Waking up to a silent alarm is the worst. If your iPhone alarm is not working, don’t worry, you’re not alone. There are a few common reasons why this might happen, and there are also a few simple things you can do to fix it. In this blog post, we’ll walk you through the steps to troubleshoot and fix your iOS 17 alarm so you can wake up on time again.
- Check the mute switch
- Set an alarm sound on your iPhone
- Increase the alarm volume
- Ensure the alarm time is correct
- Uninstall third-party alarm apps
- Disconnect Bluetooth or wired headphones
- Tweak bedtime/sleep settings
- Delete all alarms and start fresh
- Update your iPhone and the Clock app
- Restart your iPhone
- Reset all settings
- Contact Apple Support
1. Check the mute switch
The Alarm is supposed to go off even when you’ve put your iPhone in silent mode by sliding the Ring/Silent Switch. However, leaving your iPhone in Ring mode is better to ensure that you do not face any issues.
Also, check if the speakers of your iPhone are functioning as intended. To do so, play some media through Apple Music, YouTube, etc. If the speaker works fine, move on to the next step.
2. Set an alarm sound on your iPhone
If you haven’t set an alarm sound, there is not going to be any audio playing when the Alarm goes off. The iPhone will only vibrate. If you’ve mistakenly set the alarm sound to “None,” here’s how to fix it.
- Open the Clock app on your iPhone.
- Select the Alarm option from the Menu at the bottom.
- Select the Alarm you want to make the changes for.
- Tap Sound.
- Scroll on top and select a ringtone. You can also set a song from Apple Music as your iPhone alarm.
- Now, tap Vibration and select a vibration pattern.
- Tap Sound → Back at the top left of the screen.
- On the next screen, tap Save.
Please do not skip the last step, as that is the only way to ensure all the changes are applied.
3. Increase the alarm volume
Just like the first fix for the iPhone alarm not going off, there is a chance that you’ve set the Ringtone and Alert Volume to the lowest. In that case, here’s how to fix it.
- Open Settings on your iPhone.
- Tap Sound and Haptics.
- Now, drag the slider to the right to ensure you’ve set Ringtone and Alerts to the max volume.
If the volume buttons get accidentally triggered and lower the volume levels, you can disable the buttons altogether. Just Disable the Change with Buttons toggle on the same screen.
4. Ensure the alarm time is correct
The solution to our problems is often right under our eyes, but we tend not to see it. The reason your Alarm never goes off on time might be that you’ve set the wrong time. I’m not saying it often happens with me (trust me, it doesn’t), but there is a chance that you’ve mistakenly set the time to 6 PM instead of 6 AM.
To ensure that’s not the case and you’re way more intelligent than I am, head to the Clock app → Alarm → and double-check the alarm time.
5. Uninstall third-party alarm apps
There are a ton of third-party alarm apps for iPhones readily available on the App Store. No doubt, they might have additional features over the default Clock app. You’re better off uninstalling these apps. Yes, there is a slim chance that doing so might fix your issue.
Some apps ask for weird permissions and might interfere with the functioning of the Clock app and its alarm feature, ultimately rendering both of these apps useless. So, go right ahead and get rid of these apps, as the native apps work fine as an alarm clock.
6. Disconnect Bluetooth or wired headphones
Again, the engineers at Apple are smart enough to code the Alarm software to output Alarm audio through the device’s built-in speakers even when connected to wired or Bluetooth audio devices. However, some bugs and glitches hamper the code from running smoothly.
For example, your iPhone might be stuck in headphone mode, etc. In such cases, the best option is disconnecting your iPhone from any wired or Bluetooth audio device to ensure everything sails smoothly.
7. Tweak bedtime/sleep settings
If you use the Bedtime feature on your iPhone and have set the same time for Wake time and the Alarm, there are chances that both these features might clash and none of them would function.
To prevent this, you should change the time of either one of these features or disable the Bedtime feature altogether.
8. Delete all alarms and start fresh
Have you set too many alarms? Is the long list of alarms confusing you? All these alarms may be causing incompatibility issues; hence, none are working as intended.
In that case, you should delete all the alarms and start anew. Get rid of everything and set a new alarm for whatever time you want. Here’s how to do it,
- Open the Clock app on your iPhone.
- Select the Alarm option from the Menu at the bottom.
- Tap Edit at the top left corner.
- Select the minus button in red and tap Delete.
- Repeat the steps same steps for all the alarms.
- Tap Done at the top left corner once you’ve deleted all the alarms.
- Now, go ahead and set the Alarm at your desired time.
9. Update your iPhone and the Clock app
There is no operating system that has no software bugs and glitches. Moreover, iOS has lately been a breeding ground for software bugs due to all the new features introduced with iOS 17. I cannot be one hundred percent sure and claim that none of these bugs affect the Clock app on iPhone. Instead, it is more than likely affected by one of these bugs and malfunctioning.
The best solution to this problem is to go ahead and update the Clock app and then update iOS to the latest available version. We have step-by-step guides to help you learn how to update apps on your iPhone and also how to update your iPhone.
10. Restart your iPhone
The age-old solution to fix gadgets is to restart them. Some say it helps clear cache memory and so helps resolve some of the software bugs or glitches. There are chances that the issues might get resolved, only to resurface after a certain period.
With all said, restarting my iPhone has been one of the best solutions for me. Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you restart your iPhone, no matter which model you own.
11. Reset all settings
If none of the above solutions help fix the iPhone Alarm not working issue, the next best option is to factory reset your iPhone. Yes, you will lose all the data. To prevent that from happening, please back up all your iPhone’s data to iCloud so that you can restore your iPhone from the iCloud backup. Follow the steps mentioned below to reset your iPhone.
- Open Settings on your iPhone.
- Navigate to General.
- Tap Transfer or Reset iPhone.
- Select Reset → Reset All Settings.
- Enter your Passcode to confirm your selection and follow the on-screen instructions.
12. Contact Apple Support
Sadly, if nothing fixes the issue, it’s time you contact Apple Support. If it is a hardware issue and your device is under warranty, the issue will be fixed without you worrying about it. Also, if you have an active AppleCare+ plan, it will cost you the bare minimum.
You can head to the nearest Apple Store or refer to our guide on contacting Apple Support to learn more about the process.
Signing off…
Apple Support would surely fix the iPhone alarm not working issue if the first 11 steps did not work for you. I understand how frustrating missing an alarm can be. If you have any other doubts, do let us know in the comments below, and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.
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