WARNING on wake up alarms in sleep schedule on watchOS 7!

[zeizei]

In watchOS 7 & iOS 14 there are couple of problems when using wake up alarms in the sleep schedule:

First, when you create a sleep schedule with wake up alarm and wear Apple Watch to bed, the alarm will go off only on the watch - not on the phone and there's no option to choose phone as the alarm's destination. The UI related to this is also confusing: when you open Clock app on the iPhone, you will see the alarm set up but no indication that it won't go off on the phone (until you dig deeper). This is problem because not everybody might wake up to the sound from Apple Watch's tiny speaker.

Second, in order to have an alarm go off with sound (ie. not haptic only) on the watch, the watch cannot be in silent mode. If the watch is in silent mode, the alarm is only haptic and there's no sound. This is problem as many people use their Apple Watch in silent mode all the time - so in order to have alarm with sound you should take watch of silent mode each night and then turn silent mode back on in the morning that would be totally crazy. This is also confusing because on the iPhone alarms have been years independent from silent mode and now Apple Watch is working differently and also there's no mention in the UI that silent mode affect the type of the alarm.

I think Apple's implementation of wake up alarms is stupid and confusing. Because of this I got only haptic alarm this morning that is not enough to wake me up and I overslept and missed an important meeting.

If you think this is a problem please send feedback to Apple: https://www.apple.com/feedback/watch.html.

 

[JBaby]

I do agree that it’s confusing. My main issue was I wanted haptic alarm only. Once I figured out how to do it without needing to enable silent mode I was golden. But it wasn’t clear at all.

 

[Picapau21]

Same here. It’s a bit confusing. I expected both phone and watch to ring but only wanted haptic on the watch. To my surprise that is all that happened even though the alarm was set on my iphone.

 

[Apple_Robert]

I do agree that it’s confusing. My main issue was I wanted haptic alarm only. Once I figured out how to do it without needing to enable silent mode I was golden. But it wasn’t clear at all.

You don’t need to turn the volume all the way down. Leave your phone volume as it normally is, and mute the watch (bell icon) on the watch control center when you go to bed. You will get haptic only.

 

[JBaby]

You don’t need to turn the volume all the way down. Leave your phone volume as it normally is, and mute the watch (bell icon) on the watch control center when you go to bed. You will get haptic only.

You’re misunderstanding. You don’t change your phone’s volume. You change it in the sleep schedule. You don’t have to enable silent mode at all. It’s all hands free once it’s setup correctly. My phone’s alarm volume is never muted. Neither is my watch. Once sleep mode is enabled it turns on DND and if you have your alarm volume turned all the way down and you have chosen the haptic pattern you want when the alarm goes off it will only be haptic. You can test it by tapping the volume slider. You should feel only the haptic on the phone without sound. That’s what will happen on the watch.

 

[matrix07]

I seem to be the only one who’s the target group of Apple sleeping app since I set it up first time and it’s working as expected. Alarm going off only on watch but haptic only, no sound. This is the way it should be. I’m happy.

 

[JBaby]

I seem to be the only one who’s the target group of Apple sleeping app since I set it up first time and it’s working as expected. Alarm going off only on watch but haptic only, no sound. This is the way it should be. I’m happy.

Same! I’ve deleted AutoSleep. I’m satisfied with the native app.

 

[dannyyankou]

I’ve stopped using it and went back to using my HomePod as an alarm. Much better.

 

[BigMcGuire]

I always have my phone and watch on silent all the time and have relied on the haptic alarm on my Apple Watch to wake me up for years now. Heh! Guess that worked out .

Thanks for the info - good to know.

 

[Meelano]

the alarm will go off only on the watch - not on the phone

Finally, someone realizes this is different than what it used to be. I wish I could change it so I get the option for both devices to ring. If anyone finds any sort of workaround to also make my alarm go off on my iPhone (as well as my Apple Watch like before) please let me know!

 

[RPhoto]

Finally, someone realizes this is different than what it used to be. I wish I could change it so I get the option for both devices to ring. If anyone finds any sort of workaround to also make my alarm go off on my iPhone (as well as my Apple Watch like before) please let me know!

Same here. It’s been driving me crazy the last few days that they’ve changed the at this works now.

