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Alarm Clock is not playing downloaded songs from Apple Music

I am not sure if this is a software issue, but my alarm clock is not playing the songs that I have selected. The songs are downloaded in Apple Music. I have deleted said songs and reinstalled them and still nothing. The software is up to date with the latest version (at the time of this post iOS 14.6). The funny thing about it is that it plays the songs that I downloaded weeks ago. The 2 songs that I have attempted to use as my alarm ringtone were just downloaded within the last 2 weeks. Hence, why I think it may be a software issue that hopefully will be fixed with the next update. Has anyone else had this problem or have a solution on how to resolve this? Thank you.

iPhone 11 Pro Max

Posted on Jun 21, 2021 5:22 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Aug 10, 2021 5:15 PM

If you haven’t fixed it yet I finally figured it out delete the song from the iPhone then go into settings and choose your download audio quality as high-quality not lossless then download it set it as your alarm and it will work perfectly

191 replies

Aug 14, 2021 8:44 AM in response to JB_ATX82

I had the same issue with my alarms not playing my downloaded music from my Apple Music playlists.

I am on iOS Software Version 14.7.1

Under the Music tab under settings, I turned Dolby Atmos off, Lossless Audio off(under Audio Quality) and turned off Download in Dolby Atmos.

I also had to redownload previous songs that had been downloaded with the previous settings.

I tested my alarms with Apple Music from the new downloads and they worked again.

It was through a lot of trial an error that I finally got the right combination.

Hope this helps.

Mar 26, 2022 11:13 PM in response to JB_ATX82

So I wondered this for a while, and if you are looking at what I am and your chosen alarm still isn’t playing… (this happened with the change to Apple Music and I never realized why it changed until now) just make sure the song you have chosen is downloaded to your iPhone. All I had was the general tone every time I chose the song I wanted until I made sure to download the song to my iPhone.


TLDR: If this photo is how you’re choosing the music for your alarm and it isn’t working, just make sure to go to your Apple Music library and download the chosen song to your iPhone.

Jan 29, 2024 9:11 PM in response to JB_ATX82

If LOSSLESS AUDIO under Settings > Music > Audio Quality is already turned off and the song is still not playing for your alarms:


  1. Delete your current download of the song.
  2. Navigate to Settings > Music > under AUDIO:
    1. Set Dolby Atmos to OFF
  3. Then on that same Music screen (Settings > Music) under DOWNLOADS:
    1. Switch Download in Dolby Atmos to OFF.
  4. Redownload the song
  5. Set song as alarm


This should ensure it plays.

Aug 2, 2021 3:09 PM in response to JB_ATX82

Figured out the fix myself. Always convenient to be a tech nerd.


What what you need to do is make sure you have the ITunes Store app downloaded on your phone. If you don’t. Redownload it. Then go to your Clock app. Then go to your alarm, hit edit, then go to sounds and click that, and then there will be a button that says Tone Store above the section where you click sounds and it will be in a yellowish font color. Click that, and it will take you to the iTunes store, and will take you directly to the ringtone section of the iTunes Store app. Once you get there, search the song that you want to be your alarm sound or the song that you have been using as your alarm sound. Unfortunately, you will have to purchase it, and it will be likely $.99 or $1.29, so purchase the song, and let it finish downloading. Then, what you need to do is bring up the app toggle which you can do by putting your thumb on the bottom of the screen and swiping up and then letting go. Once you have done that, you should have a screen full of all the apps, and look for the Clock app and swipe up on it to force quit the Clock app. After you have done this, you can click anywhere on the screen or swipe up to exit the app toggle mode. Once you have done this and your back at your home screen, go back into the Clock app. Once you are in the Clock app, click edit again, and go to each alarm that you need to edit the sound again to, search for the song under the sounds section, and it should be able to play the song instead of the default radar sound that it plays instead of the song. Once you have gone to edit, click sound, and then you should see that the song you purchased is under the ringtone section that is under the sound section that you usually use to pick a song for your alarm sound. You can use that ringtone, but it usually plays a preselected segment of the song that you may not want to be as the sound. So, my suggestion is that you go to sounds and you search for the song that you want to be your sound a.k.a. the song that you purchased in the iTunes Store ringtone section. And then you need to re-select this song and add it as your sound on each alarm you want to fix. Once you have done that, you need to exit out of the clock app again, swipe back up to the toggle app mode and then force quit the clock app one more time. Once you have done this, click anywhere on the screen once again and you will be taken back to your homepage. Then click the Clock app and open it back up and everything should be good to go.


