One of our readers, Adam pointed us to an Apple Discussions thread where users are reporting that the alarm clock is not working on their iPhone come New Year’s Day 2011.
It looks like the iPhone alarm bug affects only non-recurring alarms.
Forum member, Lijith first reported the issue:
iPhone 4 iOS 4.2.1 alarm not working since 01.01.2011. Tried different settings such as turning off automatic update and changing location. Nothing seem to be working. Any solution?
Though the discussion thread isn’t too long currently, there are other forum members and tech blogs reporting the same issue. You may remember that Apple had fixed the Daylight Saving Time bug in iOS 4.2.1. But it looks like the iPhone alarm bug is not limited only to iOS 4.2.1 as users are reporting the issue on iOS 4.1 and iOS 4.0.2 as well. We’re assuming that the issue will also affect iPod Touch users.
9to5Mac claims that the issue gets resolved after January 3rd, 2011 and can be avoided by setting the alarm as a recurring alarm.
To avoid the issue until then you need to set the alarm as a recurring alarm rather than a one time alarm by following these steps:
-
Launch Clock app
-
Tap Alarm
-
Tap Edit
-
Tap the appropriate alarm
-
Tap Repeat
-
Set a repeat interval
-
Tap Save
If you depend on the iPhone alarm clock then please be aware of the issue and the workaround to resolve the issue (at least until January 3rd).
Thanks Adam for the tip!
Update 1:
Macworld has just reported that Apple has confirmed the iPhone alarm bug:
Apple spokesperson Natalie Harrison confirmed to Macworld that Apple is aware of the problem. “We’re aware of an issue related to non repeating alarms set for January 1 or 2,” Harrison said. “Customers can set recurring alarms for those dates and all alarms will work properly beginning January 3.
Update 2 (January 3rd, 2011):
iPhone Alarms Still Not Working For Some Users
As always, please don’t forget to leave a comment to tell us if you hit the issue and whether the workaround resolved it.
[via Apple Discussions, 9to5Mac]