Haptic on watch and ringer on iPhone was perfect for me.

 

[Apple_Robert]

Last night was the first night sleep with the new series 6. The haptic alarm is still very weak, even though the haptic engine is larger in the series 6. If you are a very sound sleeper, you may want to opt for haptic and sound on the watch.

 

[nippyjun]

Do you have prominent haptics turned on?

 

[zeizei]

As a workaround I used Shortcuts to create automations to turn watch silent mode off when bedtime starts and turn it back on when waking up. This way I can have haptic + sound alarm going off on the watch even I keep it in silent mode by default.

https://imgur.com/awngK42

The downside of this workaround is that if I ever wanted to have haptic alarm only I need to turn silent mode back on after the bedtime started. I also now get two notifications each day regarding the shortcuts that have been run.

 

[JBaby]

As a workaround I used Shortcuts to create automations to turn watch silent mode off when bedtime starts and turn it back on when waking up. This way I can have haptic + sound alarm going off on the watch even I keep it in silent mode by default.

https://imgur.com/awngK42

The downside of this workaround is that if I ever wanted to have haptic alarm only I need to turn silent mode back on after the bedtime started. I also now get two notifications each day regarding the shortcuts that have been run.

This was how I did it before. Do you want the notifications?

 

[Stormclouds]

I seem to be the only one who’s the target group of Apple sleeping app since I set it up first time and it’s working as expected. Alarm going off only on watch but haptic only, no sound. This is the way it should be. I’m happy.

Same. I was initially worried that the alarm vibration wouldn't be strong enough but it is. I missed native vibrating alarms when I switched from a Jawbone Up3 to my AW Series 2 several years ago - glad there's finally a solution.

 

[RPhoto]

Do you have prominent haptics turned on?

On mine I've noticed that for me, the haptic alarm vibration is the standard haptic feedback, even though it's set to the prominent setting. If the haptic alarm was working in the prominent way, it would wake me up for sure. The standard setting is almost undetectable for me.

 

[cygnusjen]

Turned off the "Do Not Disturb" setting from the sleep function, otherwise the alarm only plays on my watch, even when it's on the charger in nightstand mode. Had to turn off "sleep" for the watch since I have no intentions of wearing my AW3 to bed.

 

[zeizei]

This was how I did it before. Do you want the notifications?

I don't want the notifications. I have "Show When Run" turned off but I still get the notifications.

 

[TheFluffyDuck]

yeah I found it confusing and was caught off guard the first time as well

 

[ZBoater]

I seem to be the only one who’s the target group of Apple sleeping app since I set it up first time and it’s working as expected. Alarm going off only on watch but haptic only, no sound. This is the way it should be. I’m happy.

Count me in as well. I absolutely love the implementation of the sleep schedule alarm. It turns off the always on screen and wakes me up with the haptic feedback on the watch. Love it!

 

[BrettDS]

Looks like this was fixed in iOS 14.0.1 and/or watchOS 7.0.1. I upgraded my phone and my watch last night and this morning I was awakened to an audible alarm on my phone in addition to the haptics on my watch.

 

[JBaby]

I don't want the notifications. I have "Show When Run" turned off but I still get the notifications.

That’s weird. I never see it run. Might be because I ask Siri to run them.

 

[GRT89521]

I have a bit of a different issue. I have two apple watches S4 and S6. When my bedtime alarm goes off in the morning I get the alarm on both watches (wearing one and one on the charger) and the phone. I can dismiss the alarm on my watch I'm wearing and it and the phone will stop. However, the second watch on the charger continues to chime. It's quite annoying.

 

[Apple_Robert]

I have a bit of a different issue. I have two apple watches S4 and S6. When my bedtime alarm goes off in the morning I get the alarm on both watches (wearing one and one on the charger) and the phone. I can dismiss the alarm on my watch I'm wearing and it and the phone will stop. However, the second watch on the charger continues to chime. It's quite annoying.

It is because both watches are signed into the same account and both show the same bed time schedule. I had the same issue with my series 6 and series 3. I finally unpaired by series 3, as I found out I can wear the series 6 to bed and ot need to charge in the morning. I didn’t find a way prevent the series 3 from going on in WatchOS 7 and iOS 14. Even with the series 3 mutes, it would still chime.