iPhone alarm sound not playing on iOS 26

In the two days since I’ve installed iOS 26, I’ve awoken (late) in the morning to see that my phone had my alarm on the screen, but no sound playing. This has been a known issue in the past due to attention aware features, but I have those turned off already. I have an iPhone 14 Pro Max

iPhone 14 Pro Max, iOS 26

Posted on Sep 17, 2025 11:15 AM

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Posted on Sep 29, 2025 7:42 PM

This was happening to me too. I had to go in settings, sounds and haptics, and turn the sound up. The update turns the sound completely down. Now it works like it used to. My phone is still on silent no sounds for texts and calls but my alarm now makes sound.

53 replies

Oct 10, 2025 9:26 PM in response to DeeJayxD1

This is my problem exactly! I sleep with a Bluetooth sleep mask/headphones (at a very low volume) and my alarm USED to sound on my phone at full volume regardless of what I was playing. NOW it will only play on my headphones at the super low volume and it’s not enough to wake me up! This is a HUGE shift in how the alarm functions and needs to be restored to the original functionality please! I can’t imagine this isn’t impacting more people!

Oct 16, 2025 12:02 PM in response to TBlank72

Has this consistently worked?


my issue is I have the same routine every night. Phone goes on a stand charger and I sleep with my watch on.


my watch vibrates to be my alarm.


twice now since ios26, I’ve had the issue stated here if the alarm screen (big snooze and dismiss buttons) but no alarm. Every other morning it’s worked fine.

Nov 3, 2025 7:37 AM in response to lowthunder7

My issue is that when I am listening to something with AirPods (gen 1) AND with the Ringer/Alerts set to as low as it will go, the phone itself blares my alarm at top volume. Trying to turn it down with the vol buttons in the moment, of course, snoozes the alarm. Replicate:


  • Set an alarm.
  • Put on AirPods, turn vol up to the middle or so
  • Alarm goes off at that volume, not at the volume at which the alarms setting is set (previous behavior). The sound playing through AirPods does pause (previous behavior).

Nov 5, 2025 12:52 AM in response to lowthunder7

Subject: Critical iOS Alarm Failure — Loss of Business and Trust

Same here. iOS 26.0.1.


I can’t say I’ve ever been this frustrated or encountered such a failure before. This issue has not only cost us financially but has also damaged our professional reputation.

My partner and I run a medical practice from home. We work long hours serving our community, and this afternoon we both relied on our 3:00 pm alarms to wake from a short rest between clients. Neither alarm went off. We overslept by an hour, arriving thirty minutes late for an important client consultation. We had to reimburse the client and have now lost credibility we’ve worked years to build.


To be frank, I’ve lost trust in Apple. Our entire professional and personal ecosystem runs on Apple — from iPhones, iPads, and Macs to Apple TVs used for client x-ray reviews. I’ve tolerated the growing instability of iOS over the past few years, but a fundamental alarm failure — a problem that feels straight out of 2010 — is unacceptable in 2025.


This isn’t a minor inconvenience. Our alarms are essential to how we run our lives and our business. They structure our 4:30 am starts, client reminders, report preparation, medication schedules, and even basic tasks like timing meals or ending a therapy session. The reliability of iOS alarms has been a cornerstone of our time management — and that reliability is now gone.


This experience has introduced a constant background anxiety where there was once trust. A basic system function that used to quietly support our work now demands constant doubt and double-checking.

I expect Apple to treat this as the serious regression it is.


Cheers,

Tom

Nov 5, 2025 10:16 PM in response to lowthunder7

I’m on iOS26.1. Along with the described issues here, my alarm behaved weird this morning while scrolling on a social media (can’t remember which one). My alarm messed up with the sounds. It started silent, the social media sound broke through, I opened the alarm app to stop it, and it went with a strange sound, not the one I chose. And this sequence of haptic silent alarm with social media sound breaking through happened several times until I stopped the alarm.

iPhone alarm sound not playing on iOS 26

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