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I've just recently switched from Android to Apple, and I'm wondering how I can make my Alarm Clock volume louder. I was late to work today because it didn't wake me up.

On my Android I could set the Alarm volume separately (and also automatically turn my ringer and notifications to silent based on the time of day). How can do this on Apple's flagship phone?

Thanks!

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3 Answers 3

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The Alarm sound is independent from the hardware mute switch. Essentially there are 2 volume states for iOS. One is for system notifications (Alarms, calendar events, emails, SMS, other notifications etc) and one is for playback of music etc in Games, playing music, videos etc etc.

Apps have a choice what to do what the hardware switch is set to mute. The intention is that even with the switch set, you can still hear sounds, the thinking being you have specifically chosen to hear those sounds at that moment in time by playing the video (for example). Therefore, many such sounds "play through" the hardware mute. However, some apps decide to take things another way, and look for the switch state, and match the App actions accordingly.

Both of these volume levels can be set to different levels. In fact, there are sub-levels of the App volume level, in that you can retain different levels depending on whether you are using the speaker, headphones, or a headset (It will switch to the last set level for each type as and when you plug/unplug the relevant accessory)

Either way, the Alarm will ring using the normal notifications volume level (the one you can set at the home screen without any apps running, labeled "Ringer") regardless of your mute switch setting, so just turn it up, flip the mute switch, and unless you fire up a game whilst sleep-gaming, the only sound that will ever disturb you is the Alarm, and/or someone using Find my Phone, which also plays (actually at Max volume) regardless of the setting.

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  • Brilliant. Thanks for the detailed explanation. So there's arguably three volume states, if you think about it: The two you mentioned, and one for "Find My Phone" (which can't be altered). This will take some getting used to after the ease of use on my Android (it all being done automatically), but I guess I'll have to adjust. Thanks, again.
    – Django Reinhardt
    May 8, 2012 at 11:27
  • No problem. The only thing that you can't do is create profile based "quiet periods" where sounds are removed during sleep hours for example, but the side mute switch once you get used to it more than makes up for that for me, because you can flip it without needing to unlock the phone. I mute my phone at night, and unmute in the morning, and never have to worry about the settings because I know the alarm will always play. I think (I could be wrong on this but I'm sure I've seen) that if you phone is turned "off", but you have an active alarm set, it will still go off at the set time...
    – stuffe
    May 8, 2012 at 13:22
  • @stuffe Well the other thing my Android phone did was automatically adjust the ring volume, depending on the ambient noise. Louder for loud environments, quieter for quiet. It was nice to never even have to think about volume controls (except when you go to the cinema, etc). Thanks again.
    – Django Reinhardt
    May 8, 2012 at 14:04
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As far as I know, you cant, at least with a non-jailbroken iPhone.

In case you dont know, althought the device is in silent mode, the Alarm still sounds, therefore, if the problem is with the sound being too low, you could, just, increase the general volume of the device.

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I just want to add that the iPhone does actually have a useful 'Do Not Disturb' Mode, that is very similar to the Android 'Quite Times' setting. I recently moved from Android to iPhone and missed this feature too until I found it.

Settings > Do Not Disturb: toggle on or off manually

Or, to program it automatically, Settings > Notifications > Do Not Disturb > then...

  • toggle Schedule, adjust times to suit your preference;

  • choose if/who you want to allow calls from;

  • toggle 'Repeated Calls' on or off to allow the second call from the same number within 3 minutes to not be silenced (i.e. your boss is trying to reach you 'cuz you slept in ;-)

Hope this helps and Enjoy!

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