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iPhone Alarm Bug Still Causing Issues for Some Users

Bosunsfate said:
For the third day in a row, Apple has screwed me over with this bug. I was late for work today and that was the last straw.

So, I took off after lunch, returned my iPhone at the Apple store, and told the sales guy, Apple sucks...never buying anything from them again.

I walked over to the Verizon store and got me a Windows 7 phone. Now the world is right again.;)
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And then the alarm went off on your iPhone ending the nightmare!!!
 
hfletcher said:
Another reason for over-the-air iOS updates, a bit like the App Store Updater, but for patches to the OS itself, without having to download a whole new firmware file...

Mac's and PC's use patches when something like this comes up, so why not smartphones?
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This is the most intelligent thing I've read on this thread! Nice!
 
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Dear Steve,

A working alarm clock is neither luxury, nor is it peanuts: it's more often than not the first conscious moment of the day, and one of the last checks before falling asleep at night.

The alarm clock on iPhone stopped ticking three times now. Once beginning winter time, once again on January 1st and 2nd, and finally the third time when Apple said all was well on January 3rd.

Alarm clocks almost never failed on me. Be it on phones, on watches, or the good old specialized ones. If they did, it was nearly always my fault. Almost never the manufacturers.

Alarm clocks just work!
Apple products just work!
Alarm clocks on Apple products?

Apple's definitely got the money, and the IQ, if only there'd be the will, to fix this bug, and communicate accordingly, for I assume it's not supposed to be a feature.

One more thing:

Clock shuffle. Wake up different, day by day.
 
RawBert said:
For all the great things Apple does, a relatively small detail like this can pretty look bad. Especially when we all thought this bug was fixed already.

Some programer's head will roll.
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screwing up an alarm clock I would not call a small detail. It is pretty embarrassing and speaks volumes.
 
akb said:
I'm a CS graduate from one of the best universities in England, with 8 years experience in software engineering. So please don't insult my aptitude.

It *is* utterly unforgivable. This is an introduced bug in iOS4. If the phone can render the time and date without problem - which it can - then there is absolutely no excuse for the alarm to fail. All it has to do is check that.

It's totally basic.

It's not even as if this is the first time the alarm system has been shown to be buggy in iOS4. After the daylight savings problems - across the world, with multiple opportunities on multiple dates to issue a fix I might add - we've also had Apple's announcement of a couple of days ago that it was no longer an issue as of 3rd January.

Bugs happen, fine - of course they do. Bugs like this should get fixed much quicker by a 300 billion dollar company relying on this OS to drive future growth. Even if only for PR reasons.

Don't be silly. I've got plenty of brains, and an alternative, but it's sure as hell still worth complaining about.

This is one expensive piece of kit - and this is one freakin' basic piece of functionality that should never, ever fail.
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I hope in your 9th year of experience you learn some reality.
 
BigTRQ said:
If folks only rely on a PHONE for their PRIMARY alarm, and then miss flights/work/etc., that's on them. People should know that an electronic device that does more than be an alarm clock might mess up that feature. Why people don't just spring for a $10 travel clock that works perfectly 100% of the time (save for battery death/changing) is beyond me.
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I am also depending on an Apple Mac laptop as my primary computer. Am I ok? Or do you think I should get a pad of paper and an abacus?
 
This is no small issue. While a non-/mal-functioning alarm on a cellphone may not seem like a big deal, it clearly is for those who rely on it. It may be a simple, common function for cellphones to have, but it does not make it any more acceptable when it fails to work properly or at all.

What may be the most annoying fallout from this, the second of the iPhone's alarm issues, is that people are not going to be able to trust the alarm anymore. If the issue was the alarm wasn't going off at all, all the time, under obvious and reproducible circumstances, they could issue a fix and it would be clear whether the bug had been corrected or not. However, since no one seems to be able to put a finger on who exactly this affects, why this happens and under what circumstances, when Apple issues a fix, there will always be that lingering sense of doubt in people's heads. There are some people for whom being late to work, for example, is a huge huge deal that just cannot happen. For these people (like my wife, who I just "gifted" my old 3G to yesterday and had the alarm fail this morning, all three of them), using the iPhone alarm is no longer a reasonable option.

