iPhone Alarm Not Working? Here’s Why & The Fix!

Your iPhone’s alarm clock won’t work and you’re not sure why. You’ve missed important meetings and appointments because of it! In this article, I’ll explain why your iPhone alarm is not working and show you how to fix the problem for good.

Turn Up The Ringer Volume

Your iPhone’s ringer volume is what controls how loud your alarms will sound. The higher the ringer volume, the louder the alarm!

To turn up your iPhone’s ringer volume, open Settings and tap Sounds & Haptics. The slider under Ringer And Alerts controls the ringer volume on your iPhone. The farther you move the slider to the right, the louder your ringer volume will be!

change iphone volume with buttons

Set An Alarm Noise

When you create an alarm on your iPhone, you have the option to set a specific tone. Any tone will do just fine!

However, if you select None as the sound that plays when the alarm goes off, your iPhone won’t make any noise. If your iPhone alarm is not working, it’s possible your alarm has been set to None.

Open Clock and tap the Alarm tab at the bottom of the screen. Then, tap Edit in the upper left-hand corner and tap on the alarm that’s not working. If iOS 15 is installed on your iPhone, you can simply tap on the alarm without tapping Edit first.

edit an alarm on your iphone

Make sure None is not selected as the Sound. If None is selected, tap Sound and select something else. A small checkmark will appear next to the sound you select. When you’re happy with the tone you’ve selected, tap Save in the upper right-hand corner of the screen.

select an alarm sound on iphone

How To Snooze An iPhone Alarm

You can snooze an alarm on your iPhone by opening Clock and tapping Edit. Tap on the alarm you want to edit, then turn on the switch next to Snooze.

turn on Snooze switch in iPhone Clock app

When Snooze is on, you’ll see an option to snooze the alarm as soon as it goes off. You can either tap the Snooze button on your iPhone Home screen, or press the volume down button to snooze your alarm.

Update Your iPhone

Updating your iPhone is a great way to fix minor software bugs. Apple releases updates to patch up small problems and introduce new iPhone features.

Open Settings and tap General -> Software Update. Tap Download and Install if a software update is available. If an iOS update isn’t available, move onto the next step!

install ios 15 on your iphone

Reset All Settings

It’s possible a deep software problem is preventing your iPhone from making noise when an alarm goes off. Some software issues can be difficult to track down, so we’re going to reset everything.

When you Reset All Settings, everything in the Settings app is restored to factory defaults. You’ll have to pair your Bluetooth devices to your iPhone again and reenter your Wi-Fi passwords.

To reset all the settings on your iPhone, open Settings and tap General -> Transfer Or Reset iPhone -> Reset -> Reset All Settings. Tap Reset All Settings to confirm the reset. Your iPhone will turn off, reset, and turn on again when the reset is complete.

reset all settings ios 15

Put Your iPhone In DFU Mode

The last step you can take before ruling out a software problem on your iPhone is a DFU restore. A DFU restore is the deepest type of iPhone restore. Every line of code gets erased and reloaded like new, restoring your iPhone to factory defaults.

I recommend saving a backup of your iPhone so you don’t lose any of your saved data or information. Check out our step-by-step guide when you’re ready to put your iPhone in DFU mode!

Repair Options

If your alarms still aren’t working on your iPhone, it may be experiencing a hardware problem. There could be a speaker issue if your iPhone isn’t making any noises at all.

iPhone Alarm Clock Docking Station Recommendation

An iPhone alarm clock docking station can help you get a great start to your day, everyday. Alarm clock docks can hook up directly to your iPhone, so you can charge your iPhone overnight and wake up to your favorite music every morning.

We recommend the Emerson SmartSet Alarm Clock Radio, which includes a USB port to charge your iPhone, an FM radio, and digital clock display.

Beep, Beep, Beep!

The alarm clock on your iPhone is working again and you won’t be oversleeping anytime soon. You’ll know exactly what to do the next time your iPhone alarm is not working! If you have any other questions, feel free to leave them in the comments section below.