However I did notice that when I set a test alarm and I was holding my phone waiting for the alarm to go off, the right song played but the first couple seconds played loudly and then it got quiet. However, if you get connected to a power source or have the screen off connected to the power source like you usually do when you are asleep and have the alarm set, the song will play once again in its entirety and start from the intro and will continue to play loudly until you either snooze or stop the alarm like it always has. I would suggest that you use a song that you enjoy the intro of, because that is usually what will play whenever a song is selected as the sound for the alarm. I personally use songs that I enjoy the intros of because that is the alarm sound that is going to wake me up. So after you do all of this, it should be fixed. I am running a newer version of iOS that is one step above iOS Fourteen (not putting the numbers because I’ve made this reply three times now and they’ve all got taken down since i disclosed that I am apart of the iOS devs. I can’t mention exactly what iOS it is because they will flag this comment and take it down since it is regarding a iOS that is not yet out, but you can take your guess and will

most likely be correct. It is the number that you get if you multiple 5 x 3 😂. However, everybody that has participated in this thread has an iOS that is an older version than the one I have, so it should work perfectly for all of you guys. I did not find this answer online nor did someone tell me about it, like I said I’m a tech nerd and I had a feeling that if I went and purchased the ringtone that it would give me access back to the full song as alarm sound and did this thing that it would fix it, and luckily to my surprise it worked. I am now wondering if the new iOS versions will require users to buy ringtones if they want to use songs from their Apple Music library as alarm sounds because Apple Music is subscription based and artists are making less money than the days when we had to purchase each and every song or the entire album. Apple has made a ton of moves to profit off users, such as: no longer including chargers with new phones, taking the headphone Jack away so you need a special accessory to charge and play music at the same time, and etc.


reply to this if it helps fix your guys problem! It fixed mine so it should work for you all too.

Jun 22, 2021 1:27 PM in response to JB_ATX82

Hello JB_ATX82,


Thank you for reaching out to Apple Support Communities. We are happy to help you!


We understand that you seem to be having an issue when setting specific songs as your alarm tone. We would like to confirm that you are not using a third party alarm clock application?


We have provided you with some helpful information:


Use alarms, clocks, and timers


"Change your alarm sound

If you have Apple Music, you can choose a song, playlist, or radio station to wake you up.

  1. In the Home app on your iOS or iPadOS device, touch and hold a HomePod.
  2. Tap an alarm, or tap New to create an alarm.
  3. Tap Play Media, then tap Choose Media.
  4. Navigate to a song, playlist, or radio station, then tap it.
  5. To have the song or playlist repeat once it ends, turn on Repeat.
  6. To have a playlist play in a random order, turn on Shuffle.
  7. To set a custom volume for the alarm, tap Use Custom Volume, then drag the slider.
  8. Tap Done.

To learn how to subscribe, see Subscribe to Apple Music in the iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch User Guide."


We hope this finds you well!


Cheers!

Nov 22, 2022 11:02 AM in response to JB_ATX82

Struggled a while with this but figured out a solution that works for me.

  1. Delete from downloads and library
  2. Download again, add to library but NOT to any of your created playlists.

The latter was the culprit for me. I kept “lossless” on also.

If you want them in a playlist, find an alternate from another album of the same artist and add that one separately to the list.

Hope this can solve issues for other users. Good luck.


Alarm Clock is not playing downloaded songs from Apple Music

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