If your iPhone alarm didn’t go off, you should look into that immediately. After all, if it didn’t go off once, it might not go off next time either.
If this happened to you, don’t worry. It’s a somewhat common problem reported by iPhone users, so there are plenty of solutions, which we’ve listed below.
1. iPhone Alarm Not Going Off? Try This First
Sometimes, you may set an alarm as a one-time alarm by mistake, rather than setting a repeating alarm. This also means that if you forget to set it one night, it won’t go off the next morning.
To check this, head to the Clock app and tap Alarm from the bottom bar. Then tap on your desired alarm to check the settings and check the Repeat settings. You can schedule this alarm to repeat every day.
If you already have a repeating alarm and it didn’t go off, proceed to the next step.
2. Delete and Recreate Your iPhone Alarms
Some iPhone users have reported that deleting all their alarms and making them again resolved the issue. We’re not sure why this might help, but it does seem to be a legitimate way to fix your iPhone alarms.
To delete all of your alarms, head to the Clock app, open the Alarms tab. Make a note of any alarms you want to recreate. Then tap Edit in the top left-hand corner and delete all the alarms by tapping the red icon next to each alarm.
Once this is done, you can create a new alarm using the button in the top right-hand corner. Be sure to set it to repeat if you plan to use this alarm every morning.
3. Update Your iOS Version
Sometimes, apps and iOS can interfere with one another working properly, especially if there’s a bug with one or the other. Because of this, updating iOS on your iPhone has the potential to resolve many issues, including issues with your alarm not going off.
This is especially true if your iPhone’s Clock app has the Bedtime setting. The Bedtime setting was a short-lived feature in iOS that set your sleep schedule and alarms. However, it was buggy and caused alarms not to go off. Apple later moved this functionality to the Health app under the Sleep settings.
If you still have this Bedtime feature, updating the iOS is a quick and easy way to get rid of it. If not, updating could still resolve the issue.
4. Turn Off Your Sleep Settings
Sleep is the successor to the Bedtime setting. While less buggy than Bedtime, Sleep can still cause your alarm not to go off, especially if it interferes with another active alarm.
To avoid problems with this in the future, it might be best to turn it off. That way, if you change your alarm to the Sleep time, it will still go off.
To turn the Sleep features off, open the Health app, go to Browse and tap Sleep. Then tap Full Schedule & Options. This will open up the Sleep settings in the Health app. Then tap Sleep Schedule at the top to turn your sleep schedule off.
5. Disable Bluetooth Settings and Unplug All Accessories
If you use Bluetooth headphones, or another Bluetooth device, they could be preventing you from hearing your alarm.
Bluetooth headphones, if connected, will play the alarm through the headphones and not through your phone speakers. This means that if you’re not wearing your headphones, you won’t hear the alarm.
Other Bluetooth speakers, and even your car, can prevent you from hearing your alarm as well. This can also be an issue if you live with people who might turn on a Bluetooth speaker that your iPhone automatically connects to.
To prevent this from being an issue, you can put your iPhone in Airplane Mode before going to bed.
6. Reset All Settings
If all else fails, this could mean that a certain setting is interfering with your alarm. The best solution for this is to reset all of your settings.
To do this, head to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Reset > Reset All Settings.
This resets all of your settings to the default options, without erasing any of your data. In some cases, this could fix your issue. However, there are cases where nothing will change.
The last resort would be to erase all of your content and settings to factory default. This will work in almost every case if all else fails. However, doing so erases all of your data on your phone, so be sure to make a backup first.
To erase all content, head to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Erase All Content and Settings.
7. Use a Third-Party Alarm App
If you can’t seem to find out why your iPhone alarm is not going off, try switching to a third-party app instead. Many of these apps work differently to the iPhone alarm, so there’s a better chance it’ll work.
There are many great third-party alarms on the market, so you just need to find the one that’s right for you.
iPhone Alarm Not Working? It’s Possible to Fix It
Unlike external iPhone parts like buttons, the alarm not working on your iPhone is most likely software-related. This means that something is interfering with the alarm, and finding out what that is allows you to fix the problem.
If you can’t find the problem, you can download a third-party alarm which will help you wake up in time while you figure it out. While this issue is common, there are ways to resolve it while you wait for a permanent solution from Apple.