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Our smartphones can do much more for us than the traditional calling we’ve come to expect from such devices. Even basic texting might be something that most people consider quite commonplace on a phone today, but these things are just scratching the surface of what a portable device like this can do for you. In fact, there are various settings or apps that we can program in order to allow the phone to help us run our entire schedules. One way we can do this is through the use of alarms. Like many smartphones, the iPhone has an alarm system that you can program in order to alert you to specific times or events.
Although most iPhone owners probably know how to set the alarm, they may have questions about the feature that are harder to answer. Our goal with today’s article is to get into several topics that iPhone users might want to learn more about, thus giving them even more knowledge and flexibility in order to set up their alarm systems to meet their preferences. As we dig in, we’ll talk about iPhone alarm volume levels, whether they shut themselves off after a time, if the alarms will still work in different modes that prioritize silence, and situations in which the alarm might not trigger, such as when you are on a video or voice call. We’ll also try to troubleshoot some of these issues.
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Table of Contents
Why Is My iPhone Alarm So Loud?
While it may be natural for an alarm to be loud enough to wake or alert you to something, some iPhone owners seem to have a problem with their alarm system being far too loud. Lowering the volume should be an easy fix, but there can be situations in which this just doesn’t seem to work.
Sometimes, this is something an iPhone user might encounter after a particular system update, and this can be true even if everything that relates to the alarm seemed to be working fine before. If this is a problem for you, we can try to troubleshoot the issue here. We may mention basic fixes that you have tried already, but it is in the interest of giving readers the most complete and current information possible.
Before we dive into what you might be able to do about an unnaturally loud alarm, we should be clear that we assume the iPhone user has already tried to lower the volume using the standard buttons on the phone. This is the most basic thing one might try, but it doesn’t always work for all users who sport an iPhone.
Our suggestions here will try to figure out other ways that you might be able to deal with this problem. Below is a list of just a few of the options you might be able to try in order to get rid of the loud sounds your iPhone alarm makes.
1. This problem seems to tie itself to software updates somehow, at least for some users. Even though this might be the case for you, the first thing you can do is check to see if there is another update pending for your phone. If there is, it may include patches that address this alarm issue.
2. Even though the volume buttons should address issues of noise, your alarm may relate to how you’ve set up your sleep/wake schedule in the other settings for your iPhone. To check for this, you can go to the alarm app itself and look for a heading that is similar to ’sleep/wake up.
Next to this option, look for a subheading that allows you to change how this feature operates. From there, you can adjust the volume level manually under the ’Edit Sleep Schedule’ category. This tip may solve the loud iPhone alarm issue for you.
3. If you go to the general ’Settings’ area on your phone, you should be able to access functions that relate to the sounds your iPhone makes. Once you are in the appropriate section, you can look for a subheading that is similar to ’ringers & alerts.
After you’re in here, you can look for an option to change the sounds with buttons and activate it. This may allow you to use the usual volume configuration buttons to adjust the alarm levels normally.
4. In the ’Accessibility’ section of the phone’s settings, you can check out the ’Face ID & Attention’ section. From here, you should be able to turn off the features related to awareness.
Although this should not relate to the alarm levels in the strictest sense, it does seem that some users have had success in modulating their iPhone alarm levels by altering how this function works.
Do iPhone Alarms Eventually Turn Off?
Yes, that the iPhone alarm system will shut itself off after some time passes.
However, it can be difficult to figure out precisely when this might occur, and many users have run different tests on their iPhones. Unfortunately, some people in the Apple community show that they’ve received different results for when their alarms stop going off by themselves. This could relate to the precise settings that they have set up on their phones, but it might be difficult to pin down a precise answer.
It would appear that some users have had success with their alarms shutting themselves off after about 15 minutes. Here, the alarm, phone vibration, and screen backlight all stopped after the allotted time had passed.
While this test worked for some users, others claim that their iPhone alarm could keep going for as long as 30 minutes to an hour or more. Again, this could tie back to the settings these particular users activated, but it also means that there are various factors that might influence how long your iPhone alarm blares before shutting itself off.
One thing you might be able to do in these cases is set a song to play as part of your alarm’s wakeup call. If you do so, it may program the alarm feature in the iPhone to play the song through one time to its completion. After that, the phone may assume that the alarm no longer needs to go off continuously.
Furthermore, it is possible that the alarm stops at 15-minute intervals without actually shutting itself off completely. In other words, it may silence itself for a couple of minutes once this time passes, but it could start again for another interval of 15 minutes. If so, manual deactivation on the part of the user may be necessary in order to silence the alarm fully.
Does My iPhone Alarm Work in Airplane Mode?
Yes, the alarm on your iPhone should still function even with Airplane Mode active. Part of the reason for this has to do with the purpose of such a mode. When you take your device on an airplane, the companies wish to ensure that it cannot send and receive particular signals.
They require this sort of thing for security reasons. Therefore, built-in modes like this allow users to turn off a device’s ability to receive or send such signals with just one push of a button. This gives iPhone owners a convenient way to change the settings of any apps that might send or receive data in one move, and you can put them all back once you deactivate this mode later.
However, the alarm function is part of the built-in system that your iPhone has. Although it is sending you a signal in the form of a loud noise, that signal is not the same as a Wi-Fi one that sends data over a network. Therefore, there is no reason for Airplane Mode to have any impact on the sound of an alarm.
Does the Apple Alarm Sometimes Not Go Off?
It is possible that your alarm doesn’t go off even when you know you’ve set it to do so. If you are having this problem, we can suggest a few things that you might check in order to solve it.
1. Although the volume levels may be adequate, it is possible that you’ve set your alarm level itself to ‘None’. In this case, it will not make a sound when it goes off.
2. Make sure you don’t leave headphones connected to your iPhone when you set down the device. The alarm should still sound through both sets of speakers in this case, but the volume may be low.
3. While this may be more of a drastic approach, it is possible that clearing all the alarms in your list and resetting the ones you need could solve this problem.
Do iPhone Alarms Go Off When I’m on FaceTime or a Call?
Yes, alarms should still sound on a call or when you are using FaceTime. This should happen thanks to the default settings on your iPhone. However, you may be able to adjust said settings to tell other apps that notify you of things to stay silent while you’re in an active voice or video calling session.
Conclusion
Like other operating systems, an iPhone’s alarms are one of the ways that you can start your day, stay on top of your tasks, or set reminders in the form of sounds. Mostly, they should go off regardless of whatever else your phone is doing or what mode it is in, and this should happen unless you switch the device off completely. If you are having trouble getting your alarm to sound, you can try some of the tips we’ve listed here.