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apple watch not giving alarm notification/vibration

Anyone else having problems with not getting their alarm on their apple watch? Since last update my watch is not giving me the alarm notification. I have made sure they are mirrored. That the vibration is turned on in the alarm clock. I have restarted but the phone and watch. 😟

Posted on Oct 2, 2017 8:03 PM

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Posted on Oct 2, 2017 9:57 PM

I have spoken to a Sr. Tech about this and these were there recommendation and it worked for me:

Turn off "Mirror my Phone" on Mail, Messages and Phone. In each these select "Custom" with all "Alerts" turned on. In the Mail, select "Custom", Alerts - ON and iCloud turned ON.


With respect to "Alarms", go to "Notifications" and "Clock" and make sure you have "Push Alerts from iPhone".


Then check out this Apple site to see the 'methods' to insure you get notifications to your Watch. Even a Sr. Tech didn't know these things. Drove me crazy until I found this web site which explained it all.


Notifications on your Apple Watch - Apple Support


It will explain, most importantly, that you iPhone must be "On" but not 'open/active' in order to get notifications. If your iPhone is open, all notifications will go to your iPhone. This is because the assumption is you are using your iPhone and should get your notifications there. With the iPhone 'closed' but "ON", the notifications will go to your Watch.


In order to get messages and mail forwarded to your Watch, your iPhone must be "ON" even if it is not located anywhere near your Watch. Leave it at home...ok, but leave it on.


Another thing I learned through hours of trail and error was with using Siri to make Reminders. You can not delete items in Reminders. It will force you to go to your iPhone to delete an item. You can add an item from the Watch but not delete. All you can do on the Watch is mark the item as "completed" by selecting the 'dot' next to the item and then delete it from your iPhone. Also, Siri has a real problem recognizing "To Do List" on your Watch. Unless it is the "Default List" in Settings on your iPhone, Siri won't recognize it using it on your Watch. Siri on your iPhone does recognize it...go figure. Siri does recognize "Shopping List" and "Groceries List" on the Watch but not "To Do List" unless it is the 'default list' in settings on the iPhone.


Hope this helps you. It would have saved me hours with Apple Support and more hours working on my own.

20 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Oct 2, 2017 9:57 PM in response to algraham75

I have spoken to a Sr. Tech about this and these were there recommendation and it worked for me:

Turn off "Mirror my Phone" on Mail, Messages and Phone. In each these select "Custom" with all "Alerts" turned on. In the Mail, select "Custom", Alerts - ON and iCloud turned ON.


With respect to "Alarms", go to "Notifications" and "Clock" and make sure you have "Push Alerts from iPhone".


Then check out this Apple site to see the 'methods' to insure you get notifications to your Watch. Even a Sr. Tech didn't know these things. Drove me crazy until I found this web site which explained it all.


Notifications on your Apple Watch - Apple Support


It will explain, most importantly, that you iPhone must be "On" but not 'open/active' in order to get notifications. If your iPhone is open, all notifications will go to your iPhone. This is because the assumption is you are using your iPhone and should get your notifications there. With the iPhone 'closed' but "ON", the notifications will go to your Watch.


In order to get messages and mail forwarded to your Watch, your iPhone must be "ON" even if it is not located anywhere near your Watch. Leave it at home...ok, but leave it on.


Another thing I learned through hours of trail and error was with using Siri to make Reminders. You can not delete items in Reminders. It will force you to go to your iPhone to delete an item. You can add an item from the Watch but not delete. All you can do on the Watch is mark the item as "completed" by selecting the 'dot' next to the item and then delete it from your iPhone. Also, Siri has a real problem recognizing "To Do List" on your Watch. Unless it is the "Default List" in Settings on your iPhone, Siri won't recognize it using it on your Watch. Siri on your iPhone does recognize it...go figure. Siri does recognize "Shopping List" and "Groceries List" on the Watch but not "To Do List" unless it is the 'default list' in settings on the iPhone.


Hope this helps you. It would have saved me hours with Apple Support and more hours working on my own.

