iPhone alarm is silent randomly

I think I know what the issue most people are encountering is... Basically if the screen fades to black after an alarm goes off pushing the 'home' button to wake the screen makes the alarm go completely silent while it waits for the user to select 'Snooze' or 'Stop'. It stays silent indefinitely. This is a massive design flaw in my opninion and has NOTHING to do with volume settings but nobody seems to have put their finger on the issue. I've woken up late countless times before I worked this out and it has been the same across many versions of iOS.

If this issue doesn't get resolved soon I really hope people would resist the urge to flood similar threads with suggestions of checking your volume and settings. I think it's safe to say most people would be smart enough to do this and it seems to have created an air of doubt around anybody who has experienced the issue MANY TIMES OVER MANY YEARS! I guess if you are a super chirpy morning person this will never happen but if you sleep heavy it's VERY EASY to do this by accident thinking you have hit snooze. Apologies for the tone but I find this issue and most of the threads addressing it very infuriating.

I have an iPhone 11 Pro Max currently on ios13.2.2 and I noticed that my alarm is not effected by the volume settings at all. All of my volume settings are set to max and whenever the alarm goes off it can’t be heard. I’ve been playing around with it for about 20min now, resetting it over and over and each alarm it is still almost silent. I went to the do not disturb and silents options but non have any effect on how loud my alarm sounds.

JS656, When you go into the main "Settings", scroll down until you find "Sounds and Haptics" and select that menu, then look for "RINGER AND ALERTS", and see if your volume scroller is set for maximum sound, or set for mute. That sound level is separate from your main sound levels. And if you don't want the volume buttons to alter your Alert Volume settings, then make sure the "Change with Buttons" is turned off.

I’ve done that. Definitely not a volume issue. It happens with certain apps too. If I’m relaxing with my Pluto app open (for some background noise) with an alarm set, the alarm only sounds once and it’s very quiet, almost as if I’m looking at the phone, but I’ve turned off the “look for face” thing (where the alarm sounds quietly if you’re looking at the phone) and I always have the screen turned away from me anyway.

ive also noticed the phone won’t go to screen lock if I’m in particular apps as well (my Roku remote control app, fb, etc) no matter how much time has passed.

I did this. Still having issues. If I’m in an app (Pluto, for example) and have it running for background noise and an alarm set, the phone does the single quiet alert and then turns itself off. I’ve turned off the attention aware and have the screen faced away from me. Any other suggestions?

Lala2731, yes I was responding to a specific question asked by JS656. You are right, the "Silent Alarm" problem does still happen. I use several streaming video apps (with sound too, obviously), and some of them have no problem letting the Alarm sound interrupt them when an iPhone alarm goes off, but others seem to suppress the Alarm audio and just keep streaming their own video and audio, while Apple silently displays the alarm on the screen. I'm not too bothered by these competing sound conflicts, since I bought a physical alarm clock just to be safe. But the most annoying "Silent Alarm" problem is when there is nothing else happening on the iPhone, no apps playing, and yet the alarm just displays on screen without making any noise.

Lol sorry I know I got a little excited and thought you might have another idea of how to fix it. I often use the alarm on my lunch break, and I like using video apps bc the sound creates white noise while I’m relaxing at lunch. A few times, though, I missed the alarm and went over on my break, and I don’t have a physical/dedicated alarm at work. But I shouldn’t have to have one - when you spend $700 on something you just want it to work lol. Especially something as simple as an alarm. Very frustrating.

It's definitely frustrating. I am not familiar with Pluto, but I wonder if it is worth telling Pluto (by way of some sort of contact method) about the silent iPhone alarm problem. They may unintentionally play a role in not allowing the alarm to sound. Not all of my streaming video apps have this problem, just some do.

I don’t have a real alarm clock and now I can’t take naps before I go to work. I blame my iPhone for making me late to work and risking my job. This is very inconvenient. I highly recommend against iPhones. For those of you that have all these problems... androids don’t do this. Get an android.

I have no problem with using my iPhone as an alarm clock. Most people don't. I haven't owned an actual alarm clock in at least a decade. But, if it's going to cost you your job while you try to figure out why your phone has a problem, it seems pretty stupid not to adopt a temporary solution that will get you to work on time.

I have had the "displayed, -- but silent" alarm issue many times over many years, and I agree the thread answers about mute buttons and volume settings are very frustrating. I do not have a Home button on my latest phone, and the problem still happens. Apple has told me to back up the phone to the cloud, and reset to factory settings. But I have yet to try this solution because I believe I will lose a few things permanently, and I have been using a physical alarm clock instead for now.

theothelogian wrote:

I am really discouraged to see this problem has been going on for two years and Apple doesn't hasn't fixed it yet. PLEASE GIVE THIS YOUR ATTENTION, APPLE!!! We need a reliable alarm clock!

As has been explained repeatedly in this thread, Apple isn't reading here. If you want Apple to know about the problem, either contact Customer Service or submit feedback.

Product Feedback - Apple

RCBalon wrote:

Close all apps before you sleep. This was my fix. Zero problems with alarm since I started doing this a couple months ago.

Why would I do that? I've had zero problems with my alarm ever.

13.1.3 has been released and I am downloading it now. I backed up my phone and then used the restore iphone function which will erase and then install the latest ios. hopefully i can restore my backup and the proble will be fixed.

MattSmith2020 wrote:

Same problem here APPLE WHEN WILL YOU ADDRESS THIS ISSUE? Alarm sounds once and then silences itself! *** this is one of many bugs I’m finding with the new iOS 13!

As people have been reporting this problem for years, it's unlikely that it's an iOS 13 issue. Apple isn't going to do anything about your problem unless you tell them you have one. To do that, you need to contact them directly.

Genius Bar Reservation and Apple Support Options - Apple

This is not one simple problem. It's a symptom with a number of different causes, each affecting a small number of people. This makes it very, very hard to diagnose.