"Clock" app crashes after updating iOS to version 6.1.3 (Too Many Alarms?)

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"Clock" app crashes after updating iOS to version 6.1.3 (Too Many Alarms?)

After three years of owning an iPhone 3GS, I finally updated the OS last night. I was avoiding doing so because I had music on my phone that wasn't also in iTunes on any PC, and I had to find a way to copy it off of the iPhone before syncing or updating the OS.

I had.... an unusual number of alarms in my "Clock" app prior to the update. I have been using the app for reminders and generally as a "to-do" list. I took screenshots of these alarms before performing the update to safeguard against completely losing them if there were any issues. Looking at these screenshots on my PC, I see that I have accumulated 249 alarms (not all of which were turned on... but enough to drive me nuts on a daily basis).

Now, after the update, my "Clock" app crashes when I try to access it. The app background appears for about 21 seconds and then I am returned to the home screen. Also, strangely, when any of my alarms go off, and I can hit either "OK" or "Snooze", I have to hit "OK" about 20 times before the alarm pop-up will clear off the screen. So something is seriously wrong with my alarms and Clock app. I'm guessing I just have too many alarms in there, though I can't say for sure what the problem is. Fortunately, I decided a few days ago (even before updating the OS) that I want to start writing some of these reminders on an actual paper "to-do" list and regain some sanity, so I don't mind getting rid of some of these alarms if that is all that is required to prevent the app from crashing.

The problem is, I can't even get into the "Clock" app to delete any of them. I left my phone at home today while at work, and I did notice when I got home that the new OS listed all the alarms that had gone off throughout the evening in a scrollable list. I didn't think to try to get into the Clock app or edit alarm settings by tapping on any of these listed alarms (which might not even be possible), but I will look into it tomorrow after some more alarms go off.

I'm just looking for any ideas or information that might help me fix the app or do whatever I need to do to delete some alarms and get the app working properly again. I hope I am not doomed to an eternity of old alarms, frozen in time in early 2013, that make me tap "OK" 20 times each time one goes off! ........

I am also having another issue, if anyone can help. All my Contacts were deleted during the OS update. Everything else seems to have survived except my Music. (Fortunately I had copied all my songs into iTunes prior to the backup using an application called "Sharepod".)

I did a manual backup 10 days ago using iTunes. I would like to retrieve the Contacts from this backup in any way possible, EXCEPT I would prefer not to have to restore the entire backup because (I assume) I would lose new Messages and other changes on my phone from the last 10 days. I am trying to do this using an application that I had downloaded along with Sharepod called "iExplorer", but it does not seem to be able to load any data from that backup. I ran a free trial of an application called "Wondershare Dr.Fone", which was able to discover 147 Contacts, but I do not want to pay the $70 to unlock the software. Does anyone have any other ideas of how I could do this for free (or more cheaply)? Is there any feature in iTunes that would allow me to do that? I am assuming that the option to transfer the Contacts to the phone on the next sync utilizes Outlook contacts and not the Contacts from the last iPhone backup, but I could be wrong. I contacted the creators of iExplorer tonight and am awaiting a response.

I really appreciate any help anyone can provide.

Thank you!!!!

iPhone 3GS, iOS 6.1.3

Posted on May 25, 2013 11:16 PM

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Answer 1

HeyoSpeaker Author

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May 26, 2013 1:29 PM in response to HeyoSpeaker

UPDATE: It seems I do NOT have to hit "OK" 20 times for ALL my alarms. Today a couple of alarms went off and I only had to hit OK a couple of times for each. Also, it seems like not all of my alarms are going off, though I'm not exactly sure yet.

At any rate, this information might not be necessary. I just need to get the Clock app working and/or clear out some alarms.

Thanks again for taking the time to read this.

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Answer 2

HeyoSpeaker Author

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Jun 10, 2013 1:54 AM in response to HeyoSpeaker

My phone seemed to be experiencing worse problems as time went on, such as freezing and restarting when certain alarms would go off, and sometimes would repeat that multiple times in a row. While my phone was frozen, I could actually hear it faintly clicking, which was perhaps the vibration being briefly activated dozens of times in a row. (Perhaps all of my 100+ alarms were going off at the same time?!?) I really wanted to clear up these problems and get my contacts back, so I came up with an imperfect solution.

My goals were:

-- To get my contacts back.

-- To fix my alarms and Clock app while keeping all my alarms, or to delete all the alarms if that was the only way to fix things.

-- To retain as much other data as possible, especially old Messages history.

First, I made one more backup of my phone (after copying the old backup to a separate folder on my PC so it wouldn't be overwritten) and used iExplorer to export my Messages from the new backup to PDF files. This at least allows me to retain them in a form that resembles the conversation history on my phone. Then, to get my contacts back, I tried restoring the one backup I had from prior to the OS update (the only one containing my contacts). The restore failed twice. I figured my glitching alarms might have been interfering with the restore somehow, so I reset my phone to delete all the data. This deleted the alarms along with everything else except the OS. I then was able to restore the old backup and get my contacts back on to my phone! It also brought all the alarms back, of course, so I backed up my contacts to iCloud for the first time ever (because I couldn't do that with the old OS), reset my phone again to get rid of the alarms, and then retrieved the contacts from iCloud. I also still have the screenshots of the old alarms list, which hopefully includes enough of the description for each alarm to remind me what it was I didn't want to forget...

My old Messages and settings are now gone from my phone, but at least I was able to keep the Messages in some form on my computer for nostalgia and future reference. I didn't lose music because I had transferred it off the phone using Sharepod, and I didn't lose apps because I had "transferred purchases" in iTunes. Having skipped ahead 3 operating systems or so, after 3 years of using the old OS, it feels like I have a new phone! All my apps work and the new features are fancy! ....

So anyway, problem solved (kind of).

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