Apple users report new disruptive issue with iPhone alarms app: ‘I pray this never happens to me’

Another glitch affecting iPhone alarms is causing chaos for people relying on the devices to get them up for critical work meetings, school and appointments.

Instances of alarms ringing hours after they were set to go off, or ringing without sound, were reported by users last week, months after Apple announced a fix for a similar issue that it chalked up to a software bug.

“My 10.30am sleep alarm rang at 12.42am instead,” one iPhone user captioned an image, taken with his wife’s phone, of his 10.30am phone alarm going off beside his Apple Watch which displayed a contrasting time.

The image posted to Reddit on Thursday sparked a discussion among disgruntled iPhone users who had also experienced the issue.

“Mine rang 27 minutes late the other week, too. Very odd,” another iPhone user wrote.

“Happened to me on Tuesday. The alarm just never went off ... (I) woke up two hours late for work,” added on more.

The iPhone user who started the discussion said their phone operates with iOS 18.2, but others sharing their own recent issues said the issues have been affecting all version updates from iOS 18.

“I pray this never happens to me,” one person wrote on the Reddit thread.

Frustrated users also vented on social media, with one user tweeting on X on Sunday: “My iPhone just picks days when it works and days when it doesn’t, despite no settings changes.”

“Apple hasn’t solved their alarm problems. Apple needs to get its act together. My iPhone and Apple Watch alarm have failed to ring countless times,” another wrote on X on Saturday.

“What the f*** is the point of an iPhone having an alarm if it’s not gonna work,” another wrote on X.

The online discussion also prompted relief and reflection for other iPhone users, who said they may have gaslit themselves into thinking they had failed to set their own alarms correctly, rather than encountering a bug.

“I had a 6.30 alarm go off at 1.15 last week, and I thought maybe I set it wrong. Now I’m beginning to wonder,” one person wrote on Reddit.

“I overslept today for work and was pissed. Started driving to work (and) as I got there late, my alarms started going off. I thought I set the wrong ones, but maybe not then,” another wrote.

7NEWS.com.au has contacted Apple about the recently reported issues, and any links to the bug which affected devices last year.

Floating fixes

Apple confirmed in April it was “aware of an issue causing some iPhone alarms to not play the expected sound” and was “working on a fix”.

Users fended for themselves in forums to find a fix at the time, and discovered that switching off the Attention Awareness Features toggle located in the Face ID & Passcode settings helped in some cases.

Netizens on Reddit last week similarly floated potential fixes, including ticking off scheduled and planned reminders in their phone calendar and subsequently restarting the phone.

Some iPhone users suggested downloading third-party alarm apps, to replace the Apple feature completely or to set as a backup.

Others have simply opted for a physical fail-safe, instead of relying on their phone to wake them up at all.

“I literally bought a physical alarm clock after I missed an important exam bc of this stupid issue,” one person commented on the Reddit post.

“Honestly, I always have a cheap bedside alarm clock as a backup. That cheap thing has never failed me,” another wrote.