To those of you who don't use the alarm function and don't think this is a big deal, that's because it's not... for you. As long as you understand that, there's nothing wrong with feeling that way.
 
BigTRQ said:
If folks only rely on a PHONE for their PRIMARY alarm, and then miss flights/work/etc., that's on them. People should know that an electronic device that does more than be an alarm clock might mess up that feature. Why people don't just spring for a $10 travel clock that works perfectly 100% of the time (save for battery death/changing) is beyond me.
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Are you kidding me? It has worked for the entire year and then quits working and you say it's our fault? I am a HUGE Apple fan, and I cannot and will not support them with this. It is inexcusable! If the alarm wasn't supposed to work it wouldn't be on the phone! Following your logic, I shouldn't trust a travel alarm clock either, because if I'm late it's just an electronic device. This the most ridiculous comment I have seen on these forums!
 
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bboucher790 said:
I think it's humorous people think it's OUTRAGEOUS to use a smartphone as an alarm clock. I charge my phone every night (which you should be doing too). If the power happens to go out, I am covered. I wake up without hassle.

What about the alarm clock I used before I got my smartphone? That fails without power. I have missed mid-terms because of it.

If you're going to mock people for anything, it's them using a "single" alarm to wake them. To prevent catastrophe, have multiple devices to wake you up. Problem solved. Technology isn't perfect, we know this, if it's important to you, have a backup.
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"I charge my phone every night (which you should be doing too)."

what if i don't :eek: dannnnnggg! what now, suckaaaa! :p

haha, happy new year!
 
BigTRQ said:
If folks only rely on a PHONE for their PRIMARY alarm, and then miss flights/work/etc., that's on them. People should know that an electronic device that does more than be an alarm clock might mess up that feature. Why people don't just spring for a $10 travel clock that works perfectly 100% of the time (save for battery death/changing) is beyond me.
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100% agree! Sometimes my wife doesn't feel like sex, which is why I have a girlfriend on the side as backup. With all the other things my wife does I can't expect her sex drive to work 24/7.


:rolleyes:
 
Glad I have two alarm clocks. My iPhone is my primary one, and goes off first.

Then on the other side of my room is my "backup" alarm clock (just a radio alarm), which goes off 15 minutes after my iPhone one (I usually snooze 15 mins). That way, if I accidentally disable my iPhone snooze - which happens quite frequently; not most competent when I first wake up - then my backup alarm will get me.

If I have flights to catch, then I would never rely on just one alarm. A radio alarm can still fail if there's a power cut (and it doesn't have a battery) etc.

I'm not defending Apple - it is ridiculous that they can't get a clock to work properly, especially with the daylight saving issues earlier this year. But people who miss flights because they solely relied on one alarm are just idiots.

Reminds me of Jim Furyk (golfer) who's phone battery died during the night so his alarm never went off, and he missed his tee off time and ended up getting disqualified from the tournament. What a numpty.
 
I have a car with a radio, but I always carry around a battery operated radio, just in case.

I have a computer with ethernet, but I always carry around a spare ethernet card... you know, just in case.

My office has an elevator with lights in it, but I always carry around a flashlight... you know...

My jacket has pockets in it, but I always carry around a spare bag in case they tear.

I'd love to hear all the sample cases... :)
 
My i4's alarm clock failed yesterday, but today it runs again. I don't depend on my alarm clock to wake up (as my girlfriend wakes me up usually) but once in a blue moon my alarm clock saves us both from being late to work when both of us oversleep.

The point is not whether people depend on the alarm clock or not, it is that Apple shouldn't have failed to notice such a silly bug in its device.
 
Kilamite said:
Glad I have two alarm clocks. My iPhone is my primary one, and goes off first........Reminds me of Jim Furyk (golfer) who's phone battery died during the night so his alarm never went off, and he missed his tee off time and ended up getting disqualified from the tournament. What a numpty.
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So you've never been five minutes late to work Mr. Obsessive Compulsive? The Numpty ended up doing quite well winning the $10 million FedEx cup regardless so I doubt he loses any EXTRA sleep over it. :)

And relax, I'm OC and agree. If something is important to you, be it a flight or what not, take precautions as to not miss the thing.
 
