Missing an alarm on your phone while you were busy on a call or using it for something else can be extremely frustrating.
It can also get you into trouble if you miss an important meeting or appointment!
Well, if you’ve ever wondered, “Why doesn’t my alarm go off when I’m on the phone?” this article is for you.
There are typically two possible reasons why your alarm won’t go off:
- Either the alert tone is too low, and you miss it entirely, or
- The setting to alert you during calls is not on.
Let’s take a look at how you can change these below!
Will My Alarm Still Go Off if I’m Talking on the Phone?
Whether your phone is Android or iOS, any alarm or timer that you set should go off no matter what.
The only time an alarm will not sound is if your phone is completely dead! Alarms have a higher priority than any other input on the phone, and as such, should always come on no matter what you’re doing.
If you’re on a call at the same time your alarm goes off, it should still send you an alert.
This alert will appear on the screen, your phone will vibrate, and you’ll hear a few beeps while on your call. The sound is typically similar to receiving a message notification while on a call.
It’s however quite easy to miss this sound or mistake it for an incoming message (though the continuous vibrations should alert you to it being an alarm).
If you have your phone in Speaker mode, the screen should light up and notify you of the alarm as well. Likewise, if you are on a video call, you should see a notification on your screen.
If none of these occur, you’ll likely have to check your phone settings to ensure that notifications are on. However, if you are simply missing the sound while on a call, you can simply change the volume of your alarm notification.
How to Make the Alarm Go Off While on the Phone
There are two settings that you need to check if your alarm does not go off during a call. The first is your Call Settings. Follow these steps to ensure that the correct settings are on:
1. Open the phone app on your phone
2. Select the three dots on the top right of your screen to open the drop-down menu
3. Choose Settings
4. Go to Sounds and vibration
5. Tap on Do not disturb
6. And toggle Notify about calls to from anyone
If this toggle was in the off position, that will be the reason why your alarm does not go off during calls! However, if it was on, then you can move on to adjusting your alarm settings.
To check the alarm notification settings, follow these steps:
1. Open Settings then Sound & vibration
2. Make sure that there is a sound chosen under Alarm
Ensure that under the Sound & vibration setting, there is a sound chosen under the Notification setting, and it is not set to None.
Lastly, if you want to adjust the volume of your alarm so that you don’t miss it, follow these steps.
On Android:
1. Open Settings then Sound & vibration
2. Drag the volume level under Alarm
On iOS:
1. Navigate to Settings
2. Open Sound and Haptics
3. Drag the bar under Ringtone and Alerts to adjust the volume
You will be able to listen to the sound as you change it. These adjustments should help you hear your alarm no matter what you’re doing on your phone.
Will My Alarm Go Off if I’m Listening to Music on My Phone?
Yes. It does not matter if you are using Headphones or any Bluetooth device – your alarm will still play! An alarm will play at a set volume, either through your phone or headphones.
What you should be careful of, though, is being connected to Bluetooth headphones or AirPods but not having them on.
If this happens, your alarm will go off, but you will not hear it because it will be playing via the headphones and not the phone speaker. Therefore, always ensure that you disconnect Bluetooth devices when you are not using them.
Is There Any Other Reason My Alarm Doesn’t Go Off?
If you have tried the above fixes and are still experiencing the same problem, you may want to check if you are in Do Not Disturb mode.
You can turn off Do Not Disturb mode by following these steps:
1. Pull down the Quick Settings menu
2. Tap on the moon icon on Do not Disturb
3. Mode is now changed to Focus
These settings will ensure that your alarm will still play while in this mode. However, this only applies to Android phones. iPhone alarms will play even while in Do Not Disturb mode.
If your alarm still does not play, you can try clearing the cache from the Clock App, but this will cause you to lose all your current alarms.
As such, if you choose to do this, ensure that you have a list of your alarms saved as a backup!
Final Thoughts
Missing an alarm is not only annoying, but it can also cause you to miss something important in your schedule.
Therefore, you’ll want to ensure that you can hear your phone alarm no matter what you are doing on your phone!
The good news is that there are very few reasons why an alarm will not play while you are using your phone, and they’re all easily fixable.
So, the next time you encounter this problem again – you’ll know what to do!