake up 5 minutes before my watch and my smart bedroom light 💡👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 .

[@Bowers31214]

Hmmm, I haven’t experienced that issue when I woke up with my alarm this morning

[@jasonscott4366]

This definitely used to be a problem as well

[@piffpete420]

Sometimes it switches from a.m. to p.m. I even take screenshots when I set my alarm to prove it doesn’t go off until the afternoon

[@Reconseal4050]

Get a rooster!!! 🐔😂

[@BobbiRakus]

This has been happening to me! It’s so annoying because I work for people who need me to be there on time every day or they’ll get mad at me, sometimes really mad. I have been yelled at before because of it… And of course the “my alarm didn’t wake me up” or “my alarm didn’t go off” doesn’t make a difference for them, it’s still my fault… 😐

[@averypaul3700]

I woke up at 6:48 yesterday and I usually get up at 5:30 because my alarm never rang. I turned the ringer volume up and it worked

[@Jawz_345]

I know this isn’t related, but i have the iPhone 15 plus, and this phone has been a mess since it came out. Really unimpressed. My phone is having an awful time with connecting to the internet and to cellular, is super slow and buggy, and has had an 11% battery degradation since launch day and I have clean charging. This phone is riddled with issues.

[@muhammad-bin-american]

I have never owned an iPhone but I always thought high of Apple. I like their attention to detail. Stuff has to work the right way. Maybe those are the days of Steve Jobs? I know friends that struggle with their iPhones and I am left scratching my head.

[@KNSKelster]

I finally feel vindicated because I’ve been dealing with this for years

[@heatherbeane3234]

I have had this issue many times.

[@rayleighg9235]

Well I'm sure companies and schools will accept that reason for sure

[@evosolutionsllc.910]

This is why I use this thing called an analog desk top alarm clock… it’s like a couple dollars and it works even when the power is out…..

[@SolarCLS6]

This has also happened to me. I ended up setting alarms via the health app and it works every time. It even reminds me to go to bed when it’s 11 at night.

[@camdenparrish5316]

I’ve been having this problem with my iPhone 14 for months. My body now wakes me up at the same time everyday

[@charmainea2419]

I’ve had this happen so many times I’ve reverted back to my plug in alarm clock.

[@steventan6381]

Alarms and reminders are basic necessity for me. Would get bonkers if these simple functions doesn't work as it's supposed to.

[@maneki_Mew_kaneshiro]

This has happened to me so often… I’m glad I’m not going crazy

[@kris10957]

Wow, you can missed your international flight, that would be very costly, it will cost more than the iPhone.

[@NegativeReferral]

Attention Aware (which I don't even think fully turns off once you check the box) is ridiculous. It got really sensitive in IOS 17. Add to that the fact that iOS 17 introduced the quietest ringtones and alert tones yet, with the default Radial alarm tone sounding more like soothing Owl City or Postal Service music, or some minimal Aphex Twin from the 2000s. It's more soothing than anything else. It sounds more like something I use to calm down before I fall asleep than something I'd wake up to! I literally slept through this soothing lullaby of an alarm like 3 times before I decided not to get with the program and use the one ringtone that always wakes me up - Radar. God knows how Gen Alpha will perceive synth sounds in general by and large - will it be more sensitive? Will the sound of a Game Boy Color be too aggressive for their sonic palette? Will this be what re-sensitizes America to synth?

[@jenniferhansen3622]

I just use a regular alarm clock that sits on my nightstand.

[@igi-chan]

Did you forget to specify the day? That happens to me sometimes lol

[@tysgaming214]

This is actually happening tho, I actually overslept and got fired from a job because of this type of crap 🤦🏽 , i set my alarm for a certain time and it went off hours later, something needs to be done asap

[@CareyHolzman]

A $6 clock from WalMart will always work.

[@jamesn7156]

Until you lose power from a late night storm.. 😂

[@DarkLatexKing]

Yup and you only need batteries for it

[@Connie_TinuityError]

@@jamesn7156The likelihood of you _actually_ losing power on a clock like that is less than 1%

[@aquaponieee]

@@jamesn7156 AA batteries:

[@mattbosley3531]

@@jamesn7156 Battery backup. I actually have three clocks around the house which have alarms that can be set in addition to the phone. All three have batteries.

[@AlfredHolman4k]

I got a regular alarm clock in a Samsung Galaxy 23 Ultra 512GB don't have that problem

[@muhammad-bin-american]

Android household. Probably ten Android devices. Absolutely no issue with alarm.

[@TrentEngineFan]

This has been going on for much longer. I’ve been using a timer for the past couple years due to this issue.

[@reallyluckygirl1]

Thank goodness it’s just not me having that issue. I’ve been having this problem for a week now. I thought I was going crazy.

[@muhammad-bin-american]

LOL! just a few weeks ago a coworker was late to relive me. She was dumbfounded why she missed her alarm. She owns an iPhone and I will mention this to issue to her.

[@wumbowoody436]

This must only be certain models, my gfs 13 hasnt been going off in the morning like this says but my old 2020 SE has gone off every morning normal.

[@johnmarks714]

Ive had this happen. I bought traditional digital alaem clocks as a backuo.

[@noel_996]

I remember finding out that if you hit the snooze (volume) button it’ll silent it but still go off.

[@brittgayle467]

Happened to me as well

[@ralphw7454]

I don’t know… i haven’t had any issues but then i usually have like 8 alarms back to back 😅

[@MrNick-]

My alarm has done the same thing!

