iPhone users missing alarms may find a solution in their settings, Apple says

Some iPhone users who have overslept when their alarm goes off are turning to Apple for answers.

iPhone users have turned to social media with complaints of not hearing their alarm when it rings. The issue, they say, leaves them in a deep sleep while the phone silently rings away failing to disturb their slumber.

The issue many iPhone users are reporting is in the Attention Aware Features. The feature enables the phone to check whether its user is paying attention. When eye contact is made with the phone, sounds of alerts and alarms will be lowered. However, settings like “Do Not Disturb” and putting the iPhone on Silent does not affect the alarm sounds, Apple said on its website.

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Apple told The Today Show that the company is working to repair the issue.

USA TODAY reached out to Apple for comment but have not heard back yet.

iPhone users react to silenced alarms on social media

One TikToker said her IPhone 11 alarm failed to wake her up in the morning which caused her to be late for work.

“I've been sleeping through all of my alarms. I was literally late to work the other day because I slept through all four of my alarms that I had set and woke up like 30 minutes before my shift started and I work 30 minutes out of town, so I was late,” Charlotte said in her post. “I was confused because I never sleep in my alarm maybe a one off I'll sleep through it.”

Another user said she noticed the glitch on her iPhone 15 after setting an alarm for a few minutes and waking up the next morning.

“I set a little five-to-10-minute alarm to remind myself to go put (my Crock-Pot) in the fridge. I fall asleep. I wake up at 6:00 a.m. with this alarm going off in like the lowest volume known to man,” Elizabeth said in her post. “I don't know why iPhone decided to optimize our alarms and timers. I'm sorry, where did we ask? Literally did we ask? I hate how Apple used to really care about meeting our needs, now they don't. They haven't for like seven years.”

Other TikTokers show that the alarm issue might be a problem in the Apple users’ settings.

“If you go into your settings and then go down to ‘Face ID and Passcode,’ enter in your passcode to enter this portion of your settings app and then scroll down. You'll find an option for ‘Attention Aware Features,’ which are the feature sets that we're talking about, but above that ‘Require Attention for Face ID,’” Chris Carley, a tech expert said in a post. “This setting doesn't just affect the login for your phone, but it also affects the Attention Aware Features and it determines whether or not your eyes need to be open for the phone to think that it has your attention. Turning it on means that your eyes do need to be open, it needs to see that your eyes are open and looking at the phone.”

Carley explains that having the Require Attention for Face ID feature off might be the reason why many Apple users are oversleeping.

“What some people are experiencing, if this is turned off, is that if say they're asleep but they have an alarm set and the phone is looking at their face even with the eyes closed it'll think that it has your attention and therefore it might quiet that alarm,” he said. “However, by turning this on that should no longer be an issue, because the phone should then be able to tell that you are sleeping unless, of course, you sleep with your eyes open.”

Ahjané Forbes is a reporter on the National Trending Team at USA TODAY. Ahjané covers breaking news, car recalls, crime, health, lottery and public policy stories. Email her at [email protected]. Follow her on Instagram, Threads and X (Twitter) @forbesfineest.