iPhone alarm sound not playing on iOS 26

My solution until Apple decides to fix it, is to disable the standby mode. Standby mode was causing the problems with my volume and power buttons not acting as snooze buttons and instead just silencing the alarm forever. With standby disabled, the alarm acts like it used to and the buttons all work as snooze buttons (at least for me it has worked)

I have a very similar situation, before the iOS 26 update I would use my phone to play ambience tracks at low volume on a Bluetooth speaker, then the alarm would play on my phone at a higher volume with different tracks rather than Apple default ringtones. iOS 26 forced me to change my sleep routine temporarily, I rather switch to Android to continue my routine rather than continue with this option. I just fully reset my phone, hoping to resolve the problem, but the issue remains. I am thankful I tested the alarms immediately after the update, so I was not surprised the following day. Always test devices immediately after an update, never know what issues will occur.

I will tell you what is on my mind.

I go into haptics. Make sure volume is quite loud. Go into alarm and edit alarm and check the type and use default and it plays - it is also quite loud.

set alarm.

wait for alarm.

alarm goes off at a less than loud level and then immediately in the second sequence of the ringtone goes even quieter.

focus is set to work during this test.

it simply does not work as advertised so be aware until it works again.

almost missed a rental pickup which would have cost a late penalty so not happy at all.

My issue is that when I am listening to something with AirPods (gen 1) AND with the Ringer/Alerts set to as low as it will go, the phone itself blares my alarm at top volume. Trying to turn it down with the vol buttons in the moment, of course, snoozes the alarm. Replicate:

• Set an alarm.
• Put on AirPods, turn vol up to the middle or so
• Alarm goes off at that volume, not at the volume at which the alarms setting is set (previous behavior). The sound playing through AirPods does pause (previous behavior).

Yep!! Amazing how they could screw something up as easy as an alarm to the point it was actually a national news story. It’s hit or miss with me, same thing…. You can see the alarm going off but no sound.

It’s November and this issue is still happening! I keep trying all the fixes that I find and nothing had worked so far! I have a 14 plus and the alarm volume is ridiculously low.

if I didn’t have an Apple Watch and a Mac I’d be eying an android phone.

jpmcauley wrote:

...

Just fix it. It's simple. You don't have to complicate it. Give the alarm/clock it's own volume setting that can be handled right in the app and have no other setting or volume control affect it. That way when I look at my phone at night, I can clearly see that the alarm is set and the volume is set where I know it will work.

Either buy a third party alarm app that will usually utilise media volume, or ask for your idea here https://apple.com/feedback

Alarm still not going off with any volume. Today I had hopes that it would play after the 12 minutes like it did yesterday, but today my 5:30am alarm was still “going off” meaning that the screen said that some sort of alarm should be happening, and i didn’t get out of bed and see it until 6:45am. I guess i better go into some of the settings you guys have mentioned and figure out what is going on. Ridiculous. There shouldn’t be a “silent” alarm.

Hello lowthunder7

You may have already checked this in your trouble shooting, but check

Settings > Apps > Clock > Look at your Notifications Setting.

If "Allow Notifications" is Turned ON; Is it set to Immediate Delivery or Scheduled Summary?

For your Clock Alarm to Sound on the TIME you want it to make sure it is set to Immediate Delivery and your Alarm is set to the volume you like to wake up too.

My iPhone is 17PM, but should be same settings for iPhone 14PM on IOS26.

I just found that since “Alarms” is an app, Notifications are also SILENCED in “Sleep Focus”. Pretty terrible design. Sleep Focus used to turn off automatically when the Scheduled alarm is turned OFF. Not when it goes off. Snoozing keeps you in Sleep Focus, which explains some peoples’ issues. I moved the “Alarms” app to “Allowed” and it actually makes sound now. This doesn't fix it when you’re not using a focus or schedule, but it says I have no Focus profiles. So if you use the “Schedule” option for wake up alarms in Health or Sleep Settings, then you automatically have a Sleep Focus, and you have to allow access to Alarms Notifications. For those who use regular alarms, and also DND, you’ll need to allow notifications for the Alarms app while in DND. If it works some days and not others, you probably have a Focus Profile and/or Sleep Schedule programmed, whether you know it or not. Worth checking it out. I updated to ios26 2 months ago, but it just became an issue for me 3 days ago.

I also updated to iOS 26 last Friday. My alarm didn't go off on Saturday morning, so I almost missed my business trip flight. It was terrible. I hope this issue gets fixed soon.

I've noticed that you can continue the Snooze if you click the side button twice now, not just once. If you click twice it will choose snooze and keep the snooze timer going, and alarm again.

I was late to work the last couple days becouse of this, why would they change it?? And without any warning?? It’s been the same for years. Thanks a lot Apple

I’m Deaf and rely on flashing light when the iPhone alarm goes off. Ever since the update, it stopped flashing iPhone light. Never had this issue until I updated to iOS 26!

I have the same thing. And snoozing with lock button does not work anymore. It stops the alarm completely instead.

Also I noticed the alarm no longer syncs to my Apple Watch.