Why is your Android alarm not going off? Most often the alarm volume is low or silent, Do Not Disturb is blocking it, or battery saving has put the Clock app to sleep. Check those three first, then the alarm's own settings, and run a test alarm before you rely on the fix.

Why is my Android alarm not going off?

An alarm that stays silent is usually not broken. Something around it is in the way. Android has its own alarm volume, its own Do Not Disturb rules and its own battery limits, and any one of them can quietly stop a morning alarm. Phone makers add their own menus on top, so names differ between a Pixel, a Samsung Galaxy and other brands, but the same few causes show up again and again.

  • The alarm volume slider is turned low, or the alarm sound is set to silent.
  • Do Not Disturb or a Bedtime-style mode blocks alarms.
  • Battery Saver or battery optimization limits the Clock app.
  • Clock notifications are switched off.
  • The alarm is set for the wrong days, the wrong AM or PM, or sits too close to another alarm.
  • The phone was fully switched off, or a recent update changed a setting.

Work down the list in order. After each change, set a test alarm two minutes ahead and listen. Trust what you hear, not what a setting says.

How do I check the alarm volume and sound?

On Android, the alarm volume is a separate slider from the media and ringtone volumes. You can have music turned all the way up and still have an alarm you cannot hear. Open Settings, go to Sound & vibration, and find the Alarm volume slider. Drag it up, and listen to the sample when you release it.

Google's own help page lists the messages the Clock app can show when something is wrong. Two of them are worth knowing: the alarm sound can be set to silent, and an alarm can go off while the alarm volume is below 30 percent and be too quiet to hear. The same page also notes that if your ringtone is set to silent and vibration is off, your alarm will not go off. Read the full list in Google's guide to setting, cancelling and snoozing alarms on Android.

Then open the Clock app, tap the alarm, and look at its sound. Pick a built-in tone saved on the phone. A sound that comes from a streaming service can need an account or a connection, which is a common reason an alarm stays quiet. We cover that case in why a Spotify alarm does not go off.

Is Do Not Disturb blocking my alarm?

It can be. Google lists Do Not Disturb as a reason the Clock app can flag for a silenced alarm, and the fix is to allow alarms in your Do Not Disturb settings. On Android 14 and newer, the controls live under Settings, then Modes. Pick the mode you use at night, open Notification filters, and check Alarms & other interruptions. On older versions the path is Settings, then Sound & vibration, then Do Not Disturb. The steps are in Google's guide to Modes and Do Not Disturb on Android.

Look for schedules too. A Bedtime mode or a Do Not Disturb schedule can switch on by itself at night, so a setting that looked fine at noon may be different at 6 a.m. If you work odd hours, our guide for shift workers covers alarms on changing schedules.

If you came here from an iPhone, the same idea applies there under a different name. See how alarms behave on silent and Do Not Disturb.

Can battery saving stop an Android alarm?

Yes, and it is a leading suspect when an alarm works some days and not others. Google's help page lists Battery Saver as a reason an alarm may not have gone off, and suggests turning Battery Saver off or adding Clock as an essential app in its settings. Phone makers go further. Many add their own power managers that put apps to sleep after a while, which is why Samsung, Xiaomi, OnePlus and others each have their own menus for this. The community project Don't kill my app lists the quirks brand by brand.

A typical path looks like this. Open Settings, then Apps, then Clock, then Battery, and choose Unrestricted or Don't optimize. On a Samsung Galaxy, also check Battery and device care, then Background usage limits, and make sure Clock is not on the sleeping or deep sleeping lists. Menu names change between versions, so search Settings for "battery" if yours differs.

Android also has a deep idle state called Doze. Android's developer documentation says that alarms are deferred in Doze unless the app uses an allow-while-idle or alarm-clock alarm, and that the system treats alarm-clock alarms as critical ones that can leave low-power modes to deliver. A well-built Clock app handles this for you. Still, an aggressive battery setting from the phone maker can override it, so set the battery option to unrestricted and test. The technical background is in Android's guide to scheduling alarms.

What else can stop an alarm from ringing?

Clock notifications are off

Google's troubleshooting list includes a plain reminder: to hear your alarms, turn on Clock notifications in Settings. Go to Settings, Apps, Clock, Notifications, and make sure notifications are allowed.

The days or time are wrong

Check AM and PM, and check which days the alarm repeats. Google also advises leaving a five-minute gap between alarms, because alarms set very close together can cancel each other.

Vibration is off

If the sound is quiet and vibration is also off, you may get no signal at all. Turn vibration on for the alarm as a backup.

The phone was switched off or restarted

An alarm needs the phone to be on. Android's documentation states that scheduled alarms are cancelled when a device shuts down unless the app restores them on restart. If you power the phone off at night, leave it on instead, and keep it charged.

Two alarm apps are fighting

If you installed a second alarm app, the two can compete for settings and permissions. On newer versions of Android, third-party alarm apps may also need permission under Alarms & reminders in the special app access list. Keep one main alarm app, and check its permissions.

An update changed things

A major update can reset battery settings or notification choices. If the alarm stopped right after an update, repeat the checks above, then restart the phone. Clearing the Clock app cache in Settings, Apps, Clock, Storage is a low-risk step, but do not clear data, because that deletes saved alarms.

Which Android settings should I check on a Pixel or Samsung?

The causes are the same, but the paths differ. On a Pixel, work through Sound & vibration for volume, Modes for Do Not Disturb, and Apps, Clock, Battery for power. On a Samsung Galaxy, start with Sounds and vibration for the Alarm volume slider, then Do Not Disturb, then Battery and device care. If your brand is not listed, search Settings for "alarm volume", "Do Not Disturb" and "battery", which finds the right screens on nearly any phone.

Whichever phone you have, finish the same way. Set an alarm two minutes ahead, lock the screen, put the phone where it sits at night, and listen. If it works, try it again from a real overnight setup the next evening.

Is there an alarm app that helps if the stock one keeps failing?

Try the built-in Clock fixes first. They cost nothing and solve most cases. If the stock alarm still feels unreliable, or you have stopped noticing its sound, a different app is one option, not a cure.

AlarmiFex is an alarm app for iPhone and Android, and it is free to download. It has 34 sounds in five moods: Calm, Energetic, Motivational, Classic and Anime. You can hear a preview before you choose, and sounds you download are saved to the phone, so they play without a connection. You can also bring in an audio or video clip, such as a voice memo you already have, and trim it to a minute or less with custom alarm sounds. AlarmiFex does not record inside the app. Browse the mood-based sound library, or play several different sounds across a time window with the Wake-up Series.

Be clear about what an app can and cannot do. On Android, AlarmiFex may be affected by the same phone settings in this guide: alarm volume, Do Not Disturb, battery limits and notification permission. Apple's AlarmKit, which lets AlarmiFex ring on silent and in Focus, is an iPhone feature. So on Android, check those settings for any alarm app and test before bed.

A quick checklist for tonight: raise the alarm volume, allow alarms in Do Not Disturb or your night mode, set Clock to unrestricted battery use, turn on Clock notifications, pick a sound saved on the phone, and run the two-minute test. If sleeping through the sound is the real problem rather than silence, the heavy sleeper page has more ideas.

Quick answers