How to change alarm volume on iphone

When I first switched from and Android to an iPhone ($320 at eBay), I slept through all my alarms for a week. The reason? I wasn't sure. My alarms were set, but they just weren't waking me up. It wasn't until I woke up during one of the alarms (by chance), that I realized my iPhone's alarm volume was ridiculously low.

Here's why: iOS has two different volume controls - ringer volume, which controls the volume for the ringer, notifications and system alerts, and alarms; and media volume, which controls the in-app volume for games, music, and videos in addition to calls. Because your alarm volume is tied to your ringer volume, you could be inadvertently muting your alarm by changing it before you go to sleep.

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Here are some steps you can take to make sure your alarm is loud enough to wake you up:

Turn it up

To adjust the ringer volume - not the media volume - go to the home screen. When you're on the home screen, use the volume control buttons to adjust the ringer volume. You'll know you're adjusting the ringer volume because the volume meter on your screen will be labeled "Ringer."

If the volume meter on your screen is labeled "Volume," and not "Ringer," you may have your phone set up to only adjust media volume via the volume buttons. To fix this, go to Settings and then Sounds & Haptics. Under Ringer and Alerts, you'll see a toggle switch labeled Change with Buttons. Switch this toggle on to adjust your phone's ringer volume with the volume buttons.

Use your phone's silent switch

If you're sleeping through your alarm, it could be because you're turning your phone's ringer volume all the way down before you go to bed. Instead of using the volume buttons to make your phone silent throughout the day, just use the silent switch (above the volume buttons) to turn your phone's ringer off. This will turn off your phone's ringer but leave your alarm intact.

Check your alarm

You can check how loud your alarm will be from the alarm settings screen. To do this, open up the Clock app and go to Alarm. Tap Edit in the upper left corner, and choose the alarm you want to check. Tap Sound and then tap the alarm tone you want to use.

The alarm will start playing at the current ringer volume , which is how loud your alarm will be, assuming you don't change the level later. To make it louder or quieter, just use the buttons to adjust the volume while the test alarm is playing.

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The information contained in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as health or medical advice. Always consult a physician or other qualified health provider regarding any questions you may have about a medical condition or health objectives.

Setting up an alarm is an easy job on an iPhone. But what if the alarm volume is too low that you miss it or too loud that it may scare the hell out of you. Several iPhone users are facing the same issue of alarm sound being extraordinarily high or low. Are you one of them? The solutions mentioned in this post will fix the alarm volume that is too low or loud on iPhone.

Before we proceed, it’s important to get some things out of the way. Do not disturb mode, and the Ring/Silent physical switch won’t affect the alarm sound. Your alarm will still ring at the set volume even if the two settings are on.

Let’s check various solutions.

1. Restart iPhone

Begin the troubleshooting process by restarting your iPhone. Often a temporary glitch or a bug could be causing the alarm volume issues and a restart should fix that.

2. Check Alarm Volume

The alarm volume cannot be changed with the volume buttons unless ‘Change with buttons’ is enabled in Sound settings. So if you need to change the alarm volume, you should enable this setting first. Alternatively, you can set the alarm volume from the volume slider in Sound settings as well.

For that, open Settings and go to Sounds & haptics. Use the slider under Ringer and alerts to adjust the alarm volume. If you want to change this volume in the future using volume buttons on your iPhone, enable the toggle for Change with buttons.

3. Change Alarm Tone

It could be that the alarm tone you have set is actually quite low or loud. So change the alarm tone and check if you notice a difference.

To change the alarm tone on iPhone, follow these steps:

Step 1: Open the Clock app on your iPhone and go to the Alarm tab.

Step 2: Tap on the Edit option at the top-left corner. Tap on the alarm that you want to edit.

Step 3: Tap on Sound and choose a different notification tone on the next screen. Hit the Save button at the top to save the changes.

4. Check Sleep Mode Alarm

If you are using the Sleep/Wake up feature (earlier known as Bedtime) on your iPhone, it comes with an alarm volume of its own. You will need to check if the set alarm volume is according to your requirement. Follow these steps:

Step 1: Open the Clock app and go to the Alarm tab.

Step 2: Tap on Change next to the time present under Sleep/Wake up.

Step 3: Scroll down, and you will find a volume slider under the Alarm options. Use it to change the alarm volume. Hit the Done button.

Tip: You can change the alarm volume for Sleep mode from the Health app > Your schedule. Tap on Edit next to your schedule. Then adjust the volume.

5. Turn off Attention Aware Feature

Various iPhone users have pointed out that turning off the Attention aware feature fixed the alarm volume too high or low issue.

Note: This setting is available on devices running iPhone X or later.

To turn it off, go to Settings > Face ID & Attention. Turn off the toggle for Attention Aware Features.

6. Disable Other Alarm Apps

Are you using other alarm apps on your iPhone? Uninstall them and see if they were messing up with the alarm volume.

7. Delete Alarm

If the alarm volume issue is happening with a particular alarm only, try recreating the alarm from scratch. For that, delete the existing alarm and set it up again.

8. Update Phone

There could be a bug in the software update installed on your iPhone that might be messing with the alarm volume. To fix it, you will need to update your iPhone. For that, go to Settings > General > Software update. If an update is available, your iPhone will notify you. Install it. Then recreate the alarm.

9. Reset Settings

If the alarm volume continues to sound at an abnormal level, reset all settings on your iPhone. Fortunately, that’s not a manual task as a single setting is available for that.

Go to Settings > General > Reset > Reset all settings. Doing so will revert all the customized settings to their original values. Find out in detail what happens by resetting iPhone settings.

Time to Check Connected Devices

The above solutions should fix your problem. However, if that doesn’t happen, check connected Bluetooth devices. Typically, if a Bluetooth device (headphone or speakers) is connected to your iPhone, the alarm will play through your iPhone’s as well as the connected device’s speaker. However, often due to a bug that might not happen. So turn off Bluetooth from Settings > Bluetooth and see if the alarm volume returns to normal.

Last updated on 26 October, 2021

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