iPhone alarm will not sound, only on Apple Watch

Question

Level 1

15 points

iPhone alarm will not sound, only on Apple Watch

Problem: I set my alarm on my iPhone and it goes off silently with no vibration. The alarm will go off on my Apple Watch, if I am wearing it. If the Apple Watch is charging, neither device will sound or vibrate.

Never had a problem with an iPhone alarm in the 10+ years I have been using them. Seems to be an issue with adding the Apple Watch to the mix, but it worked, as expected a month or two ago.

Steps taken:

I have confirm that the default alarm tone will sound when tested
I have tried both normal alarms and the Apple Sleep/Wake Up alarm
I have set Sounds and Haptics to max volume and disable Change with Buttons
I have enabled and disabled Apple Sleep on the phone and watch
I have enabled and disabled Night Stand mode on the watch
I have rebooted both devices

Devices:

iPhone 12 Pro, iOS 14.7.1
Apple Watch 6, watchOS 7.6.1

Posted on Sep 9, 2021 9:42 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

ez-pay Author

Level 1

15 points

Sep 10, 2021 11:41 AM in response to jdo_apple

Yes, timers work. Setting an alarm for 2 minutes from now works. Having an alarm go off the next morning does not work. The screen shows the alarm going off, but the phone is silent and not vibrating.

Side button doesn’t silence the alarm. Do Not Disturb, headphones, even having the phone turned off should not silence the alarm.

It has something to do with an iOS update and the Apple Watch, but I just can’t figure out what.

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Answer 2

Lori_G7

Community Specialist

Sep 10, 2021 8:22 AM in response to ez-pay

Hi ez-pay,

Thank you for reaching out to Apple Support Communities.

From your post, we see that you have an issue with the alarms not going off on your iPhone. We want to help. Do the alarms go off at all or is there no sound? Set an alarm a few minutes from now. This article has more information on How to set and manage alarms on your iPhone. Confirm that you're setting the alarm's volume by following the steps in the article.

"How to change the alarm's volume

Go to Settings > Sounds & Haptics.
Under Ringer and Alerts, drag the slider left or right to set the volume. As you drag, an alert will play, so you can hear how the volume changes.
Turn on Change with Buttons to use the volume buttons on your device to change the alarm volume."

The bottom portion of the article, has steps to take if the alarm volume is too low or quiet. Try these steps as well to see if it helps.

Best Regards!

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Answer 3

Oct 5, 2021 2:51 PM in response to jdo_apple

I’m having the same issue when I set a new alarm for the same day. It doesn’t go off unless I turn the phone off and then on again. Otherwise, it will go off the next day. Also, we are no longer able to use iTunes songs as our ringtone. This started with 14.3.1.

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Answer 4

ez-pay Author

Level 1

15 points

Sep 22, 2021 6:08 AM in response to ez-pay

So after many months of updating iOS and fiddling with settings, I found the culprit, Airpods. I have used my Airpod Gen. 1 with my iPhones since 2016 and never had this issue before, but the alarm sound was going to the Airpods and playing at zero volume on the earbuds and the phone. After forgetting them from the phone's bluetooth settings, resetting and repairing the Airpods, everything works as expected.

Fix: Forget Airpods from iPhone bluetooth settings, reset and repair Airpods.

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Answer 5

jdo_apple

Community Specialist

Sep 10, 2021 10:54 AM in response to ez-pay

Hi ez-pay,

Thank you for reaching back out. Have you confirmed that the side button isn't set to silent? Here's more information on how to Use the side, Home, and other buttons on your iPhone - Apple Support

Does other sound work on your iPhone? If you set the timer, does the sound go off for the timer?

Best Wishes!

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Answer 6

Sep 14, 2021 5:29 AM in response to ez-pay

Hi ez-pay,

Thanks for clarifying. Since your last message, an update has been released. You can update to iOS 14.8. It is always a good idea to have a backup of your iPhone before updating.

Here’s How to back up your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch - Apple Support.

Here’s how to Update your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - Apple Support.

Best Wishes!

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