Alarm Not Going Off in iOS 26? How to Fix It

Some iPhone owners who upgraded to iOS 26 are finding their alarms unreliable. Instead of waking them up, alarms either stay silent, play only through AirPods, or don’t trigger at all. Since the Clock app is one of the most essential tools on the iPhone, here are the best ways to get it working again.



Table of contents1. Check your alarm sound2. Turn off Attention Aware Features3. Disconnect headphones and Bluetooth4. Check Focus and Sleep settings5. Reset All Settings6. Update iOS7. Reinstall the Clock appWhen nothing works



1. Check your alarm sound



Open the Clock app → Alarm → Edit and confirm a sound is selected. If it’s set to None, your iPhone will only vibrate. A quick trick is to switch to one of Apple’s default tones—custom ringtones can sometimes misbehave after a major update like iOS 26.







2. Turn off Attention Aware Features



With Face ID enabled, iOS can automatically lower the alarm volume if it detects you’re looking at the screen. In iOS 26, this can make alarms seem muted. Go to Settings → Face ID & Attention → turn off Attention Aware Features.











If you’re already dealing with Face ID issues in iOS 26, this toggle may fix both problems.



3. Disconnect headphones and Bluetooth



One of the most common complaints after the update is alarms defaulting to AirPods or speakers. Before bed, disconnect your Bluetooth gear, or manually set audio output in Control Center to iPhone. This is the same workaround some users applied when troubleshooting Bluetooth problems in iOS 26.



4. Check Focus and Sleep settings



Your alarms may actually be triggering, but silenced by Focus modes. Head into Settings → Focus and check if Do Not Disturb or Sleep Focus is active. If you’re using sleep tracking in the Health app, double-check that the “Wake Up Alarm” toggle is on. We’ve seen similar conflicts with notifications being unreadable in iOS 26, so it’s worth reviewing your accessibility and focus settings together.



5. Reset All Settings



If alarms still won’t fire, try a system reset without wiping your data. Go to Settings → General → Transfer or Reset iPhone → Reset → Reset All Settings.







This clears out corrupt preferences but leaves your files and apps intact. It’s the same step we recommend for people whose iPhones freeze after the iOS 26 update.



6. Update iOS



Apple often pushes quick follow-ups to big releases. Check for a newer build under Settings → General → Software Update. Apple already has a 26.0.1 release expected to clean up early bugs, and alarm reliability is a likely candidate for fixes.



7. Reinstall the Clock app



Yes, even Apple’s stock apps can be deleted. If the Clock app itself is corrupted, remove it and reinstall from the App Store. This approach also helps when other native apps crash or freeze on iOS 26.



When nothing works



If none of these steps solve it, your iOS install may be corrupted. At that point, back up your device and restore iOS 26 using a Mac or PC. If you can’t risk unreliable alarms, you can downgrade safely to iOS 18.7 until Apple irons things out.