Oct 3, 2017 2:46 AM in response to algraham75

Hi


Alarms are set separately on each of your iPhone and Apple Watch and are not synced between them.


Subject to your devices being connected at the time of the alarm, your Apple Watch can be configured to push alarm notifications from your iPhone. If you would like to enable this feature, then follow these steps:


On your iPhone, in the Watch app, go to: My Watch (tab) > Clock > enable Push Alerts from iPhone.


To set and use alarms on your Apple Watch, follow the instructions here:



To set and use alarms on your iPhone, follow the instructions here:


Set an alarm or bedtime schedule


Under watchOS 4, if alarms on your Apple Watch are no longer vibrating, then the following steps may help, having resolved the same issue for other users:


  • Create a new alarm on your iPhone, ensuring vibration is enabled for that alarm.
  • Create a new alarm on your Apple Watch (the iPhone alarm can then be deleted).

Oct 3, 2017 6:44 AM in response to algraham75

In respect of contact names, the following steps may help, having resolved the same issue for other users:


On your iPhone, in the Contacts app, check that there is a single contact card for each of your contacts and that each card contains that contact's full name and phone number, along with their email address.


If you have not yet done so, enable iCloud Contacts:

  • On your iPhone, tap Settings > [your name] > iCloud > enable Contacts.


If you have contacts from multiple sources and multiple entries for the same person have not been linked automatically (such that they are shown as a unified contact, with "Unified Info"), then manually link those contacts by following the instructions here:


Having made any changes in the Contacts app, on your iPhone, in the Watch app, go to: My Watch > General > Reset > tap again on Reset Sync Data.

  • Nothing will seem to happen, but the process will run in the background / invisibly to you, so allow some time afterwards for it to complete.


If the issue persists, it may then help to restart both your iPhone and your Apple Watch again, turning both off together, then restarting your iPhone first:

Nov 8, 2017 6:41 PM in response to algraham75

Fixed it!!!!! After erasing and re-syncing etc etc and that not working, I turned "Push alerts from iPhone" off, then hard rebooted my watch (pushed in crown dial and side button at the same time), then after the watch completely restarted, I turned "Push alerts from iPhone" back on! Worked! I got that from a 2015 thread when the same thing happened to someone after an update! Dumb.

Oct 6, 2017 11:14 AM in response to algraham75

I was having this same issue. I tried restarting both devices and toggling on and off the option for "push alerts from iPhone" to no avail. I just used the "erase apple watch content and settings" option and synced and set up my apple watch as new. All is working now.


In addition the the alarm notifications I also wasn't getting notified of timers that were set via the phone. But after the reset that is working again too.


For what its worth:

iPhone 7plus running iOS 11.0.2

OG Apple Watch running WatchOS 4.0

Oct 14, 2017 2:43 PM in response to algraham75

I can also verify that “Push Alerts from iPhone” has stopped showing Clock alarm alerts on the Watch for me since upgrading to iOS 11/watchOS 4.0. I have an original 42mm Sport Aluminum Watch and an iPhone 7. I used this feature daily prior to the updates and it worked perfectly.


Restarting both devices does not help. Nor does toggling the “Push Alerts from iPhone” setting.

Oct 18, 2017 3:01 PM in response to Nerdnaid

Thanks Nerdnaid - unfortunately tried all that already. Have twice reset watch and erased all data and repaired with iPhone as a new watch. No help at all. But like Mike Lehr below this evening suddenly I have had a phone call and an alarm come up on the watch. Not sure yet if this means it has consistently fixed itself somehow or whether this just means it is working erratically. Something is definitely not as it should be though.

Nov 9, 2017 3:27 AM in response to algraham75

I 100% understand. My watch Series 2 was mirroring the alarms on my iPhone 6 Plus beautifully. I could snooze and stop from my watch. Suddenly after the watchOS 4 update, nothing. No vibration, no visual...nothing. I even tried erasing my watch and re-syncing and still nothing. Horribly disappointing. I don't want to set separate alarms on my watch, I want my iPhone alarms to be mirrored...pushed...whatever language makes people happy.

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apple watch not giving alarm notification/vibration

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