Alarm Sounds, Dark Patterns, and Forced Purchases — This Is Not an Accident

I tried to do one simple thing: set an alarm.

Apple’s default alarm sounds are aggressively jarring and preview at full volume, which immediately pushes you to find an alternative. When you tap to change the sound from the Clock app, you’re routed into the iTunes Store — but here’s the problem:

When you search for calming sounds (like ocean sounds), Apple presents songs, not ringtones, without clearly distinguishing them at purchase. I bought one, realized it couldn’t be used as an alarm, assumed I made a mistake, and bought another. Same result.

Only later do you discover — buried further down — the actual Ringtones section.

If you’re sent to purchase a sound from the Clock app, anything shown should be clearly usable as an alarm. Presenting unusable songs first all but guarantees accidental purchases.

To make matters worse, when I tried to request refunds for these accidental purchases, they didn’t even appear under “Report a Problem,” forcing a phone call over a couple of dollars — another friction point that discourages refunds.

This doesn’t feel accidental. It feels like intentional UI friction designed to create small, repeated mistakes that add up.

At minimum, Apple should clearly label songs vs ringtones, surface alarm-compatible sounds first, and prevent preview sounds from blasting at unsafe volumes.

This is not the intuitive experience Apple claims to offer.