BigTRQ said:
If folks only rely on a PHONE for their PRIMARY alarm, and then miss flights/work/etc., that's on them. People should know that an electronic device that does more than be an alarm clock might mess up that feature. Why people don't just spring for a $10 travel clock that works perfectly 100% of the time (save for battery death/changing) is beyond me.
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Just a stupid comment.
 
I wonder how many people have been fired because of this. It would be very interesting to know. Of course the Apple apologist would say it's their own fault for using a smartphone as an alarm.

Edit: Hahah, I just read one page, page 5, and there were already a couple of poster blaming the users, not Apple for this. So hilarious. At least if you blame the user, why not also at least admit that Apple messed up. Of course that like saying something bad about your messiah.
 
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I never use the alarm on my iPhone 4.

Yet I respect those of you who do, & are experiencing this problem. Personally I believe that every feature & function of the phone should work properly.

That said, the increasing number of issues we've experienced as compared to the relatively trouble free 3GS is discouraging. I remember when Apples products just worked. We had no legions of Apple Apologists as we do now. They weren't needed.

Times change and things change. Today's Apple enthusiast will accept a lower quality standard & make excuses for Apple. Pretty sad.
 
Kilamite said:
Glad I have two alarm clocks. My iPhone is my primary one, and goes off first.

Then on the other side of my room is my "backup" alarm clock (just a radio alarm), which goes off 15 minutes after my iPhone one (I usually snooze 15 mins). That way, if I accidentally disable my iPhone snooze - which happens quite frequently; not most competent when I first wake up - then my backup alarm will get me.

If I have flights to catch, then I would never rely on just one alarm. A radio alarm can still fail if there's a power cut (and it doesn't have a battery) etc.

I'm not defending Apple - it is ridiculous that they can't get a clock to work properly, especially with the daylight saving issues earlier this year. But people who miss flights because they solely relied on one alarm are just idiots.

Reminds me of Jim Furyk (golfer) who's phone battery died during the night so his alarm never went off, and he missed his tee off time and ended up getting disqualified from the tournament. What a numpty.
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When I was working and I was home I had 2 different alarm clocks I used. One was my phone and the other was the alarm clock. But when I travel and most people travel they only take their phone with them to use as an alarm clock. It one less thing they should need to pack. A lot of people were flying on 1st and 2nd and chances are pretty good they only had 1 alarm clock (aka their phone) It was piss poor programing on Apple part on why this failed.



akb said:
I'm a CS graduate from one of the best universities in England, with 8 years experience in software engineering. So please don't insult my aptitude.

It *is* utterly unforgivable. This is an introduced bug in iOS4. If the phone can render the time and date without problem - which it can - then there is absolutely no excuse for the alarm to fail. All it has to do is check that.

It's totally basic.

It's not even as if this is the first time the alarm system has been shown to be buggy in iOS4. After the daylight savings problems - across the world, with multiple opportunities on multiple dates to issue a fix I might add - we've also had Apple's announcement of a couple of days ago that it was no longer an issue as of 3rd January.

Bugs happen, fine - of course they do. Bugs like this should get fixed much quicker by a 300 billion dollar company relying on this OS to drive future growth. Even if only for PR reasons.



Don't be silly. I've got plenty of brains, and an alternative, but it's sure as hell still worth complaining about.

This is one expensive piece of kit - and this is one freakin' basic piece of functionality that should never, ever fail.
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Well the bug could of been in their since iOS 1.0. Reason being is it was only looking at the 1 spot in the year. 1-0. 0= 10. So when it hit 2011 to the alarm clock it was 2001. Piss poor programing and it was basically the year 2000 bug which in todays age no real excuse to try to save memory but cutting 3 numbers. We have memory to burn and there are better ways to save memory than just cutting 3 numbers.
 
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