Unable to change default alert time in Calendar from 9 AM

In calendar, there is currently no possibility of changing the alert time from 9 AM that I can see.


After years of people asking this same question I find it unusual there hasn’t been an update for it, unless I missed it.


Any of you that have figured it out please let me know

MacBook Air 15″, macOS 15.7

Posted on Jan 29, 2026 11:24 AM

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Posted on Jan 29, 2026 12:36 PM

To the best of my knowledge, there is no way to change that.


You can let Apple know what you'd like to see here:


Product Feedback - Apple


But given they haven't change it by this time, I wouldn't hold my breath. You may want to look at other available calendar apps and see if there is one that lets you do that.

4 replies

Jan 29, 2026 1:01 PM in response to Investit

I guess I’m not fully understanding your question. Using Calendar v16.0 on my Mac and macOS 26.2 I can change the ‘alert’ setting by clicking on the alert box which then opens a dialog allowing me to change the alert time in days, hours, etc. There is also a ‘custom’ option to use sound alerts.


Now if you are referring to the ‘start’ and ‘end’ times you click on the hour or minute and a sliding scale opens up.


So what do you actually mean by ‘changing the alert time’? When you create an event the start time defaults to 9:00AM but that can easily be changed.


Add, modify, or delete events in Calendar on Mac - Apple Support


Unable to change default alert time in Calendar from 9 AM

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