Why Is My iPhone Alarm Not Going Off?

You have somewhere to be. Something to get up for! And so, before bed, you set your iPhone alarm, not even questioning its reliability (it’s Apple!), and drift off to sleep.

But hours later, you are jolted awake by the fear that you overslept — and it’s true! Your iPhone alarm never went off. What gives?

Read on to find out what to do if, like many other users, your iPhone alarm isn’t going off. Is there a fix for the issue? Or do you have to find another solution to curb oversleeping?

Here’s what we know.

This 2023 post in an Apple support forum encapsulates the experience of many of us with iPhones: “More often than not, my alarms make zero noise. I had to go buy an alarm clock months ago because I couldn’t trust my iPhone’s alarm. It’s gotten even more unreliable since then.”

The post goes on to claim, “I’ve noticed the alarm I have to end my sleep focus at 5:00 never makes any noise and doesn’t vibrate. Other alarms are hit and miss. This evening, for instance, an alarm I had to remind me to do something didn’t ring and didn’t vibrate. I checked and it isn’t set to ‘none’ for the sound. Neither is my sleep alarm. I just don’t know what to do to fix this.”

More than 790 people chimed in to say they too have similar problems with their iPhone alarms.

Suggestions for fixes included making sure your volume is turned up, and you’re not on silent or vibrate mode.

And of course, you would want to make sure you haven’t set the “do not disturb” mode on the phone.

Finally, the typical tips for resolving a technical issue apply here, such as resetting the phone, and installing the latest updates.