How To Change Alarm Volume on Your iPhone

Wondering how do you make the alarm on your iPhone louder or softer? In iOS 11, Apple introduced many changes to the iPhone and iPad Operating System (iOS.) And for whatever reason, some very simple things like changing the alarm volume on iPhone is a bit more of a convoluted process these days. What was once easy is now a bit cumbersome–so how exactly do you change alarm volume on your iPhone? 

Well, after some trial and error, we discovered just how you how to change the alarm volume using a workaround on your iPhone and other iDevices.  Read on!

Steps to Change Alarm Volume on Your iPhone

If you have been waking up to a full (or low) alarm volume since updating to the latest iOS, please follow the steps below to make the changes.

1. Tap on Settings > Sounds & Haptics (or Sounds) to get to your iPhone alarm volume control
2. Under the ‘Ringers and Alerts”, toggle ‘Change with Buttons’ 

Volume in Control Center is playback volume, not ringer volume.  Make sure that it is ringer volume you are adjusting.

After performing thee two steps you shouldn’t experience further issues with iPhone alarm volume not working. My 8+ on 11.1 is now working fine, alarms are only as loud as my ringer setting, even with the side mute switch enabled.

3 Tips to Get the Most Out of Your Alarm/Sleep Rituals

Set a bedtime schedule 

Tap Bedtime, then follow the instructions to set your sleep reminder and wake-up alarm. After you’ve done the initial setup, you can slide and adjust your sleep and wake times. Tap Options to set the alarm days, wake-up sound, and volume. To turn Bedtime reminders off, tap the Bedtime switch.

Fall asleep to music or a podcast

Tap Timer, tap When Timer Ends, then choose to Stop Playing at the bottom. 

Create Alarms with Siri

To set an alarm on the Home screen, press Clock, then tap Create Alarm. The easiest way is to use Siri to set up your Alarms. A simple command such as “Wake me up tomorrow at 7 AM” does the trick! 

Similarly, if you want to delete all the alarms on your iPhone, leverage Siri. Say “Turn Off All my Alarms” and your alarms are switched to inactive.

Alarm Volume Super Low on iPhone X/XS?

Many users have noted that even though their iPhone ringer and volume settings are turned all the way up, their alarm volume is super low when it goes off.

This is probably related to the Attention-Aware setting associated with the FaceID feature. The volume goes low when you  pick up and look at your iPhone X/XR.

Tap on Settings>Face ID & Passcode>Attention-Aware Features and change your preferences.

What’s Next? 

With the introduction of Apple’s anticipated Homepod speaker, we fully expect more features dedicated to integrating alarm function on the Homepod speaker and iOS devices. Perhaps like waking up to your favorite music or podcast, wouldn’t that be lovely!

SK( Managing Editor )

Obsessed with tech since the early arrival of A/UX on Apple, Sudz (SK) is responsible for the editorial direction of AppleToolBox. He is based out of Los Angeles, CA.

Sudz specializes in covering all things macOS, having reviewed dozens of OS X and macOS developments over the years.

In a former life, Sudz worked helping Fortune 100 companies with their technology and business transformation aspirations.