iPhone users try telling their bosses the alarm didn't go off

AppleInsider

An unknown number of iPhone users have been reporting that their alarms may go off on time, but without making a sound, so it's not their fault they're late at all.

Your iPhone may think you need a lie-in

Maybe Apple's latest earnings are going to be so bad that the company is experimenting with making people sleep in and miss the call. Or possibly iPhone users are letting their alarms vibrate instead of make sounds.

While there are long-standing threads on the Apple support forums about the issue, the one solid fact appears to be that the Wall Street Journal's Joanna Stern has a really tight schedule. According to her tweet asking if the rumors are true, she gets up at 6:50 A.M. daily.

Not 7 A.M., not 6:30 A.M., but dead on 6:50 A.M., so she has places to be, things to do -- and her alarm works just fine. And, frankly, so do ours.

Today Show called me last night and said iPhone alarms aren't working! I hadn't heard that but Apple confirmed this AM that it is aware of an issue causing some alarms not play a sound and that it's working on a fix.

My iPhone alarm woke me up right on time at 6:50AM! Anyone out

-- Joanna Stern (@JoannaStern)

April 30, 2024

AppleInsider

has reached out to Apple regarding the alleged problem, but as yet can't confirm it or a solution.

There are reports that it may be tied to the iPhone's attention awareness feature. This is the StandBy option that lets users show a clock that is constantly on screen all night, but brightens slightly when it's being looked at.

Allegedly, turning off attention awareness resolves the issue, at least for some users. Here's how to turn Attention Awareness off.

1. Go to Settings


2. Choose Accessibility


3. Tap on Face ID & Attention


4. Toggle Attention-Aware Features off

Or alternatively just turn over and have a lie-in. Use this article to back you up.



Read on AppleInsider

randominternetperson

I bet she's a commuter.

My alarm is set for 6:40 because I have to leave the house by 7:18 to catch a 7:29 train.

6ryph3n

I can’t confirm a cause or a solution, but this happened to me a couple of months ago. I’ve been using my iPhone for years and never had an issue until the day it just didn’t go off. Same repeating alarm that I use every day. I tested another alarm as I was driving to work and it didn’t go off either. It wasn’t just silent, it just didn’t go off at all.

No problems since then though. 

GrannySmith99

This happened to me. On investigation the 'sound' setting for all my alarms had been set to None! I did not do this so it may have happened during a software update.

Annoying, but the simple solution was to go through all my alarms and change the sound setting to anything but none. I've not had an issue since but I was late for work one day before I solved the issue.

StrangeDays

I’ve run into this one recently. My AW will still buzz me, but my iPhone is silent. 

mike1

Every once in a while my phone will become silent for no apparent reason. No notification sounds, timers, alarms, keyboard clicks etc. Always corrects with a reboot.

I play all my games with sounds off in the game's settings. They also typically silence other sounds so as not to interrupt while playing. I suspect that one of the games is not releasing the sound functionality when I am not playing. But that's just an unverifiable hunch.

mpantone

Yes, yes, and the dog ate my homework.

  

9secondkox2

Happened to me a few times. 

zeus423

I've also had it happen once before, but that's why I have two old school alarm clocks as backups.

wonkothesane

„It devoured my paper“

leealmighty

I’ve had this issue off an on for YEARS. It’s generally after a software update.  Wake up to the alarm screen, no sound.   Just restart the phone and it’s all fine again. 

rickdeckard

This is an issue I have encountered many times. It happens even if you use Sleep Schedule in Health. Thus, this comment in the article, "or possibly iPhone users are letting their alarms vibrate instead of make sounds," does not make sense. When one encounters this issue, the screen shows that the alarm is going off, but the device is not vibrating and the alarm is not audible.

kdupuis77

Everytime this has happened to me it was because I had my volume turned down (watching YouTube in bed the night prior). What happens is the alarm does actually go off but it’s so quiet it failed to wake me up. I’m OCD about cranking the volume back up to at least 80% last thing before it goes on the charger at night and haven’t had an issue in a couple years now. 

avon b7

mike1 said:

Every once in a while my phone will become silent for no apparent reason. No notification sounds, timers, alarms, keyboard clicks etc. Always corrects with a reboot.

I play all my games with sounds off in the game's settings. They also typically silence other sounds so as not to interrupt while playing. I suspect that one of the games is not releasing the sound functionality when I am not playing. But that's just an unverifiable hunch.

My wife has had this problem with every iPhone she's ever owned. It is always detected by an incoming call not making any sound. Always fixed with a reboot. She doesn't really play games, though. 

I've often taken the basic steps to troubleshoot it and then preferred a reboot over investiging further. 

She has been bitten by the alarm problem mentioned here but not on the current phone (at least yet) and not nearly as frequently as the phone going silent which pops up two or three times a year.