[@josemanuellastra2488]

I have an iPhone 13 running 17.4.1 and I can remember that everything is ok with my alarm, my iPad Pro 11in 2nd gen has that same iOs version, I just made a quick test and the Radial alarm just rang without hustle. Is it perhaps just affecting the newer iPhones? So strange, I’ve never heard about such issue. By the way, I can remember and I’m pritty sure that the Face ID attention lowering the alarm sound volume is a pritty old issue, it isn’t actually an issue, so I don’t know why there’s so many drama with iOs 17.4.1 if the iPhone alarm has always worked right on time. Edit: Today my alarm rang without issue at 9:50 a.m, and if I snooze it still rings, so I don’t understand why some users are having issues. I won’t say that it’s a user error, but for the passed 10 years, the iPhone’s alarm clock has been super reliable for me

[@richardc5100]

Fix when you have one day alarm for one time then a different day alarm for a different time, then you change that one day alarm to be the same time as the other day, DO NOT COMBINE THE DAYS. Because when you want to change one day it changes both day now!

[@amaliaarango3068]

My one is working , having no issue

[@lydpen74]

It’s been working on mine.

[@Abon502]

The first time it happened I bought a cheap alarm clock on Amazon and I deliberately put it across the room so I have no choice but to get up to turn it off .

[@Allaiya.]

I use my echo dot as a secondary alarm

[@Jimd305]

I’ll try today alarm wake up at 7PM for the nba playoffs 🙌🏼

[@duronmanuel]

This is why I have an actual Samsung S24 Ultra next to my bed

[@Saavys]

A what.

[@ishadow6044]

Mine made me have to reschedule my appointment in April

[@NappyRB]

It didn’t happen a lot but it has happened to me it’s been going on for a few years

[@theamazingDrBob]

My alarm still works. My sleep schedule has just been off for the past four years.

[@sleepingbeauty229]

Set the timer for the amount of hours

[@loiskampp5105]

After Blackberry and LG went out of the phone business, I was at a loss. Everyone I knew used an iPhone, and suggested that I could use one too. But I didn't think I was smart enough or rich enough to do that and I bought a Samsung instead. Many years, and several Samsungs later, I've still never used an iPhone. Good thing too, because I'd never be able to figure out that alarm. The Samsungs...they aren't so fancy that they confuse me. 😊

[@CharminglySilly]

I use ‘Seedling’ because my anxiety could not handle the other alarm sounds 😅

[@mikemprov1303]

I use Harp for the same reason.

[@vision10345]

Never had this problem with my Samsung..

[@muhammad-bin-american]

Or my Pixel.

[@zaram131]

My iPhone alarm has never been reliable. It might go off the first time but if you hit snooze it won’t go off again. Or if it rings for awhile without you waking up, it shuts off. I would never depend solely on my iPhone.

[@AZITHEMLGPRO]

Good thing I got a flexible schedule

[@dianeorsino6570]

Mine works.

[@22th_era]

As a matter of fact I was gonna put the alarm on my iPhone last night but I opted out of it and i put it on my iPad mini and it worked fine

[@joshdznyc]

I thought Joanna Stern work for the Wall Street Journal

[@johnurban7333]

Thrift stores sell cheap alarm clocks. I love the fact that this is a news story

[@mancerrss]

I really love the Attention Aware features. Where you can just look in your iPhone's lockscreen and it auto-unlocks it for you, and even reveal your private Notificaitons, as well as unlocking Face ID enabled apps. But MY GOD, they should have a setting to turn that off specifically in the Clock app!!!

[@LyssieLysse]

Mine works and I have the 14. My issue is getting up to shut off Jonghyun shouting ‘BEH-BEHHHH!’ at 5 am 😂

[@Danominator]

Watching this on a Samsung S23 Ultra, which has curiously never missed an alarm...

[@DibIrken]

My Casio F91W has never failed lol

[@VezhTV]

my alarm was working while this was happening. just gotta make sure that everything is on before you go to bed, that’s all.

[@1996ChevroletImpalaSS]

Mine has never worked

[@CubbeyDave]

Yes, this has been happening to me, no sound plays. Thankfully the haptics on my Apple Watch Ultra finally work me up.

[@HarrisonLuiEKYiss]

Hmm haptics on Apple Watch? 😯

[@zoeykeith]

Dude, my mom had that same problem with her phone!!!

[@ayokarlos]

I remember this happened when iOS 7 came out there was a alarm bug

[@ryumitaka3979]

Me when I set a timer to end exactly when I have my alarm set to as a backup:

[@mxfg1535]

I should do that, good idea

[@bencebatyi7289]

I am up a few minutes before the alarm every day no matter when I fall asleep. I am awake by the time my alarm goes off

[@maxcava19]

No wonder. Was thinking if apple banned the songs i used for ringtone for alarm. Was with the default alarm chimes instead of the one I assigned 😂🤣😅

[@ABIAviation]

My alarm app has never worked

[@muhammad-bin-american]

🤣🤣🤣

[@armondo22]

The attention aware feature issue was a known fix months ago 😂

[@Thisscandinavian]

My iPhone was so loud on my iPhone it played the song bad blood by Taylor swift and scared everyone

[@SoulTouchathePoet]

I wonder how many of these people haven't updated their IOS software. The alarm clock app not working is not a new issue. Not to mention the other setting in their phone. Maybe just use Alexa to wake you up lol

[@broadwayshack1664]

i have an old android phone as backup if it is important

[@Ccg9024]

Working fine here. People just don’t know use their phone.

[@lydpen74]

I think that’s true because people do leave their phone on silent mode and it won’t do it if you do. I know that from experience

[@lrn_ls3984]

unrelated, but why is news widget gone now?