Alarm clock fails as of Jan 1

Julian Wright wrote:

No more iOS devices for me.

And you think clock bugs don't or won't ever affect any other operating system?

Unlikely in a device that sells anywhere at the level of the iPhone. Let's check history- what fun!

Oh, and I'm a computer hardware engineer, working in a relevant field, live in San Francisco, and am frequently in the South Bay. I know first hand more than a little about Apple's cost cutting in test. They already had an alarm glitch, and they still have not adequately tested for glitches after major timing events (like New Years).

So, this is not indicative of a singular glitch, but a management and cultural failure within Apple. And again, they did nothing. The clock app should work.

Oh, and I'm a computer hardware engineer, working in a relevant field, live in San Francisco, and am frequently in the South Bay. I know first hand more than a little about Apple's cost cutting in test.

Good for you. Perhaps with your insight you should've warned everyone.

The alarm function is working perfectly with firmware 3.0.1

The tone of your reply here, and many others is defensive. Frankly, many of the replies to consumer concerns here are defensive, and angry at the customer for being frustrated with an application that should simply work.

I know that many people on these forums are volunteers, and don't work for Apple directly. The company should step in on a forum like this and present an "official reply" rather than having others respond to a known glitch with a "be patient" type of answer, or even worse yet, condescending attitude.

I know many users here who reply to questions - their main focus is providing solutions. But there is an aspect of these forums which is also "venting" and that should be honored, that is in part what these forums are created for. Otherwise, these forums would be official and moderated by official company representatives.

While the iPhone might seem ubiquitous and popular, it is not a throwaway expense. The phone costs several hundred dollars and this forum is viewed all over the world, in some places where cell phone plans are expensive and a greater cost of a user's budget.

Simply: This is what longtime Apple users like myself see as a diminishing of the brand. Cranky experts who believe something is simple and benign and yet are not respectful to the customer: haven't you heard that "the customer is always right?"

Users of this product should be respected for being angry when something is truly a frustrating mistake.

And those here who are trying to help should understand that Apple is, as a company, choosing to make their products "for the masses" that means my 73 year old mom. It is not an "elitist" company anymore with expert users who "should know better." If you can't understand this shift, you shouldn't be here trying to help.

Apple needs to make sure that people like my mom don't get answers like yours on forums like these, because if she showed me this in reply to her concern, I'd immediately go out with her and buy a new product, something where she is not expected to "know better."

Chill out, go enjoy the new year, read a book. And let people be disappointed when they expect more. Hopefully, it will work to be used as some reflection in the company, just when they launched the Mobile Me service too early.

Welcome to the forum
a very eloquent posting
can we assume therefore that you will be back helping with the usual humdrum
questions or is this just a Guest appearance ?

I completely agree with this. I don't think it's really relevant whether he/she ever visits the forums again either. Reading the responses from (the people I presume are) representatives of Apple, I've certainly been put off using these forums in the future. People have a right to be angry if they've spent a lot of money on a product and a fault with it causes them to miss something important. Apple should be here apologising for the problem rather than telling everyone it's no big deal.

I don't use the alarm that often but last night I paid an inflated price for a bed and breakfast in Scotland(£350 per night) and I missed my full traditional breakfast this morning because the alarm on my phone did not work I can understand why people are furious, because I was. This is a basic function that I expect to work.

I'm a nurse supposed to have been running a hospital ward at 07:30 this morning - turned up at 09:00 because my iPhone alarm failed to go off. Also I have to travel at short notice as I'm part-time carer for my dad who's terminally ill - looks like I'll now have to cart an alarm clock around everywhere in addition to a £600 brick. Ready for this morning I had a Thermos of hot water in case the kettle didn't work, a string vest in case the boiler packed in, a bonfire in case the toaster was dead and a taxi waiting in case the car didn't start. Too bad I didn't buy an extra alarm clock in case the iPhone couldn't beep at a pre-determined time. If performed at my job like that people would die! Apple are more like Micro*oft every day - promising the earth, charging the moon and failing on the basics.

jijijiijijijijijj wrote:
...Ready for this morning I had a Thermos of hot water in case the kettle didn't work, a string vest in case the boiler packed in, a bonfire in case the toaster was dead and a taxi waiting in case the car didn't start. Too bad I didn't buy an extra alarm clock in case the iPhone couldn't beep at a pre-determined time...

That was great. Well put.

Would anyone be complaining to an electric alarm clock manufacturer if this happened?... of course not. And yes, it does happen with those too.

A response like the one above just blows my mind about how callous people can be about this. The only alarm clock I use has been my phone because it has been highly reliable. To answer the question, however: if I owned another alarm clock and the manufacturer had a message board set up for user feed-back then - yes - I would be on it and complaining if their clock had failed me.

The only thing that might make me more incensed than I was this morning is if I were to discover that the company knew that they had an alarm clock glitch and failed to post or email warnings to the owners so that precautionary measures could have been taken - like setting up a back-up alarm.

Message was edited by: Charles Barnes

Nobody who is a representative of Apple has answered any questions here about the alarm glitch.

Apple makes it quite clear in the Terms of Use that you agreed to when you signed on that this is a user-to-user discussion site. Apple has not been here telling anyone it is not a big deal and no one from Apple will come here and issue an apology (what, as a sticky note?).

This is as much of a statement as will be released:

http://www.macworld.com/article/156793/2011/01/ios_alarm.html

And I agree, you have a right to be angry. It is how you direct that anger that matters. Posting rants here accomplish nothing since we are all users like you. You could post your comments here so Apple will actually see them: http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html

You could send a snail mail letter here:

Apple
1 Infinite Loop
Cupertino, CA 95014
408.996.1010

Or call them using the above number.

You could contact your local news media and tell them what important event you missed.

You could retain an attorney and sue Apple for the amount of money you lost missing this something important thingy.

You could vote with your wallet buy selling your iPhone and buying one from another company (this probably has the biggest impact.

Or you can forget about it, set your alarm for tomorrow, and do like I have always done and set a backup alarm (and I did this long before cell phones were around).

...and resolving itself it did!
As of today (Jan.3rd) the alarm works perfectly with iOS4.2.1

MacGear wrote:
...and resolving itself it did!
As of today (Jan.3rd) the alarm works perfectly with iOS4.2.1

Not in my case. None of my four alarms set yesterday went off this morning (3rd of January - I'm from Europe).

Hail to my inner clock 🙂

Did you set the alarm on January 2nd for it to go off on January 3rd? If yes that was the problem. If you are editing a previous alarm you might want to delete it instead and start a new one.