Most silent-alararm problems come down to a few common settings glitches or hardware issues on phones.

Quick checks first

Try these in order; test the alarm after each one:

  1. Turn your alarm volume up
    • On many phones, alarm volume is separate from ringtone/media.
 * Go to Settings → Sound (or Sounds & Haptics) and drag the **alarm/ringer** slider to at least the middle.
  1. Make sure a sound is actually selected
    • Open your Clock app → Alarm → Edit alarm → “Sound” (or “Ringtone”).
    • Pick a tone and avoid “None” or “Silent.”
  1. Check Silent / Do Not Disturb / Focus
    • If your phone is on silent, some alarms may be very quiet or vibrate only, depending on model and settings.
 * Turn off Do Not Disturb / Focus / Bedtime modes or make sure alarms are allowed to break through.
  1. Disable Bluetooth speakers/headphones
    • If audio is routed to a Bluetooth device (earbuds, speaker, car), the alarm may “ring” somewhere you can’t hear.
 * Turn Bluetooth off and test again.
  1. Watch for volume keys changing alarm volume
    • On some Android phones, volume buttons during an alarm can secretly turn the alarm volume down to zero over time.
 * In Clock → Settings → “Volume buttons,” set them to **Snooze** or **Do nothing** instead of “Control volume.”

Deeper settings & software issues

If it’s still not making noise:

  • Sleep / Bedtime / Health alarm features
    • On iPhone, Sleep Focus or Health sleep schedules can change which alarm fires and how loud it is. Some users report it muting or quieting alarms.
* Try turning off Sleep/Bedtime schedules and set a normal manual alarm instead.
  • Attention / “smart” features
    • Features that lower volume when you’re “looking at” the phone or that try to be gentle can make alarms too quiet.
* Look for things like “Attention Aware Features,” “Adaptive alerts,” or similar and temporarily disable them.
  • App or OS glitches
    • Sometimes the Clock app or system just bugs out. Restart your phone and try again.
* Make sure your OS and Clock app are updated to the latest version.
  • Third‑party alarm apps
    • Some people switch to third‑party alarms with stricter controls (e.g., don’t let volume buttons stop or quiet the alarm).
* If you use a third‑party alarm, double‑check its internal volume and notification permissions.

Simple test routine

Once you change things, do a quick test:

  1. Set an alarm for 2–3 minutes from now.
  2. Turn the screen off but leave the phone awake (not powered down).
  3. Put the phone on a table near you and wait to see if it rings at full volume.

If you tell me what phone you’re using (iPhone vs Android and model), I can walk you through exact menu paths step by step.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.