Alarms set by Sleep stopped working on Apple watch (but still work on iPhone)

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Level 2

191 points

Alarms set by Sleep stopped working on Apple watch (but still work on iPhone)

I use my Apple Watch’s haptic alarm to wake me. This has worked more or less perfectly since I got the watch some years ago. I used to enable an alarm before I went to sleep each night, but then Apple introduced the ability to set a Sleep schedule in the Health app. So I set up a weekday and weekend schedule in Sleep which then set alarms on my phone and watch.

These alarms have been going off daily since Apple introduced the feature … until last week, when they stopped working on the watch. This morning for example I (luckily) happened to wake up one minute after the time the alarm should have gone off on the watch. I checked the watch: no alarm. I went into Alarms on the watch and it showed that there was an alarm set for tomorrow, as if today’s alarm had gone off, but it hadn’t. I went to my iPhone in another room and the alarm was sounding, as it should.

Unfortunately, I have a hearing disability and need the hectic alarm to wake me. I just manually set an alarm on the watch and it went off, so I guess I can go back to setting an alarm when I go to bed, but this is a step backwards from having The Sleep app handle my daily alarms.

I’ve reset the watch and my iPhone but, as I said it failed again this morning. Any suggestions what else I can try? Thanks in advance.

Posted on Jul 28, 2021 10:10 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Nicholas_B2

Community Specialist

Jul 29, 2021 4:45 PM in response to Erroll

Hi Erroll,

Thanks for reaching out using Apple Support Communities. Here to help.

We understand you are having trouble with wake-up alarms going off on your iPhone only, not on your Apple Watch.

Are you wearing the Apple Watch to sleep, or is it in nightstand mode? Either of these options work with alarms, but if the Watch is not in nightstand mode and not on your wrist, it will not wake up to alarms. Take a look at the next article, specifically the section titled 'Change Sleep Options' which outlines some settings that could impact alarms. Specifically we would check on the Apple Watch: Settings > Sleep > Wake to haptic taps, ensure this is enabled.

Track your sleep with Apple Watch

If you do wear your Apple Watch to sleep, has it tracked your sleep accordingly these nights? You can check in the Health App > Sleep > Show All Data to determine if it was the iPhone or Apple Watch that tracked your sleep that night. If the Apple Watch is not tracking your sleep as expected, this could be related to a wrist detection issue. Ensure that Wrist Detection is enabled in the Settings app on your Apple Watch. Tap Passcode, then turn Wrist Detection on or off. We'll link below to information regarding the proper fit for Apple Watch which will also help ensure proper wrist detection.

Wearing your Apple Watch

You can schedule the sleep schedule and wakeup alarms from the Sleep app on Apple Watch, or from the Health or Clock app on iPhone. Either way, the Apple Watch is expected to alert you of these alarms as long as the Watch is being worn or is in nightstand mode.

Hope this helps! If we can clarify anything further, please let us know.

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Answer 2

Jul 29, 2021 6:49 PM in response to Erroll

Hi Erroll ,

Thanks for following up.

Regarding that 'Wake to haptic taps' setting, we do apologize as the resource we used appears to have out of date information regarding that setting. For ensuring haptics are enabled on Apple Watch, we would check Apple Watch > Settings > Sound and Haptics. Ensure haptic alerts are enabled here.

We will also mention there have been recent updates to iOS and WatchOS, so ensure both devices are caught up on their software updates.

Aside from this and the otherwise mentioned steps, if alarm behavior is still not working as expected on the Apple Watch, we would recommend a direct support case with Apple Support in order to take a closer look.

Get Support - Apple

Thank you for using Apple Support Communities. Take care for now!

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Answer 3

Erroll Author

Level 2

191 points

Jul 29, 2021 5:11 PM in response to Nicholas_B2

Thanks for the comprehensive reply. I'm hearing impaired so wear the watch to bed. It's in silent mode (always) and use the haptics for all notifications and alarms.

Thanks for all the links explaining how the system works but, to be clear, I've had it set up for months and alarms set by the Sleep app worked perfectly until last week, when I missed a meeting because one didn't go off. Since then, I haven't needed to wake early so have used "Skip for tonight" to bypass alarms until yesterday, when I needed to wake early and the alarm didn't go off again.

And to add something, the problem appears to be intermittent. Because yesterday's alarm didn't go, when I went to be last night I manually set an alarm for a couple of minutes later than the one set automatically by Sleep. However, this morning, they both went off, i.e. the alarm set by Sleep, which didn't go off yesterday, did go off today.

Health reports that the watch did track my sleep for the nights when the alarm didn't go off.

Specifically we would check on the Apple Watch: Settings > Sleep > Wake to haptic taps, ensure this is enabled.

My watch's OS doesn't have this hierarchy. In Apple Watch: Settings > Sleep I see: Sleep Mode, Sleep Tracking, Charging Reminders and Don't Use This Watch for Sleep. Sleep Mode is Automatic and Sleep Tracking andCharging Reminders are both enabled. There is no "Wake to haptic tap".

Thanks again.

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Alarms set by Sleep stopped working on Apple watch (but still work on iPhone)

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