About Author

David Lynch is an expert on cell phones, cell phone plans, and other tech. After using a flip phone into his early 20s, he learned the ropes about iPhones and Androids from a former Apple employee. Today, his articles and videos are read and viewed by millions, and he has been cited by major publications including Reader's Digest, Wired, CMSWire, Consumers Advocate, and more.

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Michael
1 year ago

Activated facial recognition to lock down my phone on vacation. My alarm app has stopped working. I have a iPhone 12. Assistance, please.

Ash
2 years ago

I feel like the problem is in one of these areas:
‘Focus’ setting,
Sleep/wake up alarm cycle,
Edit sleep schedule in health.

Can someone help possibly? All the alarms I’ve set are showing up visually but silent. I’ve checked everything I can think of. The only alarm coming on is this graduated ‘wake up slowly’ option through the sleep schedule in health, I believe. I’ve tried turning it off, I’ve tried setting some alarms to include ‘snooze’ and others with snooze off. None of them come on. This has been happening for a few days. Any ideas??

Carl
2 years ago
  • On your clock/alarm setting for your iphone you have a wake up alarm that tracks your sleep and sleep schedule.
  • Then tap on that alarm ( above “other” alarm section).
  • Theres a sound slider below the clock circle.
  • Slid that “alarm sound” to the fullest amount.
  • The other alarms in the “other” section will become louder
  • And it will not make you late for work 😉
Domnic
3 years ago

I have the iPhone 12 and this morning the alarm did not go off at all. Nothing happened at all. So it’s not a sound problem what else could it be?

Peggy
2 years ago
Reply to  Domnic

Try turning your phone off for 10 seconds then restart. It fixed both my alarm and timer sounds.

Ivan A
2 years ago
Reply to  Domnic

Same issue with me this morning, my iphone 12 pro did not wake me up. Even though it has 2 alarms set every morning – 6.50am, and 7am. Using latest iOS. Has happened few weeks ago. Over the years, different iphones – exact same issue 🙁 Every 2 weeks I poweroff and restart. My next phone… droid??? noooooo. Please help.

Inass N. Karam
3 years ago

I have an iphone7 updated to IOS14.4 My alarm is working and it’s ringing and snoozing but I cannot set a new alarm nor edit an existing alarm. Help is much appreciated.

Dorline
2 years ago
Reply to  Inass N. Karam

Did u solve the problem???
cz I have same problem.. don’t know what to do..!

Aya Sheaib
3 years ago

I have an iphone7 updated to IOS14.4 My alarm is working ie it’s ringing and snoozing. But I cannot set a new alarm nor edit an existing alarm. Help is much appreciated.

Rihab Taye
3 years ago

Hi
the + tap in alarm tab is not tapping, so I can’t set any time to alarm.
I don’t know what’s the problem

Rola
2 years ago
Reply to  Rihab Taye

I had the same issue, after research I found out that country should be your exact location, so check it out go to General-Region and change it, then your alarm will work fine.

Léna
2 years ago
Reply to  Rola

It worked for me!!!! Thanks a lot!!!

Dorline
2 years ago
Reply to  Rihab Taye

I have same problem.. any solution??

Elie
3 years ago

Hello i have a problem with the time alarm
when i want to set alam i tap edit it throws me out of the application
what to
do i cant edit any alarm time

Nada
3 years ago
Reply to  Elie

Hi I’m having the same problem as Elie

Sir Raad
3 years ago
Reply to  Elie

Hello .. i am having the same problem .. did u manage to solve the issue plz help

Lori
3 years ago

Why does my iPhone alarm snooze feature not work correctly when I’m using the phone screen?

Elishia
3 years ago

my alarm has stopped working since this last update. I’ve not done anything different

New iPhone user
3 years ago

I think the problem most have is that when you silence it when you wake up, it slides to the off position and you have to remember to slide it back on; that’s my issue anyway

Gillian
3 years ago

Hi

I have an iphone X and am having problems with the alarm. It will not play the sound that i have selected and will not snooze

Michelle M
3 years ago
Reply to  Gillian

Me too! It started after the time change. I have rebooted, turned off my do not disturb. The alarms will sound once I am up and testing it. When I first get up and an alarm shows on my screen with no sound it is like the phone is locked up and won’t let me even respond to the alarm to snooze or turn it off.