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Screen stays dark when alarm goes off in the morning

When I use my iPhone 5 with iOS 9 as my alarm clock to wake me up (iOS clock app), the alarm sounds, but the screen does not light up. This means I have to fumble around in the dark to turn off my alarm. I have found that if I set a different alarm (a minute or two after the original alarm sounds, or an alarm during the day) the screen lights. A new alarm at a different time, if it is the alarm that wakes me, does the same thing where the alarm sounds and the screen stays black.

Is there some deep-sleep function that automatically turns on?

By the way, I have Do Not Disturb on at night, and is still on when the alarm goes off.

Does anyone else have any issues like this with iOS 9? It never did this on previous versions of iOS.

iPhone 5, iOS 7.1.1, A1428

Posted on Sep 23, 2015 5:33 AM

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104 replies

Oct 30, 2015 1:21 PM in response to mattm754

Just a couple of notes. I was wondering if low battery mode could be a culprit, but the other day I went to bed with 44% battery, plugged my phone into the charger and when the alarm went off in the morning, the screen was blank.

Also, the past couple of mornings, I've had trouble getting the alarm to snooze when the screen was lit up. I would tap the snooze link on the phone, it would blink indicating that it felt my touch, but the alarm would not stop. I only get a couple of tries before the screen goes dark (though the alarm is still going off) so I end up having to press the side button to snooze. Grr...


I want my old alarm clock back.

Oct 2, 2015 3:43 AM in response to Ray56

I have updated to 9.0.2 and continue to experience the same issue, as well. The alarm goes off, but the lock screen remains black. Have to fumble around in the dark to find my phone, then press the home button to illuminate the lock screen in order to snooze or deactivate the alarm.


The problem started with the iOS 9 update.


I'm actually surprised that more people haven't mentioned this. Hope it's addressed in the next update!


Patrick

Oct 8, 2015 8:08 AM in response to mattm754

Well, I suppose I'm happy to hear it's not just my phone and also that it seems related to the OS rather than my new 6s (hadn't updated to iOS9 on my old 4s).


However, I haven't seen anyone chime in with a reliable solution anywhere online. Has anyone found a way to solve this? My impulse to hit the home button (which just turns the alarm off for me) rather than the power/lock button (which apparently will snooze) is not optimal for my ability to get to work on time.

Oct 8, 2015 8:45 AM in response to Mobydickulous

No solution yet here - and I'm definitely finding that the behavior noted is NOT happening consistently. Not sure why that is. Some mornings, the screen illuminates with the Snooze button as it always has. On other mornings - like this morning - it doesn't. It remains completely black while the alarm is sounding. I've been pressing the Home button in these cases, as well.


Not optimal - certainly hope this gets fixed in the next update.


Patrick

Oct 12, 2015 8:00 PM in response to mattm754

I have same problem but the strange thing is that it only occurs when the phone has been idle for several hours i.e. first thing in morning when I most need alarm clock to light up. If I test the alarm any other time such as setting 1 minute ahead of current time it will light up always. It does not matter if cord is plugged in or not. I have tried to contact Apple care support but they have no answers. Hopefully either firmware or software update could resolve this aggravation. I am glad to hear that I am not only one with this problem.

Screen stays dark when alarm goes off in the morning

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