If you use an iPhone alarm as an alarm, you may have had the same issue that many users are reportedly having. According to the Today show, users report that the alarms on certain iPhones aren’t working at all. Basically, people set them to go off, but they never did. The company says that it’s aware of the issue but not quite sure what caused it. TikTok users, however, have come up with a theory that if someone had their iPhone next to their bed, it could potentially see that they were sleeping, triggering the AI to turn alarms to silence. That’s not creepy or anything!
Apple says it is working quickly to fix an issue that caused some iPhone alarms not to play a sound, giving their slumbering users an unexpected lie-in. For many people, their phone is an indispensable alarm clock and some over-sleepers turned to social media to vent. One TikTokker complained that she had set “like five alarms” and they didn’t go off.
Apple has confirmed it is aware of the issue – but is yet to spell out what it believes is causing it, or what users can do to avoid a late start. It is also unclear how many people are affected or whether the problem is restricted to particular models of iPhone.
Concerns were initially raised by the early-risers on NBC’s Today Show, which broke the news. In the absence of an official fix, those losing sleep over the problem can try a few simple solutions. One is to guard against human error – so double check the phone’s alarm settings and ensure the volume is turned up. Others though have pointed the finger at Apple designers, saying a quirk of the iPhones’ “attention aware features” could be to blame.
When active, these enable an iPhone to check whether a person is paying attention to their device and – if they are – to take action automatically, such as lowering the volume sound of alerts, including alarms. They are available on iPhone X or later, and iPad Pro 11-inch or iPad Pro 12.9-inch, Apple says.
Some TikTokkers suggested that if a slumbering user’s face were turned towards the screen of a bedside iPhone then, depending on the phone’s settings, the features could be activated and alarms silenced. Apple says it hopes to remedy the issue rapidly.
“Apple…is yet to spell out what it believes is causing it, or what users can do to avoid a late start.” LMAO! I know what they can do and it’ll cost them $10 on Amazon. I’m being totally serious here. There’s no shame in the cell phone-vs-alarm clock game.
Okay, show of hands: When it comes to waking up in the morning, who uses their phone’s alarm and who uses an old school alarm clock? I have my iPhone, but actually still have the old radio alarm clock I’ve had since college on my nightstand, using it to glance at the time if I wake up before my alarm so I don’t have to look at my phone. But really, I have a kitten and an early-rising six-year-old, so I can’t even remember the last time I actually needed an alarm, lol. All that said, it is frustrating when things go wrong, especially with technology that we rely it every day. Hopefully, Apple fixes the issue ASAP.
Note by CB: I found another article that explains how to potentially fix this! Scrippsnews.com reports “To turn the feature off, go to the “Face ID & Attention” section of your iPhone settings and toggle “Attention Aware Features” to off, which should turn the indicator gray instead of green.”
Photos credit: Nubelson Fernandes and TR Photography on Unsplash, Ketut Subiyanto and Cottonbro on Pexels