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iOS 10 - Alarm stopped working

I've upgraded my iPhone 6 to iOS 10.0.1 and ever since the update, my alarm clock no longer works. I can set an alarm, the alarm clock icon shows up in the upper RH of the screen, but when it's time to alert, nothing happens. The phone does not turn on, it does not create any sound. I've tried everything I could think of and the suggestions online, but no luck.


Another odd behavior is that even after an alarm has past (with no reaction in the phone) the icon in the upper RH remains. I can delete all alarms, the alarm icon still is present on the screen.


I've tried the new Bedtime feature thinking it my by part of the problem, but it also does not work. However, it does have some impact; if I turn on the bedtime feature, the alarm clock icon on the upper RH of the screen will go away and any alarm (on the alarm screen) that was armed gets turned off. It's as if the two are mutually exclusive meaning you can either use Bedtime or traditional alarms, but not both. Does anyone know if this is the case?


I really doubt I'll use the Bedtime feature, it's a little odd and not terribly useful for a hectic life that isn't too predictable for going to bed each night. However, losing total functionality of the traditional alarm clock is a huge disappointment.


I've tried restarting the phone; the only thing that does is make the alarm clock icon disappear (if it was stuck on from a prior alarm). It does not restore the actual vibrate / audible function of an alarm that is set.


I also deleted my iHome clock app thinking the alarms from that app might somehow be competing with the native iOS alarm function, even though they both worked fine in iOS 9.

iPhone 6, iOS 10, Alarm Clock

Posted on Sep 22, 2016 1:11 PM

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155 replies

Oct 17, 2016 8:14 AM in response to Timmbaland

I Hope looking into the volume helps you! My thought is that meh's issue was never a native bug issue to begin with if the volume setting fixed the problem. As in with mine and so many others, the alarms and timers don't work at all and for me I cannot even set multiple alarms as the other one shuts off as soon as I activate a second one.


Edit: just saw your edit above. Curious, does your alarm have the same issue with not being able to set multiple alarms?

Oct 18, 2016 1:19 AM in response to reneenaynay

I can set multiple alarms and they work as intended. The only problem I have, is that the alarm- and ringtone-sound mute automatically after a few days. (I can't say exactly when) BUT E-Mail, SMS and all other sounds are working normal.

I can't find any volume on my phone that is set lower than 50%. Hardware mute button still isn't active and I tried turning it on/off multiple times. Also airplane mode doesn't help and when I plug in headphones the sound also doesn't work. Never used airplay.


The only solution I have at the moment, is that I change the alarm sound every day before I go to sleep and when there is no "teaser"-sound I turn my phone off and on again... after that procedure I can hear all sounds again.

Oct 18, 2016 2:03 PM in response to jrich4945

I am having the exact same problem and issues with the clock app as jrich4945 describes. I had an iPhone 6S with iOS 9.3.4. that worked perfect. It was backed up on iCloud regularly including right before I upgraded to an iPhone 7 that already had iOS 10 installed on it. When I restored from the backup of the iPhone 6S is when the clock app didn't work properly and had all the same issues as described in the beginning post. (Alarms don't vibrate or make sound, timer when set doesn't go off, when change app it resets timer, puts the clock in upper right hand corner even when alarms are turned off, only removes clock when turn phone on and off, all other music, rings, and alert sounds from other apps work as normal with the exception of other alarm clock apps).


I thought that if there was another app I could use as a workaround I would do it but I've tried using 4 different third-party alarm clock apps and they all have the same issue as the Apple Clock app - they won't wake up the phone to play the alarm. Makes me wonder if these 3rd party alarm apps just use Apple's Clock app in the background to perform their functions? The one exception is the app Alarm Clock For Me which will kind of work. If I set an alarm or a timer on that app and then don't shut the screen off or change apps then it will sound the alarm. But if I shut the screen off or switch to another app the alarm will go off but with no sound or vibration. Doesn't make me feel very confident that the alarm will go off.


I have read all the posts in this thread up to this point and have tried all the suggestions here except the complete refresh and start as new phone because like many other people that is not an option for me with over 300 apps and data for many of the apps, messages, etc. Sure it could be done but the reason I got the original iPhone and every upgraded iPhone since is because of the ease of restoring backups to the new iteration of iPhone. I'm not spending hours and hours to try to put my phone back in order and don't think I should have to.


That being said I finally setup a genius bar meeting at the local Apple Store to see if the "geniuses" could figure it out. After 2 hours with 3 different geniuses (including their brightest and most experienced) they basically couldn't figure it out as well. They ruled out it being a hardware issue, tried other 3rd party alarm apps like I did, did some resets and used diagnostic tools, and looked up their Apple in-house blogs for similar issues. They told me that Apple's engineers are aware of this issue (probably because of threads like this one) and that until they figure it out and put it in a new iOS 10 update that the only thing I could do is completely reset the phone, set it up as a new iPhone, and manually add all my apps and data in one by one. UGGHHHHH!!!


So PLEASE Apple can you please take this problem seriously and come up with an update soon!! I think its amazing all the things my iPhone can do but that it can't do as basic a thing as turn on an alarm to wake me up or alert me to when it's time to flip the food on the grill. Although a small thing it's kind of an important one as others have pointed out that they made it to work late because of this iOS 10 update. Think of the productivity and money loss that causes - hopefully no one loses their job over it. Until then, I guess I'll have to find that old bell alarm clock in the closet or just go back to the 6S with iOS 9 that worked great.

Oct 23, 2016 10:10 PM in response to jrich4945

Updated my iPhone 6 to 10.0.2 and my phone would not vibrate in silent function with settings set in correct mode. Had the phone replaced by Verizon so I reset the old phone to factory settings to send back to Verizon and the vibrate function all of a sudden worked. I checked the vibrate button on the new replacement phone to ensure that it functioned properly and it did. I then restored my new replacement phone to the latest update and back up and the vibrate function didn't work again. I then restored it to a back up from more than six months ago and it works fine now. This new iOS update is wonky. Bottom line, I lost all my current information from my most recent back up and if I want to use that back up, my vibrate function won't work. Apple, please fix this wonky bug!

Oct 24, 2016 7:45 AM in response to scasillas1977

Heya - I had the exact same problem. I read all of these posts and tried almost all of the suggestions and still no dice. Then, I got into the settings of a third party metronome app (I'm a musician) and just for the heck of it, I altered the "remote control" setting - which "prevents mixing with audio from other apps". Then I set an alarm - and it worked just fine. This got me thinking, especially after reading that some things work for some people, but wasn't working for me - I betcha that everyone who is having the alarm problem has some app somewhere on their phones that is interfering with the alarm clock audio. I didn't have any podcasts, no airplay working - but once I changed this one setting, things seem to work fine (I never did a restart). So, it's not very scientific or exact, but maybe go through apps to see if there's a conflicting audio setting somewhere. Good luck!

Oct 24, 2016 11:53 AM in response to joshyboy317

@joshyboy317: that sounds very interesting. The thing is, I dont use much apps at the moment. I use the standard phone/sms/cam/safari/music app, 2-3 games and whatsapp. When the alarm-mute error occured I opened almost every app and looked for some audio options and changed them without success. Is there any place in the general settings where I can manage ALL audio options? That bug is really annoying and the only way I get it working again is to restart my phone....

iOS 10 - Alarm stopped working

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